President Higgins and Joan Freeman

Further to revelations of a hitherto unknown and unaudited annual Presidential allowance of €317,00…

Presidential candidate Joan Freeman writes::

“I’m shocked to hear that €317,000 of public money is paid every year without audit, without checks and without accountability.

I know of no other public money that is treated in this way, and to find people actually defending it is mind boggling.

On what possible grounds could you defend this level of secrecy?

As someone who has worked in the voluntary and charity sectors for years, I’m disappointed at the double standards in the way scrutiny is applied to public monies.

When we, rightly, demand openness, transparency and accountability of public spending, it behoves us to lead by example.

That is not the case here and we should be told what this budget is needed for, why it hasn’t been accounted for and why no-one bothered to ask questions until now.”

FIGHT!

Yesterday: The President’s €317,000 Top-Up ‘Allowance