What now?

Via the Central Bank comes the following statistics. I’ve taken the stats and put them in a graph, which I think helps us understand the extent of the mortgage arrears problem. The euro amount of arrears of 180 days or more has increased by 375% since September 2009, or from €306,730,000 to €1,461,816,000 in just three years. The total amount of mortgages in arrears over 90 days is €16.8bn or 15.1% (Source)

The other interesting thing is the new data from the Central Bank. For the first time they have given a breakdown of mortgages in arrears over 180 days. These are worrying statistics: €785,800,000, or almost 54% of the mortgages in arrears over 180 days are in the over 720 days category (out of a total balance of loans of €4,193,875,000).

All the latest data:

The mystery of the €95 Oireachtas phone call

(This is a story featured in the Mail On Sunday, by Ken Foxe)

A politician ran up a €95 bill on one single phone call but Oireachtas authorities have no way of tracking down who made it.

The same person is understood to have run up more than €344 in costs on five separate phone calls to Colombia, records from the Oireachtas show and details of which were published in the Irish Mail on Sunday.

The single most expensive call, made in May of this year, to an unidentified number in South America ended up lasting one hour and three minutes. It was made during peak time and charged at a rate of €1.50 per minute with the final bill coming in at precisely €94.79.

The hundred most expensive calls from the Oireachtas have cost the taxpayer in excess of €3,400 since the beginning of 2011.

However, there is no way of checking on the vast majority of these calls and whether they relate to legitimate business or were simply keeping in touch with family members or friends abroad.Phone calls made by TDs and Senators, under law, are not logged for ‘reasons of privacy and confidentiality’ meaning their legitimacy can never be checked.

The costly calls form part of more than €280,000 that will have been spent providing free telephony to politicians and staff during the past two years.

Two of the ten most expensive calls listed on Oireachtas records were made to Colombia with the second costing €86.06. Seven of the most expensive calls were made to Kenya, mostly at peak time, and cost between €61.44 and €79.51, while a further call to Mozambique cost €76.01.

Enormous bills were also run up on calls that seem inexplicably long with a 17 hour phone call listed on January 20. That call, made to an Irish phone number at peak time, ended up costing the taxpayer €36.72 and was attributed to ‘faults in [a] broadcasting line’. Two other marathon phone calls are also listed in the Top 100 with a 14 half hour call costing €31.28 and a 13 hour one costing just under €30.

Here is the data in full: (Download here)

Information Commissioner orders release of IDA data

Here at thestory.ie we appeal lots of decisions of public authorities to the Information Commissioner. Of course the one that has taken the longest is our appeal against NAMA and Anglo Irish Bank in relation to environmental information (via AIE not FOI). We are awaiting judgment from the High Court in relation to that appeal.

However many of these appeals often result in what are known as ‘settlements’. These are situations where the OIC acts as a neutral arbiter, and the requester and public authority come to an agreement on the release of information.

But in situations where no agreement can be reached, the OIC must make a formal decision, about who is right and who is wrong with regards to exemptions being applied to information releases. On this occasion no agreement could be reached, as the IDA insisted that they were not in a position to release the information I had requested.

Following a series of submissions, and again with the help of Fred Logue, the Information Commissioner has ordered the IDA to release data I had requested. This process in total cost €240 (a figure we should be ashamed of, as one of the only countries in the world that charges for this type of process). It also took a large amount of time – I sent this request for information in January 2011.

The issue of the release centred mainly on Section 28 – Personal Information. This is one of the most oft used exemptions in Irish FOI and is often misapplied by public authorities (indeed I have just submitted another appeal to the OIC which again centres on Section 28). The long and short of it was this: I wanted to know who leased property to the IDA. I was given some names and the names of some companies, but not all names. The IDA decided that releasing the names of individuals who lease property to the IDA would be a breach of their privacy rights and that the public interest would not be served by their release.

We disagreed and argued strongly that this was wrong on a number of levels. In their preliminary view several months ago, the OIC agreed with the IDA that the information was potentially personal. After 2 years and lengthy submissions, the OIC has agreed with our position, insisting that:

“…whilst I empathise with the affected third parties in relation to any concems they might have over their personal safety in particular, I consider that the public interest in optimising openness and transparency in relation to the use of public funds outweighs, on balance, the public interest in protecting the right to privacy of the individuals in question.”

Here is the decision in full and the submission we made in relation to it. For those of you who have Section 28 applied to your requests, it is worth reading in full. We will publish the data released as soon as we have it.



This was our submission to the OIC:

Continue reading “Information Commissioner orders release of IDA data”

Ivan Yates bankruptcy documents

There are the bankruptcy documents of former Minister and broadcaster Ivan Yates. He is one of many who have gone to the UK to avail of a more lenient bankruptcy regime there.

The documents were released in full to the Sunday Times, who made them available to thestory.ie. I have removed some information that I would deem to be not relevant, including bank account numbers, national insurance numbers, mobile numbers, email and a car registration number.



Department of Taoiseach contracts in relation to EU presidency

There are the contracts awarded by the Department of the Taoiseach as a direct result of the planning and administration of Ireland’s Presidency of the EU 2013. Costs include the website http://www.eu2013.ie/, which cost €244,741.71.

Thanks to Vinnie O’Dowd for obtaining the data.

Another bailout letter released

Daniel McConnell in the Sunday Independent today writes about a letter released this week to thestory.ie. This came after an appeals process initiated in May, and now with the Office of the Information Commissioner. This is the full text of the letter released.

Thestory.ie currently has appeals with the Irish Information Commissioner and the European Ombudsman in relation to letters exchanged between the ECB and the Department of Finance in the weeks around the bailout in 2010.



Cabinet agendas January to July 2002

The little used 10-year rule again (Section 19 of the FOI Act). This time the Cabinet agendas for Cabinet meeting for the first half of 2002. The documents outline what was on the agenda for meetings, including memoranda for government submitted, aide memoires, appointments, grants to industry and more. All of the listed documents are also likely obtainable in future FOIs.

Before the FOI Act these documents would generally only become available after 30 years, at the National Archives.



Department of Finance releases Wright review panel documents

The Department of Finance has released documents related to the Wright Panel. The Panel was established by Minister for Finance Brian Lenihan on 10 September, 2010, to examine the Department of Finance’s performance over the previous ten years and advise how the Department “might adapt to meet the challenges of the future”.

Tom Lyons, the deputy business editor of the Sunday Independent obtained the documents after a two year appeals process with the Information Commissioner, after Finance refused access citing Section 26 and 21 of the FOI Act. The Commissioner found in favour of release.

Of the more notable things in the documents is former Central Bank chief John Hurley referring to the decision by officials to guarantee the banks as ‘heroic’:


And as Tom Lyons notes:

Despite long interviews with Brian Lenihan, the former Minister for Finance, and Brian Cowen, the former Taoiseach, the department said it had no records of what they thought. The department also claimed it had no record of what Kevin Cardiff, its then secretary general who was in charge of banking during the boom, thought.

Here is the release in full:



This is the decision of the Information Commissioner: