Tag Archives: Commission of Investigation

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Protesters outside the Dáil calling for a statutory inquiry into Mother and Baby Homes in the 2014

You may recall how, in December, representatives from the Coalition of Mother and Baby Home Survivors delivered a letter to the offices of the Commission of Investigation into Mother and Baby Homes, at 73 Lower Baggot Street, Dublin 2.

The letter was addressed to the chair of the investigation, Judge Yvonne Murphy and, in it, CMABS called for the commission’s terms of reference to be widened.

Paul Redmond, of CMABS, said at the time:

Only about one third of the entire total of people who were separated as single mothers and children are being included in this inquiry.

Further to this…

The Coalition of Mother And Baby Home Survivors (CMABS) writes:

Survivors from Mother and Baby Homes, and other institutions and homes associated with forced and illegal adoptions, will picket the official Inquiry into such homes [today at 1.30pm] for refusing to include ALL survivors.

The survivor community has been sliced in two by the Terms of Reference for the Inquiry and thousands have been excluded. This wanton discrimination and exclusion is insulting and deeply hurtful to our ageing survivor community.

Despite a formal meeting with the Inquiry and the presentation of irrefutable and conclusive evidence that it would be in the public interest, as well as morally and legally necessary to include all survivors, the Inquiry has stalled and fobbed off our community for nearly 18 months.

The indisputable fact remains that the Inquiry’s own Terms of Reference allow it recommend to the Minister for Children and the Government that its terms be expanded to include all survivors. The Inquiry has refused to make such a recommendation without even giving a credible explanation.

The Inquiry has refused to include all survivors despite the fact that the excluded survivors have no other means of legal remedy, meaning the Inquiry itself – as well as the Government – is now in breach of European human rights laws.

Illegally adopted people are now formally denied justice in Ireland, as are many elderly survivors who happen to have been born in places or situations outside the named Mother and Baby Homes.

Survivors are dying without seeing justice and are profoundly wounded and injured by the discrimination the Government and the Inquiry are implementing on a daily basis.

The Coalition of Mother And Baby home Survivors (CMABS) will lodge a formal complaint and objection to the Inquiry today at 1.30pm. We will be publishing the complaint shortly afterwards in a press release.

CMABS is also seeking a pro bono legal team to challenge the continued exclusion and discrimination against an elderly survivor community who are dying by the hundreds and thousands every year. Thousands have already been denied justice and an apology in this life.

CMABS has offered the Inquiry a low-cost and speedy method to include all survivors but this has been ignored.

Some of our activist comrades who have recently passed away are named and remembered in our complaint. How many more of us will join them in the grave while this Inquiry drags on and the Government hides behind it?

CMABS demands an immediate Acknowledgment, Apology and Redress from this Government while there is still time. Many groups have the evidence to conclusively prove their cases now. Why are they being ignored? Deny ’til they die? “To add the halfpence to the pence”, in the centenary year of the 1916 Rising?

Previously: The Sin Of Omission

Sam Boal/Rollingnews

Thanks Paul Redmond

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There you go now.

Context

Meanwhile….

In yesterday’s Sunday Independent, Gene Kerrigan wrote:

Fianna Fail has for ages been demanding an inquiry into Nama’s property deals. Last week, when Mick Wallace put down a motion to that effect, they voted against it.

No, no, they explained, we can’t have an inquiry – sure, isn’t the Comptroller and Auditor General looking into this?

Yes, the C&AG is looking at one aspect of it. Just as he was last time Fianna Fail demanded a full inquiry.

The thoroughness with which Fianna Fail has betrayed its own members and voters, and the interests of all of us, is impressive.

It’s doing a creditable job of helping Fine Gael keep the lid on the Nama scandal, while simultaneously posing as the main opposition party.

As long as the political correspondents facilitate this deception, so long will duplicity prosper.

…Fine Gael and Fianna Fail voted down an inquiry on the basis that any State scrutiny will somehow interfere with due process.

