If you’re trying to get a handle on why no members of the UK-based terror group, al-Muhajiroun, have ever been prosecuted by the UK authorities, you’d do well to read British historian Mark Curtis’s book – “Secret Affairs – Britain’s Collusion with Radical Islam” (https://digitalescobar.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/Digitalescobar.com-_Secret_Affairs_Britains.pdf) . He explains how UK intelligence services have a long history of colluding with radical Islamic militants – providing safe haven, finance and training in order to work in coordination with them to achieve specific foreign policy objectives. Is it any surprise that eventually there’d be blowback?
Quote from book:
“Omar Bakri Mohammed, who had established the militant al-Muhajiroun organisation, described (in 1998) how ‘I work here in accordance with the covenant of peace which I made with the British government when I got [political] asylum.’ Nine months later, he said in a further interview that ‘the British government knows who we are. MI5 has interrogated us many times. I think now we have something called public immunity.’
The ‘covenant’ can only be interpreted as utterly extraordinary, amounting to a ‘green light’ from Whitehall for groups to undertake terrorist activities overseas. The deadliness of this policy was revealed from the late 1980s onwards, as British-based groups, notably the GIA, Egyptian Islamic Jihad and the ARC, began to be involved in atrocities around the world. It was only after 9/11 that the ‘covenant’ began to be put under strain as the Blair government began drafting stricter anti-terrorism legislation. In October 2001,al-Muhajiroun released a statement which explicitly mentioned the covenant and the dangers that faced it:
‘For the moment, Muslims in the UK have a covenant of security which prevents them from attacking the lives and wealth of anyone here …However … the Blair regime is today sitting on a box of dynamite and have only themselves to blame if after attacking the Islamic movements and the Islamic scholars, it all blows up in their face.’
“
Great post f_lawless
Love good holiday reading tips
Not sure why my earlier reply wasn’t posted but here goes again. Do you believe Hillary Clinton created ISIS?
italia'90
Do you believe that yourself?
millie st murderlark
I would say decades of self-interested American interference created ISIS.*
*I have only a rudimentary understanding of US-Middle East politics so I probably shouldn’t even bother commenting.
italia'90
Comment is free around here as you know Millie and all opinions should be welcomed, right or wrong, informed or not. We’re all learning more about far off events that pre-internet times, we might never of known about. Don’t be too tempted to self-censure your thoughts and comments :)
Btw the historian and journalist Mark Curtis mentioned by f_lawless is worth a follow on the tweet machine for Notmsm journalism.
Lilly
May certainly looked unenthusiastic about meeting Putin – unlike that clown Trump. Two Cluster Bs side by side.
eoin
Would you look at the miserable face of Theresa May, she’s shocking unhappy that Russia won’t extradite the two suspects in the Skripal poisoning. And look at face of Putin, he couldn’t give a rat’s fupp about her, she’ll be history in less than a month, she leaves the UK in chaos and in all likelihood under the leadership of Boris Johnson. Not shown on the front page of the London Indo or FT, but Putin was grinning throughout the encounter which was broadcast.
eoin
Someone should do a montage of Theresa May looking glum, maybe set it to REM’s “Everybody hurts”.
Here’s another one, it’s the official pic from the EU of a meeting between JCJ and Theresa May. The meeting was the first one after Juncker had called May “nebulous”.
“When your day is long
And the night
The night is yours alone….”
shayna
Martin O’Neill is sacked a week after Roy Keane resigned. I think they should do a duo like George Best and Denis Law – travelling arenas across wherever – sometimes turning up, sometimes not? They were described as Yin and Yang when they became managers of the Ireland soccer team. They retorted, kinda in unison, who’s Yin and who’s Yang?
Al Bin Man
Keane’s ditched O’Neill now, he’s soiled goods
GiggidyGoo
Deasy calls for Waterford FG to be shut down. Bullying etc.
Fine Gael’s Waterford branch now faces an uncertain future following Deasy ‘bullying’ row
Irish Independent29 Jun 2019.
IN THE words of one minister: “It’s all a horrific mess.” Fine Gael TD John Deasy’s allegations of bullying in the party’s Waterford organisation have created yet another headache for Taoiseach Leo Varadkar.
Mr Deasy’s claims came the morning after party members in Waterford voted no confidence in him.
