PICASSO REPUBLIC

Court Rules - Germany can deny benefits to jobless EU migrants

2014-11-11T13:57:00.001+00:00

This gets to the heart of what many see as being the major problem with the concept of free movement and something commonly known as Welfare Tourism.

Welfare Tourism is not necessarily 'scamming' by claimants, but is the practice of weighing up which country in the EU provides the best and easiest to access benefits.

The concept of the free movement of workers between EU countries should be seen as a positive, workers should be in a position to either accept jobs in foreign countries OR travel to other EU countries in search of work (under their own steam so to speak), it should not be the responsibility of the recipient country to provide benefits (incl housing) while they are searching for employment.

Ireland; along with many western EU countries has been blighted by specific groups arriving to our shores and registering for housing and benefits from the outset - many have gone on to never work.

Compliments to The Guardian: http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/nov/11/germany-deny-benefits-welfare-jobless-eu-migrants

The European court of justice (ECJ) has ruled that Germany can refuse welfare benefits to EU migrants if they have never held a job in the country.

In a landmark ruling on “benefit tourism” that could set an EU-wide legal precedent, the Luxembourg court announced on Tuesday that “economically inactive” migrants from other EU nations can be refused German unemployment benefits under certain conditions.

Downing Street said it would look very closely at the ruling and argued that it vindicated David Cameron’s moves to restrict benefits to EU migrants.“I think one of the things that it underlines has been that the freedom of movement, as the prime minister and others have said, is not an unqualified right,” Cameron’s spokesman said. “We will look very carefully at what we and other governments can do working together in response to this judgment.” Asked whether this will make it easier for the government to bring in further controls, the spokesman said: “We have already said prior to this judgment that we are looking to see what further measures can be taken and following that judgment that work will continue.”

The case was prompted after Elisabeta Dano, a 25-year-old Romanian woman living in Leipzig, had her application for benefits refused. The local jobcentre argued that there was a lack of evidence to prove that the woman, who has lived in Germany since 2010, had ever actively looked for work.

After an appeal was rejected by a Leipzig social court, the case was transferred to the ECJ.
In its ruling, the ECJ emphasised that while EU migrants had the right of residence in another EU country for up to three months, the country was under no obligation to pay social benefits during that period. If migrants stay for more than three months but less than three years, right of residence is dependent on whether they have sufficient resources to support themselves or their family members.
The eagerly anticipated ruling could be interpreted as a victory, or a blow, for Cameron. It is a victory in the sense that it supports the British government’s drive to curb benefit abuse by EU migrants. The British, Danish and Irish had voiced strong support for the German position in the dispute. But it is also a defeat in the sense that the ruling means that these curbs can be achieved within the existing rules.

Had the ruling gone the other way, it would have probably triggered a debate about reforming freedom of movement in Germany. Now, British calls for an overhaul of the existing systems are less likely to be heard.In Britain, the ruling was welcomed by members of both the government and the opposition. Conservative MEP Timothy Kirkhope said that while the ruling addressed German legislation, it would have “wide-ranging implications for how the UK can tighten its welfare system to ensure only migrants that make a contribution can receive something back”.“This court case and this ruling show quite clearly that the UK is not alone in its concerns about restoring free movement to its core principle: free movement of labour. The government will be heartened by this decision today,” he said.

Rachel Reeves, the shadow work and pensions secretary, said: “Labour welcomes today’s ruling on restricting benefits to immigrants from EU member states who travel simply to claim benefits. Labour has repeatedly called on the government to act to ensure that the UK benefit system is only there for those prepared to contribute, including extending the three month waiting time EU migrants have to wait before claiming benefits and ending the unfair practice of child benefit being sent abroad. It’s now time for ministers to act.”

The Liberal Democrat MEP Catherine Bearder said: “Today’s ruling shows that while EU free movement is non-negotiable, it is not an unfettered right. Liberal Democrats are clear that the freedom to live, work and study across the continent should not mean the freedom to claim. Safeguards can and should be put in place to prevent benefit tourism and abuse of the system.”

Sleeping giant of public opinion has awoken and now water will wash away the Coalition

2014-11-06T15:44:00.000+00:00

Compliments to Martina Devlin in The Irish Independent 06/11/2014

Its been a long time since we've had such honest journalism in Ireland.

http://www.independent.ie/opinion/columnists/martina-devlin/sleeping-giant-of-public-opinion-has-awoken-and-now-water-will-wash-away-the-coalition-30722554.html

Tick-tock. The meter is ticking now - not for those loathed water charges but to mark the Irish people's dwindling patience with this sinking Government, which is conspicuously out of step with its citizens.

Tick-tock. Enda Kenny is turning into a lame duck Taoiseach, deaf to the public clamour. He reached a nadir when he paused, in black tie en route to a party, and warned of a 4pc tax hike if water charges weren't paid. I half expected him to snap "off with their heads" as he turned away.

Tick-tock. Two days of mass marching, and another day lined up for December - the sleeping giant of public opinion has been awakened and protests are growing. What a mistake that's been for the Government. Because this is about so much more than water charges now. This is a pent-up reaction gushing out against the double-dealing, greed, arrogance, cronyism and downright stupidity of an unfit-for-purpose political system. A system which expects the working poor, as many of us have become after six years of austerity, to keep on making sacrifices. Even when there is nothing left on the bone. This time, we are ordered to finance a super-quango with a bonus culture. No wonder people aren't inclined to stump up.

Tick-tock. Who truly believes the first lot of water taxes will be used to repair the network?
That's not credible when an over-staffed and over-compensated Irish Water has already soaked up €86m in consultancy and legal fees. If the network is really in such disarray, a halt should be called to installing water meters, with resources redirected towards infrastructure work instead.

Tick-tock. The awoken giant of public opinion is contemplating justice and fairness - and how both were sacrificed when Europe insisted Ireland meet all bank debts, so that German and French investors who took a gamble wouldn't lose out.

The giant is rubbing its eyes, wondering why its Government didn't fight harder in Europe to protect Irish citizens, and why senior politicians preferred the easier option of another new tax. Did they think us too sunk in inertia to notice yet another deduction? Or too cowed to care? Or too stupid to realise the conservation argument was a fig leaf for revenue generation? The giant is on its feet now and has taken to the streets. "This is what democracy feels like. This is what democracy looks like. This is what democracy sounds like." That was the chant from 4,000 throats on the demonstration I marched in last Saturday. Similar slogans were roared out around the country from some 150,000 protesters - and they were not the 'usual suspects', but ordinary people pushed to the brink. The march I attended was organised by Richard Boyd Barrett and People Before Profit, but it was an apolitical gathering. There were marchers from a variety of political persuasions and marchers with no affiliations.

Tick-tock. Some of the people on the streets were Fine Gael and Labour voters. TDs in marginal seats ought to be afraid. Very afraid. Even those in 'safe' seats can expect to feel a chill wind. Support for the Coalition is ebbing faster than those gallons of water we're told is lost through leaky pipes.
Enda, let me tell you how democracy in action felt. It felt good. It felt like active citizenship - people engaging with government and expressing a view on the way we are governed, rather than waiting for the blood sport of election day.

Tick-tock. There were marchers behind homemade banners who've never demonstrated before. Marchers who last went out to protest in the 1980s. Marchers with adult children back living with them in the family home because they can't afford one of their own. Marchers whose children have emigrated because they see no future in Ireland.

Marchers who say they've never failed to pay a bill before. But this one is a bill too far.
And what provoked those crowds to pour in, in their tens of thousands, some 150,000 in all, to those rallies last Saturday? Deep-seated disillusionment. A weariness with mainstream politics, now thoroughly discredited as being incapable of reform. To categorise this growing movement as founded in anti-austerity is to misunderstand it. It was fascinating to observe the marchers as they arrived. To watch them find spaces for their cars where nobody would be blocked in, and take care to pay for parking. To see them strap their children into buggies to keep them safe. And produce rain wear, because heavy clouds weren't going to deter them. These were law-abiding, prudent people. They understood tough decisions had to be taken if Ireland was to regain its sovereignty. But they expected some solidarity in return - not a disconnected elite. Environment Minister Alan Kelly adds no reassurance when he says water bills will be modest and affordable. Charges, once introduced, have a habit of being ratcheted up.

Tick-tock. Labour is just as disconnected as Fine Gael. Really, Joan Burton, I'm surprised at you for forgetting what a struggle life has become for some of your constituents if you can casually refer to a €200 bill. This water charge is a regressive tax because it hits everyone the same irrespective of income - sacrificing the weak in society. Politicians have a responsibility to the people, not the party. At least Labour's senators realised that when they voted against the Government yesterday, helping to pass a motion for a referendum to protect water from privatisation.

Tick-tock. "This is what democracy feels like," went the chant. It felt good, Enda. The last time it felt as good was when the Fianna Fail/Green coalition was shown the road in 2011.
The current regime has forgotten it governs solely by the will of the people.
As each day passes, with minister after minister defending water charges, some with soft words and some with big sticks, the people are growing more sullen.

Tick-tock. Something has to give. A few concessions won't stem the tide any more.

Irish Independent

The ECB (Trichet) Letter to Brian Lenihan

2014-11-06T13:48:00.000+00:00

Following the release of the ECB "Trichet" Letter to Brian Lenihan and his insistence that "Ireland" take a Bailout or the ECB would cut all funding, a lot of nonsense has appeared in the Irish Media, but nobody (so far) has addressed the core of the issue - "Ireland" did not require a bailout, a bailout would only be required "if" Ireland decided to honour the Bonds issued by Private Banks and bought by International Financiers who are supposedly experts in their field - this was the ultimate in "stitch ups".

It was "Private" Banks and their borrowing from other Private Banks & Bondholders (primarily financial institutions), supervised by the ECB that required the bail-out – not ‘Ireland’.

When the infamous ‘Guarantee’ was made, these banks had knowingly, understated the extent of their losses in communications with public officials.

Originally, Ireland should have refused to Guarantee more debt than it was informed of or aware of.

If the ECB wanted or needed the losses of various Private Banks and Bond Holders to be bailed out or assisted, then the ECB should have stumped up the money itself via some quickly thought up ECB liquidity guarantee scheme (subject to controls) - effectively discounted loans to the Banks and Financial Institutions, which we pretty much have now.

Bearing in mind the effect of the mountain of fraudulent ‘AAA’ rated mortgage backed securities sold into the EU’s banks from the US, there was more than enough justification for the ECB to look to sand-bagging European Financial Institutions prior to the impending tsunami.

Did we get any redress from Wall St. banks in filling Europe’s banks with these worthless ‘assets’ ? Did any spineless, bought, EU politician even suggest it? Bully boy tactics were used on Ireland by its so called partners.

