Just so’s we’re all clear, is the IDM “journalist” Michelle O’Keeffe who appears to be so keen to join the choir “Welfare cheats cheat us all” the same Michelle who graced the Indo in 2015?
“Judge is disappointed
‘It’s disappointing she didn’t take the time or trouble to come to court,’ Judge Deirdre Gearty said of a journalist charged with a number of motoring offences.
Michelle O’Keeffe (38) was fined €500 for having no insurance when stopped by gardai at Park Street, Dundalk on 24 June, 2014. Other charges were taken into consideration.
Solicitor Dermot Lavery said his client was a journalist employed in Dublin, and her licence was extremely important to her.
The insurance was only out a short time, and the defendant had to re-apply for her licence. She took a chance.”
Or am I thinking of a different person called Michelle O’Keeffe?
Eoin
Don’t think the Daily Mail in Ireland is too fussed about the calibre of its journalists, at least that’s the impression I got at the Charleton Tribunal last year.
jusayinlike
Varadkar vultures funds
No poo..
Johnny
WaPo did great piece this week on vulture fund Cerberus,it’s buy off NAMA of Project Eagle (NI loans) is subject,numerous hearings,police investigations.They have also purchased billions of home loans,this is how a similar strategy is playing out in Memphis.
‘Cerberus also files for eviction of its tenants more than other landlords.
The company has filed for eviction at an annual rate of 21 times per 100 homes since 2015, the highest rate among the region’s large property managers and above the overall average in the Memphis area of 11 evictions per 100 rental homes. The discrepancy can’t be explained by where FirstKey has properties: Its rate of filing for evictions is far above average in 17 out of 18 Zip codes where it has at least 20 homes, according to The Post’s analysis‘ https://www.bizjournals.com/memphis/news/2018/12/27/as-memphis-continues-property-registry-plans-wapo.html
Cian
So a company that deals exclusively in distressed loans has more evictions than companies that deal with non distressed loans (And that sell their problem loans). This isn’t surprising.
Johnny
It’s a wonder the WaPO investigative unit,even bothered doing a two page spread complete with new research and real data,your anacadotes and spin are so much better :)
Joe
Varadkar praises vulture funds! What a pile of execrable lala FFG and Varadkar are! It’s no wonder Noonan and Paschal ensured they pay no tax, time to flush the FFG turds down the toilet!
Sheik Yahbouti
Hear hear.
Giggidygoo
In France they used to string up the likes of FFG
realPolithicks
Off with their heads!
Ads
Thatcher yet lives.
SOQ
Ironic that a woman who caused so much heartache and pain with her downright stubbornness ended up wandering around the streets not knowing who or where she was. I doubt if many in the north would have had much sympathy for her though.
What’s the main aim of the Criminal Assets Bureau? No silly, it’s not to maximise the seizure of the proceeds of crime, it’s to maximise the number of people it investigates. At least, that’s what yesterday’s statement from CAB would strongly suggests. Not a fuppin’ word about the value of assets seized in 2018, but they’re watching lots and lots of people. Imagine having the bloody cheek to tell the public you’re spending even more of their money on snooping and investigations, and forgetting to tell them how little you’re seizing. The civil servants are unlikely to be found hiding their light beneath a bushel if seizures were up in 2018. I mean, are criminals getting cuter hiding their ill-gotten wealth or is CAB getting lazier or less efficient? Should this €7m-a-year agency which has around 80 staff including Gardai and Dept of Justice people, be more accountable? It’s not even under Garda control, it reports to yesterday’s man Charlie Flanagan.
Drug trade is said to be worth €1 billion a year, prostitution is estimated at €200/ million, no idea about smuggling, burglaries, fraud, sports betting, counterfeiting, robberies, but it’s likely to be in the hundreds of millions. How much did CAB seize in 2018? Who knows, who can tell. Hopefully more than a few beat-up watches and second hand BMWs.
Eoin
Who is the most infamous person investigated by CAB during 2018 (not mentioned in any of today’s press reporting)?
Remember the advice from the head of CAB yesterday “They might see someone who changes their car every year, who takes a number of expensive holidays to places like Las Vegas, to the States, Dubai, and that always appears to have spending which is not in keeping with their earnings.”
Cian
Are you suggesting that the CAB should be self financing?