“Deputy Deasy hasn’t attended a meeting for four years. He fought no battle for us with north quays, the airport, hospital services. Anything we got, he had no part in it. We’re hoping HQ will help us out in some way.”
================
. FGs new recruit, Verona Murphy will fit right in with the bullying culture in FG apparently
9th February 2019 is was reported…..
The Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) has found that an office manager at the Irish Road Haulage Association (IRHA) was penalised for raising her concerns of alleged bullying against the IRHA’s president, Verona Murphy and two others at the association.
Paudie Coffey is facing potential financial wipeout after he sued a newspaper in Kilkenny. Last year, after a 3-week hearing at the High Court, a jury was unable to agree a decision. The courts have decided to hold a new second hearing with a new jury and we might hear an update on the re-hearing in a fortnight or so.
Paudie claims an article headlined “Coffey the Robber” was defamatory. The article was based on a press release issued by Senator Paudie Coffey’s FGl colleague, Minister of State for Local Government John Paul Phelan.
If Paudie loses “round two”, he’ll be facing legal cost, his own and Iconic Newspapers’, estimated by the Irish Times at around €1 million.
Shipping containers transformed into refuge for the homeless.
A group of social entrepreneurs are helping the homeless by transforming shipping containers into homes for rough sleepers. Dozens of old storage containers are being turned into living spaces as part of the project by social enterprise Help Bristol’s Homeless. The containers will provide accommodation for a rough sleeper for an entire year.
I think Travelodge in the UK built a hotel with shipping containers.
The ones for the homeless and rough sleepers do carry out a temporary function, however given the record of governments, they latch onto this eventually and the temporary function becomes the norm.
Reminds me of a scene from i-Robot. https://images.app.goo.gl/qPUitrsB84UNRSYp7
eoin
Have I got this right? On Tuesday, from 5pm, Eir appeared before an Oireachtas committee and claimed it could deliver the National Broadband Plan for less than €1bn. You’d think FG would be delighted, they could potentially save the taxpayer up to €2bn because the FG plan is to give the NBP to a Boston private equity fund which held inappropriate meetings with the decision-making minister who was fired (also, Denis O’Brien was added as a consortium member at the last minute of a multi-year procurement).
But no. NO! FG demanded that Eir produce their plan and gave them 24 hours, a deadline of 6pm on Wednesday. Eir did submit their plan but it was yesterday (Friday). Let’s hope FG don’t dismiss it because it didn’t meet their 24-hour deadline, like it’s only a €2bn saving.
And FG are sticklers for deadlines, the “fortnight long” review into the Mairia Bailey dodgy compo claim is now on day #31.
GiggidyGoo
FG are. what FG does. IW was teed up for their boss. (It’s still not off the table by the way). When that fell through, many people turned prophet and said that something else would be set up for him. Sure enough, another multi-billion gift emerged in the form of the NBP. And don’t be fooled by the ‘resignation’ of Naughton. That was also a show. A contract (gift) that large is always able to be enabled. Mr. Activator loves the billion euro contracts (IW/NCH/NBP) and also likes the smaller ones of course (providing security barriers etc.) with the councils etc.
By EU rules, seeing as McCourt re-wrote the tender, shouldn’t the tender be declared null and void? EIR’s re-entry is a direct result of the re-writing as the new, McCourt terms, makes it now viable for EIR.
As usual, nothing is straight with FG. Always caught with their pants down.
Al Bin Man
totally
What is the process by which we as citizens can get the EU to review and block this daylight robbery?
GiggidyGoo
Id say Mick Wallace and Clare Daly might have that sussed, and are already working on it. If you can’t get FG when you’re an elected representative in Ireland, you go further afield and shine the spotlight on them internationally.
eoin
Anyone catch Sean O’Rourke RTE radio show yesterday?
Pearse Doherty SF was in the studio and on the telephone was FG junior finance minister, the husky-voiced Michael Darcy. The subject du jour was the appointment of the new central bank governor.
Did you hear Sean, the RTE presenter say to Michael Darcy, “your people said you didn’t want to mix it with Pearse Doherty [and words to the effect, but you might want to respond to what Pearse has just said]”
So, there you have it. If you’re a guest on RTE, you can get “your people” to stipulate who you will or will not “mix” it with. Maybe “your people” can also stipulate what questions you’ll be asked. No wonder RTE is now classified as quasi-state media.
