Author Archives: Admin

Ian Bailey

This morning.

Ian Bailey arrives at the Criminal Courts of Justice in Dublin.

The French authorities are attempting, for the second time, to have Mr Bailey extradited to France, to face trial over the death of Sophie Toscan du Plantier west Cork, in 1996.

Mr Bailey has always denied any involvement in her death.

Yesterday, Mr Bailey’s lawyers told the High Court that the question of Mr Bailey’s extradition to France had already been decided by the Supreme Court in 2012 and that the second attempt was an abuse of process.

The case continues today.

Leah Farrell/Rollingnews

Waiter 2017 €80
Waitress 2017 €80

Waiter 2016 €97
Waitress 2016 €80

Waiter 2015 €97
Waitress 2015 €64

Waiter 2014 €97
Waitress 2014 €64

Waiter 2013 €97
Waitress 2013 €64

Josie writes:

Some may be unaware that tax relief is available to some workers in specific roles and industries, e.g. shop assistants, nurses, etc. The list can be found here:  One that stood out to me was the flat rate tax relief available to waiters vs. waitresses in the hotel industry:

Until last year waiters got more tax relief than waitresses.

Until this year women doing the same job as men were explicitly offered less tax relief by Revenue. The amount was revised in 2016, but remained unequal on gender grounds until 2017. So in 2016 someone reviewed it and chose to make it…slightly less discriminatory. In 2016. Sigh.

Fight!

Employee Expenses (Revenue)

 

Ah here.

Ronan Emmett writes:

Seems the project management skills are exceptional in terms of the management of state examinations. Urgent appeal for Examiners ONE week before the exams start. Is there any good state agency operating in Ireland?

Head of Human Resources at An Garda Siochana John Barrett at a meeting of the Public Accounts Committee yesterday

Yesterday.

Several senior members of the civilian staff at An Garda Siochana attended the Public Accounts Committee to discuss the internal audit report into the Garda College, compiled by head of internal audit Niall Kelly and given to the PAC earlier this year.

Mr Kelly’s report was carried out for head of human resources John Barrett, who started his job in October 2014, becoming aware of financial irregularities at the college in June 2015.

Mr Kelly’s report found concerns similar to ones previously highlighted in a separate report by Barry McGee in 2008.

Mr Kelly’s report audited expenditure worth €112million from January 1, 2009 to March 31, 2016 and identified 48 separate bank accounts relating to the college.

It found, among other matters, that money was transferred between accounts – for example, €400,000 was transferred from its bar account to its restaurant account, while €100,000 was transferred from its Sportsfield Co Limited to the Garda Boat Club, a private sports club.

It also found 37% of its laundry and services account had nothing to do with laundry or services and, instead, was spent on meals/entertainment, contributions to charity, contributions to parish clergy, and “golf society”.

In addition, rent worth €124,903 was collected for the use of Dromard Farm even though the OPW legally owned the land and, therefore, was entitled to the money.

Readers will recall how Garda Commissioner Noirin O’Sullivan told PAC on May 4 that she first learned of the concerns on July 27, 2015 and that, the following day (July 28, 2015) she set up a steering committee to look into the matters.

Further to this…

Those attending PAC yesterday included Mr Kelly; Mr Barrett; Michael Culhane – Executive Director, Finance and Services; Ken Ruane – Head of Legal Services; Joseph Nugent – Chief Administrative Officer; Michael Howard – former Head of the Garda Audit Committee.

Some notes from the meeting:

– PAC heard that, on June 30, 2015, Garda’s head of legal affairs Ken Ruane met Mr Barrett and was told about the issues relating to the college. Mr Ruane was also told that the matters had been reported to the Garda’s chief administration officer Cyril Dunne who passed them on to Ms O’Sullivan. Mr Ruane told PAC he had notes to prove his concerns were passed to Ms O’Sullivan.

– PAC heard that the steering group to look into the Garda College issues was in operation since July 2, 2015.

– None of the civilian staff at PAC could say definitively if An Garda Siochana is tax compliant.

– Head of Legal Affairs in An Garda Síochána Ken Ruane told the PAC he was asked to change minutes he took of a meeting of the steering group, on August 6, 2015, by the CAO Cryil Dunne.

