This morning.
Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip arrived by helicopter at the Giant’s Causeway in Co. Antrim where they were met by Northern Ireland’s first minister Arlene Foster (third pic).
‘I’m still alive’: Queen jokes on Northern Ireland visit – video (The Guardian)
Pics: Rebecca Black and The Royal Family
Northern Ireland Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness
The British government has a “democratic imperative” to call a referendum on whether Northern Ireland should leave the United Kingdom and unite with the Irish Republic, the province’s Irish nationalist Deputy First Minister said on Friday.
“The British government now has no democratic mandate to represent the views of the North in any future negotiations with the European Union and I do believe that there is a democratic imperative for a ‘border poll’ to be held,” Sinn Fein’s Martin McGuinness told national Irish broadcaster RTE.
Northern Irish deputy leader calls for vote on united Ireland (Reuters)
This evening.
A nation bloke holds its his breath.
Eddie Gardner writes:
Enjoying the Northern Ireland game in Hogan’s [South Great George’s Street]…
Oh.
Disasta writes:
Did you know Northern Ireland is a separate island to Ireland on our European coins? (10 cent coin in this case)…It may as well be in the near future if the anti-Brexit crowd are correct).
Fight!
Yesterday.
During Leaders’ Questions, Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin again raised the controversial sale of Project Eagle by Nama in Northern Ireland.
It followed Sinn Féin leader Gerry Adams calling for a Commission of Investigation into the sale twice in the past two weeks.
Mr Martin said there are rumours that further arrests are on the way in relation to the sale – following the arrest in May of two men in Co. Down on suspicion of fraud offences, by the British National Crime Agency.
They’ve since been released on bail.
In response, Taoiseach Enda Kenny maintained that the sale was “was executed in a proper manner” – echoing his previous responses to Mr Adams.
From their exchange:
Micheál Martin: “The UK’s National Crime Agency is investigating this. There have been two arrests and there are rumours of more arrests on the way. It is being investigated in the United States. The Northern Ireland finance committee has had an inquiry. At the very least, NAMA should have attended that inquiry. It is the biggest sale since the agency was established and there are huge concerns about it. Yet we, in the Republic, seem to have adopted an attitude that there is nothing to see here, that everything is fine on this side of the equation.”
“I put it to the Taoiseach that at the time that PIMCO revealed that people were seeking fees, surely that was the time for the entire deal to be called off, for both NAMA and the Minister for Finance, who was alerted to it, to call a halt to that deal and say there were too many questions about it. It was something from which they should have pulled back. The Irish taxpayer lost out to an extraordinary degree but worst than that, the deal is tainted, of that there can be no question.”
An Ceann Comhairle Seán Ó Fearghaíl: “Has the Deputy a question?”
Martin: “All of this could have been avoided if the Government had not decided to sell such large blocks of assets under NAMA and to force the pace in terms of accelerating the disposal of assets at steeper discounts than were necessary.”
Later
Enda Kenny: “On Deputy Martin’s point in respect of NAMA and Project Eagle, I want him to understand that, as I have said here on many occasions, I am informed that this loan sell was executed in a proper manner. Despite all the comments and allegations, there are no claims of wrongdoing against NAMA. That loan portfolio was sold following an open process to the highest bidder for what it was worth. NAMA paid no moneys to any party on this loan sale against whom allegations of wrongdoing are now being made. Anyone with evidence of wrongdoing needs to report it immediately to the proper authorities, as I am sure Deputy Martin will do if he has information in that regard.”
“The Government and NAMA take very seriously, and why should they not, any accusations of NAMA employees or former employees breaching the NAMA Act.”
Later
Martin: “A consistent thread in the Taoiseach’s replies to various people on this question during the last Dáil and this one is that there has been no wrongdoing on NAMA’s behalf.
Kenny: I said “No allegations of wrongdoing against NAMA”.
Martin: “The allegations are about the deal. That is the point but the Taoiseach keeps almost deliberately ignoring it. The allegations are about the entirety of the deal, its ethics and its rightness or wrongness. Surely, when people heard that there was up to €7 million in an offshore account, it raised eyebrows. Surely, the deal should have been called off when PIMCO alerted NAMA to elements of what was going on and when the Minister for Finance, Deputy Noonan, was himself alerted to what was going on at that stage. There is no point in saying that everything on our side was fine and we have covered our backs, that all our paperwork is clear and clean in the Republic and in NAMA headquarters and the fact that others may have got up to all kinds of activity is of no concern to us.
Ó Fearghaíl: “I thank the Deputy.”
Martin: “That is what has come back to us in regard to this. It is the sense that has come from Ministers, the Taoiseach and NAMA in a very defensive mode. Instead of saying that if something is rotten in the state of Denmark in regard to this deal, it is in our interests to tackle and deal with it.
Ó Fearghaíl: “Thank you, Deputy.”