GiggidyGoo
Darcy is a one truck pony. Insurance. That’s it. No substance to him.
millie st murderlark
+1
I can’t stand the hack of him
Al Bin Man
Yes, well-spotted. But could you blame them?
Sinn Fein are very poorly briefed and amateurs
They had some environmental fella on against Richard Bruton the other night about the climate change plan and it was appalling. Bruton was an absolute disgrace and the Sinn fein guy was even worse. Totally incompetent, clueless, no grasp of the brief, the interviewer (Sarah) didn’t even have to try to show them up for the absolute sham it was. Just a reminder of why I don’t watch RTÉ other than the Sunday Game, and don’t pay the license fee. I do listen to Joe Duffy though for the lols and to remind myself why I don’t pay. Tubridy the same. His radio show is execrable. Absolute muck. Ray D’Arcy and Ronan Collins the same. You seriously think these poo holes are going to stand up for us, the plain people of Ireland who eat our dinner in the middle of the day?
eoin
Now that the pee and poo from Dublin has been dragged over to Wales by currents (or more likely, has been diluted by the tides and currents to such an extent that it’s more evenly spread around Dublin so the probability of you swallowing poo water has declined from 100% to what? 25%?), the Environmental Protection Agency covers its behind today by telling us 550,000 Irish Water *customers* have a water supply that is at risk of contamination.
Since when did we become *customers* you may ask?
Also, 550,000 households at an average of 3 people per household is around 1/3rd of the entire population of this country.
Who do you blame? The Minister is Eoghan Murphy. The board of Irish Water is
“Irish Water has an Executive Board comprising four members. The current members are:
Cathal Marley (Chairman and Acting Ervia Group CEO)
Eamon Gallen (Irish Water Acting MD)
Brendan Murphy (Ervia)
Michael O’Sullivan (Ervia)
The Board of Ervia consists of ten non-executive members (including the Chairman), who are appointed by the Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government”
eoin
Remember the recent European Parliament TV debates? Remember how Independent candidates were shouted down by FG and FF when they tried to raise concerns about the imminent trade deal with South American counties, Mercosur? No, no, corrected FF, the deal hasn’t yet been signed, so, you [Diarmuid O’Flynn[ are talking out of your behind raising talk about food standards and such.
The deal was signed yesterday.
GiggidyGoo
You always have to watch the last weeks leading up to the summer recess. Or re cess if you like. Always a time for pushing though something they want unnoticed
Al Bin Man
+1
Similarly with the Medican deal for medical cannabis
eoin
A week before the European elections, Phil Hogan as FG agriculture commissioner at the EU announces a €100m bailout package for Irish farmers to help them deal with Brexit. This, from the man we rarely ever hear from in Ireland. It was a bribe, pure and simple.
A month after the European elections (a) Phil Hogan signs Mercosur which sells out Irish beef farmers so the Germans can sell their cars without tariffs in South America and RTE connived with FG not to allow Mercosur to become an election issue last month (b) FG puts down a motion in the Dail to facilitate Ireland’s participation in German-led battlegroups and RTE connived with FG not to allow EU defence to become an election issue last month.
This sort of manipulative carry-on shouldn’t be possible in 2019, but then again, RTE is state-supported and about the only organisation that can afford to expand its news and current affairs division in the current challenged media environment.
Phil will be brought to book at some stage. What I like about these though, is that they will have no normal life in their old age. Kenny can’t go out for a night on the town. He even grew a beard to disguise himself last year. Hogan got booed on his home soil, in that sacred of stadiums, Nowlan Park, when he tried to promote himself on stage when Kilkenny won the All Ireland a few years ago. His IW threats are not forgotten, nor his little private meeting with Dinny at Mt. Juliet, and neither will this €100m election ploy. The man will be an outcast when he returns.
The idiot boy Hayes is back in the country now callin in favours all round.
Al Bin Man
I hope you’re right (2)
That’s great news about Hogan
To be fair to RTÉ you may not have heard the interview this morning with Hogan and Damien O’Reilly in the farming program. O’Reilly really called him on his BS and then the two main farmers groups representatives came on and rubbished the deal as well. ICMSA guy did really well, far better than Joe Healy who is poor.
eoin
Where’s Johnny Green when you need him!
