Tag: FOI

Right at the end of Leader’s questions last week, and with reference to his meetings in 2008, Mr Cowen said:

That would have been organised by Fintan Drury who organised the golf outing. It was about being able to sit down with people at the end of the day and having a chat about the economy. The Deputy will recall we had a mini-budget and saw recession on the horizon and a big slowdown in our economy. As Taoiseach, I was there chatting to see if there were ideas and to find out other people’s views of things and to see if things could be done which might be helpful. As the Deputy will know, those people would have some views on that. That was basically the total sum of it.

Except the ‘mini-budget’ was not held until April the following year, almost 10 months after the golf outing. I also don’t recall much in the way of pre-recession planning in the works by FF in the summer of 2008. As I recall the party was still getting over the euphoria of a new party leader and new Taoiseach. The way the Taoiseach talks about it here, one would be left with the impression that the mini-budget had happened, the economy was spiraling out of control, and he was seeking the views of some businessmen/bankers on what to do.

But the meeting took place before Lehman, before FF realised the extent of the crisis and before the recession took hold. This means that either Brian Cowen doesn’t remember the meeting, or else when it took place. Or he is just spoofing.

In relation to the NTMA, Vincent Browne also raises some interesting questions in relation to Michael Somers’ interview last week:

So now we know the following:

In 2007 the NTMA came under considerable pressure from the Department of Finance to deposit more funds with the banks;

So severe was the pressure that the then head of the NTMA, Michael Somers, sought legal advice on what he should do;

The NTMA did not buckle under the pressure;

The bank, perhaps the only bank that needed funds urgently in 2007, was Anglo Irish Bank;

David Drumm, then CEO of Anglo Irish Bank says Brian Cowen had been asked to help with the NTMA and had expressed annoyance about the obduracy of the NTMA;

Brian Cowen denies he made any representations on behalf of Anglo.

Interesting.

However this document has also been doing the rounds lately, as released to the Public Accounts Committee (worth a detailed look):

And just one more thing. If as early as 2007 Anglo Irish Bank was having liquidity problems, as now seems clear, and if the NTMA refused to increase deposits at the bank, who then, provided liquidity? (most likely around the time of the Northern Rock crisis, a bank with similar issues to Anglo).

Perhaps a clue lies with our own Central Bank. For around that time, the ‘Other Assets; of the Central Bank increased dramatically for a period of three months. Here’s a graph of the those assets from September 2006 (around the property peak) to late 2008 (pre Anglo nationalisation but post guarantee)

Interesting. In July 2007 the other assets stood at €3.8bn. By late September they had almost quadrupled to €12.3bn. Just what was this for? At the time this was a record for the Central Bank, a record that in recent months has long since passed (other assets in December stood at €51bn).

Northern Rock was forced to go to the Bank of England for funding on September 14, 2007. Was Anglo also receiving funding, and was a quiet bank run underway? How aware was the Department of Finance and the government of problems at Anglo in September 2007 and the months that followed?

July 28, 2008: Druid’s Glen

Taoiseach Brian Cowen
Sean FitzPatrick (Anglo)
Fintan Drury (Anglo)
Gary McGann (Anglo)
Alan Gray (Appointed in 2007 by Cowen as a Director of the Central Bank/Financial Regulator)

Hmm. Gary McGann certainly rings a bell. Remember he resigned from the board of Anglo just prior to nationalisation.

On January 21, 2002, Mr McGann was appointed to the board of Anglo Irish Bank, along with Tom Browne (then head of its wealth management division).

In 2007, Mr McGann was named as a shareholder in ISTC, the group that collapsed that year with debts of €871m. The group was started in 2005 by former Anglo executive Tiernan O’Mahony. Denis O’Brien and Sean Quinn were also said to be shareholders.

Mr McGann, a past president of IBEC, was also involved in a company called Tysan Invesments with John Kerry Keane: A private individual who is active in the media sector, Paul Coulson: Chairman of Ardagh plc and a director of other companies, Denis O’Brien: A private individual who is active in the media sector, Lindat Limited: The owner of this company is the Chairman of Harcourt Holdings which is active in the property sector in Ireland, Britain and overseas, Lar Bradshaw: Chairman of the Dublin Docklands Development Authority and amongst other things, serves as a non-executive director of Anglo Irish Bank Corporation plc, Sean Fitzpatrick: A non-executive chairman of Anglo Irish Bank Corporation plc and serves as a non-executive director of the Dublin Docklands Development Authority, Greencore plc, and Aer Lingus, Paddy Wright: Chairman of the RTE Authority and a non- executive director of Anglo Irish Bank Corporation plc, Sean Melly: An entrepreneur who is active in the media sector, Pat Gunne: Chief Executive of Gunne Group which is active in the property sector in Ireland, Longstone Estates Limited: A property holding company owned by a family Trust, Lochlann Quinn: Deputy Chairman of Glen Dimplex which is active in the manufacture of electric heating and domestic appliances. Additionally, he is a Director of The Merrion Hotel. Tysan was involved in the purchase of the Atrium Microsoft building in Dublin. Mr McGann became the chairman of the DAA upon its creation in 2004.

Of course Fintan Drury was also appointed by Noel Dempsey to the RTE authority. Paddy Wright (deceased) was a former president of the Jefferson Smurfit group and a former chairman of the RTÉ Authority. Mr Wright had also been chairman of Bord Iascaigh Mhara, deputy chairman of Aer Lingus and president of the employer’s body, the CII. He was also director of Anglo-Irish Bank. Lochlainn Quinn is Labour TD Ruairi Quinn’s brother, and a cousin of Superquinn founder Fergal Quinn (who himself declared a registered interested in Anglo related companies, though later said this was a mistake). The list goes on, and on…

So are we to believe that three directors or former directors of Anglo Irish Bank, who between them have connections to Sean Quinn, RTE, the DDDA, the DAA, Aer Lingus and IBEC, and a member of the board of the Financial Regulator, played golf with the leader of the country in July 2008, and that Anglo Irish Bank was never discussed?

Perhaps people have forgotten that Elevation Partners (Partners include Bono and The Edge) owns 1.5% of Facebook. Given the recent valuation of Facebook at $50 billion, it means that Elevation’s stake in Facebook is now worth $750m. They invested $210m.

As we say in Cork, how bad.