TD Ken O'Flynn - Govt confirms it paid €1.6 Million for cars for Ukrainian Community: “utterly astonishing, financially indefensible, and the tip of a very expensive iceberg”
‘Essentially a gold-plated chauffeur service while Irish voluntary organisations are left begging.”
Costs of €1.6 million incurred by the Department of Housing; Local Government and Heritage for the purchase of cars for use by members of the Ukrainian community have been described as “utterly astonishing, financially indefensible, and the tip of a very expensive iceberg” by Independent Ireland Chairman and TD for Cork North Central Ken O’Flynn.
Deputy O’Flynn was speaking after Minister James Browne confirmed to him in a parliamentary reply that his department funded the purchase of 8 cars under the Community Car Initiative (CCI) to support the Offer a Home scheme, which sought the use of unoccupied homes to accommodate Beneficiaries of Temporary Protection from Ukraine:
“The explosive information I have received today will further consolidate the perception that an egregious level of double standards was applied with respect to the provision of supports for Ukrainians and the wall of indifference and tightening of the purse strings that many other communities or organisations met when it came to seeking funding for travel connectivity.”
“I want to emphasise that the €1.6 million in costs in no way reflects the full extent of the financial burden placed upon the taxpayer as it does not include the employment costs for the drivers who were contracted to deliver the service. I and my team are currently collating that data and we will make it available when that work is done.”
“This will infuriate people, especially here in Cork when see our own Cancer Connects, that has a network of approximately 430 voluntary drivers covering the entirety of Cork County basically having to beg and borrow for an increase in multi-annual funding of €50,000. Yet here we have a scheme whereby the Department handed over an average of €200k per car for what was essentially a personalised chauffeured transport scheme for the Ukrainian community, irrespective of how the minister wants to characterise.”
“There will certainly be more to follow on this story as I am absolutely determined to expose and highlight the hidden costs that the Irish taxpayers have had to carry for gold-plated schemes that exhibit this level of financial favouritism.”
@ciaranmullooly @MichaelFitzTD @MichaelC_IND_TD @MichaelC_IND_TD