In 2017 they confiscated €7+ million.
Is that enough to warrant their existence?
Eoin
North Korean state media is setting up a commission to study how HRH Leo has managed to go three-for-three and hog the headlines for three consecutive days as he teases us about (1) our money, property tax (2) timing of the next election and (3) how vultures are better than traditional lenders.
Sadly, our dip-poo media is so lazy and eggnogified and frankly grateful for any nuggets during a very slow domestic news week, that they failed to challenge Leo about his kindly comments about vultures. It might have been considered rude to ask how vultures manage to generate returns five times those of traditional lenders, the pressure they place on borrowers, their non-existent customer service, their disinterest in any long term banking relationship.But it will have been considered career suicide to ask if it was a mistake by Michael Noonan to grant tax breaks to vultures which mean they extract profits from our country, while paying €250 a year tax.
Johnny
The NCA is lead on the investigation into vulture fund Cerberus and it’s dodgy deal on NI loans from NAMA,amid allegations of millions in strange fees,offshore bank accounts,NAMA employees arrested,etc.Great summary from the excellent Frank Connelly,author of Namaland in eolas.
‘In late May 2016, NCA officers arrested Ronnie Hanna, the former Head of Asset Recovery, and Frank Cushnahan, a member of the Northern Ireland Advisory Committee (NIAC) of NAMA, during its criminal inquiry into Project Eagle, as the Northern Ireland loan portfolio was known. Following their arrests, prominent Belfast solicitor, Ian Coulter, was also questioned by the NCA in late 2015‘
WSJ (paywall) has explosive piece this morning on the Brits,also taking bribes and hobbling a investigation at the same NCA.
‘The UK National Crime Agency (NCA) is examining accusations that an employee leaked information to a suspect for money, undermining a probe into a network of insider trading suspects in Europe, the Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday.’
Thanks Johnny, that’s some shocking claim in the WSJ that a major criminal “has three people working for him inside the [National Crime] Agency” including a translator with access to wire taps. Bribing corrupt cops is nothing new of course, but it’s still shocking to see these allegations against the UK’s main policing agency which deals with major and organised crime.
Johnny
One the most under reported and under investigated crimes in modern Ireland,costing the state billions relates to NAMA,again.
The leaking by NTMA/NAMA,to buyers and competitors of its clients business plans and personal financial info, afforded vulture funds the inside skinny.They could bid based on knowing factors such as carrying value,cost base,financial health of NAMA client,etc.Not sure if the employees involved were bribed while at NAMA like the NCA,but NAMA recently in court issued a groveling apology for this crime to one it’s clients.
Eoin
Not just Leo defending vultures with the Times Ireland giving a platform today to barrister Ross Maguire who writes
“Funds buying loans are not vultures” and offers a defence for vultures. Ross reprises his commentary on vultures in such media as the Irish Times (“Ross Maguire: Borrowers have little to fear from vulture funds”) and the SBP (“Vulture funds debate: We’ve been taught to hate the funds: let’s challenge that. By Ross Maguire”).
Had a quick look at Robinson’s foundation and noticed 150,000 gift from Irish Aid,for wha?
She’s available cheap for weddings,funerals,mental health evaluations,whitewashing a kidnapping in international waters,simply contact ABP for payment instructions.
Do you know the President has no power? He has to sign off on the legislation within 5-7 days of it coming out of the Dáil? So if legislation is finalised on 19th of 20th December- he will sign it over Christmas.
The Irish water bill finished on the 19th December. So it was signed into law the following week.
Perhaps the dail should finish earlier in the year so this doesn’t happen?
“In general, the President must sign a Bill on the fifth, sixth or seventh day after it is presented.”
Just so’s we’re all clear, is the IDM “journalist” Michelle O’Keeffe who appears to be so keen to join the choir “Welfare cheats cheat us all” the same Michelle who graced the Indo in 2015?
“Judge is disappointed
‘It’s disappointing she didn’t take the time or trouble to come to court,’ Judge Deirdre Gearty said of a journalist charged with a number of motoring offences.
Michelle O’Keeffe (38) was fined €500 for having no insurance when stopped by gardai at Park Street, Dundalk on 24 June, 2014. Other charges were taken into consideration.
Solicitor Dermot Lavery said his client was a journalist employed in Dublin, and her licence was extremely important to her.
The insurance was only out a short time, and the defendant had to re-apply for her licence. She took a chance.”
https://www.independent.ie/regionals/argus/news/dpp-directs-assault-trial-31035961.html
Or am I thinking of a different person called Michelle O’Keeffe?
Don’t think the Daily Mail in Ireland is too fussed about the calibre of its journalists, at least that’s the impression I got at the Charleton Tribunal last year.
Varadkar vultures funds
No poo..
WaPo did great piece this week on vulture fund Cerberus,it’s buy off NAMA of Project Eagle (NI loans) is subject,numerous hearings,police investigations.They have also purchased billions of home loans,this is how a similar strategy is playing out in Memphis.
‘Cerberus also files for eviction of its tenants more than other landlords.
The company has filed for eviction at an annual rate of 21 times per 100 homes since 2015, the highest rate among the region’s large property managers and above the overall average in the Memphis area of 11 evictions per 100 rental homes. The discrepancy can’t be explained by where FirstKey has properties: Its rate of filing for evictions is far above average in 17 out of 18 Zip codes where it has at least 20 homes, according to The Post’s analysis‘
https://www.bizjournals.com/memphis/news/2018/12/27/as-memphis-continues-property-registry-plans-wapo.html
So a company that deals exclusively in distressed loans has more evictions than companies that deal with non distressed loans (And that sell their problem loans). This isn’t surprising.
It’s a wonder the WaPO investigative unit,even bothered doing a two page spread complete with new research and real data,your anacadotes and spin are so much better :)
Varadkar praises vulture funds! What a pile of execrable lala FFG and Varadkar are! It’s no wonder Noonan and Paschal ensured they pay no tax, time to flush the FFG turds down the toilet!
Hear hear.
In France they used to string up the likes of FFG
Off with their heads!
Thatcher yet lives.
Ironic that a woman who caused so much heartache and pain with her downright stubbornness ended up wandering around the streets not knowing who or where she was. I doubt if many in the north would have had much sympathy for her though.
Sometimes people begin to look like their pet animals. Mostly dogs, sometimes cats. Sometimes horses.
https://sarahjessicaparkerlookslikeahorse.files.wordpress.com/2010/01/061.jpg
Poor form from Mary Robinson
What’s the main aim of the Criminal Assets Bureau? No silly, it’s not to maximise the seizure of the proceeds of crime, it’s to maximise the number of people it investigates. At least, that’s what yesterday’s statement from CAB would strongly suggests. Not a fuppin’ word about the value of assets seized in 2018, but they’re watching lots and lots of people. Imagine having the bloody cheek to tell the public you’re spending even more of their money on snooping and investigations, and forgetting to tell them how little you’re seizing. The civil servants are unlikely to be found hiding their light beneath a bushel if seizures were up in 2018. I mean, are criminals getting cuter hiding their ill-gotten wealth or is CAB getting lazier or less efficient? Should this €7m-a-year agency which has around 80 staff including Gardai and Dept of Justice people, be more accountable? It’s not even under Garda control, it reports to yesterday’s man Charlie Flanagan.
Drug trade is said to be worth €1 billion a year, prostitution is estimated at €200/ million, no idea about smuggling, burglaries, fraud, sports betting, counterfeiting, robberies, but it’s likely to be in the hundreds of millions. How much did CAB seize in 2018? Who knows, who can tell. Hopefully more than a few beat-up watches and second hand BMWs.
Who is the most infamous person investigated by CAB during 2018 (not mentioned in any of today’s press reporting)?
https://www.rte.ie/news/business/2017/1108/918507-cab-still-investigating-moriarty-tribunal-outcome/
Remember the advice from the head of CAB yesterday “They might see someone who changes their car every year, who takes a number of expensive holidays to places like Las Vegas, to the States, Dubai, and that always appears to have spending which is not in keeping with their earnings.”
Are you suggesting that the CAB should be self financing?
In 2017 they confiscated €7+ million.
Is that enough to warrant their existence?
North Korean state media is setting up a commission to study how HRH Leo has managed to go three-for-three and hog the headlines for three consecutive days as he teases us about (1) our money, property tax (2) timing of the next election and (3) how vultures are better than traditional lenders.
Sadly, our dip-poo media is so lazy and eggnogified and frankly grateful for any nuggets during a very slow domestic news week, that they failed to challenge Leo about his kindly comments about vultures. It might have been considered rude to ask how vultures manage to generate returns five times those of traditional lenders, the pressure they place on borrowers, their non-existent customer service, their disinterest in any long term banking relationship.But it will have been considered career suicide to ask if it was a mistake by Michael Noonan to grant tax breaks to vultures which mean they extract profits from our country, while paying €250 a year tax.
The NCA is lead on the investigation into vulture fund Cerberus and it’s dodgy deal on NI loans from NAMA,amid allegations of millions in strange fees,offshore bank accounts,NAMA employees arrested,etc.Great summary from the excellent Frank Connelly,author of Namaland in eolas.
‘In late May 2016, NCA officers arrested Ronnie Hanna, the former Head of Asset Recovery, and Frank Cushnahan, a member of the Northern Ireland Advisory Committee (NIAC) of NAMA, during its criminal inquiry into Project Eagle, as the Northern Ireland loan portfolio was known. Following their arrests, prominent Belfast solicitor, Ian Coulter, was also questioned by the NCA in late 2015‘
http://www.eolasmagazine.ie/nama-land-project-eagle/
WSJ (paywall) has explosive piece this morning on the Brits,also taking bribes and hobbling a investigation at the same NCA.
‘The UK National Crime Agency (NCA) is examining accusations that an employee leaked information to a suspect for money, undermining a probe into a network of insider trading suspects in Europe, the Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday.’
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-britain-insidertrading/uk-crime-agency-examining-leaks-in-insider-trading-investigation-wsj-idUSKCN1OQ1CV
Thanks Johnny, that’s some shocking claim in the WSJ that a major criminal “has three people working for him inside the [National Crime] Agency” including a translator with access to wire taps. Bribing corrupt cops is nothing new of course, but it’s still shocking to see these allegations against the UK’s main policing agency which deals with major and organised crime.
One the most under reported and under investigated crimes in modern Ireland,costing the state billions relates to NAMA,again.
The leaking by NTMA/NAMA,to buyers and competitors of its clients business plans and personal financial info, afforded vulture funds the inside skinny.They could bid based on knowing factors such as carrying value,cost base,financial health of NAMA client,etc.Not sure if the employees involved were bribed while at NAMA like the NCA,but NAMA recently in court issued a groveling apology for this crime to one it’s clients.
Not just Leo defending vultures with the Times Ireland giving a platform today to barrister Ross Maguire who writes
“Funds buying loans are not vultures” and offers a defence for vultures. Ross reprises his commentary on vultures in such media as the Irish Times (“Ross Maguire: Borrowers have little to fear from vulture funds”) and the SBP (“Vulture funds debate: We’ve been taught to hate the funds: let’s challenge that. By Ross Maguire”).
Is this the same Ross Maguire who leaked data on 1,500 vulnerable borrowers to a vulture in 2014?
https://www.thejournal.ie/new-beginning-mortgage-to-rent-scheme-failure-1808663-Dec2014/
Higgins had a nice quiet St.Stephens’ Day. Offloading €100m of our money outside the State.
https://mobile.twitter.com/PresidentIRL/status/1077915343673266176
Christmas is a great time for him. That’s when he signed IW into Law too.
Had a quick look at Robinson’s foundation and noticed 150,000 gift from Irish Aid,for wha?
She’s available cheap for weddings,funerals,mental health evaluations,whitewashing a kidnapping in international waters,simply contact ABP for payment instructions.
https://www.apbspeakers.com/speaker/mary-robinson/?gclid=EAIaIQobChMI-aWYsZ_C3wIViB-GCh277w6jEAMYASAAEgIAPfD_BwE
Do you know the President has no power? He has to sign off on the legislation within 5-7 days of it coming out of the Dáil? So if legislation is finalised on 19th of 20th December- he will sign it over Christmas.
The Irish water bill finished on the 19th December. So it was signed into law the following week.
Perhaps the dail should finish earlier in the year so this doesn’t happen?
“In general, the President must sign a Bill on the fifth, sixth or seventh day after it is presented.”
http://www.citizensinformation.ie/en/government_in_ireland/the_president/president_of_ireland_and_legislation.html