KATHLEEN LYNCH, minister of state at the Department of Health, is employing a son-in-law as her €35,000-a-year ministerial driver, a practice previously criticised by taoiseach Enda Kenny.

All drivers, advisers and secretaries are required to sign forms declaring if they are related to the ministers employing them, under the terms of the Ethics in Public Office Act 1995. Steven Walsh, Lynch’s Cork-based driver, declared in a recent filing he is the junior minister’s son-in-law.

The practice of ministers employing relatives was criticised by Kenny earlier this year when it emerged John Perry, a Fine Gael TD and former junior minister, had hired his wife as his personal assistant. “I’ve given my opinion on this before and for many years. I don’t think it’s a wise