Of course, for Irish politicians, bearing no personal or financial repercussions themselves, dumping this ‘odious’ debt; which was 42% of the cost of the entire Euro zone banking losses; was the easy way out for them. Just tell the disgusting lie to the Irish people that it was because ‘we all partied’… and thus had some moral obligation, the ‘fools’ will believe it.

Doubtless they thought the people still cowed & unquestioning under the yoke of the Catholic church would meekly accept this lie and to be fair - most of the unquestioning Irish population did just as expected

However let me remind the supporters of our Governments mantra and actions - NAMA; where the vast bulk of the bad loans were transferred; didn’t take any individual loan of less than €20 million in nominal value. Now, how many of us "partied" with loans of more than €20 million ? - not many.

No, "we" didn’t party. In fact household (mortgage) debt is only "now" being resolved – yet again in favour of the Banks and not the Citizens; who were duped into buying overpriced houses (in most cases because they needed a home) and it was either accept the loans banks were begging them to take (and assuring their prudent "affordability", yadda yadda, yadda), or pay inflated rents as tenants for inferior rental houses (absence of rental/tenant laws serves political cronies)

The vast majority of people losing their homes now, through mortgage foreclosure, are doing so under yet another disgusting episode in Irish History, and the silence on the part of the mainstream media is deafening, too busy sucking up to their friends in the political classes trying to talk up the country’s non-recovery. (And totally ignoring also that the rest of the Eurozone itself is collapsing back into recession or stagnating..)

If we had not had the totally unnecessary and gratuitous policy of Euro zone wide Austerity when our economies could have been stimulated back to growth, then a great many of those now losing their homes would have had the jobs and wage income to enable them to maintain their mortgages. That is a fact. At no point since this crisis began have Irish Government politicians, or public servants, or others of our ‘Political Classes’, or many in the media actually represented the interests of the majority of citizens. At every turn, they have represented the (opposite) interests of the Capital owning few… which includes many Political Leaders, their Cronies and Close Supporters.

That is "not" meaningful ‘democracy’.

And now behind closed doors and in secret "talks", these same political classes have been drumming up an Orwellian termed "Trade Agreement" between the EU and US – the ‘TTIP’.

The TTIP has little to do with ‘trade’, and everything to with handing even more power to the Banks, Financial Institutions and Global Corporations over our elected governments. Including the ‘ISDS’ (Investor State Dispute Settlement) terms, whereby banks and corporations may sue governments for loss of future profits and other compensation for any ‘legislation’ which interferes with their "business", including any annoying social or environmental protections and these cases will not be decided via the normal Judicial Process but in special ‘Tribunals’… doubtless so they can be filled with Corporate (revolving door) placemen and retired politicians (experts) as ‘adjudicators’.

None of the major political parties in Ireland or the EU represent the citizens’ interests. They need to be thrown out of office and the system reformed from the inside.

The Ultimate In Submission

2013-07-03T21:04:00.001+01:00

Like the submissive sheep they are, the few hundred "Jail the Bankers" demonstrators in Dublin tonight were led away from the Parliament Buildings (Leinster House) and proceeded to queue up and take turns protesting at a Dublin Garda Station then quietly melted away into the Dublin evening.

Dublin and Ireland then reverted to its standard mode of "whining and dining".

Meanwhile outside Leinster House the anti whatever tax hunger strike continues as the elite and their collaborators look on from their well fed pensionable offices.

So what was tonight all about?

It was originally arranged as a non-political citizens demonstration, however it was clear the extreme left had taken the lead, the almost professional demonstrator class who always seem to win no argument, the political leaning which deters many and clearly not representative of the disillusioned former Fine Gael, Fianna Fáil, Labour, Sinn Fein etc voters.

As people queued to be admitted to the Garda Station in groups of three or four, I realised that nothing will change in Ireland. The elite and their collaborators will continue to rob from the public and not a damn thing will ever be done about it.

As the chant went out from the demonstrators "Jail the Bankers", all I could think about was "what about the Garda Commissioner?" and "what about the DPP?" both surely complicit in protecting their friends in the cabal and bringing this sorry saga to the verge of evaporating with the Statute Of Limitations.

What about the previous administration all 'sacked' by the public and living on pensions of two or three times the industrial wage? What about these crooks who permitted the theft from the public, then did nothing to prosecute their friends. What about the current administration sitting on their hands waiting for the Statute of Limitations to kick in, again protecting their golf partners and dinner company.

The sad thing is that rather than having 'enemies of the people' swinging from Dublins lamp posts the night this does evaporate, instead the whining public will queue up to protest, then go elsewhere to dine.

I sincerely hope the rational thinking person of Dublin can look his adult child in the eye in years to come and feel no shame as his grandchild emigrates.

"Daddy what did you do during the war?"........"I queued up to lodge a request to jail someone who is in the USA - then felt great".

The Docile Public

2013-03-25T22:52:00.001+00:00

Whether it is the serious allegations raised against Michael Lowry or lesser issues with the removal of Ming Flanagans Driver Penalty Point, the Irish public seem to simply chatter for a few days then move on.

Love him or hate him, it would seem there is a lone voice in The Oireachtas standing up to the political establishment.

Ireland and State Funded Pensions

2012-11-20T16:16:00.000+00:00

The public do not elect Governments and pay their taxes only to see a wealthy clique enriched by those elected to serve them. Recent Governments in Ireland would appear to have detached themselves mentally from where Government revenue is actually coming from and what their responsibilities to the electorate actually are.

There should be strict limits to the size of pension fund contributions made by State, Semi State and State Bailed Out Companies. Combined with this, there should be strict limits on the maximum size of pension payable by The State, Semi State and State Bailed Out Companies.

All pensions over and above the basic State provided Contributory Old Age Pension should be contributory and across the board legislation needs to be enacted to have a standard PRSA type contribution across all sectors both Public and Private (a mandatory 6% or 7% of gross salary matched by the employer). The State would also need to put in place a system for seamless transfer or continuation of payments when a person changes job. A novel system could be to put the system under State Agency control and have the fund invest in Irish Government Bonds.

As with the Private Sector, there should be no restrictions on the amount of money a person can pay from their Net Salary (after taxes) into a Private Pension Fund or purchase additional property for rental etc – this should be a standard right of any individual.

However The State should not pay a pension of over €100K per year to anyone – index linked to 2012. Anyone wanting more should simply set aside some of their current salary and invest in a private scheme.

Where individuals qualify for multiple State funded pensions (as we see with our political class) the maximum combined total should not exceed €100K per year. It’s a very simple logic, The State should pay no more than €100K per year to any retired person.

Golden Parachutes on retirement from senior Government appointed positions should also be outlawed – this Government approved practice is bordering on misuse of State funds.

Breakup of Eurozone and Anarchy (2)

2012-02-12T11:05:00.000+00:00

The Eurozone Unravelling

Greece is facing a life or death political and social crisis as the bankrupt state desperately fights to stay in the single currency. This is calamatous for the ordinary Greek worker who; having his taxes deducted at source; will have no choice but to foot the bill.

Although there are similarities between the Greece, Portugal and Ireland situations, one must draw a distinction between the causes and historic benefits. The Greek and Portuguese Governments have for years been spending far more than they have received in taxes and tax avoidance among the wealthier of the population is rife. It could be argued that the public in both countries has reaped the benefits of better services etc than they might have had, however in Greece the level of general corruption has probably negated any benefits. Both Greece and Portugal have now been requested to agree a plan with creditors to balance their books and start paying down the debts. Ireland on the otherhand is an entirely different situation where the Government was balancing its books until the financial collapse and could have weathered the current storm easily if not 'lumbered with' repaying the bulk of the countries banks bonds and loan books. Until the global financial collapse, Ireland was in fact adhering to fiscal directives better than Germany. The Irish Private Banks (Anglo Irish Bank specifically) were funded by foreign investors (mainly banks and insurance companies) which was used by a small elite 'business' group to fund business opportunities in Ireland and abroad. Regardless of the now infamous Irish Bank Guarantee, Ireland would have been pressured into repaying these loans and bonds in no different a way to Iceland.

However the similarity with Greece is that those in Ireland who have benefitted from the very large business loans and have now defaulted, appear to be untouchable, with few prosecutions as they continue to live the 'high life'. Like the wealthy Greeks, these people appear to have no shame, no sense of community or national spirit/responsibility and would seem content to see the ordinary worker bankrupted for their debts, with unemployemnt and taxes rising exponentially as Governments attempt to fight off the inevidible.

Dole queue in Ireland

In Greece, the Eurozone Medicine will see workers pay packets plummet. Greece’s minimum wage is about €750 a month. Troika officials have said they would like to see it drop to around €500 a month, about the level of Portugal, which has also required foreign bailout money. Owing to the cartels that have historically controlled the distribution of consumer goods, consumer prices in Greece are comparatively high — petrol/gasoline is more than €1.60/L (over $8 a gallon) which is in the 'higher band' of european fuel prices. Creditors argue that cutting labour costs is essential to making the Greek economy more competitive. Both the unions and employers' associations counter that the move will only further depress consumer spending and therefore tax revenue.

In an emotional speech the Greek Prime Minister said: "The choice we face is one of sacrifice or even greater sacrifice – on a scale that cannot be compared. Our country, our homeland, our society has to think and make a definitive, strategic decision. If we see the salvation and future of the country in the euro area, in Europe, we have to do whatever we have to do to get the programme approved." But one has the sense that the politicians (in no different a way to Ireland) will protect their elite at the expense of the ordinary Greek citizen. The most striking difference between Greece and Ireland is that the 'elite' seem to form a much larger group in Greece than in Ireland.

In the wealthy, northern suburbs of Athens just 324 residents checked the box on their tax returns admitting that they owned swimming pools. So tax investigators studied satellite photos of the area — a sprawling collection of expensive villas tucked behind tall gates — and came back with a decidedly different number of 16,974 pools. Another anecdote is the statistic that there are many multiples more Porsche cars in Greece than those declaring incomes of over €50K per year (a recent report pointed to a figure of 6 x). This kind of wholesale lying about assets, and other eye-popping cases that are surfacing in the news media here, points to the staggering breadth of tax dodging that has long been a way of life here. Such evasion has played a significant role in Greece’s debt crisis, and as the country struggles to get its financial house in order, it is (verbally) going after tax cheats as never before. Various studies, including one by the Federation of Greek Industries last year estimated that the government may be losing as much as €25 billion a year to tax evasion — a figure that would have gone a long way to solving its debt problems.

Photo NY Times

The picture painted of Greece in relation to tax evasion is on the face of it far more serious than that of Ireland, however there are similarities between an Elite Ruling Class who see all legislation being for the Great Unwashed and see themselves as being above audit. Salary caps have also been implemented in Ireland, however 'exceptions' have been made for political advisors and expense accounts for politicians and their cronys seem to go largely unchallenged.

