Jobs Minister failed to prioritise Ansbacher statement sought by gardaí - Tóibín
Jobs Minister failed to prioritise Ansbacher statement
sought by gardaí - Tóibín
The Sinn Féin Jobs Spokesperson said:
“It is deeply worrying that a statement detailing extremely serious allegations
was left languishing in the Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation
because it was not considered a priority.
“Jobs Minister Richard Bruton and senior officials from his department attended
today’s Jobs Committee to deal with concerns regarding the resourcing of the
department.
“Following recent revelations by a civil servant that the Minister had failed
to deal with his witness statement regarding the Ansbacher affair sought by the
Garda Bureau of Fraud Investigation two years ago Richard Bruton cited a lack
of resources as one of the reasons for the delay.
“Last month the Minister confirmed when questioned in the Dáil that the number
of civil servants working in his department has been cut by 25% since 2008.
“It emerged from today’s committee meeting that the recruitment embargo was not
the only reason for the delay in progressing the witness statement, the work
involved in dealing with it had been deprioritised before it had even begun.
“Despite
the serious nature of the allegations contained within the 200 page statement
and thousands of pages of supporting documentation the Minister and his senior
officials decided that it was not worthy of allocating the necessary resources
before even properly considering its contents, in effect appointing themselves
judge and jury on the matter.
“So the statement sought by the Garda Bureau of Fraud Investigation was left
sitting in the department for two years until the civil servant in question
clearly felt he had no other option but to seek another avenue to ensure the
matter was dealt with once and for all.
“Stumbling from one crisis to the next, acting only in response to political
and public duress has become this government’s M.O., and today’s admission by
the Jobs Minister is further evidence of this.”