Update on the work of NAMAleaks.com
- Details
- Parent Category: Dail Work
- Category: Finance
Press Statement
3rd November 2016.
Update on the work of NAMAleaks.com
NAMAleaks.com has received a large variety of communications and documents in relation to NAMA, two in particular relate to -
1. Details of events in Northern Ireland, pre 2013, regarding the sale of the Northern Ireland Loan Portfolio, referencing individuals who have been arrested in Northern Ireland
2. Information on the procedures within NAMA regarding the Freedom of Information process, and deliberate attempts to conceal certain information.
Mick Wallace stated -
“We have received much information on the NAMAleaks site that we need to take stock of, we need to be very measured in how we deal with it. Clearly, the information that has come in has reinforced our conviction that all is not well within the National Assets Management Agency.”
“It is imperative that the Government immediately set up an arm of the Garda Bureau of Fraud Investigation, with extra powers and resources, to investigate NAMA, and that there is full anonymity given to whistleblowers”
“I plan to raise both of these issues in more detail, in the Dáil Chamber, in the coming weeks and months.”
If you have witnessed poor practice within NAMA, contact us securely and anonymously, at namaleaks.com
NAMAleaks.
Ends.
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People are sent to Prison as Punishment, not for Punishment…
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- Category: Uncategorized
Clare Daly and Mick Wallace attended a District Court case at the Criminal Court of Justice, on Wednesday, 19 October – a case taken by the DPP, in relation to allegations that Leon Wright, currently a prisoner in Block A, Portlaoise Prison, had assaulted a prison officer in 2013.
Initially we had been contacted by Leon’s solicitor, raising concerns that his human rights were being violated, in relation to the manner in which his custody was being handled and the segregated nature of his incarceration.
We had been to visit Leon in Portlaoise and felt that it was important that we should go to the Court case and observe some of the allegations which had been repeatedly made about him, in relation to his behaviour towards prison officers. The case against Leon was thrown out by Judge Alan Mitchell, who was deeply concerned at what he had heard in court, and requested that a transcript of the digital audio recording be provided by the Court Service, with a request that the matters raised might be of concern and warrant further investigation by the Inspector of Prisons, Judge Michael Reilly. The judge identified inconsistencies in the testimony of the prison offers. Leon’s defense counsel, Emmet Nolan claimed that Leon was stripped naked and beaten by the prison officers.
We were utterly shocked at some of the evidence presented in court. We believe it raises serious issues concerning the manner in which Leon’s incarceration has been handled. Prison policy is supposed to be dictated on the basis that people are sent to prison as punishment, not for punishment, that the time spent should be used to try to rehabilitate that person into society. At present, Leon is in 23 hour solitary confinement and receives no education. We firmly believe that serious damage is being done to this already damaged individual and believe that it is absolutely critical that he is reintegrated into the prison population and entitled to access education and other developmental courses. Leon is scheduled to be released in about eighteen months. Would it not be a more positive approach to give him some of the necessary help now, rather than more punishment, that may have the potential to make him worse when he returns to society?
We know that this badly damaged individual has a frightening history of acts of violence. It goes without saying that we believe that all prison staff should be able to work safely, free from threats and violence. Our intervention is motivated by a desire for a safer environment for prisoners, staff and society at large.
Mick Wallace.
Clare Daly.
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NAMA and REITS, and the making of a Housing Crisis.
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- Parent Category: Dail Work
- Category: Dail Diary
Here's my Budget speech from last week, and YouTube videos of same -
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QJFNTy8VsCo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2wARilSkqDw
This was the first budget of the Fine Gael-Fianna Fáil coalition, and there were very few surprises in it. It was much like one would have expected, given the neoliberal position of both groups. There was a serious lack of mention of inequality in the budget. I do not think it was equality-proofed and I am not aware of any Government analysis of what the effects of the budget will be on society and on the wider world.
The corporate tax rate and our internationally recognised status as a corporate tax haven remain unchanged. We will continue to allow real estate investment trusts, REITs, some of the most profitable corporations and vulture funds on the planet, to escape the rules of democratic society, and we are not even sure what this will cost. The Minister for Finance has stated that he does not know what his 2013 Finance Act has cost the State in gifted tax exemptions. As he stated last April, "REITs are publicly listed companies, meaning their Financial Statements are publicly available, but the specific figures required to calculate their rental profit (the proportion of profit that is exempt) is not necessarily available in these public documents". The budget has not sufficiently addressed the favourable treatment being afforded to REITs at the expense of the traditional landlord.
On 16 January 2014 I raised this issue with the Minister in the Dáil. I said:
However, many large tracts of property that will be sold off will not be bought by Irish people. They will be purchased by foreign investors who will reap benefits at the expense of the Irish people. These people will end up with a lot of rental property, which will give them a monopoly in the game.
