Yearly Archives: 2014

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Colm Keena, in the Irish Times reports:

“Irish food multinational Glanbia has put more than €1 billion into companies in Luxembourg that have no employees but serve to reduce its tax bill here. The companies are the subject of advanced tax agreements (ATAs) negotiated with the tax authorities in Luxembourg and feature in 28,000 pages of leaked documentation from PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) in Luxembourg detailing ATAs with multinational companies around the globe.”
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“The leaked documents show how Pepsi, Ikea, FedEx and 340 other companies secured tax deals from Luxembourg, allowing many of them to slash their tax bills while maintaining little presence in the tiny European Union member state.”

“The material also shows how foreign multinationals use Ireland as part of Luxembourg- based structures that reduce their corporation tax bills in the Republic and elsewhere.The documentation was made available to media organisations as part of a major investigation into Luxembourg’s role in global tax avoidance.”

Glanbia’s €1bn Luxembourg move to cut its Irish tax bill (Colm Keena, Irish Times)

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Me Myself writes:

Just passed by The Four Courts [last night] and saw this. Seems to have been a poor turn out judging by the Million Mask March Dublin Facebook event page. Perhaps everyone was tired from marching in protest against the water charges.

trichetJean Claude Trichet

… It is the position of the [ECB] Governing Council that it is only if we receive in writing a commitment from the Irish government vis-a-vis the Eurosystem on the four following points that we can authorise further provisions of ELA [emergency liquidity] to Irish financial institutions:

1) The Irish government shall send a request for financial support to the Eurogroup;

2) The request shall include the commitment to undertake decisive actions in the areas of fiscal consolidation, structural reforms and financial sector restructuring, in agreement with the European Commission, the International Monetary Fund and the ECB;

3) The plan for the restructuring of the Irish financial sector shall include the provision of the necessary capital to those Irish banks needing it and will be funded by the financial resources provided at the European and international level to the Irish government as well as by financial means currently available to the lrish government, including existing cash reserves of the Irish government;

4) The repayment of the funds provided in the form of ELA shall be fully guaranteed by the Irish government, which would ensure the payment of immediate compensation to the Central Bank of Ireland in the event of missed payments on the side of the recipient institutions.

I am sure that you are aware that a swift response is needed before markets open next week, as evidenced by recent market tensions which may further escalate, possibly in a disruptive way, if no concrete action is taken by the Irish government on the points I mention above.

Portion of a letter sent to then Finance Minister Brian Lenihan from ECB President Jean Claude Trichet on November 19, 2010

Jean Claude Trichet letter to Brian Lenihan (Irish Times)

Reuters

Meanwhile…

And…

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Via NAMAwinelake

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A collection of original WW2 British propaganda posters currently accepting bids at David Lay Auctions. Most guide prices are between £30 and £200 but the one on the top left (£800 – £1000 guide) is the most valuable. To wit:

ABRAM GAMES 1914-1996 “Blonde Bombshell” WWII ATS Recruitment Poster Printed for HM Stationery Office by Fosh & Cross Ltd. 1941 73 x 48.5cm Note: When this poster was first issued, Games was criticised for making the design ‘too glamorous’ and it was withdrawn. Games went on to design the official stamp for the 1948 Olympic games and the emblem for the 1951 Festival of Britain.

quipsologies

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Chaoitic scenes outside Coolock Garda Station, Dublin tonight (above) following the detention of three irish Water protestors this afternoon in Santry (Top video).

The two men and one woman were detained during The Taoiseach Enda Kenny’s earlier visit to Santry [for a meeting with Denis O’Brien], where anti-water charge protesters heckled him as he arrived. They have since been released and Gardaí say they are no longer at the station, however the protest continued.
Gardaí confirmed that a crowd gathered outside, and that the road by the station was closed for a time and diversions were in place.

Angry clashes between water-charge protesters and gardaí in Coolock (BreakingNews.ie)

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1450311_965287930155156_162923619231117200_nMORE to folly.

Thanks Dermot Ahern (Irish Examiner); Meliosa Fitzgibbon (Irish Daily Mail); Niamh McEneaney (Irish Mirror); Enda Cunningham (Connacht Tribune); Neil Henderson (UK covers); Ronan Casey (Topic series).

Covers to broadsheet@broadsheet.ie

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The National Museum, Kildare Street, Dublin  this evening.

The IDA [Industrial Development Authority] Night at The Museum, a Web Summit fringe event.

Emily writes:

Bono told the approving/adoring audience that “This place” (National Museum, which is under threat of closing) is “impressive even by my rockstar megalomaniac standards”. He compared his “small man syndrome” to the one Ireland has in terms of ‘punching above our weight’, etc.,. He sang a bit of Elvis., charmed everyone and called out Enda’s mobile number….

Pics: Emily and Kevin Whitty