Bloomberg yesterday issued some financial figures for Denis O’Brien’s Digicel. However, the figures are extremely limited. EBITDA of $210m in the Jan/Feb/Mar 2019 uarter. Revenue of $570m (which was surprisingly high, up substantially from my estimate of $525m and worthy of scrutiny). No word on debt which was reported at $6.7m in the previous quarter ending December 2018.
The EBITDA of $210m means Digicel has EBITDA of $951m in the year to March 2019, which I believe is 10% down on a year previously and down 20% from the reported EBITDA for 2016. My estimate of debt in March 2019 is $7.1bn which, if correct, would indicate debt:EBITDA of 7.5. Wasn’t Digicel supposed to reduce that ratio to 5.7 last year.
There’s no word on net profit or loss for the year. I believe Digicel will have made a loss of $150-200m, but who knows. No word on cash either, but with the renegotiation of mobile licences and no new disposals to report, I think cash may be around $75m today which, if true, would place the company in a highly precarious state with looming interest payments on debt and licence renewals.
Digicel bonds are trading at record lows.
Denis is no longer Ireland’s richest man according to the Sunday Times, Larry Goodman and Dermot Desmond are amongst those leapfrogging him and the Sunday Times valued Denis’s Digicel at €500m, it mightn’t be worth €100m.
In other words or TL:DR, FG, get your fingers out and give Denis the NBP pronto and be as dismissive as you can be of the Eir €1bn plan. Also, CAB, can you concentrate your efforts on those battered auld “rolexes” and don’t be continuing to look at that Moriarty Report.
Al Bin Man
totally
What is the process by which we as citizens can get the EU to review and block this daylight robbery?
Johnny Green
That’s superb Eoin,I’m at the beach,it’s July 4th here next week.I did look Digicel up with the rating agencies,before leaving the city.With the surprisingly successful recent bond deal I presumed they had some more time,there is value there just too much debt.
Nice work a Eoin,thank you.
Man On Fire
Bailey report not in the public interest according to pompous Leo..
I look forward to the leaked report, presumably Madigan doesn’t fair well in it..
GiggidyGoo
That’s if there was any investigation or is any report to begin with.
Al Bin Man
+1
As the great Bertie used to say “smokes and mirrors”
If you’re trying to get a handle on why no members of the UK-based terror group, al-Muhajiroun, have ever been prosecuted by the UK authorities, you’d do well to read British historian Mark Curtis’s book – “Secret Affairs – Britain’s Collusion with Radical Islam” (https://digitalescobar.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/Digitalescobar.com-_Secret_Affairs_Britains.pdf) . He explains how UK intelligence services have a long history of colluding with radical Islamic militants – providing safe haven, finance and training in order to work in coordination with them to achieve specific foreign policy objectives. Is it any surprise that eventually there’d be blowback?
Quote from book:
“Omar Bakri Mohammed, who had established the militant al-Muhajiroun organisation, described (in 1998) how ‘I work here in accordance with the covenant of peace which I made with the British government when I got [political] asylum.’ Nine months later, he said in a further interview that ‘the British government knows who we are. MI5 has interrogated us many times. I think now we have something called public immunity.’
The ‘covenant’ can only be interpreted as utterly extraordinary, amounting to a ‘green light’ from Whitehall for groups to undertake terrorist activities overseas. The deadliness of this policy was revealed from the late 1980s onwards, as British-based groups, notably the GIA, Egyptian Islamic Jihad and the ARC, began to be involved in atrocities around the world. It was only after 9/11 that the ‘covenant’ began to be put under strain as the Blair government began drafting stricter anti-terrorism legislation. In October 2001,al-Muhajiroun released a statement which explicitly mentioned the covenant and the dangers that faced it:
‘For the moment, Muslims in the UK have a covenant of security which prevents them from attacking the lives and wealth of anyone here …However … the Blair regime is today sitting on a box of dynamite and have only themselves to blame if after attacking the Islamic movements and the Islamic scholars, it all blows up in their face.’
“
Good morning to you too f_law
Feck
Great post f_lawless
Love good holiday reading tips
Not sure why my earlier reply wasn’t posted but here goes again. Do you believe Hillary Clinton created ISIS?
Do you believe that yourself?
I would say decades of self-interested American interference created ISIS.*
*I have only a rudimentary understanding of US-Middle East politics so I probably shouldn’t even bother commenting.
