Author: Gavin Sheridan

Graph of the day

House Completions (Number) by Month in Ireland 1975 – 2011

(a) House completions data series are based on the number of new
dwellings connected by ESB Networks to the electricity supply and may
not accord precisely with local authority boundaries. These represent
the number of homes completed and available, and do not reflect any
work-in progress.
(b) Due to circumstances beyond the Department’s control it has not
been possible to obtain a separate set of figures for the first 6
months of 2005.
(c) These data excludes conversions of buildings into residential
units, which are estimated to total 400 each year since 1992.

The Beef Tribunal Report – 1994

Finally got my hands on a copy of this report, which has never appeared online. TheStory.ie obtained, photocopied, scanned and OCRd this document at some effort. I believe this is one of the more significant reports in the history of the State. This is almost all of the report in three parts.



Part two to page 820:



Part three from page 839 to page 902: (I am working on getting the remaining 19 pages)



Finlay Tribunal Report (1997)

This is the report of the Finlay Tribunal, also known as the Report of the Tribunal of Inquiry into The Blood Transfusion Service Board.(Via Lenus).



McDonagh on the NAMA case

At a recent Oireachtas committee hearing:

Deputy Pearse Doherty: Did the board of NAMA decide to take the Information Commissioner to the High Court?

Mr. Brendan McDonagh: That is not specifically in respect of FOI. It relates to environmental regulations.

Deputy Pearse Doherty: It is freedom of information under European environmental regulations.

Mr. Brendan McDonagh: It is not FOI in the way that is understood by most people. It is a particular aspect of using European environmental regulations and trying to apply them to NAMA in respect of the underlying properties. We own the loans but we do not own the underlying properties. Those properties are held by the receivers or by the debtors. There is a technical legal point around that. The matter is before the courts so I would appreciate not having to go into detail on it. My understanding is that the senior counsel we have used in recent court case is the same senior counsel we used in respect of the environmental regulations. I am not aware of him being on the other side.

In respect of the case relating Mr. McKillen last year in the Supreme Court and the costs involved, as I informed the committee previously we still have not received costs. Those costs would go to the CSSO because the case was defended by the Attorney General. I understand it is the intention of the CSSO and the Attorney General to refer them to the Taxing Master. I checked the position approximately ten days ago and we still have not received them. That is my latest understanding of the matter.

The Deputy referred to the qualifying investor fund, QIF. Effectively, this will be an independent fund in which people will be able to invest. They will actually buy the assets involved – at arms length – from NAMA. I assure the Deputy that, in that in light of the level of due diligence we carried out in respect of acquiring the loans from the banks, when these assets are being sold by the QIF – which will have its own independent board – the information and the quality of the due diligence will be a lot less. I assure the Deputy that it will be much cheaper than was the case when we originally got the assets from the institutions.

Mahon reports

As a long time follower of the Mahon/Flood Tribunal my main take away is this (and no doubt Public Inquiry thinks similar):

Throughout that period, corruption in Irish political life was both endemic and systemic. It affected every level of Government from some holders of top ministerial offices to some local councillors and its existence was widely known and widely tolerated. Although that corruption was occasionally the subject of investigation or adverse comment, those involved operated with a justified sense of impunity and invincibility. There was little appetite on the part of the State’s political or investigative authorities to take the steps necessary to combat it effectively or to sanction those involved.

All I would add is this: Nothing has changed.

Graphing tax outturn since 1984

I have excluded some minor headings but these are the main ones (actual outturn, thousands of million)