Call for Ross to probe Irish Rail on €20k angling fund

FIANNA FÁIL wants Shane Ross to examine Irish Rail’s decision to fund a €60,000 fishing contest just weeks after claiming it is facing insolvency.

As the Irish Daily Mail revealed last week, only around eight employees, including CEO David Franks, are attending the fourday fishing junket.

Starting from tomorrow, the lavish fourstar event based at Enniskillen’s Killyhevlin Hotel, in Co. Fermanagh, is to cost an estimated €60,000 and Irish Rail has admitted to forking out €20,000.

The cash-strapped company, which has repeatedly warned since 2014 that it is facing insolvency, has defended its involvement by insisting it is one of many ‘work-life balance initiatives’.

They also said it is part of the company’s promotion of ‘employee wellbeing and engagement’.

Since the story broke, Irish Rail has pointedly refused to explain what size of budget it has for ‘work-life balance initiatives’.

The Mail asked the company’s press office five times in the past week to explain the fund’s finances, but it refused to give any details.

But Fianna Fáil’s transport spokesperson, Robert Troy, wants assurances that public Irish Rail funds will no longer be used for anything other than their intended purpose. And Mr Troy is also to ask the Transport Minister, who returns to work today, to find out how much of Irish Rail’s budget is being used to fund junkets such as this week’s fishing trip.

‘It wouldn’t appear to be money well spent, considering Irish Rail is in such a dire financial state,’ Mr Troy said.

‘Shane Ross needs to have a conversation with the CEO of Irish Rail to make sure that the scarce money the company has is to carry out the services they are there to provide,’ he added.