Yesterday.
Spotted at The Angler’s Rest in Castleknock, Dublin 20.
Fine Gael’s new leader and Taoiseach-elect Leo Varadkar walking with EU Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development and former Fine Gael Environment Minister Phil Hogan.
Good times.
Previously: Denis O’Brien, Fine Gael And The Water Meter Deal
They’re Loud And They’re Growing
Earlier: Defeat Leoliberalism? Yes We Khan
Thanks Revolution
From top: Former environment minister Phil Hogan; uncollected rubbish in Dublin’s north inner city.
He didn’t just give us water.
Seán McCárthaigh, in The Times (Ireland edition), reports:
The last government chose to maintain a fully privatised waste collection system, despite an internal report outlining the benefits of an alternative that could have involved less cost for homeowners.
Documents from the Department of the Environment, which have been seen by The Times, show that a system involving franchises for each local authority area was found to be more likely to deliver savings to customers four years ago and could have been introduced.
The model, known as “franchise bidding” would still have involved private companies, but they would have had to compete to win fixed tenders for each area in a policy change that would have given the state significant control over the process.
…Despite the report’s conclusion the Fine Gael-Labour coalition ultimately backed the recommendation of the Department of Environment that it should maintain the existing structure when moving to the new pay-by-weight system, due to be introduced on July 1.
The decision, ultimately signed off by Phil Hogan, the then environment minister, allows private waste collection firms to continue competing for services in the same areas and included plans for stronger regulation.
The new pay-by-weight system has provoked controversy as private companies signalled price hikes for customers ahead of the launch date.
…The decision not to opt for franchise bidding was made following outright opposition by members of the Irish Waste Management Association, which includes companies like Greenstar, Thorntons and Panda, to the franchise bidding model.
The analysis said the non-franchise Irish system of waste collection, which lets private firms compete for business, was “somewhat unique”, noting that its continuation with some extra regulation would “create a unique system of waste management in which the role of the private sector is central.”
“The near wholesale withdrawal of local authorities and the corresponding growth in the role of the private sector was not a policy goal and was not fully anticipated,” it said.
Private firms now collect 98 per cent of all household waste in a market estimated to be worth at least €250 million annually.
Government ignored report to cut waste cost (Seán McCárthaigh, The Times)
Thanks Richie
“Tánaiste, over the lifetime of this Government, there have been a number of serious concerns, regarding probity and accountability and today I want to discuss another one that I believe merits scrutiny and that is the awarding of the call centre work for Irish Water to the Cork-based company Abtran. I know you’ll recall that Abtran was the company that got the contract for the SUSI grant system and it came under serious criticism, and rightly so, for its failing and it cost an additional almost €6million. And despite that, it went on to get, it was awarded the property tax contract. And then Revenue had to step in because it failed to cope initially.”
“Yet, after both of those high-profile failings, it was awarded the call centre work for Irish Water. We also know that Abtran has at least 10 other Government and public contracts. Now one of the criteria for the tendering process for the Irish Water contract was that the company had to have a turnover of €20million for the preceding three years. And given that it had a number of lucrative State contracts, prior to the Irish Water contract, the State certainly improved Abtran’s ability to meet the criteria laid down in the process. What’s interesting here is the way it was awarded, the way the contract was awarded and the obvious questions it raises about probity and the awarding of the contract.”
“Now Tánaiste, through Freedom of Information, I’ve established that on the 15th of February, 2012, the then minister [for the Environment] Phil Hogan’s private secretary received a fairly informal email seeking a meeting with Phil in order to lobby on behalf of Abtran. On the same day, at 5pm, an email was sent saying that the minister had agreed to meet the company. On the 27th of February, on the same year, we know that, through the work from Gavin Sheridan’s minister’s diary, that they met, that the minister met both the person who sent the original lobbying email, Mr O’Byrne – the co-owner of Abtran. In March, 2013, that company was then awarded the metering [sic] contract.”
“The Irish Water call centre contract, Tanaiste, as you know, is a very lucrative contract. It’s worth in the region of €50million over four years. And we know through the Freedom of Information that one of the key criteria was that the awarding of the contract, the firm that the contract was awarded to, had to have a proven track record. Now I presume that means a good track record – so the questions I want to ask you are: Are you satisfied that despite a very public failings of Abtran in relation to the SUSI scheme and the property tax scheme that they were still awarded an extremely lucrative contract by the State? Given the criteria? Are you aware that in 2015, late 2015, a State investment vehicle, also invested an undisclosed sum of money into Abtran? Do you know what that money is for? Do you know how much that was? And are you concerned about what appears to be the favouring of Abtran for Government funds?”
