Archive for the ‘independent’ tag
Old Dogs and Very Old Tricks
Well, that seemed to blow over quite quickly. Suddenly, does anyone care about Beverley Flynn’s €41k problem? With Patrick Neary just jumping ship as the Financial Regulator, the chances are that the analysis part of the story are going to be swallowed by Neary news in the weekend news cycles.
To summarise the affair: after losing a libel case against RTE earlier in the decade, over news that Flynn (when working with National Irish Bank) had actively assisted customers in setting up offshore bank accounts, Beverly Flynn was kicked out of the Fianna Fáil party. Nonetheless, she fought the 2007 General Election as an independent candidate, and retained her seat. This is where the curious stuff comes to light: as an Independent TD, Bev was entitled to an annual allowance of €41k, meant to assist her in her duties in lieu of the assistance of a party structure. Of course, Flynn worked her way back into FF after the election – and that’s where the dispute arises.