Category Archives: News

news as it is happening-ish

THE BOARD of Treasury Holdings approved the transfer of €20.5 million worth of shares in a related company to its owners Richard Barrett and Johnny Ronan in 2010 just before loans relating to the property developers were transferred to the National Asset Management Agency.

The details emerged in an affidavit submitted to the High Court by Mary Birmingham, a senior portfolio manager with Nama who has dealt with the Treasury loans.

Nama claims that in return for this transfer, Treasury received €100,000 and unsecured loan notes, with several conditions attached. Ms Birmingham says Nama opposed this share transfer and has sought – to date, without success – to have it reversed.

But why, NAMA? Why?

Nama claims Treasury is “hopelessly insolvent” with overall debts of €2.7 billion and “past the point of commercial rescue”.

In addition, Nama had provided €103 million over the past two years to support Treasury’s continued functioning.

Ah.

Treasury transferred €20.5m shares before Nama took loans (Irish Times)

(Photocall Ireland)

Minister for Health James Reilly (top) has confirmed he is paying a public relations company for advice from a personal ministerial allowance that is outside of his department’s budget.

Dr Reilly said he had paid €15,000 last year to the Communications Clinic, whose directors are public relations consultant Terry Prone (above) and Tom Savage, the chairman of the RTÉ board.

The money was paid from a €41,000 secretarial allowance which Ministers receive from the Oireachtas.

Because, you see, a personal adviser and a press office staffed by civil servants doesn’t count for much these days.

A spokesman for Dr Reilly said last night that the rules governing the ministerial allowance specifically allowed for the money to be used for public relations advice.

He said under the arrangement with the Communications Clinic, the company provided advice on the wider health reform programme. He said there was also an element of script-writing involved in the contract with the company.

Well that’s handy…

Reilly paid PR firm with part of his secretarial allowance (Irish Times)

Previously: Let Kate Have The Final Word

(Photocall Ireland)

…you can’t profit grotesquely from a stealth tax on the poor and foolish.

THE GOVERNMENT is considering offering the next operator of the National Lottery an extended licence of between 20 and 30 years and a significantly enhanced annual operator’s fee of up to €50 million to run the business.

Under the existing seven-year licence, An Post operates the State’s lottery for an annual management fee of just under €3 million.

Minister for Public Expenditure Brendan Howlin is expected to bring proposals for the sale of the licence to Cabinet early next month.

He hopes a longer licence and a greater share of the revenue generated from ticket and scratch card sales will attract international bidders and secure a large upfront payment for the exchequer, thought to be in region of €400-€600 million.

The contract will be worth €1.2 billion over a 25 year licence.

Likely winners: Camelot or the Australian operator Tatts Group. But probably not Paddy Power, because, under current regulations, the National Lottery precludes the tandem development of online gaming.

 

Next lottery operator could get annual fee of €50m (Irish Times)


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BVEaHcyMesQ

Politics: it’s a dirty f***ing business…

(Australian) Foreign Minister (and former/possibly future PM) Kevin Rudd says the timing of the release of a damaging video in which he furiously swears and rounds on embassy officials and a Chinese interpreter is “a little … unusual”.

The video, in which Mr Rudd – who was prime minister at the time it was recorded – slams the table and curses repeatedly, has been posted on YouTube as a Labor MP publicly warned the party would be ”decimated” if it stuck with Julia Gillard.

In an interview on Sky News this morning, Mr Rudd said the video was embarrassing but his frustration was directed at himself and no one else.

Rudd row gets dirty (The Age.com)

(Hat tip: “Marko Van Bosnich”)

COMEDY DUO The Rubberbandits have taken a big step towards UK success after Channel 4 ordered a 30-minute broadcast pilot off the back of their online music videos.
Shot in Limerick, it will be the first Irish-made sitcom for the channel since Father Ted .

The hip-hop comedians – Blind Boy Boat Club, or Boatboy, and Mr Chrome – are the first graduates from C4’s Comedy Blaps grassroots initiative, after three short videos posted on Channel 4’s website attracted more than 1.4 million views between them.

Made by Dublin production company Sideline and directed by Declan Lowney, who worked on Father Ted and Little Britain , the same team is making the pilot, which airs later this year.

