Government to Bill Opposition €6000 to Answer Question on Economy

[cactusflower]

Mandarins in Finance who failed 'should go' - National News, Frontpage - Independent.ie

The Government seems to have identified a new revenue stream to plug the enormous hole in the public finances.

This interesting article reports Joan Burton lashing in to the Department of Finance bureaucracy for its gross ineptitude.

Buried in the article is the gem that Enda Kenny was asked for €6000 to get accessto minutes of a meeting between Government and the OECD.

It has also emerged that the Government is refusing to release potentially critical advice that Brian Cowen received about the state of the Irish economy while he was the minister for finance -- unless Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny plays over €6,000 as a "retrieval fee" for the information.

The information relates to the contents of a series of critical secret meetings between Mr Cowen when he was minister for finance, the OECD and the IMF in April 2008. The meetings occurred prior to a major OECD report on the state of the Irish public services and shortly before Mr Cowen assumed the Taoiseach's office. The subsequent report claimed the Irish public service was uncoordinated, lacked strategic vision and suffered from poor competence at senior level.

...
Now the Opposition want to the find out what went on at these meetings and why there has been such difficulty in releasing the documentation surrounding the various discussions with the OECD and the IMF.

[JCSkinner]

Cut the cheque and shame the corrupt.

[He3]

Hey whoever said democracy was free?

[Mr Boxing]

No wonder the country is f**ked.

[TommyO'Brien]

FF are increasingly desparate. When George Lee was elected they tried to get him to be given an office among the independent senators and PAs on the top floor of Agriculture House, where he would be cut off from other TDs. FG told FF to fukk off.

Their latest stunt involves the political correspondents who used to be on the top floor of Leinster House. Some were moved 'temporarily' to new offices half way down Molesworth Street, to ensure they would be cut off from having a chance to talk to angry FF TDs - if they were in the building they'd be running into TDs every minute of the day. Exile them in Molesworth Street and as they work from the office they'd be out of Leinster House for most of the day!

Now the poll corrs are being told that the rest have to move down there, and when they move down there they ain't getting back! The poll corrs ain't accepting it. FF are so worried journos will get talking to increasingly nervous they will pull any stunt to get them out of the building. (Of course FF say it is the OPW who made the decision. Yeah, right!)

So trying to charge the opposition €6K is part of a whole campaign of controlling, silencing or inconveniencing critics.

[blanket]

Is this €6,000 an arbitrary figure or is there any precedent at all for this?

Fine Gael should publish the invoice/letter.

This is the same as the FOI request charges - which were initially free - an attempt to restrict information which should be in the public domain.

[one acre capitalist]

Cowen is getting desperate to hold onto his position. Martin has the votes to take him out at a time of his choosing, which will be soon. According to one Cabinet minister one more "flup up" and he is gone.

As to what that might be, it turns out its our dear leader losing his temper or indeed not turning up at a scheduled morning meetin

[markeys]

€6,000 Euro?

How exactly does one calculate a fee to that extortionate amount? FG should be banging fists on the table over this.