– In a letter from Michael Culhane to Noirin O’Sullivan in October 2015, Mr Culhane asked: “Is JB (John Barrett) unwittingly guilty of a criminal offence under the Official Secrets Act?” Mr Barrett  told PAC he sought, directly and through his solicitor, to get this letter six times but was denied. He eventually got the letter but 85% of it was redacted. At PAC, Mr Culhane admitted this claim was unwise.

– In a letter Michael Culhane sent to Niall Kelly in February of this year, he accused Mr Kelly of being unprofessional, misleading and mischievous. At PAC, Mr Culhane withdrew the claim.

– The PAC heard senior gardaí have made out cheques, of up to thousands of euro, to themselves.

– Mr Kelly said they are now being examined to see if these cheques have been vouched for – with one audit going back to 1998.

– Social Democrat TD Catherine Murphy asked Mr Kelly if there was any indication of any Templemore monies being sent to a bank account in Dublin under the control of a former senior Garda officer. Mr Kelly said he’d rather not answer that question because it’s the subject of audit.

– In a June 25 email sent by Barry McGee, the author of a report in 2008 which identified many of the issues/concerns highlighted in Niall Kelly’s 2017 report, to John Barrett, Mr McGee wrote:

“I think the problem in approaching the solving of this, is that because of the potential negative reputational risk for the organisation – in that once this starts to be sorted it hits the public media, either though audit etc, it could have very big ramifications – like the accounting officer [Garda Commissioner Noirin O’Sullivan] appearing before the PAC, etc – so it is how to solve this quiety without risking exposure – again this is just my opinion – so this report was quiet [sic] sensitive – Michael [Culhane] has said it you wish to meet to discuss this etc might be useful – It is not necessarily a nice report, I would like to think that the report is more based on systems and how systems  were set up and evolved possibly incorrectly particularly with view to the way government accounting and government accounting regulations apply currently.”

“For example, today or at the moment, the Garda Siochana organisation cannot for example open a bank account without seeking sanction from the DPERs, whereby if you have to write to them setting the purpose of the bank account and they give sanction for the same to open it – and of course setting up companies or entities would need ministerial sanction I would imagine as it is a big deal in principle to set up a sub company from a department – for example,

in terms of the purchase of land, this is a problem for the college because the Garda Commissioner is not meant to hold any lands under legislation as far as I am aware and such lands will have to be transferred by some mechanism to the OPW.

– Mr Kelly told PAC that, following a meeting on October 1, 2015, in which Noirin O’Sullivan perused the 2008 McGee Report, she felt the 2008 report was “overly critical”. Mr Kelly also said there was a reticence among Commissioner and others to accept the conclusions of the 2008 report.

Meanwhile, just before the meeting finished up last night, Mr Barrett said the following:

“Chairman, I come before you knowing the democratic power of this institution you represent the people of Ireland, you are the elected representatives. And I come here hoping to leave, having answered your questions fully and thoroughly.

I see this as a very significant matter for an organisation who must enjoy the trust of the people of Ireland, who must enjoy that trust because the powers that can be exercised – caution, arrest, detention – are of such constitutional significance that we need to have our house, not just in order, but in absolute order.

“So I sit here with a sense of embarrassment that we haven’t. But with no sense of personal regret that I raised this issue and that I continue to believe that I did the right thing in persisting.

“And there’s credit due to people on my right and on my left for their assistance in this regard. But I think it is clear, I feel quite frankly, that I didn’t have universal support and that reality is a reality that I want you to consider.

“I look, as I said to Mr [David] Cullinane, I look for no bouquets in this, I feel that I am doing my job but I want you to understand it’s not easy. And the assistance that you can give in ensuring that the standards that are required of us are demanded by you consistently and that we deliver – that will embolden others to do the right thing and to step forward in difficult situations. That is a key cultural change that you can help make.”

The PAC meeting can be watched back in full by downloading the video files from here [Committee Room 3].

Previously: What’s Another Smear

‘A Bank Account In Dublin Under The Control Of A Former Senior Garda Officer’

‘I Was Counselled To Be Very Careful’

Minister for Finance Michael Noonan

A poem to mark the imminent retirement from politics of Michael Noonan, who has spent his life in the upper echelons of Fine Gael.