Limerick ‘Bandits’ Earn Shot At UK TV Series (Irish Times

(pic: Josh Maready Photography)

THE EXTENT of the cultural shift in reporting suspected welfare fraud will be revealed today when Minister for Social Protection Joan Burton gives a breakdown of the record 17,000 anonymous tip-offs made to the authorities last year.

The increase in members of the public reporting alleged welfare cheating has seen the number of tip-offs given to officials by email, phone and letter rise from 6,429 in 2009 to 12,640 in 2010 and 16,920 last year.

Some 7,430 of the reports made to officials in 2011 were about people who, the informants claimed, were receiving unemployment benefit while continuing to work.

Huge rise in number reporting suspected social welfare fraud (Irish Times)

DIFFERENT APPROACHES on human rights will be taken by Taoiseach Enda Kenny and Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade Eamon Gilmore when they welcome Chinese vice-president Xi Jinping to Ireland this weekend.

Ah yes, the recent crackdown on human right activists, the jailed dissidents, the stifled free speech. All the issues that Obama is currently taking flak for not broaching, despite promising otherwise…

The Taoiseach clearly has no intention of raising such issues and his spokesman said last night: “The primary focus of this visit is to promote business and trade relationships between China and Ireland.

“The normal vehicle for addressing issues such as human rights is through EU foreign policy and, if the matter is to be raised, it would be in that context.”

However, a spokesman for Mr Gilmore said: “In meetings with Chinese leaders who visit, we raise human rights issues in a frank, friendly and respectful manner, which reflects the maturity of our relationship.”

Hello Mr Jinping. Tell me this and tell me no more: how do you feel the oul’ human rights are being respected in China? Satisfactorily, you say? Great stuff. And come here to me, do ye actually have real dragons over there, you know like in Harry Potter and that? You do? Well faith and that’s much needed investment, I mean mighty.

Chinese leader will not face questions, says department (Irish Times)

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CONTEMPT OF court proceedings have been initiated against the bankrupt businessman Seán Quinn, his son Seán Quinn jnr, and his nephew, Peter Darragh Quinn.

The Irish Bank Resolution Corporation, formerly Anglo Irish Bank, yesterday filed a motion in the High Court seeking to have the three found in contempt of court for breaches of an injunction preventing them from moving certain assets.

The injunction was issued in July last year by Mr Justice Frank Clarke.

Persons found to be in contempt of court can have their property seized or be committed to prison.

Allegations rejected, position to be defended vigorously, vast €500m foreign property portfolio increasingly unlikely to form part of the kids. inheritance, yadda, yadda.

Man, this popcorn is going stale.

Anglo takes contempt of court action against Quinns

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Bullying in the Oireachtas? Sexism in Fine Gael? Say it ain’t so, girl…

“As a TD in the Oireachtas before the last election, I found that period really difficult. There certainly is a lot of latent bullying that goes on and there certainly is a lot of culture that is really quite toxic.”

The 32 year old said she was now treated differently because she was a minister. But when asked to clarify what she meant by toxic culture, she added: “Sometimes it’s difficult to define, there’s the lovely girl syndrome ‘ah sure, she would say that, wouldn’t she’, this sort of attitude.

“I would say it’s there in our parliamentary party, in Fine Gael it’s there, all the political parties where women just aren’t necessarily treated in the same way or with the same degree of respect as men.”

In other news: sky appears blue, oceans thought to contain water, moon orbits earth.

Creighton Exposes Toxic Dail Culture (Examiner)

(Photocall Ireland)

Pat COX, the one-time Fine Gael presidential contender, briefed the country’s biggest bankers, accountants and business people two weeks ago on the need for austerity in Ireland and the European financial crisis over dinner in the five-star luxury of the Shelbourne Hotel.

Cox socialised with Richie Boucher, the chief executive of Bank of Ireland, and David Duffy, the boss of AIB, as both banks gear up to lay off thousands of staff.

The gourmet private dinner with vintage wines is believed to have taken place in the Shelbourne’s famous Constitution Room, where the founding document governing the State’s sovereignty was drafted in 1922.

More cliché sir? The whole thing was organised by KPMG, which audited Irish Nationwide, which warehoused Seanie Fitz’s loans.

Doubtless, they rested their wing-tips on crouching paupers, drank from jewel encrusted goblets and smoked cigars rolled from pension fund money.

FG insider briefs the top bankers at private dinner (Independent)