Category: Comment

Digest – Jan 3 2010

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Fiona de Londres of UCD on the Human Rights in Ireland blog, writes about the blasphemy law.

Cian O’Callaghan of Ireland After NAMA on NAMA staff being exempt from public sector pay cuts.

Belfast Gonzo of Slugger on dissident republican’s “uninspiring” New Year’s statement.

Suzy on the Green Party state board appointees.

Interesting piece on the possible non-illegalities and potential failures of the Athiest Ireland campaign of purposeful blasphemy by Colm MacCárthaigh.

Brendan Hughes of the Irish Internet Association’s Social Media Working Group on the opportunities for Ireland in 2010.

There has been a growing mistrust of all that is BIG. Big business. Big government. Big economy. Big media. Big brand. Big church. The past 18 months was particularly torrid for BIG. The corporations and institutions that dominate modern society, for increasing numbers, are no longer seen as the bastions of all that is good. The doubters are no longer just those on the fringes or with leftist leanings. Capitalists, communist and fundamentalist alike are taking a stand.

In many cases we are revolutionaries and not even aware of it. Have you transferred from a monopolistic brand in favour of a new market entrant? Have you read a blog instead of an opinion piece on a broadsheet? Have you purchased online from a foreign retailer rather than head to the local mall? There are many small acts that cumulatively and over time mark a clear shift in intention and action away from BIG organisations.

However BIG is not going away…

VonPrond on Student “Enterprise”. This raised a few questions for me. He notes that many students would be engaged in would could technically be called full-time employment. I worked about 30 hours a week while in college, I think, taking in freelancing and part-time working. I then quit part-time working (in Debenhams, oh, the glamour) and struggled freelancing for a while before taking two (unpaid) internships which led to reliable freelance work (for the time being). I should still be in college now, actually, but deferred the last year. Continue reading “Digest – Jan 3 2010”

Digest – Dec 27 2009

Quick snap Digest for you this week as I’m in work, did nothing over the pre-Christmas week and am just catching up on things tonight.

Rob Kitchin on Ireland After NAMA writes about the latest figures from the CSO on private and public sector earnings.

Slovenia still blocking Croatia from EU, The EU Observer reports. It’s almost childish by now.

Nick Cohen in The (UK) Observer on the child abuse case relating to Liam Adams and IRA secrecy. The Tribune leads today with evidence that Liam Adams canvassed with Gerry Adams in Dundalk in 1997, which contrasts with Gerry’s claims they were “estranged”. All read via Slugger.

Glen Greenwald on The New York Times‘s idea of objectivity. More good Greenwald reading here also, where he writes on the media’s reporting of air-strikes.

Again, relating to the NYT; on December 23 they published an old-news-based, poorly structured, Op-ed calling for the immediate bombing of Iran. Go read it if you’re interested in what the right side of the hawks in the Republican party were saying five years ago – because there’s nothing at all new in it.

Harry McGee, political correspondent for The Irish Times reacts to a Vincent Browne article criticising political correspondents for going too soft on the Taoiseach. My feelings on the matter are contained in my comment on the post which you can read over on the Irish Times Politics blog.

Post of the Week goes to Karl Whelan of IrishEconomy who caught the newsdump and threw it back, thank god for blogs because I would have missed the story.

In other words, their recommended cuts were in addition to the suspension of bonuses, which they recommended re-introducing at some point.

Fourth, it appears that senior civil servants are the only group in Irish society that get to count earlier cuts as part of their current cuts. For instance, the cuts to social welfare payments announced in the budget are in addition to the 2% cut related to the elimination of the Christmas bonus. Would the government consider changing its cuts in social welfare rates to take account of this?

Essentially, senior civil servants will get tiny –  or no – pay cuts while all others will be hit for up to 7%.

Also, Suzy has a great round-up of the pre-Christmas newsdumps, and there were a few this year.

