https://soundcloud.com/gavanreillytodayfm/matt-carthy-phil-hogan-european-parliament
Commotion breaks out in European Parliament chamber – Sinn Fein’s Matt Carthy insists @PhilHoganTD has not answered his questions #PhilHogan
— Independent.ie (@Independent_ie) October 2, 2014
Hearing commences here
Hilary Quinlan
The Irish Times reports this morning that junior minister at the Department of the Environment and Waterford TD, Paudie Coffey, has hired former Waterford Fine Gael councillor and Irish Water director, Hilary Quinlan, as his personal driver – earning him €665 a week.
Splutter.
Fiach Kelly reports:
“You tell me one party out there who doesn’t look after their own. I don’t see anything wrong with it. It’s politics.” [Mr Quinlan] asked why there isn’t more of a focus on the economy. “We were all nearly eating out of bins three years ago.”
Hmmm.
In January – before Mr Quinlan lost his seat at Waterford City Council at the local elections in May – he spoke to WLRFM about his €15,000-a-year appointment at Irish Water, saying Environment Minister Phil Hogan appointed him.
The Irish Daily Mail reported at the time:
Asked about the public perception of getting the post, Mr Quinlan told WLRFM: ‘Look, live in the real world now please. I’ve said what I have to say about it. I want to speak to you about the reasons why Irish Water was set up. I’m trying to put a positive spin on the New Year.’
“Revealing that his board member salary would be in the region of ’15 grand’, the Fine Gael representative, who has been a councillor for 29 years, added that he would ‘probably’ get travel and overnight expenses too. But he insisted: ‘That’s not my motivation. It never has been my motivation.’ When pressed on his appointment, he said: ‘I was in the right place at the right time.’
Irish Water director hired as personal driver by Minister (Fiach Kelly, Irish Times)
Previously: The John Deasy Transcript
Pic: Irish Water
Phil Hogan denying a claim we didn’t make. We didn’t say he approved €40 m allocation. He ‘seen & approved’ document telling him about €40+m
— John Burke (@JohnBurkeRTE) September 28, 2014
Phil Hogan signed & dated the 10/12/2012 document under words ‘seen & approved by the Minister’. Told “consultants” to share in €43.5m pot — John Burke (@JohnBurkeRTE) September 28, 2014
Former Environment Minister Phil Hogan was informed as far back as December 2012 that Irish Water had allocated a sum of more than €40m out of which consultants, among others, would be paid.
According to a document obtained by RTÉ’s This Week programme, Mr Hogan signed and approved of the document on 10 December 2012.
That is more than a year before the controversy broke over the spending of tens of millions of euro on consultancy services during the new water utility’s set-up.
Mr Hogan said he did not know that €50m had been spent on consultants when the controversy broke in January of this year.
He expressed concern at the level of spending at the time.
Listen to John Burke and Colm Ó Mongáin discuss the latest revelations on RTÉ Radio One’s This Week here.
Hogan knew of €40m Irish Water consultancy allocation in 2012 (RTÉ News)
Previously: Thicker Than Uisce
Phil Hogan
You may recall how Independent MEP Nessa Childers wrote to all the members of the Social Democrats group – 191 members – of the European Parliament, in which she said she had “serious reservations” about Mr Hogan getting the EU Commissioner post.
Ms Childers specifically wrote about how Mr Hogan, as Environment Minister, had written to some of his constituents in Kilkenny, telling them a Traveller family – Patrick and Brigid Carthy and their seven children – would not be moved to a house near them.
During an interview on September 10, Mr Hogan told RTÉ Ms Childers assertions were ‘absolute rubbish’ and suggested they may be dealt with in the courts.
Mr Hogan is set to go before the European Parliament’s Committee on Agriculture to be questioned about his suitability to become the next Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Affairs.
Further to this, RTÉ reports:
“Mr Hogan’s solicitors have threatened legal action against Ms Childers if she did not withdraw her allegations within five days, and challenging her claim that as an MEP she enjoyed parliamentary privilege.”
…
“Last night in a letter, seen by RTÉ News, Ms Childers wrote to the Committee on Legal Affairs of the European parliament requesting that the chairman reassure MEPs that they can, quote, discharge their duties of scrutiny without hindrance or fear of legal retaliation.”
Hogan threatens legal action against MEP Nessa Childers (RTÉ)
Photocall Ireland
Former Environment Minister Phil Hogan
On foot of Phil Hogan being confirmed as the European Union’s Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development, he spoke to Seán O’Rourke earlier.
During the interview he addressed the matter of Independent MEP Nessa Childers writing to all the members of the Social Democrats group – 191 members – of the European Parliament, in which she said she had “serious reservations” about Mr Hogan getting the EU Commissioner post.
Ms Childers specifically wrote about how Mr Hogan, as Environment Minister, had written to some of his constituents in Kilkenny, telling them a Traveller family – Patrick and Brigid Carthy and their seven children – would not be moved to a house near them.
Phil Hogan: “Can I say that the assertions made by Nessa Childers are absolute rubbish and they will be dealt with at the European Parliament, if they arise, and they will be dealt with in the courts, in due course.”
Seán O’Rourke: “And then, more recently, there was the story on Sunday last, to the effect you knew far more than you were admitting about the detailed costs being run up by Irish Water in their establishment, particularly in regard to consultants, and you didn’t tell the full story.”
Hogan: “And that’s absolute rubbish as well, Seán. And I know that there has to be bit of a silly season but this is a silly season story where I’ve done, where I’ve actually, on regular occasions to the Dáil, and indeed the Irish Water company told the European, told the environment committee and the public accounts committee, I’ve explained all of the headings that the company have to work with, in order to give indicative allocations of money, for, to set up a new company. I don’t expect that anyone, or didn’t expect that anyone would set up a new company without it costing some money. Irish Water, by its establishment, is saving considerable amount of money already in various schemes right around Ireland and it shows the importance of water quality and the investment that’s required in water and sewage treatment plants if we want a competitive Ireland and, indeed a competitive Europe.”
O’Rourke: “I know that’s, and I suppose that’s the big principle of this thing and that’s why it was set up but in regard to your own knowledge of the detail, did you effectively hide the extent of that detailed knowledge?”
Hogan: “No, I certainly indicated that there was a overall figure required to establish a new company and, in due course, the, all of the tendering procedures have to go through one of the various headings and under the various systems that have been put in place to set up a new commercial, semi-State company. And it will be seen, in time, Seán, that it was worthwhile and that Irish Water got on with the job of implementing a very important program for the country, to create jobs and sustain jobs for the year ahead. If we don’t have good water quality, we won’t have jobs in Ireland and we won’t have good public health.”
Listen back in full here
Previously: The Negative Noise Around Phil Hogan
Anything Good In ‘The Parliament’?
Big Phil’s Fat Gypsy Prejudice
Why Did Phil Hogan Stop Six Separate Planning Inquiries?
Photocall Ireland
Last night, the political correspondent for RTÉ’s current affairs department Katie Hannon, above, spoke to Miriam O’Callaghan on RTÉ’s Prime Time about former Environment Minister Phil Hogan’s bid to become a new EU Commissioner.
Miriam O’Callaghan: “We all know it’s this week that we’re going to find out, but is it looking like Agriculture, Katie?”
Katie Hannon: “It is looking like agriculture. I understand it’s now going to be Wednesday. We thought we’d get this announcement tomorrow but I’m now hearing it’s going to be Wednesday. And, as of now, the talk is that Phil Hogan is tipped to get the agriculture portfolio and I think that would be seen as a win for Ireland, it would be seen as a good result. It’s perhaps, not the top, top tier of portfolios, it’s second tier, but a portfolio that’s important to Ireland. So I think they’ll be pleased if that’s how it works out on Wednesday.”
O’Callaghan: “Is he in any real jeopardy?”
Hannon: “Well I think he’s certainly going to come under considerable pressure over the next couple of weeks. We have this unprecedented situation where, and this is reflection of how the election went last May for the European Parliament, but we now have five of our 11 MEPs, Irish MEPs, opposing the Irish nominee for Commissioner. And that’s really unprecedented. And we even have a sixth, Marian Harkin who is reserving her position until she says, she sees what portfolio he gets and how he performs before that committee. And two of those objecting MEPs, Matt Carthy from Sinn Féin and Luke ‘Ming’ Flanagan, the Independent MEP, they’re actually sitting on the Agriculture Committee, so if that is the portfolio he gets, they will be facing those two MEPs, amongst the other members of that committee for the grilling that he must get before he is ratified as commissioner. So, I think, one way or another, it’s going to be a pressure time, for Phil Hogan.”
