Access to Information Updates
The Euro has really broken down. It has sprung defects, some of which could have been anticipated and some were anticipated. But some actually couldn’t. Effectively, heavily indebted countries [in Europe] have ended up in the position of a third world country that is heavily indebted in a foreign currency. And that is only one of the unanticipated results of how things worked out [with the Euro].
[via Steve]
From the Department of the Environment press office on April 4 after a query relating to an alleged meeting between Denis O’Brien and Phil Hogan a couple of weeks ago and any mention of Sitserv as it relates to any future water metering contracts/tenders.
The Minister had no meeting with Denis O’Brien in recent weeks or recent years for that matter. As regards, water reforms – including the Prog for Govt commitment to install water meters, this is very much a matter for Govt and the Minister will be bringing forward proposals on same for consideration of Govt in the coming weeks.
Any public contracts that might arise would of course be subject to the normal rules on procurement/tendering.
Regards,
XXXX XXXXXX
Press Office,
Room 1.52,
Custom House,
Dublin 1.
Tel: 8882638
But…on April 6:
Meanwhile, Mr Hogan and Mr O’Brien had a brief encounter at Mount Juliet Hotel last month.
The minister was having breakfast in the hotel when Mr O’Brien entered the restaurant.
“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.
Mr Hogan holds honorary membership of Mount Juliet Golf and Country Club in Thomastown, Co Kilkenny, where Mr O’Brien has a holiday home.
Mr Hogan’s officials insist he has not held any official meeting Mr O’Brien as a minister.
Can brief be defined as an hour or two?
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.
Thanks to Declan Brennan for sharing the results of his request. This is a breakdown of the number of drug dealing convictions over €12,500 during the years 2006 to 2011; and the resulting
sentences for each conviction.
The mystery of Ruairi Quinn’s unusually high mileage has finally been solved, as he was claiming for trips to and from his holiday home.
Mr Quinn, when interviewed on RTE and Newstalk last month, explained that the reason the claims were so high was because officials used the car and not all official travel was marked in his diary.
The background to this story is here and here and his diary entries and expense claims can be found in previous posts on thestory.ie here and here.
Copies of expense claims submitted by his driver now show that the main reason his mileage was so high in July and August was because he was claiming for trips to and from Roundstone, Co Galway where he has a holiday home.
In total, there were 12 claims either to and from Galway, many of them listed as Roundstone.
In many of the cases, the car would travel to Galway to collect him and bring him to events.
On a couple of occasions, it appears as if Mr Quinn was simply driven to Roundstone with no official business listed for those days.
Mr Quinn also made a claim for mileage (while his driver claimed subsistence) for the Labour Party think-tank in Tullow, Co Carlow last year.
The claim form from the Department of Education specifies that all mileage must be carried out as part of official Ministerial duties.
Asked whether this type of claim was acceptable, particularly in light of Labour’s previously hard-line policy on expenses claimed by Ivor Callely and John O’Donoghue amongst others, one of Mr Quinn’s special advisers said he was working in the car during these journeys.
His spokeswoman said: “All of Minister Quinn’s claims for expenses and mileage are strictly in accordance with the arrangements outlined by the government.
The Minister is often required to interrupt his holidays to attend official functions and undertake government business.
In order to carry out his considerable workload at the Department of Education and Skills, the Minister carries confidential official papers in the car and works while on route to his destinations. This is considered to be official travel.
The drivers of the minister are entitled to claim for subsistence when on official business, again all of which are in accordance with the guidelines.
As has been pointed out to you on several occasions, the Minister’s electronic diary does not reflect all official uses of the car.
Here are the documents:
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)
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).
Via the good people over at Lenus. The formatting on the scan on some pages looks a bit out of whack so the OCR isn’t the best but it’s better than nothing.
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.