New Revision has a list of the 50 best photoshop tutorials (thanks to Lauren and Josh for the share on GReader for that one).

If you haven’t read Gav’s post on Fingleton, Irish Nationwide and the wider context to the McCreevy loans, please do so now.

Marc Lynch (who formerly blogged under the name Abu Aardvark) of Foreign Policy writes about media coverage this week in the Arab world. He says, in relation to the failed bombing of a US-bound plane that “whether it’s Al Qaeda or not, nobody in the Arab media cares“. Lynch goes on to say the main story in the Arab world at the moment is about Gaza, which we’ve heard relatively little about in the West.

The Arab media’s indifference to the [aviation] story speaks to a vitally important trend. Al-Qaeda’s attempted acts of terrorism simply no longer carry the kind of persuasive political force with mass Arab or Muslim publics which they may have commanded in the immediate aftermath of 9/11.   Even as the microscopically small radicalized and mobilized base continues to plot and even to thrive in its isolated pockets, it has largely lost its ability to break out into mainstream public appeal.

P O’Neill of Best of Both Worlds blogs on Irish Election about NAMA’s 6 Degrees of Separation.

And that’s all I’ve got time for this week, am knackered, have work to do, not like there’s many reading blogs this week anyway. Hope you had a good Christmas, as a late night Irish newscaster once said live on air; “good night… to both of you.”

Morgan Kelly on how we got here

I can’t really add much to Mr Kelly’s excellent analysis. What it says to me is that the next 12 to 18 months are going to be among the most difficult, if not the most difficult, time this country has faced. I encourage everyone to read the entire document.

I will emphasise his conclusion:

Despite having pushed the Irish state close to, and quite possibly beyond, the limits ofits fiscal capacity with the NAMA scheme, the Irish banks remain as zombies whose only priority is to reduce their debt, and who face complete destruction from mortgage losses. The issue therefore is not whether the Irish bank bailout will restore the Irish banks sothat they can function as independent commercial entities: it cannot. Rather it is whether the Irish government’s commitments to bank bond holders when added to its existing spend-ing commitments, will overwhelm the fiscal capacity of the Irish state, forcing outside entities such as the IMF and EU to intervene and impose a resolution on the Irish banking system.



Michael Fingleton, INBS and Mespil

Prime Time Investigates did a special into the banking and lending industry in Ireland the other night, and highlighted previously undisclosed 100% fast track loans given to politicians, including former Finance Minister Charle McCreevy.

Nothing of the programme was really surprising, but it did add extra details to the dealings of Michael Fingleton, a man with a coloured history, as I blogged about back in April.

Part of the reasons none of the details were the surprising is because there is prior form. Irish Nationwide have been giving special loans to special people for a very long time. If you cast your mind back to the Mespil Homes deal in the early 1990s, you see the same pattern.

So who else did Irish Nationwide (Michael Fingleton being one in the same, as Primetime demonstrated) provide loans for? Let’s look again at Mespil, as I blogged back in April:

The current editor of the Irish Times, Geraldine Kennedy, then a reporter, wrote a story in May 1993 that Michael Fingleton got a mortgage from Irish Nationwide, the society he was managing director of, towards the purchase of a 1-bedroom flat in the Mespil Estate. In all, Mr Fingleton bought four apartments. with one mortgaged from the society.

But Mr Fingleton was not the only one to buy apartments in the estate, and not the only one to get a mortgage from Irish Nationwide. Solicitor Andrew O’Rourke bought two apartments in trust for two daughters of then Fianna Fail taoiseach Albert Reynolds, Emer and Leonie.

100% mortgages were advanced to 51 customers to buy 93 apartments. These included the then Attorney General Harry Whelehan, broadcaster Marian Finucane, AIB’s Anthony Spollen, former publican Dessie Hynes and the then Comptroller and Auditor General Patrick McDonnell.

