Tag Archives: EU

phil

Oh.

Childers warns in a letter seen by the Parliament Magazine dated 1 September, that appointing someone with [prospective EU Commissioner for Ireland Phil] Hogan’s profile would, “send a very ominous signal to those who suffer and fight discrimination”.

EU parliament told of ‘serious reservations’ over Irish commission nominee (The Parliament)

Simon K writes:

“The first complaint to be brought to the attention of MEPs on the 28 soon-to-be-elected Commissioners has been for our own Phil Hogan. MEPs will vote on the 28 new Commissioners this month. We’ll see how that plays out….”

Previously: Everything EU Needed To Know About Phil

Big Phil’s Big Fat Gypsy Prejudice

Turning The Story On Its Head

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UPDATE: Protestors clash with Gardai outside the National Convention Centre, Dublin this evening. Three arrests have been made.

 “I was standing at the barricades in front of the Convention c Centre, when around 15 Guards burst out from behind us and chased protesters down the street, targeting known activists…Many of my friends were injured and left in a state of shock by these actions. It was indefensible.”

Bridget, a member of Black Bloc [A collective seeking to combat austerity ‘through the re-appropriation of housing, goods and services’] this evening.

Thanks Andrew Diamond,and Sasko Lazarov/Photocall ireland

Earlier…

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Scenes in and around the National Convention Centre, Dublin today for the European People’s Party Congress attended by EU leaders inside and Ukrainian and anti-austerity campaigners outside.

(Laura Hutton/Photocall ireland)

Poolbeg (1) (The proposed Poolbeg incinerator by Covanta)

Last month it emerged that Dublin City Council, which has paid more than €30 million to consultancy firm RPS for its services over the last ten years in relation to the proposed Poolbeg incinerator, was planning to terminate its contract with RPS.

It came after the intervention of the European Commission, which found that the contract did not conform with EU law, following complaints made to the EU by Sandymount residents Joe McCarthy and Valerie Jennings.

Dublin City Council’s contract with RPS was originally estimated at €8.3m but ended up costing around €30m.

The EU is still investigating the residents’ other complaints which are: The contract for the incinerator was awarded to a company which did not bid, and the contract for the incinerator was almost double the size advertised.

Last night [Monday], at the Dublin City Council meeting, Dublin City Manager Owen Keegan said the contract with RPS will be terminated by January 31.

He also said the Poolbeg incinerator may be scrapped, even if it emerges successfully from the rest of the EU investigation.

The State has spent up to €90million on the Poolbeg incinerator project to date, but there has been no construction on the site.

Meanwhile, in a topical twist…

RPS advised Dublin City Council on Poolbeg while head of Irish Water John Tierney was Dublin City Council manager and two former RPS executives are now employed by Irish Water.

They are Irish Water’s head of asset management Jerry Grant and Elizabeth Arnett, who is now head of communications and corporate services in Irish Water.

Last week Mr Tierney said the two former RPS executives were hired following an ‘open recruitment’ process.

Mr Tierney will go before the Oireachtas Committee on the Environment, Culture and the Gaeltacht today at 2.15pm, to answer questions about the €50million Irish Water has spent on consultants.

Poolbeg contract may be abandoned (RTÉ)

Previously: The Insiders

The Contract Did Not Confirm With EU Law

Covanta And Dublin City Council: What’s That Funny Smell?

No, Seriously, Why Did A New Jersey-Based Waste Company Employ Phil Hogan’s Golf Buddy?

banks

The European Banking Authority has today published a report on how many bankers in EU states earned more than €1million in 2012.

In Ireland, there were 17.

The other countries surveyed and their number of millionaire bankers were:

Austria: 19
Belgium: 15
Bulgaria: 0
Cyprus: 3
Czech Republic: 0
Denmark: 48
Estonia: 0
Finland: 6
France: 177
Germany: 212
Greece: 1
Hungary: 9
Iceland: 0
Italy: 109
Latvia: 0
Liechtenstein: 0
Lithuania: 0
Luxembourg: 15
Malta: 0
Netherlands: 27
Norway: 23
Poland: 7
Portugal: 6
Romania: 1
Slovakia: 1
Slovenia: 0
Spain: 100
Sweden: 20
UK: 2,714

Full report here.

EU’s Highest-Paid Bankers in U.K. as Bonus Awards Exceed Cap (Bloomberg)

Ireland’s top bankers paid an average of €1.4m last year (Irish Times)

 

6a00d8342f650553ef019affb02bde970c-500wiHighest debt per capita of any European country.

Economist Michael Taft writes:

…Ireland is at the top, head and shoulders above all other countries – in particular, Italy, Greece and Portugal which the Fiscal Council refers to as countries with a higher debt when measured as a percentage of GDP.  Why the difference?
Measurements which use GDP as the benchmark can distort Irish data given that GDP is flattered by the accounting practices of multi-nationals.  For instance, when using Gross National Income as the benchmark (which is equivalent to GNP) which removes international flow such as profit repatriation, debt in Ireland is 143 percent of GNI.  This is the second highest, only exceeded by Greece.  But the fun doesn’t stop there.  The ESRI has found that even our GNP/GNI is inflated due to multi-national activities (undistributed profits of headquartering multi-nationals).  If this was factored out, we’d be reaching Greek levels of debt….

Sea of Debt (Michael Taft, Unite’s Notes On The Front)

Thanks Justin Moran

Screen Shot 2013-04-12 at 22.21.14Rebecca Noonan writes:

A young Irish woman at an EU Citizen’s Initiative in Ghent, Belgium yesterday responded to the EU Commissioner for Trade’s claim that Ireland is out of a recession – and got a round of applause while doing so, Made Flemish news!

 

Jonah Hill was also in attendance.

Watch here

 

“Het gaat nog altijd niét goed met Ierland” (Daredect)

“There is a growing frustration that the EU is seen as something that is done to people rather than acting on their behalf.  And this is being intensified by the very solutions required to resolve the economic problems.

People are increasingly frustrated that decisions taken further and further away from them mean their living standards are slashed through enforced austerity or their taxes are used to bail out governments on the other side of the continent.

We are starting to see this in the demonstrations on the streets of Athens, Madrid and Rome. We are seeing it in the parliaments of Berlin, Helsinki and Dublin the Hague.”

David Cameron earlier.

David Cameron’s Speech On The EU: Full Text (New Statesman)

And that’s not all

Justin Moran writes:

Saw these stats’s in [Unite trade union economist) Michael Taft’s latest blog, and thought it might be worth sharing. Not to be read unless you’re prepared to spend the rest of the day deeply depressed.

Ireland makes up 0.9 percent of the EU population

The Irish economy makes up 1.2 percent of EU GDP

Ok, we’re small. So how much of the entire European banking debt have we paid?

The Irish people have paid 42 percent of the total cost of the European banking crisis.

*thud*

A Really Really Special Case Requires a Really Really Special Solution (Michael Taft, Notes on the Front)

Broadsheet.ie