Committee led by ex-taoiseach Enda Kenny used bogus jobs to bolster official report

A monitoring committee led by Enda Kenny’s office used bogus jobs to bolster an official employment progress report.

The report falsely claimed that 83 positions with four companies had been created under the controversial Succeed in Ireland initiative even though not a single one of the jobs materialised.

Last week The Ditch reported that then taoiseach Enda Kenny, ex-enterprise minister Richard Bruton and ex-tánaiste Eamon Gilmore were among those who took credit for the same 83 bogus jobs.

'That was a lie. None of the jobs ever materialised'

In April 2012 jobs minister Richard Bruton told the Dáil that a” monitoring committee, comprising representatives from the Department of the Taoiseach, the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform, my own department and Forfas” had been formed to track the progress of the Action Plan for Jobs 2012.

Bruton’s department published the Action Plan for Jobs 2013 the following year. In the report it was stated, under action number 201, that the government would “continue to utilise the Global Irish Network to support economic development in Ireland.. such as the Succeed in Ireland initiative.

The Succeed in Ireland initiative would see a private company, ConnectIreland, paid €2,500 by the government for each job it helped create under the scheme.

In October 2013, less than two months before the Action Plan for Jobs 2013 report was published, Kenny, Bruton and Gilmore announced the creation of 83 new jobs at four different companies under the Succeed in Ireland scheme.

The report, published at the end of November 2013, stated that the creation of these jobs under the ConnectIreland run scheme meant that action number 201 had been achieved.

“Eighty-three new jobs have been created under the Succeed in Ireland initiative by four companies that are establishing new operations in Cork and Dublin,” read the report.

That was a lie. None of the jobs ever materialised.

Records released to The Ditch under freedom of information show that ConnectIreland received no payments for the 83 unrealised jobs – despite promoting them on its website as an example of the success of the Succeed in Ireland initiative.