Author: Ken Foxe

Interest rate hikes by the European Central Bank had been “positive for Irish banks” and meant the timing was right for the state to sell more of its share in AIB, according to Department of Finance documents.

In submissions to Minister Paschal Donohoe, department officials said investor appetite for AIB had increased “notwithstanding lingering concerns” of a recession coming in Europe.

They said feedback from investment banks suggested the state could easily sell a stake of between €300 and €400 million in AIB at a much better price than in the most recent previous share offload in June.

A submission said: “The recent ECB rate increases [are] positive for Irish banks as they are among the most rate sensitive banks in Europe.

“The consolidation of the Irish banking sector is driving growth for the remaining banks while there is continued earnings momentum from improved operating leverage.”

The Department of Enterprise said there was an even stronger case to keep a special tax relief scheme for highly-paid multinational executives because of the international crackdown on tax avoidance.

In a pre-budget submission, the department said global reform of how corporation tax was levied made the case for the controversial Special Assignee Relief Programme (SARP) even more compelling.

It said there was a clear relationship between the location of key senior staff and corporation tax, which had been made “increasingly relevant” by international tax developments.

The submission said: “For intangible assets, the contractual right to an asset is no longer sufficient to establish the location of the asset for tax purposes.

“The decision makers, the people who control the risks relating to those assets in an operational and functional sense, must be located in the jurisdiction.”

It said Ireland needed to ensure its personal tax rates did not act as a deterrent to “key management staff … locating [here]”.

The Department of Foreign Affairs said they were snowed under with a backlog of more than 30,000 complex foreign birth registrations, many from UK citizens looking for Irish passports after Brexit.

In pre-budget discussions, the department said it had been a difficult year for their passport services, as they struggled to deal with a bounce-back in demand after Covid-19 restrictions were lifted.

In a letter to the Department of Public Expenditure, they asked for an extra €15 million in funding this year to ensure no backlogs and to help pay for a Passport Reform programme.

The department said they had been granted an extra €10 million for 2022 to help in issuing a record 1.2 million passports this year.

And they said they would need to retain the same allocation this year with passport applications again predicted to be around 1.2 million in 2023.

In the letter, Department Secretary General Joe Hackett wrote: “During 2022, we have seen multiple record months for the number of applications received.

“As you are aware, we encountered some customer service issues, particularly in relation to our call centre. This was primarily due to the challenges in the recruitment of staff. I am pleased that these issues have now been resolved.”

Mr Hackett said the extra funding would also be used to tackle a 30,000-long backlog in “complex foreign birth registration applications”.

The chief executive of Fáilte Ireland Paul Kelly suggested the lack of affordable hotel accommodation available at popular Irish tourist spots might be an opportunity to promote “lesser-known destinations”.

With the tourism industry dogged by complaints about value for money this summer, Mr Kelly also told colleagues he did not “in principle” like supporting tourism businesses that had used Fáilte Ireland’s work and the humanitarian crisis in Ukraine to charge prices that had caused “reputation damage” to Ireland’s brand.

The Fáilte Ireland CEO suggested they could consider targeted marketing campaigns for accommodation that was willing to provide good deals for visitors.

He also said the tourism agency would not have a “better chance to spread the love” to lesser-visited counties like Carlow, Monaghan, Tipperary, Roscommon, and others.

Mr Kelly said in emails early this summer that the most popular tourism locations were “pretty full” but that Fáilte Ireland had budget available for marketing other places.

The message said: “Is [there an] opportunity in this availability crisis to put these places on the domestic tourism map? Should we be pivoting to highly targeted campaigns for these areas.”

The Irish Blood Transfusion Service (IBTS) spent months struggling with a failing phone system which was unable to cope with the volume of calls they had to deal with as a result of Covid-19 restrictions.

The service said their phone system had never been designed to deal with such high demand with walk-in donations replaced overnight by an “appointment only” system.

In meetings of their National Operations Group, the IBTS reported how they were receiving “many many donor complaints” from people struggling to get through even as stocks of blood ran perilously low.

Throughout the first five months of this year, the phone system was flagged as “a major concern”, and classified at one stage as a “red risk” with donors unable to get calls answered or even leave a message.

The IBTS said the system had been replaced in August, meaning the issue had finally been resolved after several months of problems.

Minutes of meetings of their National Operations Group describe how precarious blood supply issues became during the first half of the year between staff illnesses, phone problems, and struggles with getting donations.

Around a half of all applications in a scheme allowing undocumented migrants to stay in Ireland came from three countries, Brazil, Pakistan, and China.

