Tag: FOI

New details relating to Terence Wheelock case

On April 12 2004 MALE A was arrested on Séan O’Casey Avenue. On September 2 of the same year he made a statement to the now defunct Garda Siochana Complaints Board about his arrest. In his complaint he made a number of very significant allegations against several gardaí.

Most notably the details MALE A provided in his statement allege he was assaulted in a manner very similar to the alleged assault against Terence Wheelock.

The similarities in the two allegations are significant. Both MALE A and Mr Wheelock were arrested on Séan O’Casey Avenue within twelve months of each other. Both are of similar age. In both cases claims are made that the subject of the arrest was ‘roughed-up’ at the scene. In both cases the nature of the alleged attacks by the members of An Garda intensified once the subject had been brought to station. The Gardaí in both cases are alleged to have targeted the anal and lower back areas of the subject’s body, as well as other areas. Both cases include allegations that gardaí seriously assualted the subject in the station cells. Furthermore, one particular garda was involved in both incidents. All in all, the two incidents, as described by the complainants, are almost carbon copies.

The 2007 inquest, held in camera, into the death of Mr Wheelock and the recently published report by the Garda Ombudsman (proceedings also in camera) both vindicated the Gardaí. However, importantly, the complaint by MALE A resulted in several officers being found in breach of discipline. Some of these Gardaí, it was then decided, had breached discipline in a manner serious enough to warrant an appearance before a disciplinary tribunal.

All the information above is detailed in the version of the Ombudsman’s report supplied to the Wheelock family. This version differs in several areas to the one made available to the public earlier this months. I obtained the document via Ken Foxe and have photographed and OCRd the significant pages which have not been made public before today. There are other differences between the family and public versions but these are not noticeable on first glance. In coming weeks I’ll photograph every page and, with Gav’s help, stitch the images together to form a full electronic version of the family’s copy. I’ll then post it here for people to comb through. Unfortunately, this copy will likely also have to contain considerable redactions. Continue reading “New details relating to Terence Wheelock case”

Bank lending

Paul Krugman, writing in today’s New York Times, has a close look at the property and credit bubble in the US state of Georgia. The similarities to Ireland are telling:

So what’s the matter with Georgia? As I said, banks went wild, in a scene strongly reminiscent of the savings-and-loan excesses of the 1980s. High-flying bank executives aggressively expanded lending — and paid themselves lavishly — while relying heavily on “hot money” raised from outside investors rather than on their own depositors.

It was fun while it lasted. Then the music stopped.

Why didn’t the same thing happen in Texas? The most likely answer, surprisingly, is that Texas had strong consumer-protection regulation. In particular, Texas law made it difficult for homeowners to treat their homes as piggybanks, extracting cash by increasing the size of their mortgages. Georgia lacked any similar protections (and the Bush administration blocked the state’s efforts to restrict subprime lending directly). And Georgia suffered from the difference.

As we blogged last year: Morgan Kelly’s analysis demonstrates how it was excessive bank lending that caused the problems. Our banks went wild. Our bank executives paid themselves lavishly. And now the State is picking up the tab. What consumer protections did we have? What regulation did we have?

Blaming the people for the mess is not good enough. In fact, it’s a lazy analysis Sarah:

People are entitled to shelter, but are they really entitled to buy a house if they can’t afford it? I doubt you’d find many people then, and I’m not sure you’d even find them now, who’d be willing to acknowledge that owning your own home is not a civil right, but the result of careful planning, saving and budgeting. Some observe that there was no real choice, because all party manifestos in 2002 and 2007 competed to outspend each other. That is the case, but it exposes precisely the insistence of the people to have their votes bought rather than won. It also ignores the character issue.

And if there were consumer protections and proper regulation, the banks would never have been allowed to lend the way they did, and the credit bubble would not have snowballed into a property bubble resulting in an economic depression. Tell me again why the Regulator allowed the banks to lend to people at 8 to 10 times their annual salary, or why fraudulent statements of income were widespread?

Digest – March 11 2010

You know how it goes down here on days like these. It goes down, down, down… like an economic indicator of your choosing.

– HOME

Karl Whelan kicks seven shades of economics from Brendan Keenan.