Of course Mr Fingleton had not declared the purchased of the apartment, as he was obliged to do under the Building Societies Act. He later corrected the record. The following year, further details emerged. Central Bank filings in 1994 showed that seven loans totalling £342,000 were made to people and a company connected with society chairman Peter O’Connor. Five loans totalling £163,000 were made to people connected to director John Murphy.

Four loans with a total value of £125,500 were made to people connected to Mr Fingleton, including the £110,000 loan to himself. Three loans were advanced to Peter O’Connor, son of the chairman. Mr Fingleton’s brother also took out loans.

As long ago as 1994, Mr Fingleton’s salary, then an enormous £249,000 a year, was questioned by shareholders.

In 1999, Mr Fingleton was threatened with imprisonment by a High Court judge over the employment and treatment of a branch manager in Cavan town.

All very interesting. But how does it relate back to our current questions?

Fast forward to 2000, and the Flood Tribunal is in full swing. On April 19, 2000, Frank Dunlop stopped stonewalling and after reflecting overnight, said he had participated in wholescale corruption. I myself was at the Flood Tribunal that day.

Someone else was giving evidence that day though, Michael Fingleton.

Sounds familiar doesn’t it? In 2000 Mark Keenan wrote an analysis of the Mespil deal for the Sunday Tribune. He looked at it from the angle of the tenants of the apartments, elderly people who had their rented homes essentially sold from under their feet. But let’s look at it again in light of the Primetime programme.

Continue reading “Michael Fingleton, INBS and Mespil”

Today, Dec 22; over the last ten years

My little way to mark the end of the first decade of the millennium, through an Irish prism; selected news stories from the December 22nds of the last ten years. All from the Irish Times archives.

1999 McCreevy plans action on PAC report into DIRT

2000 Court fixes Lawlor case for this month

2001 Minister refuses to comment on IMMA argument (about political interference in appointment process)

2002 Ex-O’Brien accountant says letters were forged

2003 Ray Burke paid €41,492 pension as ex-minister (despite claiming free legal aid)

2004 Revenue takes €97m from tax-evaders in three months

2005 O’Brien fails to stop Bacon testifying

2006 Ahern says he was treated unfairly

2007 Tribunal raises new £5,000 sum raised by Taoiseach

2008 Bank manager supports Gilmartin’s allegations

2009 Labour seeks answer to RTÉ report (on Charlie McCreevy’s – amongst others – relationship with Michael Fingleton)

Anyone seeing a pattern?

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Note: I think one is from a December 21st or 20th because the 22nd was a Saturday or something. They were collated over the course of the day whilst working on another piece.

The Financial Regulator

I don’t want this post to seem like an “I told you so” post. But it might appear that way. I started irishcorruption.com/publicinquiry.eu back in 2005. One of the biggest issues myself and my uncle Anthony covered, and still cover on that blog, is the lack of regulation of the banks. And when the country was in a credit boom, and nobody, or at least very very few, were asking questions about regulation of the banks, myself, and to a much deeper degree Anthony where highlighting this issue ad nauseum. Almost all of these posts were also copied to the office of the Financial Regulator.

August 22, 2005 Toothless IFSRA
August 25, 2005 Allied Irish Banks investigates itself
September 28, 2005 Banana Republic
October 10, 2005 Irish/Italian accountability
November 15, 2005 The sheriff is not for the good guys
December 13, 2005 Irish (Banks) Mafia
December 23, 2005 Legal actions, dodgy dealings and resignations
January 9, 2006 The (Irish financial) Wild West Show
March 24, 2006 Still waiting for law enforcement
March 26, 2006 Former AIB executives settle with Revenue for €323,313
June 7, 2006 Ireland – The Wild West of European finance
August 1, 2006 Irish Financial Regulator – Bizarre and toothless
August 2, 2006 Rampant corruption – rampant profits
September 28, 2006 A corrupt state
October 13, 2006 Bank robbers and bank robbers
December 12, 2006 Failing to make connections
December 14, 2006 Maintaining the illusion
January 23, 2007 State contempt for consumers
March 20, 2007 Irish Financial Regulator – Betraying the consumer
April 4, 2007 The Financial Regulator, banks and credit unions
April 25, 2007 Insider watchdog
May 3, 2007 It’s all in the mind
June 17, 2007 AIB: Still ripping off customers with impunity
June 13, 2007 Man of steel turns to straw
August 23, 2007 A corrupt and secretive financial market
August 21, 2007 Dublin – A conduit for dodgy deals?
August 27, 2007 Dublin operation – A sloppily-run pig sty