Martin: “Did it ever occur to the Taoiseach that we should have set up a commission of investigation when the National Crime Agency, the US Securities and Exchange Commission and others were pursuing this? The Taoiseach mentioned the Northern Assembly. There seems to be a sense of a connection and a nexus between politics and all of this in the North as well. That may emerge in the coming weeks.
Ó Fearghaíl: “Deputy, the time has elapsed. Thank you.”
Martin: “I put to the Taoiseach the question of whether he ever asked the Minister of Finance, Deputy Michael Noonan, the question as to why the shutters were not pulled down on this deal when PIMCO gave its information to NAMA in regard to third parties.”
Kenny: “If Deputy Martin makes the case, the Government is in no way defensive about this issue. If there is something rotten, as the Deputy says, in the state of Denmark relative to this case, what he is saying is that the process by which this sale was completed was wrong, was not up to standard and was not in accordance with proper procedure. I am informed that the sale was conducted under proper conditions, that it was sold following an open process to the highest bidder for what it was worth.”
Martin: “Someone pocketed €7 million.”
Kenny: “Is that right or is it not right? That is what I am informed. If I am being misinformed here, if somebody has got evidence to that effect, I would certainly like to hear it. The Deputy makes the point that the sale should have been stopped. Where is the evidence that the process that was followed was not open—–”
Gerry Adams: “The €7 million.”
Kenny: “—–was not above board—–”
Martin: “The offshore account.”
Kenny: “—–and was not fair?”
Adams: “There are seven million reasons.”
Ó Fearghaíl: “One speaker, please.”
Martin: “The offshore account and the money paid in fixers’ fees.”
Ó Fearghaíl: “The Taoiseach to conclude.”
Kenny: “In the sale being concluded, the information that I am given, standing here in the position that I hold, is that this was conducted in a proper and open process, and was sold to the highest bidder for what it was worth….”
Meanwhile, last week…
Time for politicians to put up or shut up-SF, FF, Soc Dems & some Indies want NAMA Inquiry. They have the numbers… https://t.co/EcbpYhPCRb
— NAMAwinelake (@namawinelake) June 9, 2016
And yesterday…
FF again calling for NAMA Commission of Investigation at Leader Questions.Have word with SF,Soc Dems + Indies;you’ll have Inquiry this week.
— NAMAwinelake (@namawinelake) June 14, 2016
Previously: ‘Nama Has Done Nothing Wrong’
‘Nobody Had Presented Me With Evidence Of Wrongdoing By Nama’
Dáil transcript: Oireachtas.ie
A new video of northern Ireland from Tourism Ireland.
FIGHT!
You never know unless you go.
Thanks Ciarán Hall
Chairman of NAMA Frank Daly and Finance Minister Michael Noonan
You may recall the sale of Nama’s property loan portfolio in Northern Ireland – the biggest loss on a Nama loan sale for Irish taxpayers.
The sale is now the subject of investigation by the National Crime Agency in the UK and the Securities and Exchange Commission in the US.
You may also recall how Stormont’s Committee for Finance and Personnel carried out a ‘fact-finding’ review of the sale for eight months.
Publication of an 18-page report on the progress of this review was embargoed until just after midnight this morning.
It criticised Nama and Finance Minister Michael Noonan – specifically for Nama refusing to give oral evidence to the committee; for Minister Noonan not encouraging Nama to give the same; and for Minister Noonan not stopping the sale of the Northern Ireland portfolio once he became aware that bidders PIMCO were due to send a sum of money to Northern Ireland Nama advisor, Frank Cushnahan.
From the report…
For its part, DFP [Department of Finance and Personnel] provided initial oral evidence and papers on 23 July 2015, but subsequently delayed providing further evidence until 9 October 2015, after it had concluded an internal file review and engaged with the NCA.
NAMA, on the other hand, while agreeing to answer questions in writing, refused to give oral evidence. The reason cited by NAMA is that the appropriate forum to which it should account for its activities is the Oireachtas and to committees established by the Oireachtas.
While the Committee does not dispute this point, it believes greater co-operation from NAMA would have assisted it in fully understanding the DFP-NAMA relationship since 2009.
And:
As with the oral and written evidence received from the other stakeholders, including the documents received from the Republic of Ireland’s (RoI) Department of Finance and NAMA, the Committee placed the DFP papers in the public domain, except for seventeen documents relating to individual borrowers.
In this latter case, DFP cited data protection and commercial sensitivity concerns for its request that the documents were not to be released. The Committee, however, took legal advice on this matter and continues to pursue the issue with DFP.
And:
In addition to the aforementioned evidence gathering exercise, the Committee accepted an invite from the Dáil Public Accounts Committee (PAC) to make a formal address on the progress of the review. This invitation was made in light of the respective committee inquiries into the Project Eagle sale.
During the address on 1 October 2015, the Chairperson also took the opportunity to point out that there was an increased onus on NAMA to appear before the Committee, even simply out of courtesy and respect for the institutions in Northern Ireland.
