Yearly Archives: 2017

The Public Accounts Committee this morning

This morning.

Garda Commissioner Nóirín O’Sullivan has told the Public Accounts Committee that she has referred suspicions of fraudulent activity related to the Garda College in Templemore, Co Tipperary – made by Head of Internal Audit Niall Kelly – to the Garda Siochana Ombudsman Commission (GSOC).

It follows a verbal briefing made by Mr Kelly to Ms O’Sullivan on Friday, when she requested a written report about the matter. This report was given to Ms O’Sullivan yesterday.

Meanwhile…

Fianna Fáil TD Marc Mac Sharry (above) repeatedly asked Ms O’Sullivan for the identity of the signatory of an AIB account in Cabra, Dublin.

This account is being investigated by the Garda Internal Audit Section after it found large sums of public money were sent to credit union and bank accounts opened and controlled by gardaí.

Ms O’Sullivan refused to name any signatory or signatories.

Mr Mac Sharry said: “We’re now not entitled to know that because, very conveniently, it was kicked into GSOC yesterday evening and we’re not going to know. It’s on the never never. God knows who’ll be on the Public Accounts Committee when that information comes out?”

In response, Ms O’Sullivan said: “Under no circumstances was this matter referred to GSOC to keep it from the view or the public view of this committee. It was referred to GSOC because that is the appropriate, impartial and objective statutory body that are there to carry out examinations and investigations…”

Watch proceedings live here

Earlier: A Templemore Timeline

Glass Dublin writes:

Hey Irish Rail “Do you want your receipt?” option or old school bin close by would avoid this mess at every DART station

Update:

In fairness.

The Taste of Dublin 2017 in the Iveagh Gardens on Sunday; Marcel Krueger

And How was Taste of Dublin for you?

Marcel Krueger writes:

I’m a German national living in Ireland for almost eleven years. I arrived on the dying breath of the Celtic Tiger, stayed through the crash and the burst housing bubble and watched the country recover economically. And again these days, there are signs that everyone’s partying again – whatever the cost.

Taste of Dublin is a four-day food festival taking place in the Iveagh Gardens in Dublin, and brands itself as the ‘ultimate foodie festival’.

I got my first ever taste of this event on Sunday, and while the food was indeed very good, I left with a bad aftertaste.

A standard ticket to the festival, which only included the entry to the site, set you back 22.50 Euros. The first thing I saw after entering was a sales display for luxury cars. Mixed with the food stands (where a small dish sets you back between 4 and 10 Euros) were stands advertising artificial grass, kitchen knives and art photographs..

Everything was branded and the presentation layered through sponsors and promotional agencies: the entertainment programme (which mostly consists of dance crews constantly mentioning their entertainment agency between performances and cover bands), the many bars, and even the butter stand (“Best Dressed Stand” or something) seemed to be operated by promoters.

The main sponsor, a German kitchen appliances producer, had a private lounge, and there was also a VIP suite run by a champagne producer in association with a cruise operator.

As mentioned before, the food was good and I enjoyed the craft beers on offer too, and there were a few independent operators (craft brewers and artisanal olive oil producers) to be found among the exhibitors, but the overall feeling was that of a professional food fair where mere mortals were allowed to mingle for a limited time. Tickets were only valid for four-hour lunch or evening ‘sessions’ anyway.

Maybe I’m still not properly adjusted to the bubble that’s back in Dublin these days, living in Dundalk under the shadow of Brexit and all that, or the festival has always been like that – but the whole thing seemed to me like an unabashed celebration of lifestyle that can be bought with money.

What your ticket buys you is, in short, the right to consume. Or, as the Irish Independent reported in fawning tones on Saturday:

Restaurateur Peter Rock of The Exchequer, who’s also running the VIP tent at Taste, said that the very first year, a total of 100 bottles of champagne were sold.

This year, they sold the same amount in just one four-hour session, at a mere €60 a pop.

These days, on the surface Ireland looks like the thriving poster child of austerity again to outsiders, with a gay Taoiseach of Indian descent leading the nation and more and more multi-national online companies queuing out in the Atlantic hoping to open an office in the Docklands soon.

There are those Dubliners and visitors for whom the prospect of paying 22.50 Euros and consuming overpriced food while listening to cover tunes constitutes a great family outing; and those for whom paying 22.50 Euros for any festival access is completely out of the question.

I’m not adding any pictures I took at the festival to this post, as according to the Taste of Dublin website:

‘all sound and moving or still picture rights including, without limitation, on the Internet, vest exclusively with the Organisers and any material filmed or recorded at the Event may only be used for the personal, non-profit making enjoyment of amateurs. By entering the venue, Ticket Holders consent to being photographed, filmed or recorded as visitors attending the Event, and consent to the image or recording of them being used in future marketing material for the Event, or their sponsors.’

Maybe I’ll visit Electric Picnic next.

A Taste of Dublin (Marcel Kreuger)

Meanwhile…

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Clockwise from bottom left: Chief Financial Officer Michael Culhane; Deputy Commissioner Dónall Ó Cualáin; Chief Superintendent Anne Marie McMahon; Garda Commissioner Noirin O’Sullivan; form Chief Administration Officer Cyril Dunne; Executive Director of Human Resources and People Development John Barrett and Head of Internal Audit Niall Kelly

This morning, Garda Commissioner Noirin O’Sullivan returns to the the Public Accounts Committee to field more questions about the Garda College.

You may recall reports of complex financial irregularities amid Byzantine-like accounting practices at the college in Templemore, Co Tipperary.

These irregularities concern matters of accounting and commercial practice, land ownership, the existence of unapproved bank and investment accounts, potential taxation and pension liability.

Plus questionable employment arrangements contrary to regulation, the collection of rental income from lands owned by the OPW, revenue generated in the Garda College ending up in more than 40 bank accounts and surplus funds – some of which should have been returned to the State – being used to purchase assets or put into private bank or credit union accounts or private Garda sporting facilities instead.

At its peak, a total sum of €2.3million in cash was held in various accounts, while questions remain over whether the Garda College is tax compliant.

Concerns about these financial irregularities were first reported by John Mooney, of The Sunday Times, in January of this year.

The Garda Commissioner Noirin O’Sullivan went on RTÉ’s Today with Seán O’Rourke, the following day, to say these matters were “legacy issues”.

Since then, an interim audit report about these irregularities was completed by the head of internal audit at An Garda Siochana Niall Kelly.

This audit report was given to the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) in March. Mr Kelly was asked to examine the Garda College after concerns were raised by John Barrett, head of HR, in the summer of 2015.

The Garda College has since been the subject of three PAC meetings – on May 4, May 31 and June 14.

Contrary to the matters being solely “legacy issues”, as Garda Commissioner Noirin O’Sullivan, who became Garda Commissioner in 2014, maintained, Mr Kelly told one of these PAC meetings:

“I was asking questions in 2008 and 2009 but I was not getting answers. In March 2011, in relation to the 2010 accounts, I got assurances that issues were being addressed. What happened in 2011 was that effectively the college closed and there was very little activity. Between 2011 and 2014, if I had gone to audit I probably would not have found anything because effectively we were doing nothing. In 2014-2015 these issues started arising again. In 2016, we were brought in to do the audit.”

 

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From ABC For Adults by British illustrator Toby Leigh: a satirical parody of a 1970s children’s alphabet primer already published in French, soon to be published in the US and via crowdfunding in the UK where certain publishers objected to some of the more controversial images, notably Q and S.

Previously: The Ladybird Book Of…

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