The lead up to the French and American Revolutions are good examples what is driving Greek anger. The French revolution being the 'decapitation' of the highly corrupt French Ruling Elite of the time and the American Revolution being precipitated by unjustified taxes imposed/dictated by what was seen as a Foreign Government. To date the Greek protests have been largely against their own political leaders for seemingly accepting unnacceptable taxes imposed from 'Berlin', however to correct the imbalances within Greek society, much of this anger must be turned on their own business and professional elite.

Riot police clash with protesters on the streets of Athens on a daily basis, strikes are weekly events, and five Government Ministers have resigned in protest at the scale of the spending cuts demanded in return for a new €130bn (£108bn) bailout, Evangelos Venizelos, the Greek finance minister and socialist leader, said the country has to choose whether to swallow the Eurozone Medicine of more cuts – or default on its debt and be forced out of the euro (although I'm not so certain expulsion from the Eurozone is possible under the Lisbon Treaty)

Reuters Photo of Athens Riots Feb 10th 2012

Police ringed the Greek parliament building following the failure of eurozone finance ministers to approve the new bailout for Greece. Prime minister Lucas Papademos had offered new austerity measures worth €3.3bn to secure the euro lifeline, but he was told the cash would not be forthcoming until savings of an additional €325m were identified. He was told to get the €3.3bn programme endorsed and come up with a plan for the new cuts – to plug a gap in this year's budget – by Sunday. George Karatzaferis, a Greek coalition leader, spoke of national humiliation and said he would not accept the new cuts, adding that Greece was labouring "under the German boot".

Depiction of Angela Merkel (German Chancellor) in Greek Newspaper Feb 2012

Anyone familiar with contract negotiations in a business environment will have experienced the 'successful bid' experience following very difficult negotiations in which margins are cut to nothing and where the sole objective of the successful negotiations is to maintain market share etc. Some may have experience of that final twist of the knife when believing the contract secured, the customer team returns for the trophy victory, demanding a price reduction which means little to the customer, but pushes the supplier over that line - most suppliers having already counted the 'deal' as secured rarely walk away from this final demand, however it can sour a relationship badly. The Greman/Franco led Eurozone is now guilty of such behaviour and one has to wonder whether this is perhaps a tactic to actually force Greece out of the Eurozone.

Germany and France (those actually dictating Eurozone direction) are not behaving like Arbitrators, but rather are behaving like Adversaries and have pushed for what would seem to be their 'pound of flesh'. This does not bode well for the Eurozone (or EU) longer term, as one of the founding principles of the EU was to eliminate inter-state bullying which caused so many european wars in the past. Clearly Germany and France are destroying many of the bridges built over the past 60-70 years and creating a Yugoslavia situation within Europe, where the smaller states feel dominated by a powerful axis. In the case of Yugoslavia, the axis was Serbia and Montenegro, whereas in Europe it is Germany and France.

Political Cartoons becoming more anti-German Feb 2012

The scenes of violence in Athens shattered the mood of calm that has characterised the financial markets this year. The French and German stock markets closed down around 1.5%. The anger from the extreme right in Greece was echoed on the left where a resigning socialist minister accused the eurozone of "extortion" in its policies towards Athens.
In Germany, Angela Merkel was reported to have warned her centre-right MPs of "uncontrollable consequences" for the eurozone should Greece become the first euro nation to declare sovereign default on its soaring debt. German Finance Minister, Wolfgang Schäuble, told the same MPs, according to reports in Berlin, that Athens' latest pledges over spending cuts fell well short of what was needed.
EU ministers demanded that the three party leaders of the caretaker coalition under Papademos deliver signed pledges on the programme, making them binding and irreversible regardless of who wins an early general election expected in April. "This certainly violates the sovereignty of the country and doesn't allow democratic choices to work," a government minister from a southern eurozone country told journalists. "But it's tough when you need the money." Papademos told the cabinet, which endorsed the loan agreement tonight, the country had no choice – "our priority is to do whatever it takes to approve the new economic programme". Anyone who disagreed would have to leave the government.

Karatzaferis, leader of the extreme right Laos party in the three-party coalition, said he would vote against the austerity package and was willing to quit the coalition in protest. "Greece can't and shouldn't do without the European Union, but it could do without the German boot," he said. "What has particularly bothered me is the humiliation of the country." The other two coalition partners, the Pasok socialists and the conservative New Democracy, have a sweeping parliamentary majority and do not need Karatzaferis's 16 votes. The Pasok deputy labour minister, Yannis Koutsoukos, who resigned in protest on Thursday, accused the "troika" – officials from the European commission, ECB and IMF – of behaving "in an extortionate manner that is completely improper and shameless".

Although ultimately responsible for their own situation, Greece is being subjected to the same type of arm-twisting the Presidents and Prime Ministers of Czechoslovakia, Hungary and others faced from Nazi Germany - "do what we say - or else !!", therefore Greek anger at Germany is understandable.

The aim of the second Greek bailout over two years is to cut the country's debt from 160% of gross domestic product now to 120% by 2020. Ostensibly this is to be achieved by €130bn from the eurozone and the IMF, combined with swingeing spending cuts and tax rises and a write-down of debt by the country's private creditors through a debt swap pact halving the burden from €200bn to €100bn. But the €130bn is no longer viewed as sufficient and Schäuble was said to have told MPs that under Greek pledges the debt level would still be between 128% and 136% of GDP by 2020.

Without the new bailout, Greece will be unable to redeem more than €14bn of debt on 20 March 2012, leaving the country in sovereign default and ushering in an even bigger crisis in the eurozone's distressed periphery

Separately, in a private conversation captured on camera during a meeting in Brussels, Schäuble assured the Portuguese finance minister he would be prepared to adjust the terms of Portugal's €78bn bailout programme once the Greek situation was resolved – remarks viewed as incendiary given the tough line taken with Athens. "If there appears a necessity for an adjustment in the Portuguese programme we would be ready to do that," Schäuble said. Portugal's Vitor Gaspal replied: "That's much appreciated."

Unless Schäuble is referring to any bilateral loans extended by Germany to Potugal, one has to wonder how/why the German Finance Minister believes he speaks for all Eurozone Finance Ministers.

The Irish Developers were merely 'consumables' in a game which is goinge to see the rape of the general public of europe by politicians in the pockets of the banks. The sad thing is that it would seem that many of the public throughout europe can already see this, however the Irish public seem passive and submissive when meeting this challenge.

Oireachtas Expenses (1)

2012-01-18T18:16:00.001+00:00

WILL nobody stop the political gravy train? With the country up to its eyes in debt, it is disgraceful that 26 Independent senators and TDs are receiving annual allowances of thousands of euro at the taxpayers’ expense — utterly unvouched and untaxed.

Described as a "party leader’s allowance", the payment was introduced by ex-finance minister Charlie McCreevy during the Celtic Tiger era with the aim of offsetting the disadvantage Independents had against powerful party machines. Whatever about justifying the principle of this allowance, the fact that it remains unvouched and untaxed is unconscionable.

The latest revelation has been aptly described as the best kept political secret for some time, and is certain to heighten demands for the abolition of the Seanad. Despite Taoiseach Enda Kenny’s 2009 pledge to axe the upper house, it continues to roll down the track on its extravagant way.
As a result of the handout, 12 Independent senators are each getting an allowance of €23,382 a year (€280,584 total per year), while 14 Independent TDs receive €41,152 each (€576,128 total per year). One further independent TD is eligible for the payment but does not claim it.

According to political rules, such as they are, the money must not be used for electoral purposes but rather to meet expenses for activities like public relations or research. The big difference is that political parties enter the allowance in the books and it is therefore subject to audit in the normal way.

But when paid to Independent deputies and senators, it goes straight into their pockets. They are not required to vouch for how it might have been spent, or even if it is not spent at all as originally intended.

This allowance comes on top of the Seanad salary of €65,621 a year, bringing the combined income of an independent senator to just under €89,000. Significantly, the travel, overnight or subsistence expenses of senators are not included in this figure. Travel expenses were central to the political scandal that surrounded Senator Ivor Callely who is no longer a member of the Seanad. The allowance payment brings the income of an Independent TD with a basic salary of €92,672 up to €133,824 (again excluding travel, overnight and subsistence allowances).

That the McCreevy dig-out for Independents has gone unvouched, unaudited and untaxed is absolutely scandalous. This is taxpayers’ money. The kid-glove approach to Seanad finances is in stark contrast with the heavy-handed treatment of old-age pensioners at the hands of the Revenue Commissioners and is utterly unacceptable.

When he promised to abolish the Seanad and reduce the number of TDs by 20 almost three years ago, Mr Kenny reckoned it would save "an estimated €150 million over the term of a Dáil". Now that he is Taoiseach he has the power to do it. The sooner it is done, the better. But the immediate priority must be to ensure that allowances of this kind are vouched for, justified, audited properly and fully taxed in the public gaze.

Additionally and to reflect on the Ivor Callely case, it could well be argued that the constituency which each TD or Senator represents is their 'Permanent Place of Employment' and that Leinster House is a 'Remote Location' each representative must work from occassionally (this really is stretching Revenue rules), therefore there is no justification whatsoever for TDs to be using 'Summer/Holiday Homes' or 'Family Homes' where parents or siblings currently or previously resided to pump up their travel claims. Additionally it would be worth auditing historic Oireachtas accounts to ensure that those who have claimed travel allowances were not also allocated a Government Car and Garda Driver.

The Healy-Rae telephone voting debacle was another cover-up where The Oireachtas covered for its own. By all reports from that time, the quantity of automated calls reported (and reimbursed by Healy-Rae Junior were from a specific period (48 or 72 hours) and were merely a fraction of the total number of calls made. As Healy-Rae is an Independent TD he also receives the €41K uplift and would have one of the highest travel claims within the Oireachtas due to his constituency location. However the bigger question is "what exactly does Healy-Rae contribute" - South Kerry Constituency could lose a TD and nobody would notice.

This sordid affair is yet another example of politicians making rules for politicians. Allowing taxpayers’ money to be used as a form of unvouched expenses will further deepen public cynicism at the failure to effect meaningful change in a political system that regularly reflects all the worst excesses of a banana republic.

What other perks are Oireachtas members granting themselves which we have yet to discover. It is time for an independent audit of Oireachtas Expenses and Perks both in terms of what they are and what is being claimed. A full UK stype audit of historic personal expense accounts is required and the DPP needs to prosecute any clear fraud - Dail attendance records need to be compared to expense claims etc etc.

AIB $400M loans to RC Church for abuse claims in USA

2012-01-18T08:39:00.000+00:00

Catholic church borrowed over $400m from AIB to pay U.S. sexual abuse victims.