Comment is free around here as you know Millie and all opinions should be welcomed, right or wrong, informed or not. We’re all learning more about far off events that pre-internet times, we might never of known about. Don’t be too tempted to self-censure your thoughts and comments :)
Btw the historian and journalist Mark Curtis mentioned by f_lawless is worth a follow on the tweet machine for Notmsm journalism.
May certainly looked unenthusiastic about meeting Putin – unlike that clown Trump. Two Cluster Bs side by side.
Would you look at the miserable face of Theresa May, she’s shocking unhappy that Russia won’t extradite the two suspects in the Skripal poisoning. And look at face of Putin, he couldn’t give a rat’s fupp about her, she’ll be history in less than a month, she leaves the UK in chaos and in all likelihood under the leadership of Boris Johnson. Not shown on the front page of the London Indo or FT, but Putin was grinning throughout the encounter which was broadcast.
Someone should do a montage of Theresa May looking glum, maybe set it to REM’s “Everybody hurts”.
Here’s another one, it’s the official pic from the EU of a meeting between JCJ and Theresa May. The meeting was the first one after Juncker had called May “nebulous”.
https://ec.europa.eu/unitedkingdom/news/remarks-president-jean-claude-juncker-joint-press-conference-uk-prime-minister-theresa-may_en
All together now.
“When your day is long
And the night
The night is yours alone….”
Martin O’Neill is sacked a week after Roy Keane resigned. I think they should do a duo like George Best and Denis Law – travelling arenas across wherever – sometimes turning up, sometimes not? They were described as Yin and Yang when they became managers of the Ireland soccer team. They retorted, kinda in unison, who’s Yin and who’s Yang?
Keane’s ditched O’Neill now, he’s soiled goods
Deasy calls for Waterford FG to be shut down. Bullying etc.
Fine Gael’s Waterford branch now faces an uncertain future following Deasy ‘bullying’ row
Irish Independent29 Jun 2019.
IN THE words of one minister: “It’s all a horrific mess.” Fine Gael TD John Deasy’s allegations of bullying in the party’s Waterford organisation have created yet another headache for Taoiseach Leo Varadkar.
Mr Deasy’s claims came the morning after party members in Waterford voted no confidence in him.
“Deputy Deasy hasn’t attended a meeting for four years. He fought no battle for us with north quays, the airport, hospital services. Anything we got, he had no part in it. We’re hoping HQ will help us out in some way.”
================
. FGs new recruit, Verona Murphy will fit right in with the bullying culture in FG apparently
9th February 2019 is was reported…..
The Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) has found that an office manager at the Irish Road Haulage Association (IRHA) was penalised for raising her concerns of alleged bullying against the IRHA’s president, Verona Murphy and two others at the association.
I’d say Paudie Coffey is no pet either
Paudie Coffey is facing potential financial wipeout after he sued a newspaper in Kilkenny. Last year, after a 3-week hearing at the High Court, a jury was unable to agree a decision. The courts have decided to hold a new second hearing with a new jury and we might hear an update on the re-hearing in a fortnight or so.
Paudie claims an article headlined “Coffey the Robber” was defamatory. The article was based on a press release issued by Senator Paudie Coffey’s FGl colleague, Minister of State for Local Government John Paul Phelan.
If Paudie loses “round two”, he’ll be facing legal cost, his own and Iconic Newspapers’, estimated by the Irish Times at around €1 million.
maybe I should introduce myself so
•-)
Shipping containers transformed into refuge for the homeless.
A group of social entrepreneurs are helping the homeless by transforming shipping containers into homes for rough sleepers. Dozens of old storage containers are being turned into living spaces as part of the project by social enterprise Help Bristol’s Homeless. The containers will provide accommodation for a rough sleeper for an entire year.
https://metro.co.uk/2019/02/09/shipping-containers-transformed-refuge-homeless-8490926/?
I think Travelodge in the UK built a hotel with shipping containers.
The ones for the homeless and rough sleepers do carry out a temporary function, however given the record of governments, they latch onto this eventually and the temporary function becomes the norm.
