“What’s in it for me?”
A number of Irish politicians will be implicated in a damning investigation into standards in public office to be aired on RTE tonight.
The documentary, RTE Investigates Standards in Public Office, will reveal that three councillors agreed to lobby on behalf of a fictitious wind farm company in exchange for money or the promise of a loan or an investment in a private business.
In the preview clip below, Hugh McElvaney, a four-time mayor of Monaghan and former Fine Gael councillor, is heard asking “what’s in it for me?” in a phone conversation with an undercover reporter.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5bNVR-3ZJHs
Clip via RTE TV Promotions
Later in the conversation he asks “Are you going to pay me by the hour or the job?” and on hearing that the representative of the fictitious company (the undercover reporter) will be over from London on a visit, he asks “and you will have plenty of sterling with you?”
Fianna Fáil councillor Joe Queenan from Sligo and independent councillor John O’Donnell from Donegal are also implicated in a documentary that reveals conflicts of interest in local and national politics after a detailed examination of the declarations of interest of over 1,000 elected representatives in Ireland.
RTE Investigates Standards in Public Office airs on RTE One at 9.35pm tonight.
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