“If you’ve nothing to hide, you’ve nothing to fear”
Speaking on the Last Word with Matt Cooper earlier today FF TD Niall Collins trotted out that old canard – “if you’ve nothing to hide, you’ve nothing to fear” – in relation to the new data retention bill. Curiously, when asked if he’d be happy to provide us with his mobile phone bills for the last two years and details of his emails for the last year he claimed not to understand the question and refused to do so.
Just so there’s no confusion we’re repeating the request here – if he genuinely has nothing to hide then surely he’ll be happy to provide us with details of his (taxpayer funded!) mobile phone bills for the last two years and we’ll be happy to put them online. A request has been sent to him by email and by voicemail to his constituency office asking if he will make that information available to us and if not why not. Any reply will be posted to this blog. Though perhaps you shouldn’t hold your breath.
Update (14.07.09): The chutzpah of FF TDs knows no bounds. According to today’s Independent, at a recent FF meeting backbenchers opposed being required to use a swipe card to track attendance:
The TDs also resented the idea of a swipe card that would keep track of their comings and goings at Leinster House and prevent claims for expenses from absent members…
TDs and senators believe that a pilot scheme for civil servants where their attendance and hours in work would be monitored by a swipe card system will be used to check up on them. And while most privately acknowledge that a few may abuse their expenses and allowance privileges, they resent the idea of a “Big Brother system of electronic supervision”.