Aine Coffey of The Sunday Times profiles Michael Fingleton.

‘A modern amorality tale…’ by Sigrún Davíðsdóttir…

How can a bank break all rules to lend ISK6bn, £30m, to a shelf company without any assets – and buy back this company, debt and all, for 1 krona? This might seem to run counter to both business sense and common sense – but welcome to the Icelandic way of banking.

This tale, not a fairy tale but a bank tale, rotates around Fons, a now bankrupt company owned by Palmi Haraldsson and closely connected to Baugur, the now bankrupt company of Jon Asgeir Johannesson.

Failure is good. Damn right. Stick to The Rules.

In all of this, we are told to think of Quinn employees. I’m not thinking of Quinn’s employees, but of their management. If Quinn is a viable business proposition (and again, I’m in no position to comment on the viability of this business, and don’t want to. Go somewhere else for that), then someone will buy it, and the existing management will get the chop, thus saving the employees.

If Quinn is semi-viable, then a restructuring plan from the private market under the supervision of the regulator will see it through. If Quinn is not a viable business any more, then many of the workers will have to be let go, and bits of the business carved up and sold out. This is a consequence of not playing by the rules, and Quinn’s employees should be protesting outside their management’s offices, rather than the government. Why? Because it seems the management broke the rules.

Remember kids, the best things in life are free, just ask Peter Robinson. Via Slugger.

Continue reading “Digest – March 11 2010”

Eircom shares, Deputy Fahey?

On his declaration of interests to the House of the Oireachtas Frank Fahey states he holds shares in Ryanair, Irish Life and Permanent, Aviva and Eircom. I see no way he could possibly hold shares in Eircom.

To my knowledge it’s not possible for him to hold Eircom shares since the Valentia takeover in 2001. Eircom shareholders at that time would have had to cash-out or take Vodafone shares.

Strangely, Deputy Fahey declared shares in Vodafone in 2005 and 2006, then Eircom shares in 2007 and every year since. Therefore, if I am correct, and I’ve asked around to try to find someone who could tell me I’m not (anyone?), Deputy Fahey has made an incorrect declaration for the last three years.

I asked his assistant how I could put some questions to the deputy and was told to send an email to the office address. I sent the following email on April 1, eight days ago;

Thanks for taking my phone call earlier.

Could you ask Deputy Fahey the follow questions about his declaration of interests, published in recent weeks, and return to me his response via email at this address.

In the declaration Deputy Fahey claims to have shares in Eircom. What does he mean by this?

To my knowledge it is not possible to hold shares in Eircom since the Valentia takeover several years ago. Deputy Fahey would have had to surrender the shares in order to obtain the takeover payment when the majority of shareholders voted in favour of the takeover. If he did not obtain the takeover payment it is still not, to my knowledge, possible to be an Eircom shareholder. What exactly does Deputy Fahey mean when he claims to hold shares in Eircom?

Also, could you ask Deputy Fahey; ‘how long did you spend writing your declaration of interests?’

Kind regards, hope to hear back by this time tomorrow.

Mark

I didn’t really expect to hear back the next day as it was Good Friday but I wanted to get across that I wanted a quick response.

I’d heard nothing back by the following Tuesday afternoon so I called the office again. Deputy Fahey’s assistant told me the email was brought to the TD’s attention on the previous Thursday. He said “I sent on your email and if Frank has a response to make he’ll get back to you”. “When?” I asked. “If he has a comment to make he’ll probably get back to you in the next day or so”.

So I’d no guarantee of response then, which I took to mean I’d probably get no response.

Nothing by Wednesday afternoon. Luckily I then managed to find Deputy Fahey’s personal mobile phone number on an old press release. I gave him a call…

MC Hi is this Frank?

FF Yes, who’s this?

MC Mark Coughlan, I’m a freelance journalist, I’m calling you to ask about your shares in Eircom. I sent you an email last week which your staff said you’d got.

FF What about my shares in Eircom?

MC Well to my knowledge it’s not possible for you to hold shares in Eircom since the takeover. You’d either have had to take the payout or take Vodafone shares when Valentia took over a few years ago…

FF Right… I’ll have to get that sorted so.