Initial story carried by John Lee and John Breslin - Irish Mail on Sunday 15th Jan 2012 (bold italics). Comments by Picasso (non Italic - non bold)

This is a truly shocking headline and even more shocking that the Irish Public now 'owns' AIB. One has to now more seriously question the seperation of The State, Business and The Church in Ireland and where the 'loyalties' of some of Irelands 'ruling class' actually lies.

It was unacceptable that a backroom deal was done between the Catholic Church and an Irish Government Minister (Michael Woods) which limited the exposure of the RC Church in the case of Irish Abuse Victims and it was agreed by a single Government Minister that the Irish Public would 'pick up the tab' for the remainder. Now we discover at a time of austerity when banks should have been stimulating the Irish economy with loans SME business (an area in which they are failing miserably), AIB has instead allocated over $400M in loans for the Catholic Church to settle claims from victims of clerical paedophilia on another continent. More than $400m of compensation to American victims of sexual abuse by Catholic priests was paid with loans and guarantees from Allied Irish Bank, it has ben revealed. The funds, in the form of loans, guarantees and lines of credit, were given specifically to pay clerical abuse victims, and led to AIB being dubbed the 'Vatican's banking arm' in U.S. legal circles. The revelation that a comparatively small Irish bank based on another continent was used to pay off victims will raise questions about AIB's links to the church.

One of the payments, of $250m to the Los Angeles diocese, emerged in a new book entitled 'Render Unto Rome: The Secret Life of Money in the Catholic Church', by Jason Berry, which outlines extraordinary links between the bank and the church. But an investigation by the MoS has established that in a few short months in 2007 AIB emerged as the lender behind abuse settlements for four separate dioceses, and the true figure was almost twice as high. It also emerges that while AIB was used to pay the bulk of the Church's abuse claims, the dioceses were able to hold on to most of their properties.

But instead of being funded by the Vatican, which is fighting court cases by denying any legal responsibility to pay, almost half a billion of the money paid out in America was borrowed from AIB in Dublin.

The chairman of AIB at the time was Dermot Gleeson and senior Director Eugene Sheehy, these men would have had the authority to approve such loans at the Dublin HQ. However one has to ask the question, if the Vatican was effectively refusing to accept direct responsibility for abuses by clerics and as the Global Abuse nightmare was continuing to unfold (liability unknown), what security was offered for the loans and is that security still in the hands of the RC Church.

It has been confirmed that all of the loans were agreed by the bank's headquarters in Dublin, and amount to as much as a quarter of AIB's €2bn exposure in America the following year.

The loans are now being quietly repaid. This revelation will prompt questions about whether the Vatican is behind the international deals, the supposedly-indebted dioceses have begun to pay off the AIB debts with money from other, unnamed, institutions. Just last month a $40m line of credit to the Diocese of Portland in Oregon was taken over by an un-named creditor. Bob Krebs, a spokesman for the Portland Diocese for many years, declined to name the new lender. Asked why AIB had been used to help fund its abuse compensation cases, he said he did not know who 'found Allied Irish for us'.

Of the deals, by far the largest line of credit was for Los Angeles, for $256m. The diocese avoided going into court with abuse victims by reaching a settlement in advance.

Therefore what is now effectively an Irish Public Company was complicit in 'buying off' the victims of clerical paedophilia. This would make sense to a certain extent as Ireland stands out as the one country where the RC Church could almost do anything with immunity, where the church had control over key players within the Irish State and where through a policy of misinformation a significant proportion of the population actually dis-believed the accusations levelled against the church - Ireland was also awash with money between the mid-90s to mid-00s and $500M would almost go unnoticed.Teen victim Esther Miller was abused by a young deacon in Los Angeles It emerged afterwards that AIB loans and guarantees accounted for almost half of total settlement.

The deal included $175m in cash and another $25m to pay the interest, and helped Los Angeles avoid selling the bulk of its properties or reveal the true value of its total assets.

In San Diego AIB gave cash and credit of some $100m, almost half the $198m paid out to 144 victims.That diocese filed for bankruptcy on the eve of the first civil trial against it, a case involving Monsignor Patrick O'Keeffe, originally from Kilkenny.

The driving force behind this series of mammoth loans may actually have been to protect the image of Ireland and Irish Priests, as it would seem many of the perpetrators in the USA were Irish Priests. Is it possible Maynooth was behind the wheeling and dealing?

The Diocese of Portland, in Oregon, also filed for bankruptcy because of compensation actions. Of a $129m settlement for victims $40m came from AIB. The loan effectively allowed the diocese to close the bankruptcy proceedings without selling any assets. A loan document obtained by the Mail details the loans in Portland. On AIB headed paper, it details how the loans were being specifically made to trusts set up to pay known and future abuse claims for the diocese. The letter was written one day before a similar letter giving credit to the Diocese of Los Angeles, again signed by its LA-based senior vice president Charles Lydon and London-based vice president John McGrath.

U.S. lawyer Jim Stang, who sat on nine bankruptcy committees charged with looking after victim creditors, said: 'We joke that AIB is the bank of the Catholic Church.'

An AIB spokesperson has stated: 'Any loans advanced were approved in accordance with AIB Group policy.'

Esther Miller was a teenager living in Los Angeles when she was repeatedly forced to commit sexual acts with a priest who went on to abuse other young girls. That period in her life still haunts her as she enters her fifties. The man who abused her – a young deacon still at seminary college – groomed her by getting close to her parents. Over the course of two years, until she was 17, the priest forced himself on her. He was later appointed principal of a Catholic high school despite questions over his behaviour. He told Esther to go to confession, but only to a particular priest. He called her evil. He later turned out to be a serial abuser of boys too. She mentioned some details of the encounters to her mother, who slapped her and told her never to speak ill of the clergy. The abuse had a profound effect on the next two decades of Esther’s life. She was married four times and had dozens of jobs.Only after the revelations in the Boston diocese in 2002 did she set off on the long road to forcing the Archdiocese of Los Angeles to reveal what it knew. Esther’s case was one of hundreds, which were finally settled in mid 2007 for $660m.

‘I was surprised at the dollar amount. I had no idea of the insurance and other ways of raising money.’ And she had no idea until this week that Allied Irish Bank had helpfully stepped in with guarantees of hundreds of millions. The deal allowed the Archdiocese to avoid going to court and opening all its documents to scrutiny.

The above underlined section is key to this AIB-RCC loan deal and by funding a 'pay-off' of victims, thus avoiding a full and proper investigation of paedophelia within some US dioceses. Funding a 'gagging' process is something AIB management should be ashamed of and is reflective of the initial attempts by the Irish Catholic Church to 'pay-off' and 'gag' the victims of abuse.

As these loans are clearly not compatible with the values of the Irish people, the Government should request AIB discuss an immediate paydown of these loans by the Catholic Church.

Ireland & "Clone Town Britain"

2012-01-06T21:07:00.000+00:00

During the so called "Celtic Tiger" period; when approving Retail Planning Applications; local Elected Representatives and Public Servants disregarded the structure of the local community, established businesses; quality skillsets, the employment likely to be offered and any future trend modelling in terms of consumer learned habits etc.

Planning was approved rashly in the great race to modernise, combined with a liberal smattering of corruption as the recent tribunals have uncovered. No thought was given to the future of local skilled artisans, family businesses, the local supply chain and the consumption of local produce.

Having effectively saturated Britain with "Clone Town" centres, the Celtic Tiger provided the ideal opportunity for British High Street Chains to press the Irish idiot class of local elected officials to repeat the destruction already meted out to British Towns.

Irish towns are currently suffering a plight which is in effect worse that the phenomenon kown as "Clone Town Britain". The "shrunken heads" of many previous town centres have indeed become a carbon copy of "Clone Town Britain", however the destruction of local communities in Ireland was hit with the "sucker punch" of bespoke "out of town" retail parks.

The local authorities provided the final coup de gras to their own town centres by introducing or increasing parking charges and in providing insuficient parking in many towns, combined with the policy of practically zero local public transport even in the larger towns.

Sadly the net effect of these outragous planning decisions is that those employed within the retail sector in many Irish towns are merely cash register or check-out operators. Local butchers, bakers and candle-stick makers are becoming a dying breed. And as many of the out of town hypermarket planning approvals permit massive stores which also double up as newsagents, clothing stores, electrical and computer retailer and toy store. In many communities one single planning approval with the potential to offer merely shelf stacking and check-out positions by a multinational chain store which purchases almost nothing locally has literally ripped the heart and soul out of the local community.

Irelands local politicians seem to have forgotten that the very DNA of the local community is contained within the wide array of skills and personalities of its inhabitants.

Further recommended reading:

http://www.neweconomics.org/projects/clone-town-britain

http://www.irishexaminer.com/opinion/columnists/donal-hickey/saving-historic-heart-of-our-towns-176027.html

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1312055/UKs-ultimate-clone-town-4-10-high-streets-identikit-places.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mahon_Tribunal

http://struggle.ws/ws98/ws53_corrupt.html

ECJ Ruling On Return Of Asylum Seekers

2011-12-21T21:02:00.001+00:00

The Irish Times 21st Dec 2011 www.irishtimes.com

An asylum seeker may not be sent back to the first EU member state he or she landed in from outside the EU if they risk being subjected to inhuman treatment there, the European Court of Justice (ECJ) has ruled.

This means five asylum seekers in Ireland who landed first in Greece from outside the EU cannot be sent back there.

Under the “Dublin II” Regulation the state in which the asylum seeker first arrived was considered responsible for dealing with their asylum application. In practice this meant Ireland could send asylum seekers back to countries along the EU’s eastern and southern borders which were most commonly the first in which they arrived.

Earlier this year the ECJ ruled Belgium was wrong to send an asylum seeker back to Greece where he had already suffered mistreatment in the asylum process, as Greece could not guarantee his human rights would not be infringed.
Following this, the court was asked by Ireland and the UK to rule on two cases where asylum seekers had arrived from Greece and resisted being sent back there on the basis that the procedures and conditions for asylum seekers are inadequate.

So it is clear that the EU is willing to tolerate individual EU countries treating asylum seekers differently, the asylum seekers using a 'ratings system' and effectively open the floodgates to countries with 'better reputations' for handling asylum cases.

As asylum seekers can raise their flag anywhere from the door of the aircraft to passport control and beyond and once a claim is made the claimant in registered into an expensive processing system.

It is perplexing that an airline permitted the asylum seekers to board an aircraft to Ireland and more perplexing that a 3rd Country must have been used as there are no direct scheduled flights between Greece and Ireland.

I regularly fly between various locations in europe (including Ireland) and when travelling into or out of the Common Travel Area (UK & Ireland), I am requested to input Passport Details at the time of check-in. Those with the requirement for a Visa would also have to present same.

It is very important that the Airlines (already responsible for verifying visas etc) are held fully responsible for checking travellers data and nationality and passport details of passengers arriving from outside the common travel area are with the Irish Authorities prior to departure of the aircraft. If a traveller does not have the correct documentation then the airline should not permit that passenger to board.