I wish I had been wrong, but that is exactly what has happened. The level of influence of vulture funds and REITs in this country has gone off the Richter scale. If people are wondering why a two-bedroom apartment in a working-class area of this city can cost up to €1,500, there is a very good reason for it. These people have a monopoly and we have not addressed the problem.
The tax benefits and exemptions they were afforded are questionable from a legal point of view. I have written to the EU regarding the exemptions for non-resident investors in Irish REITs and asked whether they breach EU state-aid rules. The Commission has confirmed to me that it is examining it.
I have also written to Revenue regarding exemptions from dividend withholding tax for Irish companies. It confirmed to me that registered Irish charities are exempt from dividend withholding tax. This would mean that an Irish charity investing in a REIT would pay no tax on any profits it receives from the REIT. Given the current abuse of charity status by US vulture funds, it would be very interesting to see what particular charities are currently investing in REITs. I realise the Minister is looking at section 110 and there may be some clawback in this area.
I received a reply to a freedom of information request to the Department of Finance regarding WK Nowlan, the firm that now operates Hibernia REIT. There was correspondence from WK Nowlan to the Minister, Deputy Noonan, in 2011, lobbying the Minister to introduce REIT legislation in Ireland. An incredible amount of correspondence was involved. The letters reference a positive meeting with NAMA in regard to REITs and NAMA’s willingness to engage with REITs if they were established.
It would seem that a conflict of interest should have been established by NAMA regarding these meetings considering the role of Kevin Nowlan within the agency at the time of the letter. He was a senior portfolio manager with NAMA. Before he moved in there he transferred his 30% shareholding in WK Nowlan into a trust offshore. However, it seems WK Nowlan was still able to gain unfettered access to the agency. As we now know, following the successful lobbying of WK Nowlan over a three-year period, REITs were introduced in 2013. Kevin Nowlan, having left NAMA, is now the CEO of Hibernia REIT.
First, the company lobbied the Minister to get favourable status in setting up these REITs. Then the same gentlemen, who were in NAMA, left NAMA and they actually admit that they benefited from the knowledge in NAMA. They proceeded to buy back some stuff they sold for peanuts to some US investment funds. In time there will be a serious issue with all this and it will be problematic for the Government dealing with it.
In a recent programme on RTE, which may have been filmed last year, David McWilliams questioned the same individual, Mr. Kevin Nowlan, about how they set up business and how they did out of the crash, as follows.
David McWilliams: There was no cash in Ireland, no access to cash, so you had to go to where the cash was. When you knocked on the door of George Soros’s, what did you say to them?
Kevin Nowlan: So we basically said that Dublin is a great office market. We said that you can buy office buildings basically in, or below, basement cost.
David McWilliams: What does that mean?
Kevin Nowlan: So you can buy them below what they can be built for. What we had to answer was we said we could do off markets.
David McWilliams: What does that mean?
Kevin Nowlan: That means, you know, a lot of property ends up in The Irish Timesor in the Irish Independentfor sale by receivers or whatever. Basically we know enough people in Dublin to be able to go and buy the properties, without having to go to auction or having to go to the market. And we’ve done 18 deals, and 16 of them we’ve done off market. We’ve bought debt, we’ve, you know, we’ve done quiet deals with people, we’ve done deals with banks, we’ve done them in a variety of different ways. If you buy something in an active vibrant economy, below what it actually costs to replace it, you should be in pretty good shape to make money.
He was 100% right. We have seen so much of that go on in this country in the past five years and NAMA has played a huge role in it at a huge cost to the Irish people. What has gone on is frightening. Sadly the Government does not want to know. It does not want to address the issue. I realise that we will get some sort of commission of investigation into Project Eagle, but it is very important for the future of business in Ireland that we look at every aspect of how NAMA has operated because it has repercussions for long-term business in Ireland. It has repercussions for how many international investors are prepared to come here. If we do not prove ourselves to be accountable and transparent in how we do big business, it will come back and bite us.
I have a concern linked to this. NAMA is supposedly to produce 20,000 housing units at approximately €330,000 each. I have looked at the Government’s housing initiatives. However, it is not addressing the problems that created the housing crisis in the first place. If the Government genuinely believes that the 5% rebate up to €20,000 is not for the developers, it is living in cloud cuckoo land. It is for the developers.
There is a big misunderstanding between a builder and a developer. A builder builds properties, usually at a contract price; a developer is the guy who finances it. It is true to say that in recent times the developers have not been interested in getting back into the residential property market because the margin is not big enough. However, that is not true of the builders. I know of many builders who would be very happy to make €5,000 per unit clear profit, which is great money. There are builders who would be delighted to earn it. However, if the developer wants €35,000 or €40,000 and the Government is introducing a measure that will bring him into the market, the Government is simply putting it in his pocket and it is driving up the price of the house. That is guaranteed to happen; it is logic. No one could argue against it. I do not know where the rationale is coming from. It will drive up the price of the property. It does not make any sense.