O’Callaghan: “In terms of issues, what are the issues likely to be raised?”
Hannon: “Well, we know already that the Independent MEP Nessa Childers has written to all the members of the Social Democrats group, that’s 191 members of the European Parliament. And she’s told them about events surrounding letters that Minister, the then Minister Hogan, wrote in relation to the housing of a Traveller family in his constituency in 2012. This was a fairly big controversy at the time here. Phil Hogan has always maintained that he never did anything wrong in relation to this, that he was merely representing the concerns of his constituents, and he stands over that. But Nessa Childers has, as I say, written to all these MEPs, has been highly critical of his move there and has said his appointment, in relation to this would be a step back for equality. So, it remains to be seen if any members of the Socialist group have bite in relation to that.”
O’Callaghan: “And Sinn Féin of course, they’ve also raised concerns, haven’t they Katie?”
Hannon: “Sinn Féin have yeah. Sinn Féin have a long, have been raising concerns about Phil Hogan for some time. We’ve known, of course, that Phil Hogan was our likely nominee for quite some time now and Sinn Féin have been to the forefront of questioning of his suitability for the job. They have a long list, they’ve talked about what they say is cronyism, appointments to State bodies, they talked about how he handled the planning inquiries, that were ongoing in his department, when he was at the helm of that department, in 2011, and, of course, now they’ve gone big on the Irish Water issue. And we’ve had this new, that controversy has, of course, blown up over the weekend, more questions raised about what Phil Hogan knew about the spending on consultants in that department and even more so, not even what he knew but how candid he was when he was asked questions about that. And, certainly, from what, the documents that came into the possession of RTÉ’s This Week programme yesterday raises serious questions about how candid he was in relation to those issues so that’s definitely going to be in the ether as the Commission nominees are announced this week.”
O’Callaghan: “So what do you think? What’s your instinct? Will any of this stick? Is it likely to cause him any serious problems or not Katie?”
Hannon: “Well, I think he can certainly look forward to some pretty uncomfortable few hours, before the committee, whatever committee he ends up sitting before, getting his grilling. You’d have to say that he has weathered these storms domestically, up to now. And you’d wonder, if that’s the case, why should they sink him in Europe, if he’s managed to shrug off any political damage in relation to these, up to now. So that’s in his favour. But, I mean, people have fallen at this hurdle before. In 2010, there was a Bulgarian nominee, there was questions raised about her husband’s links with the Russian mafia in the German Press. She had a very poor performance before her committee, she was withdrawn before the Commission went ahead. There was, famously, the Italian nominee in 2004, Butilone – his issue was he had particular views on homosexuality and marriage, he have very conservative, Catholic views. There was a fear that they might cut across the portfolio the was offered. He was offered the civil liberties portfolio and, again, he was withdrawn, so it’s not unprecedented but it’s a big deal if a nominee has to be withdrawn. The other difficulty, the only other difficulty I think that’s been raised with me this evening was that events might overtake matters. So, let’s say, a Socialist nominee had to be withdrawn for whatever reason, the Socialists might come for a scalp from the European People’s Party. And, in that kind of scenario, all this negative noise around Phil Hogan might make him vulnerable.”
Watch back in full here
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
Ireland’s newly-nominated European Union Commissioner Phil Hogan
Phil your boots.
February 2011 Announces plans to shut down Moriarty Tribunal.
[Hogan] is likely to be the next Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government. It’s a powerful gig, all the more so in the context of Hogan’s announcement earlier this month that he intends to shut down the Moriarty Tribunal when Fine Gael gets into government.
Phil Hogan And His One Point Plan (Broadsheet)
February 2012 U-turn on septic tank charge
The Minister for the Environment has announced a dramatic reduction in the septic tank registration fee from €50 to €5 amid claims from opponents it was a clampdown and U-turn.
Hogan Cuts Septic tank registration Fee From €50 to €5 (irish Times)
March 2012 Apology for lewd remark
“He replied in a loud voice: ‘I have no problem screwing you. Hasn’t Mairtin been screwing you for years?’ Then he turned his back on me and said: ‘Business tomorrow,’ ” Ms [Ann] O’Connell, 70, said of the incident.
