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Irish politicians hire family members despite election promises

CATHAL DERVAN,

IrishCentral Staff Writer

Published Tuesday, June 7, 2011, 8:16 AM

Updated Tuesday, June 7, 2011, 10:02 AM

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Minister for Training and Skills Ciaran Cannon has hired his wife as his secretary and his brother-in-law as his driver on salaries worth up to $60,000.

Photo by PA

Irish politicians are still keeping it all in the family according to a new survey published on Tuesday.

The Irish Independent has claimed that government Ministers and deputies are ignoring pre-election promises to rid the country of cronyism.

Many are still employing family members as staff with two government ministers even hiring two relatives to work for them.

The paper found that at least 25 of the 166 members of the Irish parliament had hired family members.

Minister for Training and Skills Ciaran Cannon has hired his wife as his secretary and his brother-in-law as his driver on salaries worth up to $60,000.

During the recent election Cannon had vowed that Fine Gael would: “Fix our political system and sweep away the culture of cronyism.”

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The paper also claims that Shane McEntee, Minister of State in the Department of Agriculture, is employing his daughter and his sister as a personal assistant on a job share basis.

Labor Party deputy Arthur Spring has hired his brother Graham as his parliamentary assistant.

“I’m hiring people myself and I guess, as you know, there’s more than myself that have hired people from within family realms,” said Spring. “My brother is the best man for the job.”

Labor’s Kathleen Lynch, junior enterprise minister Sean Sherlock’s sister works in his office and super-junior minister Willie Penrose also employ family members.

Nster.com

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6 Comments

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peterson | Jun 10, 2011, 06:21 PM EDT

Very typical.

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seanomelbourne | Jun 07, 2011, 06:47 PM EDT

to quote an old Serbian saying "If you haven't got you snout in the through your a pig"this is typical of the major parties in Ireland since 1922 rotten to the core.

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cillowen | Jun 07, 2011, 05:32 PM EDT

all in the family - the crud begetting crud - sad.

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Towngate | Jun 07, 2011, 12:22 PM EDT

Is nobody in charge to stop this parade of clowns?

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LoyalCitizen | Jun 07, 2011, 11:22 AM EDT

What's new about this story. You really can't expect much from these traitors who have been falsifying the rule books of Ireland for over 90 years. They certainly do not fear any prosecution from the courts and until you can deal with them for their lies and false promises when looking to get elected, you will have to put up with it.

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antoman | Jun 07, 2011, 11:21 AM EDT

Name and shame them.Good work.

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