Why did we not tackle the cost of construction? Why are we not looking at what it is costing to produce that house or apartment? We are not looking at it. We have not tackled it. The SI 9 is costing over €20,000 per unit. Why did we not get the local authorities to go back and independently check on the level of quality that applied by the builder or developer?
Local authorities have land. I asked the witnesses who came before the housing committee why they did not compulsorily purchase land in Dublin. They said they had more land than the local authority could build on for several years and that land was not the problem. I know that places such as Wexford do not have it and the same may be true in other counties. So the land is there. The local authority has the potential to deliver housing for less than €200,000 a unit. However, we are asking NAMA to deliver 20,000 units at over €300,000 each.
There are a few factors. The first is land price. It is allowing, perhaps, €40,000 a unit for the price of the land and a margin of about €40,000 for the developer. There is the €20,000 for the SI 9, which the local authorities could be doing.
That is €100,000 of a difference already before we go any further. Where is the logic of letting this organisation do it? I will tell the House who is going to build these 20,000 houses and apartments for NAMA. There is a small group of developers who have been treated very kindly by NAMA while there are many developers who have been treated very badly by it. The guys who were treated very kindly, who are back in and doing a roaring business, are the same boys who NAMA is now looking to work with. They are working with investment funds and with their cherry-picked favourite developers. They are going to provide 20,000 units for the State at about €330,000 each while we ignore the fact we can actually get our local authorities to provide units for €200,000. If the local authorities do not have the wherewithal to actually deliver the houses we need, be they social, affordable or otherwise, then let us get them the wherewithal if they can deliver units for that money. Why in God's name would we engage NAMA to do it when its record is pitiful? NAMA has so many questions to answer and if there is ever a truly independent commission of investigation into the total workings of NAMA, do we know what we are going to find out? We are going to find out that the manner in which NAMA behaved has cost the State billions of euro, not millions of euro or the €190 million we are arguing about over Project Eagle and a discount fee. We are talking about billions of euro. I do not understand the logic of allowing these guys to progress with their favourite developers to provide units at €330,000 each when we can get units built by the local authorities for €200,000. The Government talks about social housing but considering the model it is going with, it is still going to be looking to the private sector to deliver many of them. When are we going to learn? We should be learning from our experience. We realised that the neoliberal market version has not worked for us and has cost us too much money. It has failed to deliver. The Government is coming up with 20,000 units to bribe the developers to get back into the game when all it needs to do is to organise finance for the builders because the banks in the State would not dream of lending to the builders. The big boys do not need to go to the Irish banks for money. They might get it anyway but they can go off-shore also. It is about time there was a change of direction in how we organise our society.
Good soundness is a result of proper supply and hygiene. How can medicaments hels up? Circumstances that can influence your choice when you are buying medications are various. Below are basic reasons about cialis vs levitra vs viagra which one is better. Surely there are also other momentous questions. Choosing the unimprovable treatment option for a racy disease can get really confusing considering the advantages and disadvantages of the existing treatment methodologies. When you buy remedies like Cialis you have to have in mind about levitra vs cialis vs viagra. The most significant thing you must look for is which works better viagra or cialis or levitra. A long list of prescription drugs can lead to erectile dysfunction, including many blood pressure medicines, pain remedies, and most of antidepressants. Sometimes the treatment options may switch on erectile disfunction remedies or hormone treatments.
Demolition of Calais Refugee Camp is a Humanitarian Disaster. Do we care?
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- Parent Category: Dail Work
- Category: Foreign Affairs
Dáil Diary no 15 – 14th October 2016
Demolition of Calais Refugee Camp is a Humanitarian Disaster. Do we care?
There are reports today, Friday the 14th October, that police in full riot gear are gathering in numbers at entrances to the Jungle camp at Calais, and that they’ve brought a water cannon with them. What is going to happen to all the unaccompanied minors in the camp? The Irish Government have been complicit in forcing them to become refugees. We allowed the US Military to destroy the homes and communities of these people. And now we turn our back on them and argue that Calais is not an official camp- not an official camp? Are the unaccompanied minors official? Are they real people? Here’s my speech in the Dáil yesterday on what can only be described as a humanitarian disaster, just across the water from us…
Mick Wallace: “There could hardly have been a more blatant demonstration of the blindness of the warmongers in this House as when the leaders of Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael were crying war crimes against Russia and the Syrian Government last week. When the US led coalition started bombing the daylights out of Syria in September 2014, Deputies had nothing to say, even though the death toll tripled almost immediately. As our trade partner Saudi Arabia, and friends, continue to do daily war crimes in Yemen, indiscriminately killing civilians with tanks, combat aircraft, air to ground missiles, white phosphorous and cluster bombs, sold to them by the United States, Deputies say nothing. The Russians followed in to Syria - about one year after the French and US involvement - in order to boost their friend Bashar al-Assad. We have never, ever defended the Russian position, but neither will we defend the United States', the French or the Saudi position in Syria. I find it nauseating that people in this House will actually select who they will criticise of those who are bombing any country. As a neutral State that does not want to take part in war we should be criticising anyone who bombs anywhere. Last week the Unites States' war in Afghanistan was 15 years old. I was at a commemoration for it in Shannon on Sunday. Ireland has been with the United States every step of the way, bending over backwards for the US war machine. A group of physicists in the United States - because the US military does not count bodies, it is all just collateral damage - have researched statistics that show that up to 2.1 million civilians have been killed by the United States military since 2001 in Afghanistan and Iraq. It is horrific and Ireland has helped the United States with the use of Shannon Airport. Today, 1,000 unaccompanied minors face eviction from Calais and we are not prepared to help them. I recall Members saying in the House that unaccompanied minors would be picked out for special concern, but we have done nothing about them. To the best of my knowledge there has been just one unaccompanied minor brought in to Ireland in the last two years.
