College asks its ex-president to repay expenses

Waterford Institute of Technology has asked its former president Kieran Byrne to repay some expenses incurred during his time in office that it claims were of personal benefit to him.

He was not reappointed to a second term in 2011 after details emerged of spending by his office that peaked at €630,000 in 2008 and included serious breaches of spending controls in areas such as hospitality and taxis. In total, €3.7m was spent by the college’s office of president from 2004-11.

The WIT governing body’s decision not to reappoint him is understood to be the subject of a legal challenge by Mr Byrne against the college, where he was director and later president since 2001.

WIT has now reviewed spending by his office from 2007-11 to identify any spending that could be deemed of personal benefit to him.

In a letter to the Higher Education Authority (HEA), his successor as president, Ruaidhrí Neavyn, and WIT governing body chairman Donal Ormonde, say the college has sent Mr Byrne a claim for reimbursement.

The Irish Examiner sent WIT a number of questions on the nature and scale of the expenses it claims were of personal benefit to Mr Byrne. A spokesperson said the college could not comment for legal reasons.

The WIT letter of Jun 27 to the HEA was forwarded by the Department of Education to the Dáil’s Public Accounts Committee (PAC), which has published it on the Oireachtas website.

via College asks its ex-president to repay expenses | Irish Examiner.

It (fraud) will continue until you no longer give your consent

The following very strong, very revealing letter was published in the Irish Examiner last Saturday.

Beware third party rules on mortgage transfers

“In our view, the code could potentially slow the increase in mortgage arrears in Ireland, and may allow lenders to start repossession proceedings sooner.

“We view this as a credit positive for the senior notes in outstanding residential mortgage backed securities.”

Let’s translate this quote from the Standard & Poor’s ratings agency as they commented on the new Central Bank code on mortgage arrears.

The important line is the second one. Your mortgage was sold to third parties by your bank. These third parties are hedge funds, insurance companies, etc.

These are the senior note holders. Your bank was paid in full for your mortgage by these institutions. Your bank now acts as a debt collector for these third parties. Basically, they bought your promise to pay from the banks.

The Irish Central Bank rules clearly state that a debt cannot be sold on to third party investors without your consent. If it was then the debt is null and void.

The next question to ask yourself is was your mortgage sold on to investors? The answer to this question is the same as the one about the bear, the woods and toilet facilities he used.

So unless you received a letter stating your mortgage was no longer owned by your bank then your mortgage is null and void.

This is just another example of the multi-layered fraud that continues daily in this country, all perpetrated by the suited and booted ones.

It will continue until you no longer give your consent.

Barry Fitzgerald

Lissarda

Cork

via Public Inquiry · It (fraud) will continue until you no longer give your consent.

Anglo Irish Bank- Latest updates

 

Former Anglo Irish Bank boss to stand trial in October 2014
Irish Examiner
Sean FitzPatrick, the former Anglo Irish Bank chairman, will stand trial in October of next year. He faces 12 charges of failing to tell the bank’s auditors the true value loans worth €139m given to him, or people connected to him, by Irish Nationwide …
See all stories on this topic »

Former Anglo Irish Bank boss to stand trial in October 2014
Irish Examiner
Sean FitzPatrick, the former Anglo Irish Bank chairman, will stand trial in October of next year. He faces 12 charges of failing to tell the bank’s auditors the true value loans worth €139m given to him, or people connected to him, by Irish Nationwide …
See all stories on this topic »

Central Bank and regulator ‘egging us on’ – Anglo
Irish Independent
But in the latest Anglo Tapes, head of treasury John Bowe can be heard convincing himself that the Central Bank and Financial Regulator were “effectively egging us on – for Irish banks to help each other”. Mr Bowe planned to craft a document to …
See all stories on this topic »

 

We are a complete punchbag at this stage, says Drumm
Irish Independent
During the revealing conversations, it is clear that Mr Drumm knows at this stage that the fate ofAnglo and Ireland are now bound together inextricably. But he is obviously more concerned about the survival of his own bank. In this latest tape, Mr …
See all stories on this topic »

 

 

Anglo Irish Bank

Dukes says he was briefed on Anglo tapes by lawyers RTE.ie Former Irish Banking Resolution Corporation chairman Alan Dukes has said he was briefed by lawyers on some of the contents of taped conversations between Anglo Irish Bank executives. Mr Dukes said it was not the job of public interest directors to … See all stories on this topic »   Coalition unease at outrage over Anglo Tapes witch-hunt Irish Independent- Meanwhile, in the wake of the Anglo Tapes, the Government is expected to … in which Anglo Irish Bank executives held not just the government but the Irish … State begins witch-hunt to catch the Anglo Tape sources Irish Independent Mr Noonan set the tone earlier when he said that the special liquidator of the former Anglo Irish Bank was seeking to find out who leaked the tapes, and took a swipe at what he termed “mucking around in garda business”. He was asked about the fallout … See all stories on this topic » Leaked tapes could delay Anglo trials for years Irish Examiner The trials of former Anglo chairman Sean FitzPatrick and other senior executives could be delayed for years due to the controversy surrounding the leak of explosive tapes from the toxic bank, theIrish Examiner has learned. By John Walsh and Shaun … See all stories on this topic » In Ireland, Dire Echoes of a Bailout Gone Wrong New York Times The leak of audiotapes of phone conversations between top officials of Anglo Irish Bank, which was by far the worst of a very bad lot, has stunned Ireland and damaged its relations with Germany. It now appears that the bank lied to Irish officials … See all stories on this topic »