Social Democrat TD Catherine Murphy for Kildare North speaking in the Dáil during Leaders’ Questions in the last few minutes.
More to follow.
Previously: Contains Impurities
European Union Agriculture Commissioner Phil Hogan speaking at the AGM of the Irish Creamery Milk Suppliers Association in Limerick this afternoon.
Related: Phil Hogan to address ICMSA on milk prices (Irish Examiner)
Phil Hogan: EU civil liberties to be restricted after Paris attacks (Juno McEnroe, Irish Examiner)
Previously: ‘Mr President, Remove This Incompetent Commissioner’
Pic: Phil Hogan
An open letter from president of the European Milk Board Romuald Schaber to the president of the European Commission Jean-Claude Junker, calling for Commissioner Phil Hogan’s resignation.
European Milk Board calls for removal of Commissioner Hogan (Agriland)
Thanks Gemma
Former Environment Minister Phil Hogan
The BRegs Blog was started in November 2013 as a forum for those interested to debate
the Building Control (Amendment) Regulations (BCAR) that were introduced on March 1, 2014.
In light of the Longboat Quay situation, this morning the blog writes:
It looks like there is a growing realisation that our new system of “reinforced” self-regulation i.e. BC(A)R SI.9 introduced in March 2014 will do little to prevent another Longboat Quay.
…As Minister for the Environment, before he decamped to Brussels as EU agriculture commissioner, Phil Hogan had the opportunity to remedy the situation by specifying that construction activity is monitored by suitably qualified local authority professionals, as in the past. Instead, he introduced a regime that merely requires a newly-completed building to be certified as compliant by an architect, structural engineer or other “assigned certifier”.
Widespread criticism, notably from within the architectural profession, that this would offer no real protection for buyers was blithely dismissed by Mr Hogan, who continued to insist that his light-touch approach “will provide consumers with the protection they need and deserve.”
The then minister went even further, stating in April 2013: “As soon as these regulations become operational, homeowners who encounter a problem with a building will be in a radically better place. They will be able to immediately access information which can lead them towards a solution to the problem.” …
Mr Hogan expressed his hope that the issue of latent defects insurance for construction projects would be addressed before the new regulations came into effect on March 1st last year. But this didn’t happen, with the result that residents of new apartment buildings subsequently found to be defective have no way of seeking redress for problems emphatically not of their own making. An appalling situation that must be brought to an end, and quickly.
Phil Hogan’s Building Regulations… “were a step backwards” (BRegsForum)
Related: SI9 Where Do I Start? (BRegsForum)
Previously: The Longboat Of The Law
Different Strokes For Different Folks
Rollingnews.ie
Ireland’s European Commissioner Phil Hogan (left) at the National Ploughing Championship yesterday
“First of all I don’t agree that there’s a mess and second of all I introduced what was required of me under the Troika and you’ll have to ask the Minister for the Environment for the rest…He’s in charge of water, and Irish Water, and the delivery of a very important product called water.”
Phil Hogan, yesterday.
Thanks Dave Kelly
(RTÉ)
Great to see Phil Hogan sunning himself in Italy with EPP colleagues. ‘Bit of wine while we crush #Greece?’ pic.twitter.com/J1dDkqrdFZ
— Ronan Burtenshaw (@ronanburtenshaw) June 29, 2015
Meanwhile: INM Was Asked To Kill Phil Story (Mark Tighe, The Sunday Times)
Phil Hogan (top) and Rose Hynes, of Irish Water
You can’t handle transparency.
On February 24, 2012, it was reported that Bord Gáis – renamed Ervia in June 2014 – had bid for the setting up of Irish Water, almost two weeks before Denis O’Brien bought Siteserv for €45.4million in cash from the IBRC, formerly known as Anglo Irish Bank.
On April 17, 2012, the Government announced that it had agreed to establish Irish Water as an “independent State owned subsidiary within the Bord Gáis Éireann (BGE) group”.
During the set-up phase of Irish Water, and specifically in October and November 2012, two meetings took place between former Environment Minister Phil Hogan and the chairperson of what was then Bord Gáis, Rose Hynes.
The meetings took place in Mr Hogan’s office and are noted in Mr Hogan’s official diary.
According to journalist John Burke, of RTÉ’s This Week, no minutes or notes were recorded at these two meetings.
Ms Hynes – who is a lawyer by profession and who was formerly appointed to the board of Aer Lingus in 2007 by former Fine Gael leader Alan Dukes – became Irish Water’s first chairperson in July 2013. She was not appointed to Irish Water through the public procurement process.
In a statement to RTÉ’s This Week, Ervia said it was “customary practice that there were no notes taken at these meetings.”
Mr Burke said all matters would have been up for discussion during these meetings, including the installation of water meters.
Separate to those two meetings – between Mr Hogan and Ms Hynes – Mr Burke also sought minutes in relation to meetings that took place in relation to Irish Water and Bord Gáis between April and September 2012.
During that period there were 23 meetings between Bord Gais and the Department of the Environment. Out of those 23 meetings, no notes or minutes were taken for 13 of those meetings.
Those 13 meetings included two further meetings that were held between then Bord Gáis and Mr Hogan.
RTÉ’s This Week has previously reported that, on May 11, 2012, in a meeting which took place between Bord Gais and the Department of the Environment, Bord Gáis was questioning if it was the correct course of action to go ahead with water metering at that stage.
According to Mr Burke, there are no records to the four meetings that took place between Bord Gáis and the Department of the Environment in the two weeks prior to that May 11 meeting and no records relating to another meeting that took place less than a week after that May 11 meeting.
There are also no records for meetings that took place between Mr Hogan and Bord Gáis on June 28, 2012 and July 12, 2012, nor for a meeting in June 2012 between the water regulator CER, Bord Gáis and New Era.
Meanwhile…
A report by Tom Lyons, in The Sunday Business Post, says Denis O’Brien’s company Siteserv is in a legal battle with Irish Water over costs in relation to delays caused by the protests against the installation of water meters and the video monitoring of the protests.
Siteserv’s subsidiary, Sierra, is part of GMC Sierra which won a State contract to install water meters in Dublin, the Midlands, Wicklow, Kildare, Offaly, Laois, Mayo, Roscommon, Donegal, Sligo and Leitrim in July 2013.
Sierra – which was chosen as the preferred bidder for a €50million, three-year contract, to provide boiler installation and servicing services to for Bord Gáis in December 2009 – was bought by Siteserv in September 2007.
Mr Lyons reports:
“The Sunday Business Post has learned that both sides have appointed legal teams to attempt to resolve the dispute, which centres around a bill of between €3million and €5million… Both sides are believed to be prepared to enter a mediation process to try to resolve the dispute, rather than suing each other. It is understood that Siteserv believes it was given verbal reassurances by Irish Water senior management that the state utility would pick up at least some of the cost of the protests. What exactly – if anything – was agreed is now disputed by the state water company… McCann FItzgerald is advising Irish Water on the matter, while a well-known Dublin firm of solicitors is acting for GMC [Sierra].”
Good times.
(Photocall Ireland/Irish Water)
Ireland’s European Commissioner Phil Hogan
“It was unbelievably arrogant or naïve of the Government to expect the EU Commission to see the so called water conservation grant as anything other than an exchequer transfer.
Calling it a water conservation grant was only likely to deepen the bureaucrats’ suspicions.
If the government’s plans fail the market corporation in test in April, I believe that the Government will then move to get rid of the water conservation grant altogether while pressing ahead with full water charges.
“The whole issue of Water Charges will not go away. The government can still abandon the concept of charging people for the water they drink and instead look at alternative models.
I suspect the EU Commission’s concerns go even deeper than the grant. The message to Brussels should be that the Irish people have rejected water charges and that no tweaking of an accounting trick can change that.”
Sinn Fein TD Pearse Doherty speaking to RTÉ R1’s Morning Ireland earlier responding to reports in the Irish Independent of a confidential report expressing the European Commission’s concerns about irish Water’s finances.
Confidential report reveals European concerns about Irish Water (BreakingNews)
(Laura Hutton/Photocall Ireland)