Bad Hair Day For Ireland Health Minister

By Alison O’Connor

But that’s just the way the world is. On balance then, I wouldn’t begrudge what we heard described last week by health minister Mary Harney’s spokesman as a ‘‘standard wash-and-blow-dry’’ to a woman government minister ahead of attending an official function.

But a bill for $410, nestled among expenses totalling hundreds of thousands spent on games of golf, business class travel, fine wines and hotel pay-per-view movies rather changes the context.

As the incredible events surrounding spendthrift Fas executives and Mary Harney unfolded last week, I thought those claims for hotel pay-per-view movies really told their own story. Most people would pick up the tab at the hotel checkout if they watched a film, and most companies would simply take the view that movies are not a legitimate expense. Seeing these charges stuck in among other, far more extravagant ones in the Fas expenses, shows a prevailing attitude, as much as anything else: claim for everything, it won’t be queried.

Much can be said about the now former director-general of Fas Rody Molloy’s radio interview with Pat Kenny last Monday, not least his obvious perplexity over the fuss he seemed to believe had been whipped up over relatively little. He spoke at length about the Fas aerospace programme, which has been presented by some opposition members as slightly daft.On reading the details, it appears to have been quite a valuable programme. But what a high price we taxpayers have paid.

I seem to remember that Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic is promising to fly people to space for $100,000.Compared to what Fas has spent on maintaining its own space programme - just the flights to North America have cost €642,000 since 2003 - the space fare almost seems reasonable. We are, of course, now judging everything through the thorn-fringed spectacles of recession, but even during the boom times such revelations would have caused a stir. Which brings us back to the ‘‘standard wash-and-blow dry’’ and the $410 bill from the Florida beauty parlour, paid for on the company credit card of Fas corporate affairs director Greg Craig.

Reading the expenditure details released under a Freedom of Information request, you could only agree with Molloy’s assessment that the ‘‘amount of money, in terms of the total package, is very, very small’’. Never a truer word was spoken, but the irony - like so much else - appeared lost on Molloy. You couldn’t help but wonder what similar FoI requests to other semi-state bodies might uncover.

You’d need to know more exact detail to give a verdict on the minister’s judgment on this occasion - such as just how many women ran up the bill, and was it just hairdressing or were other beauty treatments involved. The fact that it appears that two beauty therapists went to the hotel each day during the visit certainly gives an air of being fairly flaithiulach with the taxpayers’ money - all the more so now when these things seem increasingly like a luxury.

The Dail Public Accounts Committee is examining the whole sorry mess at the moment, but at this stage, it’s very difficult to see where exactly responsibility lay between the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, the director general and the board of Fas. Either way, it was not a good few weeks for Harney, particularly following the over-70s medical card debacle. It’s hard to see her lasting too much longer in cabinet without the support of a party, although, for now, it suits Fianna Fail to have her continue in Health. It is a pity to see her career ending this way.

There were clearly lots of judgment issues involved for Molloy, not least his decision to go on national radio to defend his position without, apparently, properly preparing for it. It was amazing to hear him tell Kenny that he couldn’t give details on certain issues because he didn’t have the documents to hand as he wasn’t in his office. There was a certain surreal quality to the entire episode.

Following this performance came Taoiseach Brian Cowen’s comments that he had found Molloy to be an excellent public servant. Then there were Cowen’s subsequent congratulations to the man for walking the plank, saying it showed the confidence in him was justified. Loyalty is indeed admirable, but as Taoiseach, you have to show judgment, a regard for public opinion and a certain ruthlessness when the situation calls for it.

These days you’ve to join the queue to take a crack at Cowen. No matter how much he thinks the media loves a negative story, it is really getting tedious. It’s just one bad hair day after another.