Reminds me of a scene from i-Robot.
https://images.app.goo.gl/qPUitrsB84UNRSYp7
Have I got this right? On Tuesday, from 5pm, Eir appeared before an Oireachtas committee and claimed it could deliver the National Broadband Plan for less than €1bn. You’d think FG would be delighted, they could potentially save the taxpayer up to €2bn because the FG plan is to give the NBP to a Boston private equity fund which held inappropriate meetings with the decision-making minister who was fired (also, Denis O’Brien was added as a consortium member at the last minute of a multi-year procurement).
But no. NO! FG demanded that Eir produce their plan and gave them 24 hours, a deadline of 6pm on Wednesday. Eir did submit their plan but it was yesterday (Friday). Let’s hope FG don’t dismiss it because it didn’t meet their 24-hour deadline, like it’s only a €2bn saving.
And FG are sticklers for deadlines, the “fortnight long” review into the Mairia Bailey dodgy compo claim is now on day #31.
FG are. what FG does. IW was teed up for their boss. (It’s still not off the table by the way). When that fell through, many people turned prophet and said that something else would be set up for him. Sure enough, another multi-billion gift emerged in the form of the NBP. And don’t be fooled by the ‘resignation’ of Naughton. That was also a show. A contract (gift) that large is always able to be enabled. Mr. Activator loves the billion euro contracts (IW/NCH/NBP) and also likes the smaller ones of course (providing security barriers etc.) with the councils etc.
By EU rules, seeing as McCourt re-wrote the tender, shouldn’t the tender be declared null and void? EIR’s re-entry is a direct result of the re-writing as the new, McCourt terms, makes it now viable for EIR.
As usual, nothing is straight with FG. Always caught with their pants down.
totally
What is the process by which we as citizens can get the EU to review and block this daylight robbery?
Id say Mick Wallace and Clare Daly might have that sussed, and are already working on it. If you can’t get FG when you’re an elected representative in Ireland, you go further afield and shine the spotlight on them internationally.
Anyone catch Sean O’Rourke RTE radio show yesterday?
Pearse Doherty SF was in the studio and on the telephone was FG junior finance minister, the husky-voiced Michael Darcy. The subject du jour was the appointment of the new central bank governor.
Did you hear Sean, the RTE presenter say to Michael Darcy, “your people said you didn’t want to mix it with Pearse Doherty [and words to the effect, but you might want to respond to what Pearse has just said]”
So, there you have it. If you’re a guest on RTE, you can get “your people” to stipulate who you will or will not “mix” it with. Maybe “your people” can also stipulate what questions you’ll be asked. No wonder RTE is now classified as quasi-state media.
Darcy is a one truck pony. Insurance. That’s it. No substance to him.
+1
I can’t stand the hack of him
Yes, well-spotted. But could you blame them?
Sinn Fein are very poorly briefed and amateurs
They had some environmental fella on against Richard Bruton the other night about the climate change plan and it was appalling. Bruton was an absolute disgrace and the Sinn fein guy was even worse. Totally incompetent, clueless, no grasp of the brief, the interviewer (Sarah) didn’t even have to try to show them up for the absolute sham it was. Just a reminder of why I don’t watch RTÉ other than the Sunday Game, and don’t pay the license fee. I do listen to Joe Duffy though for the lols and to remind myself why I don’t pay. Tubridy the same. His radio show is execrable. Absolute muck. Ray D’Arcy and Ronan Collins the same. You seriously think these poo holes are going to stand up for us, the plain people of Ireland who eat our dinner in the middle of the day?
Now that the pee and poo from Dublin has been dragged over to Wales by currents (or more likely, has been diluted by the tides and currents to such an extent that it’s more evenly spread around Dublin so the probability of you swallowing poo water has declined from 100% to what? 25%?), the Environmental Protection Agency covers its behind today by telling us 550,000 Irish Water *customers* have a water supply that is at risk of contamination.
Since when did we become *customers* you may ask?
Also, 550,000 households at an average of 3 people per household is around 1/3rd of the entire population of this country.
Who do you blame? The Minister is Eoghan Murphy. The board of Irish Water is
“Irish Water has an Executive Board comprising four members. The current members are:
Cathal Marley (Chairman and Acting Ervia Group CEO)
Eamon Gallen (Irish Water Acting MD)
Brendan Murphy (Ervia)
Michael O’Sullivan (Ervia)
The Board of Ervia consists of ten non-executive members (including the Chairman), who are appointed by the Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government”
Remember the recent European Parliament TV debates? Remember how Independent candidates were shouted down by FG and FF when they tried to raise concerns about the imminent trade deal with South American counties, Mercosur? No, no, corrected FF, the deal hasn’t yet been signed, so, you [Diarmuid O’Flynn[ are talking out of your behind raising talk about food standards and such.
