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MOST JOURNALISTS ARE well used to government departments stone-walling them.
Questions – unless backed up by solid proof in the form of documents or other evidence – are routinely swatted away or answered with often lengthy responses that strive to give away as little as is humanly possible.
What rarely happens however, is for a government department to blatantly lie.
Regina Doherty’s allowance
Back in March, I wrote a story about the very dubious process whereby the government created a new allowance for Regina Doherty after she was appointed as government chief whip and as a “super” Junior Minister.
At the time, the law only allowed for two ministers to be paid this €15,829 allowance but because of the way the new government was formed, three people were now effectively entitled to it. The simple thing would have been to change the law but the government knew that would have been a public relations disaster.
Fast forward three months and Labour’s Brendan Howlin raised in the Dáil the fact that this allowance may not have been legal either. He said the law was “crystal clear” and that no extra allowance could be paid to Doherty for her additional duties as government chief whip.
The story faded
The government said they would investigate but within a few weeks, the matter faded – like many other political stories in summertime – into the background.
Because of my original story, the outcome of this still fascinated me and I submitted an FOI request to the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform to see what was happening behind closed doors. The FOI request was answered properly and from the response, what was clear was that the government had gone to the Attorney General for advice on what to do next.
I sent a follow-up press query to the Department on 14 August asking what the outcome had been and asked specifically “whether Doherty was or was not entitled to the double allowance”.
A day later, they responded to say they had received advice from the Attorney General and that the matter was under consideration.
“That advice was recently received by the Department and is now being considered,” they said. “The matter will be dealt with in due course.”
That simply wasn’t true.
Allowance had been illegal
In fact, at least two weeks earlier the Department had already conceded that the allowance had been illegal. They had already written a letter to Regina Doherty’s Department to ask them how they were going to recoup the money from the Minister.
That letter to the Department of Social Protection, dated 26 July, said: “It is understood that Minister Doherty is aware of the situation and is agreeable to the repayment.”
Yet instead of admitting the matter had been resolved, the Department of Public Expenditure decided they were going to withhold the information.
An email from Minister Paschal Donohoe’s special adviser on 14 August to the Departmental press office said: “Sit tight on this for now.”
The response they sent to me insisted no decision had been made and another internal email said that if I were to come back looking for further information, I was to be told that they were not “going to comment further”.
Government more interested in public image
Fortunately, these documents came into the public domain this weekend in a story written by Hugh O’Connell of the Sunday Business Post. They illustrate yet again a government who seem more concerned with managing their public image than they are with almost anything else.
Journalists do not have high expectations when they deal with government departments in Ireland; they expect little and they often get less. However, at the very minimum they should expect the truth and the Department of Public Expenditure has crossed a line here.
Ministers and politicians look for accuracy from the media, and are quick to point out our mistakes. They have an obligation to the people who elected them, and to every taxpayer, to be open and transparent about how they spend public money.
From the documents, it appears that Minister Paschal Donohoe was at the very least aware of how the Department planned to approach this. He was one of the recipients of the email saying the Department should say nothing further if asked more questions about repayment of the allowance.
Labour TD Alan Kelly has already called for a statement from Minister Donohoe explaining the dishonesty in their reply. That is the least the public and media deserve.
Ken Foxe is a journalism lecturer in Dublin Institute of Technology and a freelance reporter.
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The general public deserve the truth too , reported with out any agendas or bias..
Journalists need to ask questions repeatedly until they get an answer and not settle for incoherent waffle
@David Huston: incoherent waffle and opinions pass for news these days it’s why fewer people are prepared to pay for it.
@Hardly Normal: at this stage I trust journalists less than politicians
Is that Regina the minister for tackling fraud in the Dep of Employment & Social Protection? Leo is filling the swamp.
@Dáithí Ó Raghallaigh: better watch what I am posting , might have a visit by the Garda for upsetting the woman.
Well explained …… just a peek under the rock i’d say.
This is not surprising, this is the new policy of ‘openness and transparency’ we were promised, what is surprising is ‘it’s exactly the same as the old policy’, oh well what did we expect……change, ahem.
Excellent article. More like this. Only the tip of the iceberg unfortunately.
Regina Doherty is a problem for another reason. She wants to “out-left” the left by increasing the already bloated welfare budget. Can we please get someone into that department who is actually interested in the taxpayer and who wants to cut the welfare budget, not increase it.
@Fred Jetson: Can’t think of a single politician who wants to cut welfare budget…Would be electoral suside…..
@John003: Plus maybe sending some desperate people over the edge or would you consider that a plus?
@Fred Jetson: I’d actually prefer taking more money from your wages and contributing it towards the social welfare budget and the only reason I am doing it is because your just a moaner
@John003: Bruton did it and nearly paid the price Hopefully the next time Sooner rather than Later
Good article Ken, and well done for putting your neck on the line, it’s well documented how Regina Doherty reacts to journalists who dare to tell the truth about her
http://www.thejournal.ie/catherine-kelly-regina-doherty-gardai-3477559-Jul2017/?utm_source=shortlink
It seems time has come for a regulator to be appointed over the Dail to unearth dodgy dealings by politicians and prosecute them. If it was what was required for bankers in this country it goes on the double for politicians !!
Leo the lion and his band of merry men only deal in lies if the truth came out of what’s really going on in the country the people would go nuts and these clowns would be out of a job remember ff fg all they know is lies
Media are hand in glove with this government and will report whatever govt says without any analysis or criticism what so ever.
Why are they surprised then when govt takes full advantage of their complicity. New media with proper journalists needed to redress the imbalance..
@TonyF: We don’t have any independent media in this country be it TV, radio or the papers. The state part run by what ever government that is in power and the majority of “independent” radio and newspapers owned by one company…….
Well done Ken Foxe.
It will be extra pathetic if Regina Doherty herself decides to remain silent on the matter.
This is political spin now drifted into the civil service. We now have a Special Communications unit to deal with government. We certainly won’t get any information with this crowd.
We may not belong to a banana Republic , but it sure is ‘slippy’ enough- dealing with such Public Representatives.The sad part is, this is only the ‘skin’ of the hoodwinking, of us , punters.
There is an old saying A Bird in The Had is Worth two in the bush Delighted to here one Bird has flown and Regina and Co have egg on their Faces Well done to the writer of the article 100% correct
Media are an unelected 4th branch of Govt. Far too influential and unfortunately not every journalist takes their responsibilities seriously. Really shouldn’t be complaining
Media are hand in glove with this government and will report whatever govt says without any analysis or criticism what so ever.
Why are they surprised then when govt takes full advantage of their complicity. New media with proper journalists needed to redress the imbalance..
Journalists complaining about ‘fake news’. What has the world come to?
This government is rotten.
@@mdmak33: No surprise. It’s a Fianna Fáil Fine Gael Government. Pure rot. And Lord Rots there as well.
Ahh” blue shirts playing the soldiers of destiny games, cant wait for knock on the door when they liar there arse of then I’ll set me dog on them
This FG government is bleeding the country dry.
Cynical journalism!!??
Whatever about responses from politicians the public are entitled to truthful responses from public servants
Delighted Journalist Foxe has the bottle and the right surname to scatter the roosters and chickens in the Uncivil Non-Service PC Elite Oireachtas. Their charges for PR are obscene.
Leo for rude awakening in next election. Mark my words. Poor people are NOT stupid OR lazy. And there ARE more of us than he thinks! Spin while you can Leo ;-)
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