Author Archives: Aaron McAllorum

“Mark O’Broin from Glasheen was removed from Cork City Hall by Gardai and, he claims, Fianna Fáil party members, for what he says was a peaceful protest [attempting to bring his mocked-up posters bring into the count centre] and “a bit of craic.”

He told the Cork Independent he is protesting at people voting in the same politicians who have got the country where it is today
“The country is down the tubes and everyone is still voting in the same shower of idiots, Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael, that got us here.”

Cork Independent (Deirdre O’Shaughnessy, Election 2011 Blog)

This morning we carried a post sourced to the Irish Times to the effect that David Drumm had paid no income tax while he was working at Anglo Irish Bank.

The Irish Times removed its item this afternoon, stating that it had “reported incorrectly that he [Mr Drumm] had paid almost no income tax during the period.” Adding: “The report was based on a misinterpretation of a Revenue document filed in a Boston court.”

We too have removed our posting.

We would like to apologise unreservedly to Mr Drumm and his family for any distress our report may have caused them.

As a mark of contrition, we have donated a sizable amount of money to be put behind the bar of O’Donoghue’s on Merrion Row, Dublin 2.

And we hope later this evening, if possible, to have a number of beverages in honour of the greedy, bald prick.

(Photocall Ireland)

He’s yellow.

He’s running around Dublin on polling day.

But who is he?

Superhero? Situationist prankster?

Or yellow lackey whose true motivation will be revealed in a few weeks when his paymasters go public with a disgusting ad binge for Mellow Yellow mobile phones or whatnot.

In which case. We’ve fallen into their trap. Damn you, corporate whore-mongers.

The Morph Guy’s Twitter

Lorcan Roche-Kelly’s blog Corner Turned today examined that odd eve-of-election transfer of depositis from Anglo to AIB. It’s made our brains hurt:

“Yesterday AIB acquired €12.2bn (nominal) of NAMA bonds from Anglo. The consideration for this was (i) AIB took Anglo’s deposit book of €8.6bn (ii) paid €200m for Anglo IOM and (iii) paid Anglo €3.5bn in cash.

Now, the obvious question is: Where the hell did AIB get €3.5bn in cash for this deal?

Well, it seems, (from reliable sources) that the deal worked like this:

  1. The Irish Gov launch an auction for the Anglo.
  2. Only people to turn up are AIB, who have no money.
  3. Anglo’s asset against the deposits is this NAMAbond which AIB want for repo [A repo is a form of short-term borrowing for dealers in government securities. The dealer sells the government securities to investors, usually on an overnight basis, and buys them back the following day].
  4. Because AIB do not have the money to pay for the extra cost of the NAMAbond, they borrow the cash. From Anglo.
  5. Of course, Anglo don’t have the money to lend either, so they borrow it from the Irish Central Bank ELA.
  6. AIB now have the bond (which they purchased at exactly the price it repos at through the ECB) and repo that bond at the next opportunity (either tonight’s MLF [Marginal Lending Facility] or next Tuesday’s MRO [Interest rate on the main refinancing operations) and use the cash to pay back Anglo who then pay back the CBI.

“I also believe that [Tony] O’Reilly, if he was still involved in business decision making at IN&M, would not have countenanced the situation that has developed whereby staff at the newspaper, some of whom have 20 years service, would be left with mere statutory redundancy to buffer them from pending unemployment.”

“…I hope that Gavin O’Reilly, son of Tony, who graduated to the position of chief executive at IN&M, and who consistently has enjoyed salary and other benefits of more than €1 million per annum, finds some way to honour his company’s moral obligations to the workers at The Sunday Tribune. I don’t doubt what his father would do if he, rather than his son, was the boss.”

Go The Matt, etc.

Sadly It’s Time To Mourn The Passing Of A Fine Newspaper (Matt Cooper, Irish Examiner)

(Photocall Ireland)


Top: Vincent Browne and Justine McCarthy. Centre: former staff and fellow journalists outside Independent House. Bottom: Sunday Tribune sub-editor Deirdre Sheeran, left, and arts editor Olivia Doyle

Taken this afternoon on Talbot Street, Dublin. NUJ-organised protest at the closure of The Sunday Tribune with the loss of 49 jobs. The paper was part-owned by the Independent Group.

A tribute Tribune front page put together for staff by the paper’s chief sub/assistant editor Ger Siggins.
(Photocall Ireland)