I aim to be objective but if you don’t like what I’m saying, just switch off Irish Examiner LISTENERS to The Last Word were able to hear this week what the former Anglo Irish Bank boss David Drumm thinks of me. We broadcast an extract from one of the now infamous internal recordings in which he made pointed reference to a newspaper … See all stories on this topic » Bank’s former chief in UK living in dream lakeside home Irish Independent THE former boss of Anglo Irish Bank‘s British operations, currently being pursued by the bank for repayment of a chunk of his almost €6m retirement pay-off, is living in a palatial property in Co Clare. See all stories on this topic »

O’Sullivan: Budget will bring pain for everyone | Irish Examiner

The Housing Minister Jan O’Sullivan has said December’s Budget will bring pain for everyone.

Ms O’Sullivan made the comments during a visit to Tralee where she officially opened three regeneration projects in the Mitchels-Boherbee scheme.

The Minister said the Government has tough decisions to make in order to achieve €3.5bn in savings.

Speaking to Radio Kerry, she said she is hoping to protect regeneration project funding, but said there will be cuts right across all Government departments.

Ms O’Sullivan said: “We have to take €3.5bn out of the economy by way of cuts and taxation and that’s not going to be easy, we have very difficult decisions to be made. Therefore everything is pretty much on the table.

“We haven’t made those decisions yet. We want to make them in a way that is fair and in a way that protects the most vulnerable and that is going to be our top priority, but it will be difficult and there will be pain for everybody.”

via O’Sullivan: Budget will bring pain for everyone | Irish Examiner.

via O’Sullivan: Budget will bring pain for everyone | Irish Examiner.

Lack of Funding endangering Lives- Union calls for end to on-call system after ambulance crash

SIPTU has said that yesterday’s ambulance crash highlights the need for the on-call system for paramedics to be abolished.

The trade union also said that the practice of putting its full-time paramedics on-call is putting the lives of ambulance drivers at risk.

The HSE has launched an investigation after a paramedic in Cork crashed while on duty yesterday morning.

It has been claimed that he fell asleep behind the wheel, after working a 22-hour shift.

The incident happened in Castletownbere and neither the driver nor the passenger were seriously injured in the crash.

Health sector industrial relations organiser with SIPTU, Ted Kenny, said that reform is needed before someone is killed.

“The HSE national ambulance service have agreed and stated in the court that, yes, it is an unsafe practice, and it has to be abolished,”

“The main reason that it hasn’t been abolished to date is mainly to do with funding, and trying to get funding from the HSE.

“And one has to answer the question – ‘Does some paramedic have to be killed on the road before the HSE wakes up and gives the necessary funding to … make sure that the health and safety of our members are upheld and protected’?”

via Union calls for end to on-call system after ambulance crash | Irish Examiner.

via Union calls for end to on-call system after ambulance crash | Irish Examiner.

Central Bank report shows ‘eight more tough budgets’:

Opposition parties have said that a new report from the Central Bank confirms that Ireland is in line for eight more tough budgets in order to comply with EU treaty rules.

A paper published by the bank today sets out the steps which will have to be taken by the present and future Governments in order to comply with the EU fiscal treaty.

It said that while fiscal targets remain on track to 2015, many uncertainties prevail, and budget adjustments will have to be made up to 2020 in order to meet EU targets.

Sinn Fein‘s Mary Lou McDonald has said that the bank confirms that there are eight more years of further cutbacks.

“They project that we will have tough budgets until 2020, what the report doesn’t do is to actually give a figure as to what the level of that adjustment or cutback would mean”, she said

“But it leads us back to the thing we debated very vigorously in the course of the austerity treaty debate and that was to meet the requirements of this treaty you are looking art further cutbacks.”

via Central Bank report shows ‘eight more tough budgets’: McDonald | Irish Examiner.

via Central Bank report shows ‘eight more tough budgets’: McDonald | Irish Examiner.

Poll indicates two point drop for FG | Irish Examiner

Four out of five voters would back a change in our laws to allow for abortion in line with the X-case ruling according to a new opinion poll.

The Behaviour and Attitudes Survey for tomorrow’s Sunday Times also shows less than a quarter of people are happy with the coalition and a drop in support for Fine Gael.

The poll shows Fine Gael on 31, down two points, while Sinn Féin and Independents go up a point each to 18 and 19 respectively.

via Poll indicates two point drop for FG | Irish Examiner.

via Poll indicates two point drop for FG | Irish Examiner.