With exquisite comic reasoning, the very fact the PSNI, the NCA and the FBI are disturbed by the smell from Nama has become reason for the Irish establishment to ignore the smell. Question: what don’t they want us to know? What is it makes them pretend they don’t get a hint of a smell from the festering Cerberus deal?

…Meanwhile, Standards in Public Office has published details of the state money politicians receive. I’d explain why the State gives politicians this money, but I don’t know.

Fine Gael spent €200,000 of our money on secret polls before the election, all the better to manipulate the voters.

…Now, this polling, paid for with our money, gives politicians an advantage over candidates who don’t get a state subsidy. That sounds unconstitutional to me – perhaps under the ruling that prohibits one side in a referendum from using state funds to influence opinion.

Clowns to the left, jokers to the right (Gene Kerrigan, Sunday Independent)

Previously: Screech

Nothing To C Here

Via Mick Wallace

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Follow proceedings live here

More to follow.

Previously: Screech

Spotlight Falls On Noonan

UPDATE:

Fianna Fáil’s counter motion – calling for any Commission of Investigation into the sale of Nama’s Northern Ireland portfolio, Project Eagle, to be postponed until after a criminal investigation into the sale is complete – passed 105 votes to 38.

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Fianna Fáil TD Michael McGrath speaking in the Dáil this afternoon

“Fianna Fáil has been consistent in asking that all aspects of the Project Eagle sale be thoroughly examined and investigated. Last October, I moved a motion, on behalf of Fianna Fáil, calling for a Commission of Investigation under the terms of the 2004 Act. We called for this on the basis that the allegations were of such a serious nature, the public would demand nothing less than a comprehensive inquiry which would get to the truth and be able to make clear findings in relation to any wrongdoing on the part of individuals…”

“…In its evidence before the committee of public accounts, and in its public commentary on Project Eagle, Nama has argued consistently that no issue has arisen regarding the sale side of this transaction but, as I said last October, that is not an adequate answer. Ultimately, the decision to proceed with the sale of Project Eagle was made by Nama in Dublin and Nama must account for the entirety of that transaction.”

“Based on information and allegations currently in the public domain, surrounding Project Eagle, a Commission of Investigation is warranted. That remains the Fianna Fáil view. The question is whether a Commission would stand any chance of success, running in parallel with a criminal investigation that is clearly gathering pace.”

“Our honest assessment is that a Commission of Investigation, established in the Republic now, in the heat of an accelerating criminal investigation in the North would most likely run into the sand very quickly. This would serve no purpose. Do we really think that key people involved in this transaction, living in Northern Ireland, would voluntarily cooperate with a Commission of Investigation in the Republic while arrests are being made in the North?”

“Almost a year ago the UK’s National Crime Agency commenced an investigation into Project Eagle. For a long time there were no updates on this investigation. Then, just last month, two arrests were made in Northern Ireland and the persons concerned have already been named in this house and have been again today – as Frank Cushnahan, former member of the Nama northern Ireland advisory committee and Ronnie Hanna, who was head of asset recovery at Nama during the Project Eagle sale.”

“Reports indicate that this presents a significant change in pace in the investigation. Both men are of course entitled to the presumption of innocence. It is not known if further arrests are planned but let there be no doubt about it. Those arrests represented a very significant development and followed searches in Co Down and the men concerned have been released on bail and it is part of a fraud investigation. Those are the facts that we know.”

There you go now.

Readers may wish to recall how the Irish News named Frank Cushnhan and Ronnie Hanna as the two men arrested on June 2 while Fianna Fáil leader Micheal Martin called for a Commission of Investigation as recently as June 15.

More to follow.

Earlier: Parties In Motion

Previously: ‘Something Rotten In The State Of Denmark’

UPDATE:

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=561&v=lKNDnrZ5vtU

Independents 4 Change TD Mick Wallace in the Dáil this evening

“If it’s the last thing I do, I’m going to get to the truth of this and I’m going to expose what’s going on. We’re setting up an organisation called Namaleaks.ie. We’ve got help from the people who fixed up Snowden, The Intercept and we’re going to invite members of the public to come forward with information where they feel they’ve been badly treated by Nama, banks or investment funds.”