The Department of Justice said there had been more than 8,300 individual applicants – including families – for the scheme, which had so far generated more than €3.73 million in fees.

The department said that 2,835 applications have been granted with another 39 withdrawn while just 34 applications have been refused.

Applications relating to 5,307 people are yet to be determined while the figures also show that a significant majority of applications came from men, or around 64% of the total.

The highest number of applications came from citizens of Brazil from where there were 1,504 people applying to regularise their status.

There were a further 1,307 applicants from Pakistan and 1,159 from China, including Hong Kong, according to department figures.

Significant numbers of applicants also came from the Philippines (751 applicants), Nigeria (446 applicants), and India (313 applicants).

There were also 26 people from Russia applying for regularisation of their status and 77 from Ukraine, the figures show.

Thirty three applicants came from U.S. citizens, thirteen from Canada, thirteen from New Zealand, and 13 from an “unknown” country.

A county council said they are still trying to figure out why a bridge built to last a century failed after little more than twenty years and had to be quickly removed.

The Millennium Bridge in the historic castle town of Trim, Co Meath had to be shut this summer after an inspection found it was at immediate risk of collapse.

The footbridge over the River Boyne had only been opened in 2001 at a cost of €111,000 with tender documents specifying a structure intended to last for one hundred years.

However, a civil engineering consultant ordered it be closed immediately this summer due to what it said was a “danger of total failure”.

The emergency removal of the bridge ended up costing the taxpayer another €10,000 with a temporary ‘Bailey Bridge’ installed with the assistance of the Defence Forces.

Meath County Council said that design works for a new bridge are currently underway and they cannot say how much a permanent replacement will cost.

Councillors have been told it could be between €500,000 and €600,000 with a cost benefit analysis looking at the best option for replacing it.

A copy of an inspection report, released under FOI, explained how the bridge had scored a maximum five in a safety rating system indicating “ultimate damage”.

It described how key parts of the structure’s support system were rotten and that “similar rotting” was almost certain in joints within the bridge.

The report by civil engineers Mark Murphy Consultancy said: “The bridge is no longer fit for purpose.”

It said the footbridge should be closed immediately to all pedestrian traffic and inquiries made to see if similar issues had occurred with structures built from the same type of timber.

Payments to the Gaiety School of Acting, a firm headed by former radio host Ivan Yates, and the well-known PR firm the Communications Clinic were part of more than €1.27 million paid out by the Oireachtas through a special allowance over the past year.

For the first time however, the Oireachtas has refused to release the names of dozens of individuals who were hired through the special secretarial allowance saying it was personal information.

The log of €1.274 million in expenditure is heavily redacted with the identities of people providing public relations, communications, and secretarial services to Ministers and TDs redacted.

The case has already been appealed by Right to Know and we will keep you posted on developments.

He never did get his wall, and now former U.S. President Donald Trump has been warned he might have to tear down a fence near his luxury resort in Ireland.

A local authority issued a warning letter to the Trump International Golf Links at Hotel in Doonbeg over what they said was the unauthorised erection of fencing on sand dunes near the five-star resort.

In correspondence with Trump’s hotel group, they said the new fence had no planning permission after they received a complaint from a member of the public.

An assessment carried out by the council in early September said that permission had not been sought for the erection of fences at two locations on the dunes at Doughmore Beach.

It said: “Based on my onsite observations, as these fences were only included along two areas of the dunes, they did not appear to serve a security function.

“It would appear that their function relates to coastal/sand dune protection works. The fencing in the Carrowmore townland looks to be only partially completed.”

It concluded that the fencing constituted both works and development and was not exempted under planning laws.

“As there is no planning permission granted for these works, they are considered to be unauthorised,” said the assistant executive planner in his assessment.

He recommended that a warning letter be issued to TIGL Enterprises Limited, the owners and operators of the Trump Hotel.

On September 13, that letter was sent to the company saying it was the council’s belief that unauthorised development “may have been, is being, or may be carried out”.

The Irish military were offered two aircraft that were “essentially new and unused” for less than 40% of the cost of a new plane.

The two C295 transport aircraft had been in service with the UN world food programme, were ready for delivery, and had seen “virtually no active service”.

The Department of Defence however, declined the offer saying that all procurement of goods and services had to follow EU rules.

In previously unreleased documents, it has emerged that the two aircraft were being offered at just 38% of their purchase price and were already configured for carrying personnel and freight transport.

These records were released following a successful appeal by Right to Know to the Information Commissioner.

You can read that decision here and view the documents themselves below: