Noonan’s Nonsense Part 2 of 5 (No conflicts of interest in Noonan World)

“We will amend the rules to ensure that no senior public servant (including political appointees) or Minister can work in the private sector in any area involving a potential conflict of interest with their former area of public employment, until at least two years have elapsed after they have left the public service” Fine Gael/Labour […]

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Minister probed about former NAMA employee and conflicts of interest

The recent return to the family firm, by NAMA asset manager Kevin Nowlan has raised concerns that the former NAMA insider may now be in a position to exploit his detailed knowledge acquired in the bowels of NAMA. Kevin has returned to WK Nowlan and Associates where his father, Bill Nowlan remains active. The company […]

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Ireland: a unique country where conflicts of interest are a thing of the past?

“And now let’s have a word from the Adder Party candidate, Mr. S. Baldrick, who so far has not commented on his policies in this campaign, but with him is his election agent, Mr. E.  Blackadder. And now it’s time, I think, for a result, and tension is running very high here. Mr. Blackadder assures […]

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Second NAMA legal challenge – judicial review of potential conflicts of interest

Another judicial review involving developers and NAMA is to take place at the High Court in October 2010 according to today’s Irish Times. This time, it will be Clare-based developers John Flanagan and Gerard Lillis whose two companies Atlantis Developments Limited and Liscannor Properties are reportedly subject to receivership proceedings involving loans from Anglo. The […]

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Noonan says no conflict of interest in KPMG deciding whether to pursue IBRC litigation against rival, Ernst and Young

In Ireland, we have the so-called Big Four accounting firms, KPMG, Ernst and Young, Deloitte and Pricewaterhouse Coopers. You might think that the likely lads and lassies at these fine firms would bear some responsibility for the financial collapse of the private sector in this State, where these firms were to the fore of auditing […]

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State set to sell Irish Life to Great West Life for €1.3bn

No, the above is not news, but you might be interested in whether or not an asset which you 100% own is being sold for the best price. This blogpost examines the sale. First up, some history. Once upon a time, there was this organization which had a strange description for its activities – it […]

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2% of staff at NTMA quit in January 2013

Maybe it’s the doing-away with the annual bonuses (or most of them!), maybe it’s the 15% forced waivers of salaries over €200,000, maybe it’s the stream of criticism for lackluster performance or maybe it’s because Ireland is in a bailout programme and doesn’t need to be issuing large amounts of debt, but for whatever reason, […]

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IBRC’s protocols come under spotlight as employee buys €2m home formerly subject to IBRC mortgage

NAMA might think that a line has been drawn under the Enda Farrell incident, where the now-former NAMA employee bought a €410,000 property, off-market, belonging to a NAMA developer in November 2011 when he was still employed at NAMA.  However, questions still remain over what were described as independent “valuations” in August 2012, which were […]

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Of the Week…

Scratchcard Economics of the Week There is growing unease about the Government’s calculation of yield from the property tax. Not only was there no obvious cognizance taken of the existing €160m household charge or the €70 Non Principal Private Residence in Budget 2013 workings – you’d expect the  non-continuance of these two taxes to be […]

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NAMA finally publishes internal report on Enda Farrell purchase of Lucan property

“The acts and omissions of Mr. Farrell identified inthe Deloitte review could be said to have come within this definition of misconduct. Mr. Farrell disputes this.” Extract from internal report published by NAMA 27th November 2012 NAMA has this afternoon published its internal report on the original Enda Farrell affair – that was the purchase of […]

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