“We’re inviting insiders with information, we’ll have 100% confidentiality, to come send us documents that are truthful, in order to address this rotten, rottenness that exists in how we do business in this country. How they do business in northern Ireland.”

“You know what? They’re no worse up there than we are down here. There’s a pair of us in it. And our credibility and international level is going to suffer unless youse actually have the gumption and the balls to actually go after the truth. Cause you’re not showing any of it at the moment. And I’m really gutted that Fianna Fáil are not showing it either.“

Independents 4 Change TD Mick Wallace speaking in the Dáil this afternoon.

Previously: ‘Nama Has Done Nothing Wrong’

‘Nobody Has Presented Me With Evidence Of Wrongdoing’

‘Something Rotten In The State Of Denmark’

Spotlight Falls On Noonan

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From top: Sinn Féin leader Gerry Adams and Taoiseach Enda Kenny in the Dáil this afternoon

This afternoon.

During Leader’s Questions.

Sinn Féin leader Gerry Adams raised Nama’s controversial sale of Project Eagle again with Taoiseach Enda Kenny, calling, again, for a Commission of Investigation into the sale.

From their exchange…

Gerry Adams: “Some of the allegations are shocking. Between May 2010 and November 2013, a member of Nama’s advisory board is alleged to have been charging a fee for advice about Nama. It’s further alleged that the same individual had an unethical working relationship with a senior Nama officer, which gave him access to additional and sensitive commercial information.”

“It is also alleged he was lobbying on behalf of clients to reduce loan repayment demands, and in return he would secure cash payments – so-called ‘fixer fees’ – which were shared with the senior Nama officer.”

“Now when Nama decided to sell its Northern loan book to US vulture fund, Cerberus, this individual was offering to disclose information relating to the value of the loans to a bidder called Pimco. It’s alleged that Pimco discovered that payment of a fixer fee of £15million  was requested. This was to be paid if Pimco were successful. Pimco reported this to Nama and withdrew from the process.”

“According to a Sinn Fein freedom of information request, Minister Noonan was updated by the Nama chairman regarding these transactions and it’s still today unclear why the minister did not intervene to exercise his general powers of direction over Nama to suspend the sale’s process until these matters were fully investigated. Taoiseach, if found to be accurate, these are serious allegations of financial corruption and insider trading in which the taxpayer has suffered a huge loss.”

Later

Enda Kenny: “If you want to give me, if you want to give me evidence of why there should be a Commission of Investigation in this jurisdiction, I’d be quite prepared to listen to it.”

“I’ve got, I hear allegations, rumours and speculation but that’s not the basis for setting up a Commission of Investigation for any particular matter. Minister Noonan dealt with the question of a company that was in a tender position here which was not proceeded with when the question of a fixer’s fee arose.”

“Now if you have other information beyond that deputy, obviously, you know yourself, you bring that to the gardaí. But if you produce evidence to me here in the House, as to why a Commission of Investigation should take place in this jurisdiction, when there are legal cases being pursued in Northern Ireland, in where we would not have jurisdiction in the Commission of Investigation set up here.”

“The principal personnel with Nama were in front of the relevant committees here, they gave long and detailed explanations. Nobody has presented me with evidence of wrongdoing by Nama in this jurisdiction and the allegations that you make relate to other areas…”

Previously: ‘Nama Has Done Nothing Wrong’

Spotlight Falls On Noonan

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From top: Social Democrat TD Catherine Murphy and acting Taoiseach Enda Kenny in the Dáil yesterday

You may recall the publication of the Second Interim Report of the Commission of Investigation (Irish Bank Resolution Corporation) at 9pm last Friday evening before the May Bank Holiday weekend began.

This was two weeks after Justice Brian Cregan completed the 29-page report which has been beset by issues of confidentiality.

The report noted that the Commission has so far cost €3,663,998 – including €631,000 for its own salaries, legal costs, rent, building overheads, services and administration costs;  €2,786,998 for  the special liquidator of IBRC (KPMG); and €246,000 for the Department of Finance for its ‘external legal costs’.

Further to this…

Social Democrat TD Catherine Murphy raised the matter in the Dáil

Catherine Murphy:“… I raised an issue last week at the Whips’ meeting about the Cregan inquiry which reported to the Taoiseach on 15 April. It was published last Friday night and I understand there is an extension of time again. The Taoiseach needs to give some clarity on where this inquiry is going because it requires legislation on both privilege and confidentiality if it is to proceed. The judge could not have been clearer on what is required.

“The Taoiseach needs to outline what direction this inquiry is taking. Will it be something that is just constantly stretched out? Every week it continues it involves costs to do its work. It is absolutely essential that clarity is given on whether legislation will be produced in those two areas and if there a prospect of a conclusion to it.”

“A debate on the report is also needed in the House. It is the second interim report, which pretty much reinforces the point which was made last November, that legislation is needed if the inquiry is to proceed to a conclusion for public consumption.”

Enda Kenny: “… In regard to Deputy Catherine Murphy’s question on the Cregan interim report, the report was cleared at Cabinet last week. Believe me, there was nothing sinister in the fact that it was published on the Friday of what happened to be a bank holiday weekend.”

“I know that is always the story – that one is trying to ensure it is not seen. Let me put it this way. I can tell Deputy Murphy that I have looked at this and have given it a two-month extension. Mr. Justice Cregan has pointed out a number of challenges. Some of them are legal and some of them are constitutional, but there are a number of options to be considered.”

“I would be happy to accommodate Deputy Murphy with a meeting either today or tomorrow to let her have the up-to-date, accurate range of those opinions, which include the possibility of a full-blown public inquiry.”

“When we consider that the Moriarty tribunal ran for 13 years at a very costly sum to the taxpayer, these are options that need to be considered. I will facilitate Deputy Murphy and anyone else and bring them up to date on where it now stands arising from Mr. Justice Cregan’s interim report.”

Transcript via Oireachtas.ie

The second interim report can be read here

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Previously: Creatures Of The State

Set Up To Fail

Watch the proceedings live here

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From top: yesterday’s Sunday Times,  William Fry logo.

“The law firm William Fry, which is representing the businessman Denis O’Brien in a case against the state, is set to be appointed as legal adviser to the government established commission of investigation into transactions by IBRC, including deals with O’Brien. Law firms that were unsuccessful in tendering for the contract to advise the inquiry were told last week that William Fry was the winning bidder. William Fry declined to comment on the contract or on potential conflicts of interest with its work for O’Brien.””The law firm is acting for the media tycoon in a case launched in June against the Dail committee of procedure and privileges, which O’Brien claims breached his constitutional rights.”
…
“William Fry has a long-standing relationship with O’Brien, and represented him in a recent case against RTÉ as well as in previous proceedings against the Revenue Commissioners. The law firm also previously carried out an investigation into potential conflicts of interest arising from the wind-down of the wealth management division of IBRC, which will be among the issues probed by the commission of investigation.”

Gavin Daly, in yesterday’s Sunday Times

Readers may wish to note an article, headlined Boom For Irish Law Firms, from the weekly British legal magazine, The Lawyer on May 28, 1996.

It noted:

“The influx of telecommunications companies into Ireland has led to the development of telecoms practices in some firms. Dublin firm William Fry was involved in the recent licensing of the second GSM mobile phone system where the Irish-Norwegian consortium Esat Digifone was awarded the licence.”

Good times.

Previously: Morrissey and Mar’

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Why can’t Enda Kenny, Alan Shatter, Martin Callinan, Brian Purcell and any other person appointed to or holding public office appear before a Dáil committee to answer in public reasonable questions put by the people’s elected representatives on matters of public interest in connection with how they discharged their duties?
It is ludicrous for Enda Kenny to refuse to answer a question where he has a specific and definite involvement because he has appointed a judge to ask him that question at some time in the future. – Yours, etc,

Hugh Pierce
Newtown Road,
Celbridge ,
Co Kildare.

Irish Times Letters

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