The deal was signed yesterday.
You always have to watch the last weeks leading up to the summer recess. Or re cess if you like. Always a time for pushing though something they want unnoticed
+1
Similarly with the Medican deal for medical cannabis
A week before the European elections, Phil Hogan as FG agriculture commissioner at the EU announces a €100m bailout package for Irish farmers to help them deal with Brexit. This, from the man we rarely ever hear from in Ireland. It was a bribe, pure and simple.
A month after the European elections (a) Phil Hogan signs Mercosur which sells out Irish beef farmers so the Germans can sell their cars without tariffs in South America and RTE connived with FG not to allow Mercosur to become an election issue last month (b) FG puts down a motion in the Dail to facilitate Ireland’s participation in German-led battlegroups and RTE connived with FG not to allow EU defence to become an election issue last month.
This sort of manipulative carry-on shouldn’t be possible in 2019, but then again, RTE is state-supported and about the only organisation that can afford to expand its news and current affairs division in the current challenged media environment.
We need our own News Channel E
Phil will be brought to book at some stage. What I like about these though, is that they will have no normal life in their old age. Kenny can’t go out for a night on the town. He even grew a beard to disguise himself last year. Hogan got booed on his home soil, in that sacred of stadiums, Nowlan Park, when he tried to promote himself on stage when Kilkenny won the All Ireland a few years ago. His IW threats are not forgotten, nor his little private meeting with Dinny at Mt. Juliet, and neither will this €100m election ploy. The man will be an outcast when he returns.
The idiot boy Hayes is back in the country now callin in favours all round.
I hope you’re right (2)
That’s great news about Hogan
To be fair to RTÉ you may not have heard the interview this morning with Hogan and Damien O’Reilly in the farming program. O’Reilly really called him on his BS and then the two main farmers groups representatives came on and rubbished the deal as well. ICMSA guy did really well, far better than Joe Healy who is poor.
Where’s Johnny Green when you need him!
Bloomberg yesterday issued some financial figures for Denis O’Brien’s Digicel. However, the figures are extremely limited. EBITDA of $210m in the Jan/Feb/Mar 2019 uarter. Revenue of $570m (which was surprisingly high, up substantially from my estimate of $525m and worthy of scrutiny). No word on debt which was reported at $6.7m in the previous quarter ending December 2018.
The EBITDA of $210m means Digicel has EBITDA of $951m in the year to March 2019, which I believe is 10% down on a year previously and down 20% from the reported EBITDA for 2016. My estimate of debt in March 2019 is $7.1bn which, if correct, would indicate debt:EBITDA of 7.5. Wasn’t Digicel supposed to reduce that ratio to 5.7 last year.
There’s no word on net profit or loss for the year. I believe Digicel will have made a loss of $150-200m, but who knows. No word on cash either, but with the renegotiation of mobile licences and no new disposals to report, I think cash may be around $75m today which, if true, would place the company in a highly precarious state with looming interest payments on debt and licence renewals.
Digicel bonds are trading at record lows.
Denis is no longer Ireland’s richest man according to the Sunday Times, Larry Goodman and Dermot Desmond are amongst those leapfrogging him and the Sunday Times valued Denis’s Digicel at €500m, it mightn’t be worth €100m.
In other words or TL:DR, FG, get your fingers out and give Denis the NBP pronto and be as dismissive as you can be of the Eir €1bn plan. Also, CAB, can you concentrate your efforts on those battered auld “rolexes” and don’t be continuing to look at that Moriarty Report.
totally
What is the process by which we as citizens can get the EU to review and block this daylight robbery?
That’s superb Eoin,I’m at the beach,it’s July 4th here next week.I did look Digicel up with the rating agencies,before leaving the city.With the surprisingly successful recent bond deal I presumed they had some more time,there is value there just too much debt.
Nice work a Eoin,thank you.
Bailey report not in the public interest according to pompous Leo..
I look forward to the leaked report, presumably Madigan doesn’t fair well in it..
That’s if there was any investigation or is any report to begin with.
+1
As the great Bertie used to say “smokes and mirrors”