Category: General

Hmm.

This is new. Masterson et al said quite clearly in their book that St Luke’s was bought in 1988 for £57,000. £25,000 of this amount came from £1,000 donations from 25 individuals, “with further contributions over a five-year period”. The rest was mortgaged, with “the repayments paid through the constituency organisation’s own bank”. Another £50,000 was then spent on renovations.

The house was “assigned to five trustees”. They are not named in the book, but we now know they were Mr. Des Richardson, Mr. James Keane, Mr. Patrick Reilly, Mr. Joe Burke and Mr Tim Collins.

But the story is contradicted by Collins.

Q. 181 And where did that money come from?

A. By that, that money came from about 24 or 25 people that got together to buy it.

Meaning that the entirety of the house was paid for by those people. He also says the house was falling into the Liffey, though surely he meant the Tolka. Collins can’t remember it there was any debt on the house they bought it (Q207). O’Neill pushes him, asking again. Collins restates that 25 people paid for the house.

Masterson was quite clear that the house was vested with the Dublin Central Fianna Fail organisation. One of the legal documents drawn up says:

The trustees hereby acknowledge … I will read it as it is written here. “Are not to hold the property for their own absolute use and benefit but upon the trust here and after declared and as directed by the settlors of the trust the St. Luke’s club.” (Q219)

Club? What club? Collins is just as puzzled as I am.

The Tribunal have also been unable to find any evidence that there was any outstanding debt on the property.

Another amusing passage from the Collins evidence.

Collins is being asked about the Davy cheque. He can’t remember anything about it. He can’t remember if he discussed it with Ahern. He can’t remember anything really. (Q77-83)

The Davy donation was the biggest. £5K. But he can’t explain to the Tribunal why the biggest donations intended for an election campaign ended up in an account that Collins now says was intended for the St Luke’s ‘Building Trust’.

“I can’t comment on that,” he says. (Q88)

“Well, no, the committee made the decision. We had four or five people, five people, and we’d have a meeting every week to ten days and a decision would be made — ”

The Tribunal asks who are these people.

Collins replies:

Paddy Reilly was, he is deceased.

Q. 92 Yes.

A. Jimmy Keane was.

Q. 93 Yes. He is deceased also.

A. He is deceased, yeah. Joe Burke I think is or was or is, I’m not sure, you know.

Q. 94 Yes.

A. Gerry Brennan, I’m not sure. He’s deceased, the solicitor.

Q. 95 Yes.

A. Myself, I was never a member of the Fianna Fail. Although I worked with them for years, you know.

Indeed.

I passed my driving test yesterday. I have been a provisional driver since October 2006. Waiting lists suck.

Judge Mahon is absolutely correct. He has put it up to Ahern to put up or shut up. And the crowds cheered.

It is time to resign Mr Ahern.

A feature on the recent cable cuts in the Middle East penned by me is in today’s Examiner. Go read it, if you get the chance. There’s also a nice map of undersea cables to go with the story.

I really should write more.

Bill tagged me, so…

• MS Society Ireland
• Irish Red Cross
• Samaritans
• Cancer.ie - Irish Cancer Society
• Irish Hospice Foundation - Hospice and palliative care in Ireland
• Barnardos - Ireland’s leading children’s charity
• The Great Orchestra of Christmas Charity - Polish Charity
• CPR For Schools Across Poland - CPRTraining
• Program of Insulin Pumps in Diabetic Children Therapy - Insulin Pumps For Children
• Non-invasive Neonatal Breathing Support - Infant Flow
• Program of Universal Neonatal Hearing Screenings - Neonatal Hearing
• American Red Cross - disaster relief
• Raleigh Rescue Mission - homeless raleigh
• Samaritan’s Purse - emergency relief programs
• St. Jude Children’s Hospital - cancer research
• Medecins Sans Frontieres / Doctors Without Borders - Humanitarian Relief
• American Red Cross - Emergency Preparedness
• AMREF - African Medical & Research Foundation - African Health Development
• DOROT - Programs for Elderly
• Feed the Children - Protect Children
• Service International - Disaster Relief
• Pujols Family Foundation - Children with Down Syndrome
• National Alliance to End Homelessness - Homelessness
• The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research - Parkinson’s Research
• Ronald McDonald Care Mobile Program - Child Healthcare
• Aids Research Alliance - Aids Research
• Wildlife Conservation Society - Wildlife Protection
• Cancer Research Institute - Cancer Research
• Second Harvest - End Hunger
• AARP Foundation - Helping Senior Citizens
• Bubblegum Club - Children In Crisis
• Autism NI - Autism Northern Ireland
• Adoption Ireland - Irish Adoption Charity
• Ireland Funds - Peace and Reconciliation In Ireland
• Dublin Simon Community - Combating Homelessness in Dublin
• Aware
• To Russia with Love

Hmm. I tag:

David
John
Cian
Bernie
Random Walk

I have been mulling a return to gavinsblog since I left it back in November. Thestory.ie has been doing well, though my posting is still lacking form or consistency.

My thoughts are to spin thestory into a new media/finance blog, and return gavinsblog to a mainly politics/personal weblog.

Interestingly the traffic here has remained relatively static, so it still seems to have some sway with Google.

In any event, any return shall occur after my exams.

I am forced to come back to react to the Ahern revelations.

The most interesting name spotted: Des Richardson, one of his closest friends and one of the Drumcondra Mafia.

Why? Richardson’s company, Berraway, is thought to have received large payments from, Rohan Holdings, owned by developer Ken Rohan. Rohan was perhaps the sole beneficiary of a tax break in Section in the 1994 Finance Act introduced by Ahern when he was minister for finance. The developer is believed to have saved £1.5 million in tax at the time and a further £150,000-£180,000 per annum thereafter.

Another man named by Ahern who ‘loaned’ money, was founder of Marlborough Recruitment, Dave McKenna. Richardson earned up to 70,000 a year from Marlborough as executive director.

The Planning Tribunal is looking at links between Richardson and Frank Dunlop. Both have an interest in a company called Beraway. Beraway is also apparently related to Rohan Holdings.

Bare in mind that with £40,000 in 1993 one could easily buy a 3-bed semi-detached house. How on earth a simple legal separation could have cost this much is beyond me.

Bertie Ahern should resign, now.

Update:

The IT has a transcript. I like this part:

Q. But some of them were people in business, they had business interests, they were in position potentially to benefit from decisions you would make as minister for finance.

A. Well you know all I can say on that they didn’t and never did they ask me. They were not people that ever tired to get me to do something. I might have appointed somebody but I appointed them because they were friends, not because of anything they had given me. and you know, I think they appreciate that these were debts of honour, they gave them to me, I suppose on hindsight back I wasn’t to know then that I would be Taoiseach that I would have more money. That my daughters would be far more self sufficient, I didn’t know these things. You know, so whether I should have took it or not, but I always seen them as loans. I didn’t see them as any risk other than friends at a time of need when they knew I was in difficulties, when they knew that where I was staying and how I was living was a source of conversation.

In 1999, Jody Corcoran wrote an article about how Rohan benefitted from the 1994 Finance Act.

Following his classic ‘let’s burn him on a pyre outside the Central Bank‘, Twenty suggests we throw eggs at the hearse.

But he disagrees with me about the odds, arguing that everyone will forget his corrupt political donation legacy.

I am sympathetic to his anger.