Where do these unaccompanied minors come from? Only from countries the US has bombed the living daylights out of, and we allowed the US to use Shannon Airport to do so. Now we are not prepared to do anything for these people. The French have admitted they are about to clear the southern side of the camp in Calais. They cleared the northern side in the spring and 129 unaccompanied minors disappeared. I do not want to go into where we suspect they may have ended up. It is horrific. There are more than 1,000 of them in the camp and the southern side of the camp is about to be cleared by the French, despite the fact that up to eight NGOs in France are trying to take legal action to stop it. Several weeks ago, I heard the Minister state here that it was a good idea to clear the camp. It is horrific. The British have agreed to take in 300 and the French state they have capacity to cope with 276 of these minors. Can Ireland step up to the mark and do something? Can we play some sort of a role, given that we do not have clean hands because of our facilitation of Shannon Airport to the US military? I ask the Minister of State to talk to the people who make the decisions.
Minister of State at the Department of Health (Deputy Catherine Byrne): I am taking this topical issue debate on behalf of the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality who cannot be here this afternoon. As the Tánaiste recently outlined in responses to a number of parliamentary questions on this issue, we should be clear there is no official refugee or migrant camp in Calais. Calais does not fall under the EU relocation or resettlement decisions that Ireland has opted into, and therefore the people in Calais are not eligible for the Irish refugee protection programme because they are under the jurisdiction of the French authorities and have the right to apply for international protection in France….
Mick Wallace: The Minister of State said Calais is not an official camp so we cannot touch it. Well my God, most places where refugees gather are fairly unofficial. The chances of people fleeing from a place because some country like the US or Russia has bombed the living daylights out of it getting to an official camp are not always great. Travellers have often set up camp on the side of the road in Ireland and they are not always official. There have been hot spots. We are speaking about Italy, Greece and, I believe, we have even looked at Lebanon. We are cherry picking. We have gone out of our way to avoid doing what we should do. We are in denial about the fact we are partially responsible for the fact these people do not feel safe in their homes anymore.
It is mind-boggling that the EU is doing a deal with Afghanistan to return migrants in Europe to there. I met people from Afghanistan in the camps in the Calais and Dunkirk. My God, the thoughts of them having to be returned home are a cause of huge concern. They had fallen out with either ISIS or the Taliban, or a member of their family may have worked with the US forces. They would be killed if they went home. It is bad enough that Pakistan is in the process of expelling 3 million refugees back to Afghanistan and the west does not give a damn. Who invaded Afghanistan in the first place? It was the US in 2001, with our help through Shannon Airport. We destroyed the place.
God help us and save us, do not tell us Calais is an unofficial camp. So many Irish people have been there trying to help these people survive. I have text on my telephone from a fellow called Abdul. I met him out there. He is fucking dead. He died two or three weeks ago. He fell off a truck and the truck behind him ran over him. We could do something for these people if we cared. I wish the Government would just do something.”
Mick Wallace.
Here's a YouTube of my Speech
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CxGkrZaju6o&feature=youtu.be
Good soundness is a result of proper supply and hygiene. How can medicaments hels up? Circumstances that can influence your choice when you are buying medications are various. Below are basic reasons about cialis vs levitra vs viagra which one is better. Surely there are also other momentous questions. Choosing the unimprovable treatment edition for a racy disease can get really confusing considering the advantages and disadvantages of the existing treatment methodologies. When you buy remedies like Cialis you have to bear in mind about levitra vs cialis vs viagra. The most significant thing you must look for is which works better viagra or cialis or levitra. A long list of prescription drugs can lead to erectile dysfunction, including many blood pressure medicines, pain remedies, and most of antidepressants. Sometimes the treatment options may include erectile disfunction remedies or hormone treatments.