MC … Eh… This is the second such incident with your declaration of interest this year. You also failed to note your stake in Sage Construction but you corrected that with the clerk of the Dáil after the Mail contacted you. I mean, how long exactly did you spend compiling the declaration?

FF Listen… Who am I speaking with?

MC Mark Coughlan, I’m a freelance journalist.

FF Right. Who do you write for Mark?

MC I’m freelance.

FF Right. Listen can you put something in writing?

MC I’ve already done so and your staff said it was put to you. Which address should I send it to now?

FF My Oireachtas one.

MC Right so. Good luck.

After I completed my notes on the phone call I sent the same email as above to Deputy Fahey directly, again saying I wished to hear back from him the next day. That was the third time I’d put the same set of questions to the deputy.

It’s now 24 hours over deadline and I’ve yet to receive a reply. I’m guessing he is not going to get back to me. If he does, I’ll post it here.

Also worth noting; Deputy Fahey says he has no directorships, yet he is listed as a director of Time4Us by the Companies Registration Office. (However, this could be due to Time4Us being an non-profit social enterprise, I’m not sure).

We will now be making a complaint to the Standards in Public Office Commission about the incorrect details on Deputy Fahey’s declaration. He also failed to declare his stake in Sage Construction for the last two years.

Hopefully SIPO can figure out the situation in relation to Deputy Fahey’s claim to hold Eircom shares. I can’t, and it seems he won’t answer my questions to explain.

Quinn grants

The Irish Times this morning:

Speaking this morning, Enterprise Ireland chief executive Frank Ryan said he met senior management and Mr Quinn on Easter Sunday in Dublin and that all key parties are “fully engaged in an effort to resolve this matter as quickly as possible”.

Mr Ryan said he could not reveal what was discussed during the meeting and that it was too early to say whether Quinn Insurance should stay with the group or be sold.

Speaking on Morning Ireland , he said the key thing for employees now was to concentrate on doing business and focus on the causes of the situation. “There’s been a lot of discussion in relation to the decision of the High Court and the administrator etc – that’s really a consequence not a cause. I can confirm the causes are being focused on now.”

Speaking on same programme, Teresa Lynch, an Quinn Group employee, said the regulator had a job to do but that workers were seeking a compromise that will save their jobs.

“As far as I’m aware, the Quinn Group is making money, as is Quinn Direct, so I don’t see where that problem is. . . . what we’re saying is let the regulator work with us, let him talk to us, allow us that opportunity,” she said.

Enterprise Ireland granted Quinn Packaging €600,000 in 2007 and Quinn Insurance €307,705.29 in 2007. It granted €391,842.01 to Quinn Insurance in 2008 and €419,766.08 to Quinn Therm in the same year, or a total of €1.719m over two years.

Wikileaks release video of attack in Baghdad

I’ve blogged about Wikileaks here before and, despite usually focusing on Irish issues, think it’s worthwhile to do so again now.
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Updated: MSNBC coverage at the bottom.

Today they released a video showing US helicopters attacking a group of people in Baghdad in 2007. Two Reuters journalists were murdered and two children seriously wounded in the attack. It appears 12 people died as a result. On the right the son of Reuters journalist, Saeed Chmagh, grieves for his father.

Since the murders Reuters have been seeking the videos under the FOI Act but have been continuously refused.

The US government has lied about the incident consistently, claiming all those killed and wounded – including the children and journalists – were “insurgents”.

The video was released at 4pm today our time after being leaked but the western media is relatively quiet on it. Al Jazeera is leading with it. MSNBC’s Dylan Rattigan Show seems to be the only US network program going to give it a push. The Guardian and BBC each have something small and the HuffPo has some useful paragraphs;

None of the members of the group were taking hostile action, contrary to the Pentagon’s initial cover story; they were milling about on a street corner. One man was evidently carrying a gun, though that was and is hardly an uncommon occurrence in Baghdad.

Reporters working for WikiLeaks determined that the driver of the van was a good Samaritan on his way to take his small children to a tutoring session. He was killed and his two children were badly injured.

…but there’s very little else from the Western media, as far as I can see. Nothing from the Irish outlets yet.

Continue reading “Wikileaks release video of attack in Baghdad”