Former Taoiseach's chairmanship of IFSC under investigation

Posted by Bronwen Maher on January 26, 2011 at 03:11 PM

John Bruton failed to notify commission of lobbying position

 
Labour MEP Nessa Childers today learned that former Taoiseach John Bruton, whose term as EU ambassador to the US ended in November 2009, failed to notify the European Commission about two new jobs which may involve potential conflicts of interest.
 
"As EU ambassador to the US from 2004-09, John Bruton was one of the most senior Commission officials, but he seems to have been unaware of the Staff Regulations which rule that anyone intending to take up a job within two years of leaving must inform the Commission of that new position so it can assess any possible conflicts of interest.
 
"Mr.Bruton took up the position September last year, and only now after being notified, has just this week submitted the required application for clearance. The Commission will now make a judgement whether to allow the former Taoiseach to continue in his position with the IFSC. This decision should be taken within 30 working days.
 
"The IFSC is central to Ireland's international financial services industry, which already supports in excess of 25,000 well paid jobs. It is crucial this important industry in promoted abroad by the most experienced and highly-regarded professionals. My own guess is that this was an oversight on the part of Mr. Bruton, who has always been a person of integrity.

"However this incident again reveals the deficiencies in the Barroso's Commission attitudes to transparency. Along with the case involving former Commissioner Charlie McCreevy post-Commission employment, this incident shows again that the Commission does not monitor post-employment activities for even its most senior officials.
 
"Judging from its record on revolving door cases so far we can not be certain as to the soundness of the process. Following a query I submitted last year, the Commission revealed that just one out of 201 requests for job approvals has been turned down since January 2008 (less than 0,5% of the cases).
 
The case also involves Mr.Bruton's position with Brussels-based lobby consultancy Cabinet DN, where he has worked as a Senior Advisor since December 2010.

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