Ode To Smugness

His head hairs are the thirty million maggots feeding on the carcass of creativity,

His eyes are x-ray beams burning holes through punctured public services,

His ears are oyster shells littered with the pearls of Christine Lagarde,

On the soft sand away from those drowning in the sea,

His bald head is the vulture at the “Everything Must Go” jumble sale,

His nose is an exhaust pouring black smoke on the children’s dreams,

His face is an Alsation keeping people from the truth,

His mouth is a swampy cesspit where poison splutters,

His tongue is a serpent that spits venom on the just and the poor,

His ass is a giant beach ball that Jean-Claude Juncker likes to boot around,

His heart is the army tank that drove on Bridget and her poisoned blood,

His arms are Graf von Faber-Castells writing off the debts of Denis at a stroke,

His legs are bowling pins as Cerebrus strikes it lucky again,

And his feet are roadside sweepers sucking up the crumbs,

The shivering homeless barely looking on

Ian Murlocks

Fight!

Rollingnews

Daniel Kelleher

RTE reports:

A renewed appeal has been launched to find a teenager missing from Cork city since Thursday 4 May.

16-year-old Daniel Kelleher was last seen in The Glen area of the city.

He is described as being around 1.9m (6’3) tall, of thin build with short, fair hair.

When last seen he was wearing a light grey North Face jacket with a hood. He usually wears a tracksuit, hoody and runners…anyone with information is asked to contact Mayfield Garda Station on 021-4558510, the Garda Confidential Line on 1800 666 111 or any garda station.

Renewed appeal to find teen missing from Cork city (RTE)

From top: Head of Internal Audit at An Garda Siochana Niall Kelly; Social Democrat TD Catherine Murphy

In the last 30 minutes.

During the closing stages of today’s meeting of the Public Accounts Committee.

Social Democrat TD Catherine Murphy had the following exchange with head of internal audit Niall Kelly in relation to the Garda College, Templemore, Co. Tipperary.

Catherine Murphy: “Obviously, you’re going to come back to us, Mr Kelly, in relation, to the number of bank accounts, and you’re looking at that at the moment and you probably were looking, and I’m not sure whether it’s yourself, or Mr [Chief Administration Officer Joseph] Nugent, who would have been, when the bank accounts were being closed, if anything was discovered.

“Can I just ask you, very specifically, if there’s any indication of any Templemore monies being sent to a bank account in Dublin under the control of a former senior Garda officer and whether or not you’re carrying out a specific investigation in relation to that or anything of that nature?”

Niall Kelly: “Chair, I’d rather not answer that question because it’s the subject of audit…”

Talk over each other

Murphy: “But there is an audit?”

Kelly: “There is an audit.”

Murphy: “Of that nature?”

Kelly: “There are some issues that you touched on that could be issues within our audit.”

G’wan the Catherine.

Earlier: What’s Another Smear

Calvin James, of Dublin, left, with a young boy, at Dohuk in Iraqi Kurdistan

Irish charity Syrias Vibes is fundraising so it can support a psychologist working with Yazidi women and children in northern Iraq.

It follows the psychologist’s contract with an Italian NGO finishing a number of weeks ago.

Dublin DJ and special needs assistant Calvin James, of Syrias Vibes, writes:

We want to support an incredible psychologist working with Yazidi children affected by the war or who have been returned from captivity in dire need of psychological attention and care.

In short 5,000 men and young boys were systematically murdered in IS’ ‘Convert or Die’ campaign and a further 7,000 women and children were abducted and sold into captivity.

Many have managed to escape their captors yet up to 3,700 remain in captivity. As coalition forces advance on IS’ capitals in Iraq and Syria, there is a slow stream of survivors escaping or being bought back by their families, usually at extortionate prices.

This service is rarely afforded to them as the NGOs operating in the crisis face funding difficulties so we’ve decided that the best way forward was to hire a psychologist to work directly with Yazidi survivors. Our psychologist will see a caseload of 25 service users a month.

I’ve just spent a month in Bajed Kandala Camp in Northern Iraq. The camp is currently home to 7,000 Yazidi internally displaced people who were forced to flee their home in Sinjar after the genocide by ISIS in 2014.

On returning to their families, there is little support offered by means of counselling or psychiatric support.

Cases are referred to her from the hospitals operating inside the camp and when necessary she will prescribe medications and refer service users to Dohuk Hospital.

At Syrias Vibes, we will dedicate ourselves in running this programme for as long as its needed.

We ask that you please support this campaign anyway you can.

Those who wish to donate can do so here

To support a psychologist to work with women and children in a refugee camp (JustGiving)

Thanks Ruaidhrí