And:
The Committee notes with regret the decision of the NAMA Board not to suspend the Project Eagle sales process once PIMCO had disclosed to the Agency in March 2014 that PIMCO’s proposed fee arrangement with the Brown Rudnick international law firm included also the payment of fees to Tughans, a Belfast law firm, and to a former external member of NAMA NIAC. From the evidence to date, the Committee considers this development to be a core area of concern within the entire sale and purchase process. The need for further information and clarification in this regard underlines the case for NAMA attending an oral hearing of the Committee.
Whilst it is does not fall to this Committee to pursue, given the seriousness of the revelation by PIMCO, it is unclear why the Irish Government’s Minister for Finance, Michael Noonan, did not intervene at this point, by exercising his general powers of direction over NAMA to suspend the sales process until matters were investigated fully. The Committee also notes that Minister Noonan did not inform the Northern Ireland Executive of this development. In addition, the Committee regrets that Minister Noonan did not encourage NAMA to attend an oral hearing of the Committee.
And:
The Committee established that NAMA ‘…had no knowledge of meetings between Mr Cushnahan and prospective purchasers of NAMA-secured assets in Northern Ireland…’ including whilst he was on the NAMA NIAC. This is deeply concerning to the Committee.
And:
The Committee also noted from the BBC (NI) Spotlight programme that the other former external member of the NAMA NIAC, Mr Brian Rowntree, stated that the NIAC members had access to information which was of a ‘commercially sensitive nature’ and which offered ‘commercial opportunity’ and would have been of some value to a bidder for Project Eagle.
This is of particular significance as it appears to contradict the position adopted by NAMA to date. For example, in written evidence to the Committee on 27 November 2015, NAMA stated that the external members of the NAMA NIAC ‘never had access to confidential information’. Furthermore, in evidence to the Dáil PAC on 9 July 2015, the NAMA Chairman, Mr Frank Daly, stated that the external members of the NAMA NIAC ‘did not gain any confidential information or any useful insider information from being a member of that advisory committee’.
Therefore, given these seemingly contradictory positions, the Committee recommends that a full examination is made of what precisely was discussed at the NAMA NIAC meetings and what information was shared with the NIAC members.
And:
The Committee found the refusal of NAMA to attend an oral evidence session particularly unhelpful. NAMA needed to be more open and accessible given the importance of the Project Eagle portfolio to the Northern Ireland economy. The Committee does not accept NAMA’s rationale for not attending an oral hearing of the Committee, especially given that Agency representatives have previously held many meetings with Ministers and officials in Northern Ireland.
Read the report in full here
Previously: Spotlight Falls On Noonan
Mark Stedman/Rollingnews
H/T: Namawinelake
Amelia Gentleman, in The Guardian, reports:
Medical staff in Northern Ireland are operating in a “climate of fear”, worried about the threat of imprisonment if they offer advice to women seeking an abortion, healthcare leaders have said.
The number of legal abortions being carried out in Northern Ireland has halved in the past two years because doctors and midwives have been so alarmed by punitive draft guidelines, which state that healthcare workers risk life imprisonment for performing an unlawful abortion.
…
Hospital doctors, midwives and GPs all said they found it particularly difficult when women who were having a miscarriage after taking abortion pills bought online came to seek their advice, because of pressure to report anyone who has illegally procured an abortion.
One doctor (who asked not to be named because of the uncertain legal situation) recounted the unease he felt when a woman told him she had taken these pills. “It put me in an illegal position because, in the letter of the law, I should report. Obviously, I’m not going to do that, but this is the sort of problem you get,” he said.
Northern Ireland medics fear prison over abortion advice (Amelia Gentleman, The Guardian)
Previously: Illegal Abortion In Ireland
High Court in Belfast
The Guardian reports:
“A landmark legal ruling has found that the near outright ban on abortion in Northern Ireland is “incompatible with human rights”.”
“The judgment delivered on Monday at Belfast high court could lead to the relaxation of the law on abortion in the region.”
“The Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission has said the judge’s ruling may lead to women being allowed to have abortions in local hospitals in cases of fatal foetal abnormalities, rape and incest.”
“Northern Ireland is the only part of the UK where the 1967 Abortion Act does not apply.”
Northern Ireland law on abortion ruled as ‘incompatible with human rights’ (The Guardian)
Related: Human Rights Commission Welcomes Historic Termination of Pregnancy Ruling – 30.11.15 (NIHRC)
Pic: NIHRC
Statements released from the Northern Ireland Office and the Department of Foreign Affairs, following the reaching of a new agreement on powersharing.
It follows ten weeks of discussions.
RTÉ reports:
The key elements addressed include paramilitarism, welfare and finance. The document says the agreement will help to give the Executive a sustainable and stable budget, with about £500m of additional financial support from the UK government.
This money will be used to support programmes including the removal of peace walls.
The deal will also “pave the way of the devolution of corporation tax powers, which is expected to lead to a reduction to 12.5% by April 2018”.
FIGHT!
Stormont leaders reach deal after months of talks (RTE)
Pics via David Young