I have seen in some jurisdictions where on rare occassions Immigration Officers will meet a specific passenger at the door of the aircraft on arrival and not permit a passenger without the correct documentation to disembark, forcing the airline to return the passenger to his/her point of origin.

Picasso

Household Charge - Joe Higgins & Disobedience

2011-12-19T20:31:00.001+00:00

Although Ireland has a monthly export surplus, the Government suffers from a budget deficit to the tune of €1.3BN per month. Ireland (in terms of the Public Services Costs) is living beyond its means each and every month by €288 for every man, woman and child in the country (based on a population of 4.5M) - or €1000+ for the average family of 2+2. As Ireland is currently ‘out of the Bond Markets’; and could not currently re-enter due to current approximated rates (8%-10%); the only source of this ‘monthly loan’ is the IMF-EU bailout fund.

A contractual element of the current Bailout Agreement is the introduction of a Household Charge, a fact known to Irish Politicians (and the public) since the ‘introduction’ of the Bailout Fund some three years ago.

On the eve of introduction, however, some left-wing and Independent TDs; led by Joe Higgins; have launched a ‘highly populist’ civil disobedience campaign. When one considers the contractual obligation on the Irish Government, Higgins decision to form an opposition group; to what is a ‘modest charge’ when compared to other European countries; is perplexing and entirely the wrong fight to take up at present. Ireland is currently the only EU state, apart from Malta, without a property tax and an inital annual charge of €100 could be described as modest.

Joe Higgins could alternatively remove his Socialist Parties blanket support for all economic migrants (and bogus asylum seekers) and Visa Over-stayers; many of who are simply Benefit Tourists/Scammers taking advantage of a generous welfare system with lax processes. The cost of both national and foreign national benefit fraud is costing € Billions each year - and directly costing each Irish family many hundreds (if not thousands) of euros. The cost of the initial Household Charge is actually a minor burden on Irish families when compared to the cost of benefit fraud. http://www.sundayworld.com/columnists/index.php

Civil disobedience can only be advocated in limited circumstances and then on the basis that it brings a high probability of positive change. A ‘positive change’ is not possible in this case and with a non-payment penalty of €2500, Joe Higgins & Co will likely bring severe frustration and unnecessary hardship on those who take his advice (more likely to be the poorer in our society).

There are a number of ongoing attempts to scupper the Household and other charges. In addition to the campaign commenced by some Socialist TDs, the Irish Property Owners Association has advised landlords to pass on charges to their tenants, although this is specifically banned by legislation.

In rural areas, resistance to a septic tank inspection charge (again an EU requirement) is being encouraged by prominent Fianna Fáil TDs, even though they endorsed the policy while in government. Such contempt for basic civic responsibility is unforgivable, particularly at a time of financial crisis.

Revenue from the household charge will go towards supplementing local authority costs and reducing the burden on Central Government. The charge is sufficiently low (€100) to not be overly ‘unfair’ in terms of smaller and larger homes, however a valuation based system will be introduced in two years with the likelihood that the initial €100 annual charge is maintained for the lowest value band only.

Those most impacted by the initial and subsequent valuation based system will be those already paying substantial monthly maintenance charges on private developments. However further legislation is required to ensure residents of such developments are protected from the ongoing interfering of the initial development companies in dictating which company must provide maintenance services on their development.

Picasso

GAA - understanding the value of nothing.

2011-12-14T08:54:00.000+00:00

Has it really come to the point where the single national organisation, organised in every parish in the country, an organisation which pre-dates independence and prides itself on preserving 'community' in Ireland, has become no different than a multinational company with accountants blinded by the 'bottom line'.

Every county and club in Ireland has it's unique colours - unfortunately the GAA has shown it's true colours in this instance and when push comes to shove doesn't actually care about a healthy community, which is dependent on employment (among other things).

The GAA; more than any other organisation in Ireland; should be sourcing as many of the products and services it requires in Ireland. Everything from the food and beverages it sells, to its sports kits etc should be from Irish producers (where possible). Exclusive term deals will secure competitive prices (not necessarily the cheapest), and surely protecting the jobs within those parishes the GAA holds so dear should be a more admirable aim for such an organisation.

Picasso

As reported in The Irish Examiner http://www.examiner.ie/ 14th Dec 2011

IT’S the most Irish of sporting occasions, one of the purest cultural platforms we retain as a nation. So how come those priceless tickets for the All-Ireland hurling and football finals are printed in America? What’s worse is that tickets for other glamour GAA Championship matches are printed in Italy. Now, a leading Kerry GAA club has pleaded with Croke Park to do whatever it takes to end the anomaly and ensure that All-Ireland ticketing goes to an Irish company.

Delegates at Kerry’s annual convention have been told that tickets for the blue riband occasions in the GAA are printed in America and Italy for cost reasons. But the Dr Crokes club will bring a motion to next April’s Congress seeking to ensure the contracts are awarded to Irish companies. The motion to Monday night’s convention was overwhelmingly passed by delegates.

"I understand the tickets are printed in the USA due to a security feature but that technology is available in Ireland," argued Dr Crokes delegate John Keogh. "The tender from the Irish company should be accepted to protect jobs in the printing industry in this country, as many of those employees are members of the GAA around the country. "Every effort should be made to do this, given the economic times we live in. In this regard, we are not under any EU rules that procure the contract goes to the lowest tender."

Outgoing Kerry GAA chairman Jerome Conway insisted that officials in Croke Park have consistently attempted to broker a deal with an Irish company. "We looked into this motion when it came up and after doing some investigating, found out that the All-Ireland final tickets are printed in the USA while tickets for the rest of the championship are done in Italy. "There is one company in Ireland that can do it and every year they have been asked to tender for it. But when they have come back, the cost has always been too high. "Every year when the GAA are putting it out to tender, they are looking for this company but the same result comes back every time."

Leaving The Eurozone

2011-12-12T11:03:00.001+00:00

I have been a great supporter of the EU for many years as it makes perfect sense to have a common trade region, common travel area. A common currency also makes sense, however one must ask whether it is entirely necessary to have the Euro in the form of a ‘hard currency’ and not simply a common currency which is used for Contracts etc.

The primary issue with the Euro is that far greater fiscal integration will be required between the member States to have the currency function correctly, this will eventually and naturally lead to a Federal Europe which may not be in the interests of all member States.

No comparisons can be made between the USA or say Australia and EU in terms of a homogenous federal entity. Both the USA and Australia are a soup of nationalities, mixed through all their states. And although the USA has suffered a civil war, that war was fought for political principle reasons as opposed to ethnic reasons. Europe is a much different environment, with language, cultural and religious identity changing abruptly at each border – although very similar in many ways, European people are also very different and this is why I see the EU (not Eurozone) as a perfect solution to Europes’ ambitions to work more closely together, gaining the most from close cooperation, but not so close as to start dominating each other.

Our most recent experience of a Federation and ultimate ‘break-up’ was that of Yugoslavia, where the smaller States felt dominated by the largest State and ethnic group, decisions being made with the view from Belgrade only and the organs of the federation seemingly created to serve the dominant member. This became more apparent during the wars of independence when the Federal Army was used almost exclusively by the Serbian State in pursuit of its ethnic aims. Regardless of federal treaties, when one is attempting to combine what are very distinct nationalities, cultures and histories, there will be rivalries, suspicions and bad feeling.

I am not suggesting that there would be a common European Army or a violent break up of a European Federation at some future date, however the example of the organs of a Federal State serving the purposes of the dominant member is valid and Ireland must remember that it will be a minnow within any future federal block and being on the geographic periphery of Europe requires Ireland to incentivise businesses to setup in Ireland. The requirement for incentives to attract business seems to be either missed by both Germany and France (France in particular) or France is simply choosing to ignore the obvious in pursuit of its own interests. The continuous push by both France and Germany for a common corporate tax rate is wholly in their interests and would potentially destroy investment in Ireland. One must ask the rational question as to why a multinational would setup in Ireland and not in the Ruhr or Paris Region if the incentives were equal throughout the EU.

The current Merkel/Sarkozy dominance of EU decision making is not done in an effort to provide ‘strong leadership’, but done solely for reasons of national interest. Their behaviour is reminiscent of Milosovic as Serbian Leader within the Yugoslav Federation and bizarrely in a community of 27 independent states, not a single other leaders voice can be heard, there is no collective decision making, there is no dissent and even when the head of the ECB, EU Commission or EU Parliament makes a statement with suggestions/recommendations, he is ‘shot down in flames’ very publicly and quickly by either Merkel of Sarkozy. This is an omen of things to come, the return of Ireland (and many other smaller EU nations) to being subservient to powerful players within a modern empire.

The EU can work, it had developed sufficiently by the year 2000, however the requirements of a single hard currency are simply too much progress too soon and will ultimately lead to the breakup of the EU. The achievements of the EU thus far are too great to risk losing in pursuit of what is unnecessary at present.

Ireland should immediately commence planning for a withdrawal from the Eurozone and plan to reintroduce the punt pegged to the Euro (or Sterling) initially. The withdrawal of one country from the Eurozone will lead to several others following suit and perhaps we can return to the form of EU which benefits all members and not simply the largest ones.

Quinn Playing Dirty (with Irish Taxpayer)

2011-11-29T12:35:00.001+00:00

I've written on this subject on several occassions over the past few months and contributed my research to other political blog sites.

The Irish public seems to be absolutely unaware of 'poor old' Sean Quinns attempts to steal hundreds of millions from the Irish Taxpayer.

Quinns family companies/trusts retain some sizable property assets in Russia, Ukraine, India, Turkey and other locations and for many months the Quinn Family and its representatives have been working behind the scenes attempting to change the ownership of properties to newly setup offshore trusts before IBRC (Anglo or if you prefer 'us') can legally move on the property.

The 'attempted scam' would seem quite simple on the face of it, Fermanagh Trust Ltd transfers the property to Fermanagh Trust Inc, this is carried out discreetly and not picked up by anyone initially. The problem is that the Irish Public (through the IRBC) will be preparing to pursue Fermanagh Trust Ltd through the courts in Cyprus (where it is registered), not knowing that the ownership has been transferred to Fermanagh Trust Inc registered in Belize.

