TheStory.ie

Deer Bertie,

Remember that you have ta make sure ta account for the 10,000 pounds that, as I remember it, you did win from the lotto in the pub the other night. The Guvernmint might, as far as I understand the situation, come after ye and try ta tax it from ye or something and if they did do that and looked at your accounts or sumtin and the pounds wasnt in there then ye might be in trouble and then, as I far as I’m aware of the situation as, as, as, as, as, as it stands, you might have to think about making up an excuse about how you did win it legit like saying you won it off Fergie at a United match. Or on the horses or sumtin. Them lottos are always for the hospices in anyway so maybe could say that you did win it on the hospice then if a paper person asks you about it and you get mixed-up you can say they just heard you wrong. 

Anyway, don’t forget to write it down cos ye don’t want ta be looking stupit.

And remember that you’ll be needing to be having a tax clearence form still, just cos you did get one doesn’t mean your covered for the hole of your life, I think.

I know all dis cos I was thought it in UCD and London School of Finance (or sometin) and just cos I don’t have me name on a piece of paper from the Chartering Accountants place doesn’t mean I’m not a real accountant, as i understand it, so don’t believe them people who checked it out.

Regards

Mr Patrick B. Ahern

Charthered Accountant’s Clerk

Ireland

PS What’s plans with the buke stuff and the Guvernmint wanting to take the money back off of ye? And have ya heard from Ken Rohan’s lads in the last while?

A long-running but little-covered business story took another step forward yesterday. Two men appeared before the London Magistrate’s Court charged with fraud against AIB and Bank of Scotland PLC. Today’s Irish Times has about 60 words on it in the In Short box in the corner of page 20.

For full details read this in-depth article by Gretchen Friemann from January 18. PropertyPin discussion also.

Achilleas Kallakis and Alexander Williams, formerly known as Stefanos Kollakis and Martin Lewis respectively, were arrested recently following a two-year investigation by the UK Serious Fraud Office. Continue reading “Achilleas Kallakis and AIB deals”

Oftentimes posts on the Irish Times Politics blog are about the theatrics, minutiae, of politics. Such theatrics and details, while sometimes making for interesting reads for politics obsessives, are often fairly meaningless in a wider context. Dermot Ahern slagged off who? Which Green minister of state doesn’t get along with which minister? The wider public doesn’t really care.

This post by Harry McGee is about politics and governence in a broader context.

What really scares me is that all the mantras that we all bought into were wrong. Low taxes were a myth. Perhaps low corporation tax was the only exception to that. The only reason we got away with them for so long was because of the property boom and the temporary bonanza in once-off transactional taxes like stamps, VAT, capital gains tax, and capital acquisition tax. As long as we continued to build record numbers of houses and scored obscene loans securitised on obscene valuations of properties we didn’t own, we could continue on our journey into never-never land.

…

What worries me about the situation we are in is the dearth of ideas and the dearth of policies. We’ve had a couple of announcements about job creation that are more fluffy than solid. The green and smart economy initiative looks all very well until you realise that some of the jobs (tidal energy) are still a long way off. Moreover, some of the jobs are merely replacements for existing jobs (alternative energy replacing conventional energy). And then you find out that the Government hasn’t actually put its money where its mouth is in terms of stumping up the money for its ‘ambitious’ (yeah!) national home retrofitting project (the one that’s supposed to provide gazillions of jobs in the construction sector). […]

It’s headed ‘The mess we’re in and the meaningless speculation about a reshuffle’ (though ‘…and the speculation about a meaningless reshuffle’ may describe the content slightly better) and it’s definitely worth a read.

Disclosure: As a freelance one of a number of companies which chips in to pay my bills is Irish Times Ltd.

NOTE 14.11 Feb 26: Spokesman for Batt O’Keeffe has told a national newspaper that the car in the photograph is not his vehicle. Right. Report below remains unedited.

I’ve been doing some research on homelessness in Dublin for a piece I’m planning. The last person I met told me he was born in eastern Europe but moved to the the US in his twenties. He lived there for more than ten years, during which time he lost touch with his family, and moved to Ireland eight years ago. These days he speaks with a Dublin accent.

Until summer 2008 he was the assistant manager of a gastro-pub in one of the more affluent suburbs. Then the owner told him he was cutting staff and, apologetically said the assistant manager’s role would be the first to go. He kept up with the rent for a few months but gradually fell behind. No jobs. He lived on friends’ couches for a while, until he felt like a burden.

Eight months ago he started spending his days in the City, usually between Nassau Street and Templebar. He sleeps in a 24 hour internet cafe because it’s only €5 a night and “there’s no drugs or screamers in them”. He’s in a strange situation with his welfare entitlements; getting rent allowance of €35 a week but unable to the dole. He was due to meet a welfare officer a week after we spoke to sort it out, a meeting he’s been waiting six weeks to happen. The last time he met her, a few months ago, she said she was going to get his paperwork readied, so he was hopeful. Continue reading “Cars and people”

So he’s resigned. Sure isn’t it all the rage these days up in Leinster House.

He’s gone from department. Rightly. Doing so speedily and with dignity appears to have kept damage to the coalition to a minimum. Thus, unless the Greens gather some more evidence to put foundations beneath their suspicions of the identity of The Leaker [maybe ‘The Leeker’, would better in this instance?], this ‘scandal’ looks set to peter out by mid-day tomorrow.

Kevin Doyle of the Herald “wouldn’t confirm either way” where the leak came from when asked if it was Fianna Fáil by Prime Time. You’d have to wonder. Sargent was done in by someone.

Really, the revealations do more to illustrate Sargent’s stupidity and naivety than expose some massive hidden trait of corruption.

I doubt more than half the TDs in the House can honestly claim not to have contacted a Garda to “enquire” about a constituent’s case at some time. Prehaps not so many done so in a tone similar to Sargent’s, but he is certainly not alone. Of course, I can’t back this up with more than what I’ve heard, in the main because An Garda can’t be FOI’d.

Usually the politicians are a little more “street-wise”. They call the relevent senior local officer instead of (deep breath) sending multiple letters by registered post on department-headed paper to low-ranking Gardas who are obviously going to bring it to their superiors to ensure their own backs are safe in case someone gets word of the correspondence in the future. It’s particularly bizarre when considering Sargent was most critical of Bobby Molloy back in the day for similar ‘transgressions’.

However, the above is in no way to be read that it’d be acceptable to for Sargent to have claimed “everybody does it, I was just caught, it’s no biggie”. I’m glad Sargent was caught. I’m glad he resigned. It was a corrupting act, an unlawful act. He has stained his reputation and will have to live with that. What’s really unfortunate is that we’re unlikely to catch the rest of them.

It’s worth noting that he’ll remain in his seat despite admiting commiting an unlawful act. I wonder if he’d have resigned had he’d been simply a TD, as opposed to minister of state. It does seem a position is something that can be lost, but a vote in the House? “Nah… keepin’ dah’.”

Still, I did raise an eyebrow when I heard some Opposition TDs moralising today. They’re not all at it, but he’s far from alone.