Phil Hogan Sorry For Lew Remark (Irish Examiner)
March 2012 Questions raised over the shutting down of six separate planning inquires by Hogan
“What happened was that inspectors were actually appointed and ready to start the inquiries by the time the new Government took over and within weeks if not, well, certainly within months of Phil Hogan taking over as Minister for the Environment, those inquiries were terminated and the inspectors were stood down. And even in advance of the general election, Phil Hogan had actually said that the allegations were spurious mostly. But how did he know that they were spurious when they weren’t even being investigated? And the termination of those investigations, it seems to me, runs exactly counter to one of the principle recommendations of the Mahon Tribunal.”
Frank McDonald, Irish Times Environment Correspondent, speaking on RTÉ’s Frontline.
April 2012 Grants Lowry a post-Moriarty Meeting
The minister met with Mr Lowry six days after the Moriarty report’s release in Mar 2011 and after calls by the Taoiseach for the TD to step down.
Hogan And Lowry Met After Moriarty Finding (Irish Independent)
April 2012 ‘Bumped into Denis O’Brien’
“He did briefly bump into Denis O’Brien. They bumped into each other and exchanged pleasantries. They spoke for a matter of moments,” a spokesperson said.
Denying The O’Brien/Hogan Meeting (Story.ie)
April 2012 The ‘Would U Ever Relax And Feed The Children’ text.
The Kilkenny woman told how kids are going hungry as cash-strapped families scrimp to pay the hated 100 tax. But she was stunned when a reply from Hogan’s personal mobile said: “Would u ever relax. And feed the children.”
Enda To Probe Rude Text By Hogan (The Irish Sun)
April 2012 Refuses to pay service charges on holiday home.
Mr Hogan, who has an apartment in Villamoura on the Algarve, has an outstanding service charge of €4,320, according to a ‘debtors’ list document
Phil Hogan- Refuses To Pay 4k Service Charges On His Portugal- Holiday Penthouse (irish Independent)
July 2012 The ‘Soft Loan’ from Irish Nationwide
Hogan’s unorthodox loans were personally approved by Fingleton to allow him buy a pied-a-terre house in Dublin 4 and a luxurious penthouse in Portugal using two interest-only loans of at least a decade each, an aggressive equity release, and what appears to have been, for his final loan, minimal paperwork.
Nationwide’s ‘Soft’ Loan To Hogan (Independent.ie)
September 2013 The letter assuring constituents that a Traveller family would not be housed close to them
Phil Hogan assured some of his constituents that a Traveller family would not be moved into their area. A letter sent from his constituency office to residents at a townland in Co. Kilkenny in May read: ‘Just a note to let you know that the Carthy family will not be allocated that house in your area.’ The message, written in the Environment Minister’s name and bearing his colour photograph, was signed on his behalf by a secretary. It read: ‘Kindest regards, Phil Hogan, Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government.’
Irish Daily Mail [not online]
May 2014 The case of former Irish Independent journalist Eimear Ní Bhraonáin
Ms Ní Bhraonáin, who is taking a constructive dismissal case against the Irish Independent, had the story about Phil Hogan and the Carthy family but alleges the Irish Independent didn’t publish it for ten days and only did so when it learned the Irish Daily Mail was going to publish it. The Phoenix magazine reported Ms Ní Bhraonáin was asked to investigate a dossier of alleged minor crimes pertaining to Mr Carthy, after the Irish Independent received the dossier “from somewhere in the Kilkenny area”. Mark Tighe, in the Sunday Times reported how Ms Ni Bhraonain alleges there was political interference with her story. Mr Tighe reported:
Ní Bhraonáin will claim that when she asked Independent desk staff about the paper’s attitude, it was implied that the newspaper was ‘friendly’ towards Hogan.
‘Friendly Towards Hogan’ Broadsheet
(Laura Hutton/Photocall Ireland)
[Phil Hogan]
Last Tuesday, during Leader’s Questions, Sinn Féin leader Gerry Adams raised concerns about how Phil Hogan appointed a former technical director with RPS consulting engineers, Conall Boland, to the position of deputy chairman of An Bord Pleanála in May 2012, alleging that this position was never advertised.
Mr Boland was first appointed to An Bord Pleanála on January 1, 2007, and was then reappointed for a two-year term in 2011 until December 31, 2013. Since he was appointed deputy chairman in 2012, his position has been renewed until December 31, 2018.
In the Dáil on Tuesday, Mr Adams said:
“[Phil Hogan] appointed as deputy chairperson of An Bord Pleanála an individual who was the former technical director of RPS consulting engineers, a private company that framed a series of controversial projects which have come before An Bord Pleanála. The Minister also extended this person’s term of office. This individual voted to approve contentious projects on which RPS Group was a consultant, which had been rejected by An Bord Pleanála inspectors. These include an apartment development in Dún Laoghaire and a sewage treatment scheme in County Donegal. He also approved a controversial wind farm at Cullenagh, County Laois. These clearly raise questions of a conflict of interest. RPS Group consultants also advised EirGrid to install overhead pylons, and they were also among the consultants employed at a cost of €85 million by Uisce Éireann…”
The next day, Wednesday, Mr Adams returned to the matter during Leader’s Questions, and asked Mr Kenny:
“Does the Taoiseach agree that a situation whereby the deputy chairperson of An Bord Pleanála is overseeing planning applications drawn up by his former employees may represent a conflict of interest?”
Taoiseach Enda Kenny replied:
“I am not aware of a conflict of interest. I hope that answers the Deputy’s question – the answer is “No”. All of the positions on An Bord Pleanála were publicly advertised. The answer to that is “Yes”. That is clear.”
Mr Adams responded:
“This one was not.”
Yesterday, Sarah McInerney and Stephen O’Brien, in The Sunday Times, reported that the majority of Ireland’s MEPs are opposed to the nomination of Phil Hogan as European Commissioner and plan to campaign against him getting this position with Sinn Féin particularly focussing on the appointment of Conall Boland.
Readers may recall how last November the European Commission ordered Dublin
City Council to terminate its contract with RPS for client services and public relations at the Poolbeg incinerator after it described the contract as an “illegal situation”.
The contract cost around €30million even though it was originally estimated to be €8.3million.
Readers may also recall how RPS advised Dublin City Council on the Poolbeg incinerator project while John Tierney was Dublin City Manager. Mr Tierney is now the managing director of Irish Water and two former executives with RPS are now working for Irish Water.
Former managing director of RPS Jerry Grant is Irish Water’s head of asset management while former head of project communications at RPS, Elizabeth Arnett, is now head of communications and corporate services at Irish Water.
Readers may also be interested to note that Conall Boland also advised Dublin City Council on its plans for the Poolbeg incinerator and the procurement of the contractor for the project when he worked at RPS. According to an article in the Irish Times in 2006, Mr Boland was also involved in preparing the waste strategy for Dublin.
In November 2006, when it was announced that the then Fianna Fáil Environment Minister Dick Roche had appointed Mr Boland to An Bord Pleanála, the then Green Party chairman John Gormley raised concerns.
The Irish Times reported at the time:
His appointment to the planning board represents a “serious conflict of interest”, Green Party chairman John Gormley said last night. “The fact that the Minister would, at this stage, appoint somebody connected with the project to the board is deeply worrying. Even more worrying is the fact that Mr Boland seems to have been responsible for the most recent review of the Dublin regional waste management plan,” he said.
Mr Gormley said he did not question Mr Boland’s competence, but said the Minister had put Mr Boland in a “very uncomfortable position”.
An Bord Pleanála (Board members)
Leader’s Questions, via Kildarestreet.com, on Tuesday here and Wednesday here
Previously: Thicker Than Uisce
Photocall Ireland
Gerard Convie (top) and (below) from left: editor of Village Magazine, Michael Smith, Ian Lumley from An Taisce and Mr Convie in Buswells Hotel today.
A press conference held by Village magazine earlier to highlight allegations made by Gerard Convie, a former planner in Donegal, about the system of planning permissions in the county.
Allegations [see link below] the Department of Environment and its outgoing Minister Phil Hogan dismissed as “spurious”.
Michael Smith of Village writes:
“There needs to be awareness that impropriety in planning was not limited to Dublin; and impropriety in Donegal not limited to Garda. Gerard Convie, a very senior insider in the planning department, has made serious allegations about the system of planning permissions in Donegal. It is a scandal that the Department of the Environment said he had failed to produce evidence of wrongdoing. Though at considerable public expense this view was eventually repudiated, how it arose must be investigated – and officials and the Minister [Phil Hogan] held to account. The repudiated view is directly analogous to the view the Department of Justice took on the respective credibilities of the Garda and its whistleblowers.. The Department must stop prevaricating and announce a proper review by a barrister into impropriety in Donegal planning under the 2000 Planning and Development Act (s255)…”
Previously: Spurious, You Say?
(Laura Hutton/Photocall ireland)