Who IS Kevin Cardiff and why was Nessa Childers threatened?

onq

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The Department of Finance was intimately involved in the Bailout, the Banking Crisis and Other Economic Issues.

Kevin Cardiff was one of the Big Wheels in that department.

How does someone who seems to have swallowed wholesale the assurances by Irish banks which have since been shown to be lies get PROMOTED within the department to the number One slot?

http://www.broadsheet.ie/2010/12/14/kevin-cardiff-the-smartest-guy-in-the-room/

How did someone like that then get put forward for an Auditor's Job, his department having apparently miscounted 3.6 billion Euro?

http://www.independent.ie/national-...vant-cardiff-for-euro180k-eu-job-2927521.html

Why does someone like Nessa Childers whose conscience makes her object to this person being nominated to the European Court of Auditors get threatened by her own party?

http://www.rte.ie/news/2011/1115/childersn.html

I am really, really, REALLY getting tired of seeing people who have what seems on the facts presented by the media to be questionable competence get promoted to positions of authority and high earnings.
 
Kevin Cardiff was the Head of the Banking Section who advised Brian Lenihan not to listen to McWilliams idea of a blanket bank guarantee.

I am sure that there were problems on his watch. But he has a record of achievement and respect within the civil service.

I dealt with him a few times when I was chairman of the Consumer Panel of the Financial Regulator and, although my dealings with him were limited, I got the impression that he was a good guy.

There is a big problem that civil servants can't go publicly and defend themselves or promote their achievements. And of course the politicians love to blame them. I would generally have more confidence in the civil servants that I have met than in the politicians I have met.

Cardiff has an easygoing manner and I believe he projected himself very badly in front of an Oireachtas Committee.

Brendan
 
I didn't want to parade that appearance on AAM, because I too have met officials and some of them have a poor ability to present themselves, never mind defend their position or that of their department.
I don't see that as a particular failing as their calling and nature seems to tend towards a behind-the-scenes supportive role.

Yes, the man exuded a certain degree of autocracy in front of the Oireachtas Committee.
This was commented on by one of my neighbours whose views on matters like this I respect, but I gave him the benefit of the doubt.

However then I saw this thing rolling on into a plum EU job in the face of the recent 3.6Bn "find" and then Nessa Childers alleged intimidation.
I felt it appropriate to air this on AAM where more informed posters like your good self might shed some light on it.

To say I am concerned about the progression and apparent promotion of Mr. Cardiff would be an understatement.
It would be questionable at the best of times, given the train of events described above by the press.

This is anything but the best of times, with in excess of the missing €3.6 Billion about to be taken out of the budget this year.
With all the talk of "accountability" going around, I think the fact that the government "recommended" him needs to be explained.

Now there's this bullying of Nessa Childers to not speak against his nomination, which is going too far.
This won't be seen as helping our image abroad.
 
ONQ. I agree that Mr Cardiff does have some hanging issues which should be fully addressed before any recommendation becoming final. possibly the worse side of this job is that it being seen as a way of sidelining an incompetent official to Europe (which may not be true but is the general perception).
In terms of the treatment of Nessa Childers I have to date only heard her own commentary on the matter and have missed any official response from the Labour Party. With Willie Penrose also raising issues re an inner5 clique within the Party this raises the threat of a repeat of the Cowen/Ahern days!!
 
Your comments about the quality of the Auditor's position echoes my initial impression - I got the impression that Europe knows this and resents it from the second link in the OP.
Willie Penrose today was a surprise, but I don't think the barracks closure was the real reason - something for another thread, possibly on politics.ie :)
The attempt to intimidate and silence Nessa Childers is a far more important issue than the Cardiff recommendation or Penrose's resignation.
 
I dont understand??

I thought incompetence at such a high level was always rewarded,werent they reading the script?
 
So, Europe is not a dumping ground for failed top level Irish civil servants any more! Unfortunately, that probably means that he has to be kept 'employed' in the Irish Civil Service, at no loss of income, until retirement age. :mad:
 
only sensible decision. but is the taxpayer stuck with him now especially if he retires on a fat pension.
 
The E.U. are setting a bad precedent here. Where can we send our also rans if there are no jobs in Brussels for them ?
 
He should never have been put forward for the position as this was bound to happen. It projects all the wrong images of this country. I do feel he has been scapegoated though it shows a bad lack of judgement on his part that he allowed himself to be put in this position.
 
... it shows a bad lack of judgement on his part that he allowed himself to be put in this position.

I doubt if he had any choice. The government probably made it clear that they wanted a clean break with the top civil servants who were around during the last administration.
 
Now the man is between a rock and a hard place.I.e Europe doesn't want him and Ireland doesn't want him. I'm sue the next move will be an early retirement with the "miserly" exit package that senior civil servants are entitled to. With his government experience & insider knowledge of how things work he should have no problems in picking up a lucrative private consultancy.
Call me a cynic :D
 
Now the man is between a rock and a hard place.I.e Europe doesn't want him and Ireland doesn't want him. I'm sue the next move will be an early retirement with the "miserly" exit package that senior civil servants are entitled to. With his government experience & insider knowledge of how things work he should have no problems in picking up a lucrative private consultancy.
Call me a cynic :D

You're a cynic
 
Kevin Cardiff was the Head of the Banking Section who advised Brian Lenihan not to listen to McWilliams idea of a blanket bank guarantee.

I am sure that there were problems on his watch. But he has a record of achievement and respect within the civil service.

I dealt with him a few times when I was chairman of the Consumer Panel of the Financial Regulator and, although my dealings with him were limited, I got the impression that he was a good guy.

There is a big problem that civil servants can't go publicly and defend themselves or promote their achievements. And of course the politicians love to blame them. I would generally have more confidence in the civil servants that I have met than in the politicians I have met.

Cardiff has an easygoing manner and I believe he projected himself very badly in front of an Oireachtas Committee.

Brendan

His CV makes for very funny reading - involved in tax policy in 2005/6 - wow thats worked out well for us hasnt it.

He who give't away cannot take back.
 
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