I am unaware of the miniscule details, however a couple of months ago Quinn was rumbled attempting to transfer one of his sizable assets to a Belize registered trust. News published on 5th January 2012 indicates that a British Virgin Islands Company (generally regarded as bogus companies used for tax evasion and effectively outside the law) has taken ownership of the Kiev Shopping Mall. BVI companies are normally owned by trusts which are registered in Isle of Man, Jersey or Guernsey and discovery of the complex ownership can prove difficult especially when dealing with secretive jurisdictions. No doubt the Quinns are the benificiaries of the company which is currently receiving rental income in excess of €10M per year from the shopping mall in question (remember this property should now be owned by the Irish public as part payment on the €2.5BN in outstanding loans)

The IRBC (the Irish public) is currently pursuing Quinn through Ukranian and Cypriot courts and has cases pending in Russia - this is why the IRBC has requested a stay on any changes to the ownership of the properties pending outcome of the cases. Both the Irish Government and IRBC (and myself) have doubts about the impartiality of the Ukranian Courts. Remember that opposition politicians can be effectively found guilty on the instructions of the Ukranian President and both Lawyers and Judges are open to bribes.

Quinn is now playing very dirty with the Irish Public.

Quinn says he is shocked State 'interfered' in his cases abroad
Ref: Irish Independent 29.11.2011FORMER BILLIONAIRE Seán Quinn said yesterday he was “shocked” that Government Ministers had “interfered” in court proceedings abroad where his family is trying to prevent properties worth hundreds of millions of euro being seized by the state-owned Irish Bank Resolution Corporation, formerly Anglo. Mr Quinn made the comment in a statement issued after the Commercial Court in Dublin made an unprecedented €1.7 billion summary judgment order against him in favour of the bank.

A spokesman for Taoiseach Enda Kenny confirmed last night that a case being taken in Ukraine by the bank in relation to valuable property there was “referenced” by Mr Kenny during a meeting in September with Ukrainian president Viktor Yanukovych. “It was referenced, not discussed, and with a full expression of respect for the independence of the Ukrainian judicial process,” the spokesman said.

Mr Quinn’s comment is also understood to be a reference to alleged representations by the Irish Embassy to Russia, where the Quinns also bought valuable commercial property using loans from Anglo. In October, a Russian businessman, Andrey Golishev, reportedly wrote to the Irish Ambassador in Moscow, Philip McDonagh, complaining of representations made to the Russian ministry of foreign affairs. A spokesman for the Department of Foreign Affairs was not able to comment on the matter last night.

Mr Quinn’s wife, Patricia, and the couple’s five children are involved in multi-jurisdictional disputes with the bank over properties in Ukraine, Russia, Turkey and India. The bank is trying to seize the properties which it says were given as collateral for massive loans given to the family by Anglo. However, the family is resisting the bank’s efforts, disputing the legality of the loans and the charges the bank says it has on the properties. The properties are believed to be worth in excess of €500 million.

Last week, a Dublin accountant, Robert Dix, who is involved in the efforts of the bank to seize the properties, wrote an open letter to prime minister of Ukraine Mykola Azarov, in which he said the company that legitimately owned a Kiev shopping mall worth tens of millions of euro, was in danger of being deprived of its property. The massive judgment order made against Mr Quinn yesterday followed another order made last week for €417 million, again in favour of the bank, bringing the total owed by Mr Quinn to €2.16 billion.

In the statement issued by his public relations consultant yesterday, Mr Quinn said: “Today’s action by Anglo Irish Bank in my view is totally pointless, self-serving and vindictive.” He added: “In no way does it improve the bank’s prospects of recovering money for the taxpayer.

Reported in 'The Daily Mail' Nov 29th 2011

In court Quinn's lawyer claimed that the family home in fact belongs to his children, and that he had no assets and a pension worth just €10,000. But Land Registry documents show the house was only ever registered in the name of Mr Quinn and his wife, implying that some sort of private transfer of ownership may have happened since.

There have been plenty more transfers of assets by the Quinn family, who were recently accused in court by Anglo of engaging in a 'conspiracy' to hide and redistribute their assets. His children and sons-in-laws are already facing criminal investigation in Sweden for allegedly putting assets out of the reach of Anglo Irish Bank.

Anglo has lodged formal complaints to the Company Registrations Office in Stockholm, claiming the Quinns had illegally transferred properties worth hundreds of millions out of its reach.The complaints were made under Chapter 11 of the Swedish Criminal Code, which carries prison sentences of up to six years.

Investigations have also revealed that the Quinn family have created dozens of new companies all over the world, from Cavan to Moscow and India, in a mirror structure of the original Quinn Group – with assets now moved into the new firms. Two husbands of Seán Quinn's daughters, both of whom married into the family within the past five years, have emerged as the directors of many of these firms. Unlike Mr Quinn's children, the two men never signed guarantees to Anglo loans.

In one case, a €180m Moscow office block and almost €5m in cash were moved from a Quinn company into a new firm. Seán Quinn senior and his children are being sued by Anglo for personal guarantees they made in relation to €2.8bn in loans used to buy shares in Anglo. The bank claims the transfers breach personal guarantees and described some of them in court as 'asset stripping'.

And in the latest twist, we have a new defence for a €3M loan owed by Patricia Quinn (for home decorating) - the defence is effectively "he told me to do it......"
It would be interesting to see someone try "Honest Guv....I wouldnt have robbed the bank, but my wife has expensive tastes and she wore the pants in our relationship".

Thankfully, a ruling has been made in favour of the Bank (or the public if you prefer)

www.independent.ie 16th Dec 2011

THE wife of bankrupt Sean Quinn, who was once Ireland’s richest man, has been ordered to repay a €3m loan from Anglo Irish Bank that she signed her name to, but claims she knew nothing about.Mr Justice Peter Kelly made the order at the Commercial Court today. Patricia Quinn was also ordered to pay the costs of the case taken by Irish Bank Resolution Corporation (IRBC), formerly Anglo.

She had claimed that that she only "very recently" became aware she was a customer of Anglo Irish Bank -- even though her name appears on loan documents for millions of euro of borrowings from the nationalised bank. Summing up, Justice Peter Kelly said Mrs Quinn had failed to make an arguable defense to the claim by the bank for the repayment of the loan. He added that even a glance at the documents she signed would have shown all but an illiterate person that it was some form of borrowing from the bank.

In court papers filed in the family’s separate legal action against the bank it was also revealed that her daughter Brenda became the owner of the Slieve Russell Hotel in Cavan when she was aged just three. The Quinn family claim that the hotel has been owned by Brenda since it was built in 1990 but was held in trust for her by her mother until she turned 18. They admitted that it was difficult to say when Brenda became aware of her ownership of the hotel, according to a report in today’s Irish Times. Mrs Quinn and her five children are challenging the bank’s claims that they owe €2.3bn claiming that the loans are “tainted with illegality”.

Mrs Quinn’s claims were read out in the Commercial Court, as her lawyers attempted to fight off Anglo Irish Bank's attempts to force her to repay a €3m loan she signed with her husband. Her lack of knowledge of her dealings, an ignorance she described as "embarrassing", is all the more striking since her husband famously lost more than €3bn on a disastrous punt on Anglo's shares. In court yesterday, Mrs Quinn claimed she was not liable for the loan because she never realised she had signed up for it, never received the benefit of it and never received any legal advice before signing the loan documents. But the senior lawyer acting for Anglo, Paul Gallagher, said Mrs Quinn was making "incredible" claims that she did not have to repay the loan because she was a homemaker unduly influenced by her husband.

Mrs Quinn's barrister, Bill Shipsey, said that while it may sound astonishing, his client was a housewife with no business sophistication and a claim of undue influence could be advanced in her case. Mr Justice Peter Kelly quoted Mr Bumble from Charles Dickens's novel 'Oliver Twist' and said if that was the law, then "the law is an ass". He said Mrs Quinn was advancing the "startling proposition" she was "a cat's paw" for her husband with no clue about documents she was signing and also "clueless" about being a director of many companies and a company secretary. Anglo, now known as Irish Bank Resolution Corporation (IBRC), has strongly rejected Mrs Quinn's claims that she is not responsible for the loan.

It has also argued that while she disputed the bank's description of her as a "business lady", she had been a director of 63 Quinn group companies in the Republic, 28 Quinn companies in the UK and secretary of about 10 companies. In an affidavit, Mrs Quinn said she was not a business lady, had been a homemaker for the past 36 years and had been looking after her husband since she married at the age of 21. However, Mr Gallagher referred to an affidavit in which Michael O'Sullivan, of Anglo, said Mrs Quinn displayed business knowledge during a conversation with him. Mrs Quinn has also claimed she only realised "very recently" she was a customer of Anglo. She claims that over many years she signed documents when asked to do so by her husband or his colleagues in the Quinn group, but says she was never informed about the nature or impact of the documents. "This is embarrassing to admit but it is the truth," she said in an affidavit.

IBRC was previously granted summary judgment against Mr Quinn over the €3m loan. The bank claimed it was told the loan was to go towards decorating the Quinns' home at Ballyconnell, but the court heard Mr Quinn had directed the money be paid into an account of Quinn Manufacturing Ltd.

Mrs Quinn argues she has a defence on several grounds to the bank's claim and is entitled to a full hearing. In affidavits, she said she never worked with the Quinn group of companies and was never involved in any business or financial dealings "beyond deciding upon the weekly groceries and providing for the household expenses". She only became aware of the loan and demand for repayment after this case was taken, she said. It was now clear to her, contrary to what was stated on the loan facility letter, that the funds were used for commercial purposes, she added. Mr Gallagher argued nothing said by Mrs Quinn amounted to a defence to summary judgment. A document signed in five places by Mrs Quinn on December 14, 2006, was clearly for a loan and she had signed under the words, "Borrower's Acceptance". She accepted those were her signatures. Mrs Quinn also did not deny the extent of her company directorships. If she signed documents without reading or understanding them, that was negligence on her part for which the bank was not liable.

If she was found to be not liable because she did not read the documents, that would have huge implications for contracts, he said. Mr Shipsey argued the bank had failed to address Mrs Quinn's claim she did not understand she was going to personally borrow €3m. Mr Justice Kelly noted that during another case about 25 years ago concerning the conduct of the affairs of a pub company, the late Ms Justice Mella Carroll observed the days were gone when wives could be treated akin to infants or persons of unsound mind.
- Laura Noonan and Independent.ie reporters

Shannon Development

2011-11-28T23:43:00.001+00:00

Although the idea of a Casino complete with immitation ‘White House’ in the middle of the ‘bog of allen’ and close to no major urban centre or transport hub was as daft as the ‘Bertie Bowl’ and underlined both the madness of the Celtic Tiger mentality and what political petitioning can achieve; a greatly amended use of the concept could be good for the economy.

Gambling is a huge industry, with a massive following (you need only look at the internet) – and many enjoy the atmosphere of a proper casino or complex of casinos.

What if:

• An Atlantic City - mini Las Vegas was permitted at a location immediately adjacent to the west side of Shannon Airport.

• The State retained the ‘freehold’ but gave permission to major international casinos to develop hotels & casinos on the site on say 50 year leases.

• International Groups develop their hotel/casinos at their own expense.

• Developers build all services.

