Tánaiste promised funds that did not exist [IrishTimes]
- Published: 16 December 2010
TÁNAISTE MARY Coughlan made a commitment to give the nationwide Your Country, Your Call (YCYC) competition Government funding of €300,000 even though her then department did not have the funding in its budget.
The enterprise competition was initiated by Dr Martin McAleese, husband of President Mary McAleese, with the aim of finding two projects that would create prosperity and jobs for Ireland.
Documentation from the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Innovation – where the Tánaiste was minister until March this year – says a commitment “clearly appears to have been given at political level”.
“However, no additional funding has been made available to the department to provide such support,” a briefing note to the department’s secretary general and assistant secretary says.
The documentation, obtained under the Freedom of Information Act, also indicates the issue was “bounced around” the department. An e-mail from a staff member at the micro-enterprise policy unit to the office of Ms Coughlan’s successor, Batt O’Keeffe, said the unit had no role in the matter. Chairman of Your Country, Your Call, Lawrence Crowley, met Ms Coughlan in September 2009.
Full Story: www.irishtimes.com