And that’s just the first two years of blog posts. Never let anyone tell you that no one could have seen what was coming.

The Digest – Dec 20 2009

Your Sunday supplement – some stuff I find interesting, you may too. The rest of them here.

– Home

This article from the Wicklow People about certain officials’ activities in relation to the granting of a waste permit, a deal worth almost €400,000 to local landowners, raised my eyebrows.

A FORMER director of Environmental Services at Wicklow County Council had a signed waste permit and removed and replaced with an unsigned version.

Papers released by the Department of the Environment under the Freedom of Information Act show that the existence of the permit only came to light after the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) said it had a copy of the permit retained in its files.

The battle of wills between the department of the environment, John Gormley (head of the department, incidentally) and Dublin City Council, relating to the Poolbeg Incinerator, continues. John Gormley opposes what his own department, in conjunction with the council, is doing in his own constituency. During the week he appointed an inspector to investigate the contract for the incinerator. Bizarre stuff, altogether.

Constantin Gurdgiev has published a leaked memo indicating that Irish researchers won’t have access to E-Journals for much longer. Our third level institutes are going back to paper and print, it seems, as the rest of the world moves online. Underfunding is looking terminal, bring back fees, for fuck sake, I say. Also: a partially related post from Ferdinand Von Prondzynski.

Anthony McIntyre, former IRA Volunteer, prisoner in Long Kesh and member of the Republican movement, on the inactions of Gerry Adams in relation to his brother Liam being a child sex abuser.

On RTÉ’s This Week Gerry Adams says his father, also Gerry, also a republican of note in his day, was a child abuser too.

World and Other below the fold…

Continue reading “The Digest – Dec 20 2009”

Decentralisation

I was looking through the RTÉ online archives the other day and found the clip below from May 2006. I thought it may interest some of our readers, given that we’re nearing the end of 2009.

Decentralisation, another light-bulb political idea that has cost the exchequer dearly. When big decisions are being made for political rather than practical reasons, without being fully thought through, something is going to go wrong.

There are now millions of euro worth of empty sites dotted around the country which were bought – some at the height of the property market – to accommodate departmental sections due to arrive in the area under the decentralisation program. Some of these sites were bought as recently as 2006.

The program has been squandering money since its Charlie McCreevy inspired inception in 2003. A 2005 report by the Public Accounts Committee detailed 600% overspending on some projects. In his Budget announced in November 2008 Brian Cowen shelved the plans until 2011. It is widely accepted decentralisation will now be conveniently forgotten.

What becomes of the lands is anyone’s guess, their values are going through the floor.

Sympathies for a sex offender… again

Danny Foley - convicted today.
Danny Foley - convicted today. (Photograph The Irish Times)

Around fifteen years ago in Duagh, Co Kerry, a man named Liam Sheehy raped a local woman in her car. She was giving him a lift home from the town when he pulled the handbrake and raped her.

During the trial a retired principal of the local community college gave character evidence on his behalf, as did the local parish priest, a supervisor in Munster Electronics and a well-respected veterinary surgeon. Despite this he was found guilty by a jury of his peers and sentenced to seven years in prison.

Although Sheehy had no personal involvement in what Mr Justice Morris called “disgraceful conduct by misguided persons” around Duagh in a campaign against the rape victim and her family, one did emerge. Continue reading “Sympathies for a sex offender… again”