• Government to charge substantial annual ground rent.

• If the government was to compel development to an outline plan, the complex could consist of 8-10 hotels around a series of roofed plazas etc.

• Complex could incorporate conference centre, concert venue etc

• A direct metro link from Shannon Airport Terminal to the complex.

• If marketed in the right way (Vegas Style) Shannon could become a hub for those travelling in and out of Europe from USA and further afield.

• Shannon would become a destination in its own right – there is not a great deal of difference in flight time between Boston & Vegas and Boston & Shannon.

• A substantial proportion of visitors would be from outside Ireland.

• Many would travel out of the complex on tours, golf trips etc.

The bonuses are:

• An uptake in construction work for a handful of years and remember our Fas legacy has left so many Irish with no skillsets other than construction.

• A large number of people employed when the complex comes online, including additional jobs at Shannon Airport and the surrounding area.

• The rebirth of Shannon Airport, rather than the current decline.

• There would be no requirement to impose a Shannon Stopover – they’d want Shannon as a destination.

• Great boost for Aer Lingus & Ryanair

• Increase in tourism to the West/South West.

• The spin off into everything from suppliers of foodstuffs and maintenance companies to mobile phone companies (roaming) would be huge.

There is no centre such as this in Europe and there is surely a market for this type of venue and I cant believe the penny hasn’t dropped with some of our politicians.

Picasso

Break up of Euro Zone and Anarchy (1)

2011-11-26T22:14:00.001+00:00

We are already deep into the danger zone, what happens if governments suddenly cannot borrow. Public sector wages are not paid, unemployment benefits are not paid and the spiral dowwards suddenly goes into a vertically downwards curve.

It is logical to assume in that scenario that anarchy will take over the streets and we are not very far from that scenario at the time of writing.

Although various industry sectors will suffer downturns from time to time, unemployment has been high in specific sectors from time to time, the only parallel to a universal high unemployment depression where the currency fails, we must look to events which destroyed the Weimar Republic (post WW1 Germany into the Great Depression), similar events have occurred or near occurred in many other countries, however many of these occurrences have been in police or semi-police states where public order is 'imposed'. The Euro block has no very recent history of police states, the general public is far more mobilised than at the time of the Great Depression and with high streets almost dominated by large multinational chain stores, the instruments of difficult times (customer credit, price cutting etc) will not be seen.

Globalisation has removed much of the personal interaction of high street business, many of the public see themselves merely as 'worker ants' in a corportae run world, many see global corportaions as the root cause of current issues and with no other option would have less misgivings simply taking what they need from multinational high street stores than their forefathers would have had effectively robbing from their neighbour the store owner.

Prepare for riots in euro collapse, British Foreign Office warns

British embassies in the eurozone have been told to draw up plans to help British expats through the collapse of the single currency, amid new fears for Italy and Spain. The Treasury confirmed earlier this month that contingency planning for a collapse is now under way As the Italian government struggled to borrow and Spain considered seeking an international bail-out, British ministers privately warned that the break-up of the euro, once almost unthinkable, is now increasingly plausible.

Diplomats are preparing to help Britons abroad through a banking collapse and even riots arising from the debt crisis. The Treasury confirmed earlier this month that contingency planning for a collapse is now under way. A senior minister has now revealed the extent of the Government’s concern, saying that Britain is now planning on the basis that a euro collapse is now just a matter of time. “It’s in our interests that they keep playing for time because that gives us more time to prepare,” the minister told the Daily Telegraph.

Recent Foreign and Commonwealth Office instructions to embassies and consulates request contingency planning for extreme scenarios including rioting and social unrest. Greece has seen several outbreaks of civil disorder as its government struggles with its huge debts. British officials think similar scenes cannot be ruled out in other nations if the euro collapses. Diplomats have also been told to prepare to help tens of thousands of British citizens in eurozone countries with the consequences of a financial collapse that would leave them unable to access bank accounts or even withdraw cash.

Fuelling the fears of financial markets for the euro, reports in Madrid yesterday suggested that the new Popular Party government could seek a bail-out from either the European Union rescue fund or the International Monetary Fund. There are also growing fears for Italy, whose new government was forced to pay record interest rates on new bonds issued yesterday. The yield on new six-month loans was 6.5 per cent, nearly double last month’s rate. And the yield on outstanding two-year loans was 7.8 per cent, well above the level considered unsustainable. Italy’s new government will have to sell more than EURO 30 billion of new bonds by the end of January to refinance its debts. Analysts say there is no guarantee that investors will buy all of those bonds, which could force Italy to default.

The Italian government yesterday said that in talks with German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Nicolas Sarkozy, Prime Minister Mario Monti had agreed that an Italian collapse “would inevitably be the end of the euro.” The EU treaties that created the euro and set its membership rules contain no provision for members to leave, meaning any break-up would be disorderly and potentially chaotic. If eurozone governments defaulted on their debts, the European banks that hold many of their bonds would risk collapse. Some analysts say the shock waves of such an event would risk the collapse of the entire financial system, leaving banks unable to return money to retail depositors and destroying companies dependent on bank credit.

The Financial Services Authority this week issued a public warning to British banks to bolster their contingency plans for the break-up of the single currency. Some economists believe that at worst, the outright collapse of the euro could reduce GDP in its member-states by up to half and trigger mass unemployment. Analysts at UBS, an investment bank earlier this year warned that the most extreme consequences of a break-up include risks to basic property rights and the threat of civil disorder. “When the unemployment consequences are factored in, it is virtually impossible to consider a break-up scenario without some serious social consequences,” UBS said.

Ireland triggered Euro Crisis

2011-11-26T21:53:00.000+00:00

Reading the below, it won't be long before the Germans stop referring to the Irish as the 'model citizens of bankrupt europe' - seems Ireland may have toppled the first domino.

Anglo Triggered Euro Crisis

Irish Independent Thursday Nov 24th 2011

THE decision by Brian Cowen and Brian Lenihan to nationalise Anglo Irish Bank was the trigger for the global financial crisis, two well-respected International Monetary Fund (IMF) economists said in a report. A study of data such as bond yields suggests that it was the decision to take the insolvent bank into state control four months after the collapse of Lehman Brothers that turned the world's financial problems into a full-blown crisis, claim Ashoka Mody and Sandri Damiano. "The relevance of Anglo is, at first, not obvious, since it was a small bank in a relatively small country," the two IMF researchers say. "However, the data quite robustly suggests a break at this point."

Most Irish officials still defend the decision, arguing that the collapse of Anglo would have led to the collapse of Allied Irish Banks and Bank of Ireland as well. A report by Central Bank governor Patrick Honohan last year also concluded that the decision to nationalise Anglo was the right one because of the dangers posed to the main lenders. The IMF economists believe that the large cost of rescuing the bank relative to Ireland's economic output raised serious concerns about the wider economy; a banking problem had become the State's problem.

The projected cost of rescuing Anglo is €34bn -- although the figure could be lower. "Suddenly, the ability of the sovereigns (governments) to support the financial sector came into question," write Mr Mody and Mr Damiano. "The worrying news a few months later about Greece's fiscal imbalances confirmed that the eurozone crisis had evolved from a banking crisis into a sovereign crisis."
Policy

The two economists say Anglo Irish should have been slowly closed down rather than nationalised. This is now Government policy but many attempts were made to keep Anglo going before the policy changed. Mr Lenihan argued in 2010 that it would have cost more to close the bank and than keep it open.

Mr Mody, an economist who escaped a bizarre assasination attempt at his home near Washington DC when Dominique Strauss-Khan was head of the IMF, knows Ireland well and was a member of the IMF team that came here in the wake of last year's bailout. He was also assistant director in the IMF's European Department -- although the opinions expressed in the research paper are not official IMF views.
Not all European bank rescues were wrong, the researchers add. Most banks were in a better position than Anglo and some governments had more money which allowed them to rescue their lenders. In future, governments need to better distinguish between banks that are worth saving and banks that should be closed, they write. "A more resolute strategy for winding down banks is also needed." Rescuing banks such as Anglo created a vicious circle for governments because the value of state bonds often fell after the government took the risk of saving a lender. Banks are the biggest owners of government bonds which meant that the banks lost money as government bonds slumped. "At this point, the sovereign and banks were joined at the hip, with their respective weaknesses threatening to reinforce each other," they add.

The three stooges

2011-05-30T21:46:00.002+01:00

What skillsets would you like to see in the team managing a Euro 650M major design and construction project.

The Chairman of the board of the new national childrens hospital has resigned for the following reasons.....

Mr Gallagher said the executive team — consisting of former nurse and chief executive of the development board Eilish Hardiman, accountant Jim Farragher and paediatrician Dr Emma Curtis — did "not have the capacity to process, challenge and authorise the significant number of ‘change orders’ the project team generates".

This is on a par with putting a couple of prison warders in charge of the Thornton Hall project.

The significance of this, he said, was that nobody was disputing the costs of some change orders (written instructions about changes to a job already in progress, and the cost of this new work) or the validity of other change orders.

He said: "Given the scale of the project, the scope for change orders to get out of control and materially exceed budgets is high."

Mr Gallagher urged Dr Reilly to appoint "at least two" members to the executive team to control the day-to-day activity of the project, as well as a cost director to manage day-to-day costs, but with the NDFA in charge of ultimate sign-off.

He described the current project structure as "unworkable".

Mr Gallagher is the second chair of the development board to resign in less than six months. Philip Lynch resigned last October. Meanwhile, Ms Hardiman is to leave the board to take up a post at Tallaght hospital.

The project, which has been almost 10 years in the offing, has been dogged by delays. The current stoppage, pending completion of the review, is costing €330,000 per month.

This is a recipe for tens of millions in taxpayers money being flushed down the toilet and Dr Reilly needs to take his finger out and complete the review asap Euro 300K per month and nothing happening !!!!

The Phoney War

2011-05-25T12:11:00.000+01:00

With 'The French' being the most hostile to any reduction in the Irish bailout interest rate and continuing to press for a 'quid pro quo' of a Corporate Tax increase, it is now surely the time for the 'war' to be brought into the open.

Irish politicians have behaved as subservient to a great extent, waving their 'Munich Agreement' on each return from meetings and hailing their success "we have succeeded in maintaining the corporate tax rate".

The time has surely come when we need to look at the 'pro-active' options open to Ireland:

1. A reduction in the corporate tax rate to 10%
2. Withdraw support for Christine Lagarde as a candidate for the IMF role.
3. Actively canvass support from other EU nations to offset a French 'backlash'.

Good relations with all of our EU partners is important and especially the larger nations, however when one of them is behaving like a sub-prime lender and putting unreasonable demands on the borrower, we must bight back while we still can.

Picasso

Union chief keeps top pay as teachers suffer

2011-05-06T12:24:00.000+01:00

Compliments to "The Irish Independent reporter Anne-Marie Walsh" for this long overdue analysis of our 'hard pressed union leaders' who are only too happy to throw a spanner in any Government initiative to turn the economy and country around.

This is one of two groups I would want to see exposed - the second being the appointees to multiple state boards and quangos.

Union chief keeps top pay as teachers suffer

A HIGHLY paid teacher union leader who earns up to €158,000 a year has not taken a pay cut, although thousands of his members have had their salaries slashed.

The 15,800 rank-and-file teachers who are members of the Teachers Union of Ireland (TUI) have endured a 14pc pay cut in the past two years. But its general secretary Peter McMenamin's pay remains the same -- even though it is linked to a grade in the civil service that has also been hit by a pay cut. Mr McMenamin refused to comment last night on why he is still on the old pre-pay-cut salary level -- and refused to reveal exactly what he is paid. His union would only say that his pay scale ranges from €131,748 to €158,644.

The pay of officials in the teaching and lecturing unions is funded through subscriptions from members.These subscriptions are usually deducted from salaries at source, by the Department of Education and Skills.

The revelation about Mr McMenamin's pay comes as more than half the 23 public sector union leaders refused to disclose how much they were being paid. But it has emerged that none of the other senior TUI officials -- among the unions most resistant to public sector reforms outlined in the Croke Park Agreement -- have taken a pay cut.

In stark contrast, senior members of the INTO teaching union have taken a cut. INTO general secretary Sheila Nunan, whose pay is also based on the same assistant secretary grade as Mr McMenamin's, revealed she had taken a pay cut. However, her potential earnings remain around €153,885.

The TUI, which only recently backed the Croke Park deal, defended its decision not to cut the pay of officials at head office in the wake of the last Government's pension levy and pay cut.

The wages of more than 300,000 public servants were slashed by an average 14pc.

TUI president Bernie Ruane said: "Both TUI's annual congress last year and the union's executive committee decided that head office staff would not have their pay cut.

"The union opposes pay cuts for anybody and accordingly refused to make cuts to the salaries of its own staff."

The motion put forward by delegates at the TUI conference, which was defeated, called for pay cuts to ensure membership and employees of the union were "treated equally".

Many unions who would not reveal pay details have been most resistant to the Croke Park agreement, including university teacher union IFUT, which has still not backed the deal.

Teacher unions, including the TUI, only recently agreed to work extra hours that were due to commence at the start of the last school year.

Others, including the AHCPS, would not give pay figures and would only refer to the public sector pay grades their leaders' wages are linked to. General secretary of the Public Service Executive Union, Tom Geraghty, whose union represents 11,250 mid-ranking civil servants, said he regarded questions about his pay "intrusive prurience".

The Garda Representative Association said that its leader's salary was "personal information".

General secretary of the largest dedicated public sector union, IMPACT, Shay Cody, would not give details of his current pay but did reveal he had taken a pay cut. His spokesperson said his pay was no longer linked to the pay of the Cork county manager, which stood at €171,313 in 2009. He said Mr Cody had taken a voluntary pay cut and waived a portion of his salary on appointment, and also declined a public sector pay award.

Construction union BATU, which has up to 500 public sector members, said officials' pay had dropped by 40pc in the last two years but would not say what general secretary Paddy O'Shaughnessy's pay was.

However, other unions were more open about their leaders' wages.

They included SIPTU, where staff took a 5pc pay cut while national officers took a 10pc pay cut, bringing general president Jack O'Connor's basic pay down to €112,000 a year.

The survey also reveals huge discrepancies in what unions pay their leaders.

For example, the head of the small trade union, OPATSI, is paid around €45,000 -- less than a third of what some teachers' representatives get.

Jimmy Kelly, head of UNITE, which has 60,000 public and private sector members, earns €60,000 a year, while PDFORRA leader, Gerry Rooney, with 8,000 members, earns €96,000.

Meanwhile, employer body IBEC refused to give details of its director general Danny McCoy's pay.

http://www.independent.ie/national-news/union-chief-keeps-top-pay-as-teachers-suffer-2639341.html

Sean Quinn - The Lies Continue

2011-04-19T15:30:00.001+01:00

Sean Quinn is still clinging to the belief that he can somehow preserve the Quinn Group for the benefit of the Quinn family and very soon it will be the Irish public who are to blame for his woes.

Mr Quinn said he had, along with colleagues, spent the past year developing a proposal that was "economically sustainable and which would allow us to discharge fully all of our family’s obligations to the Irish taxpayer".
"During this process we consulted with and secured the support of some of the most respected and experienced individuals in Irish and UK business," Mr Quinn said.
He said the mistake the group had made was "an over-reliance on the Irish banking system and the many predictions for continued sustained growth in the Irish economy from some of the country’s leading financial services experts".

Its time everyone took off the 'rose tinted glasses' which show a billionaire playing cards with his close friends on a friday night for 50 cents a hand - how touching.

Lets get something straight:

Sean Quinn is part of a group of perhaps less than 50 individuals who brought this country to it's knees - this man is no hero for the average Irish citizen and rather than blaming economists etc for the Quinn Groups woes, perhaps he should ponder the fact that he gambled the Quinn Group, his familys future and the lives of his workers on a straight bet.

Quinns purchase of up to 20% of Anglo Irish Bank stocks and attempts to dispose of same en-masse was perhaps the trigger or catalyst which brought the already unsteady house of cards tumbling down.

Quinn must accept responsibility for a large share of the deductions every Irish taxpayers sees in his/her pay-packet at present. Quinn must accept his share of responsibility for the reduced government investment in Healthcare, Transport, Education etc over the next 10 years.

"Ireland needs enterprise and entrepreneurs more than ever at this time but mistakes in business should not result in a life sentence."

The "mistake" is understood to refer to the €3bn losses Mr Quinn suffered after a disastrous bet on Anglo's shares as the bank teetered towards nationalisation.

It was that move which gave Anglo the power to seize control of the Quinn empire, since the share capital of the Quinn Group was included in the security for the loan Mr Quinn took to bet on the shares. Mr Quinn described Anglo's move to send in a share receiver over the Quinn Group as "the greatest upset for me and my family in my entire business career".

Hints of the former FAS chief Roddy Molloy explaining of his entitlement to fly first class. Quinn needs to sit down and contemplate all those reposessed family homes, broken marriages, hungry children and even suicides which his greed provided the fuel for.

Quinn was part of this exclusive Bank-Business-Politico group of rats, he knew what he was doing and was not relying on newspaper pundits for his view of the economy going forward. The Quinn Group was earning plent of money, but enough was never enough for these turds - they wanted more, they wanted the kick-back, the brown envelope or the purchase of a bank through slight of hand - why werent those shares purchased outright - why CFD's.

Sean Quinn and Sean Fitzpatrick are the Chairman and CEO of the stinking club of thieves who destroyed Ireland.

Read more: http://www.irishexaminer.com/ireland/quinn-blames-experts-growth-predictions-151878.html#ixzz1JydDIqOx

Iceland & Landsbanki Bank

2011-04-10T18:50:00.001+01:00

One has to admire the 'balls' of the Icelandic public in deciding not only to burn bondholders, but to burn depositors also (in this instance the depositors have been reimbursed by both the UK and Dutch Governments).

Following a referendum the Icelandic public said 'no' to taking over the debt of a private bank, maintaining they have no legal obligation to do so.

Looking at the Irish situation, one has to wonder what our politicians are up to - there is no obligation on the Irish people to reimburse the 'gambling debts' of foreign institutions.

I dabble in the stock markets and have taken a punt on risky companies. Anyone with experience will have been there - these are high risk, high payout gambles on companies who are a one bet pony - their exploratory oil well will pump black or dry and the companies existence depends on this one roll of the dice.

Despite their 'high and mighty claims', the investors in the Irish financial institutions knew the risks, you don't put billions into a company without knowing a little about that company.

The German and French Governments have one single aim, that is to ensure their Financial Institutions (these very same investors) are not burned, thus taking billions out of their economies - do you think they really care about a 1% interest reduction - they could agree to this in a heartbeat.

The whole focus of the discussion has been deliberately moved to the Corporation Tax question and the Quid Pro Quo question to distract us from what and whom we are really bailing out.

It's time for Ireland to re-focus the argument onto the senior bond-holders and threaten a referendum if need be. The time for mucking about is over, your asking the staff of the racecourse to cover your bet as the bookies have gone bust and now you are demanding extra leverage - something has gone very wrong in these discussions.

As a parachute we need to open discussions with Beijing for 'working capital'.

It's time we got back into the driving seat and discussed the real Quid Pro Quo.

Extraordinary Rendition

2011-04-05T21:54:00.001+01:00

Like most Irish citizens, I would find it more palatable accepting the medicine if those who had made us ill were not simply laughing at us.

The damage these people have done to this nation is far greater than the damage from petty crimes many of our prison population are guilty of.

Surely the accusations these individuals have leveled against them warrant a similar 'remand' policy as we saw with Madoff.

David Drumm is a prime example of someone who clearly suspects charges may stick and will fight us every inch of the way simply to avoid extradition from the USA.

I don't believe we should pay another cent on legal fees.

We know:

1. The US supports extraordinary rendition.
2. One of the Government planes can cross the Atlantic - Harney used it for a jolly.
3. Drumm believes he is safe in the US

The Irish Government should send in a 'snatch squad', grab Drumm and fly in the Government jet to retrieve him.

With careful planning it could easily be done.

Spike island should be re opened for the banking, developer and politicians who are found to be guilty of corruption.

Dear Enda.......

2011-04-05T17:10:00.001+01:00

Why is Sean Fitzpatrick not behind bars? - Bernard Madoff was tried very quickly in the US.

Why are investigations into Anglo taking so long? - is there an attempt to drag it out in the hope we'll forget.

Were the actions of Sean Fitzpatrick, Sean Quinn and the Golden Circle legal? We are constantly being told by politicos that despite the shenannigans in Anglo, nothing illegal was done. Forgive my stupidity and basic knowledge of law, but huge director loans 'off the books' and hidden by inter-bank overnight loans must qualify for misleading the markets and investors, offering hundreds of millions in unsecured loans from the bank itself to hand-picked individuals to purchase another parties shares in the same institution must be illegal. Directors using a publicly listed bank as a personal piggy bank must be illegal, Bank Directors giving unsecured development loans and 'cutting themselves in on the deal' must be illegal.

Is it likely another Tribunal will be set up, cost millions and nobody be prosecuted? An Irish 'elites' solution to an Irish 'elites' problem.

Do you actually care or are you another politico on a personal power trip? Time will tell Enda whether you are capable and want to serve this country or whether you are simply on a personal power trip.

Is the Irish Public stupid? - I think we know ourselves we are very stupid.

Answers to the above would be a good start.