Statement re Right2Change
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The magnificent movement of people power which exploded onto the streets across the length and breath of the country in opposition to Irish Water & water charges was an important development in our recent history. It channeled the anger and betrayal felt by citizens after years of neo-liberal policies and austerity budgets, the decimation of public services, & a race to the bottom in wages and conditions. It brought thousands of people into political activity for the first time. It showed that no government can rule without the will of the people, and that protest action can pay.
Against this background we believe that the initiative of the Right2Water unions to try and harness this movement, beyond protests, into a movement for change, was the correct one. We have committed to supporting the policy positions of Right2Change, as a starting point in dismantling the prevailing ideology of the establishment parties who have slavishly implemented economic policies at the behest of the markets.
We believe that society can be organised in a different way, a better way, where the interests of the people are centre stage – the right to housing, a job with decent pay and conditions, access to healthcare when you’re sick, and a pension when you retire. These demands are the bare minimum in a country which has seen the wealth of the top 300 citizens increase by €13.5 billion in the last year alone.
Across our society there is a desperate yearning for change as the parties that have been in power have misused it and a different type of politics must be built. We have pledged to play a part in delivering that, by committing to work with any other parties or individuals who are prepared to break with neo-liberalism, including forming a government, should the numbers allow. We are very clear that we will not play a part in any government with Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael or Labour.
The role of the the media, & some of the political parties involved, in how the Right2Change initiative has been portrayed over the past week is a stark warning to activists in the communities and unions. The Establishment has a vested interest in trying to undermine this project. They will seek to exaggerate division, to portray chaos and incoherence & to misrepresent what is being attempted. This is a sign of their fear but we must not fall for it.
It must also be said that the opportunism of some of the groupings involved, who diverted this project into a dialogue about voting pacts & transfers, and whether they would or wouldn’t be calling for transfers for each other is regrettable. Electoral pacts were never part of any discussions. It will do nothing for the cause if some groups are prepared to put their own party interests, ahead of those of the general movement. That is why we are contesting this election as independents & will work with other like minded individuals to build the type of grass roots, bottom up politics, that bases itself on empowering people to organise for themselves. This is essential if we are to deliver the change that Ireland deserves & yearns on the eve of the 1916 centenary.
Mick Wallace & Clare Daly
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Government must stop NAMA selling Project Arrow to Cerberus - A bad deal for the Irish People...
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Government must stop NAMA selling Project Arrow to Cerberus - A bad deal for the Irish People...
Dáil Diary no 58 - 22nd October 2015
Once again this week, I raised the workings of NAMA at Leader’s Questions with the Taoiseach. On this occasion, I asked six questions, and got zero answers. – Now there’s a surprise. Later on the same night, I spoke for a few minutes on the same issue, as part of Fianna Fail’s motion, which called for an Independent Commission of Investigation into NAMA’s sale of Project Eagle. I have now raised the NAMA issues at Leader’s Questions, seven times in a row – which happens to be way too much for the media’s attention span – As the Government continue to bury their head in the sand, wishing for the problems to go away. – It isn’t going to go away until we do eventually have the necessary Independent Commission of Investigation. Here’s my two Dáil contributions.-
“The majority of Irish people no longer have confidence in NAMA. Yesterday, I asked An Garda Síochána to investigate, under section 19 of the Criminal Justice Act, why NAMA did not report the discovery that US investment fund PIMCO had been requested to pay £5 million to a former member of the NAMA Northern Ireland Advisory Committee, Mr. Frank Cushnahan. Despite this, NAMA told the Committee of Public Accounts on 9 July that if PIMCO did not withdraw, NAMA could not permit it to remain in the sales process, yet it refused to report the matter to the relevant authorities.
For the life of me, I do not understand how the Government can still be comfortable with the idea of NAMA selling Project Arrow to Cerberus. Cerberus is under criminal investigation in the United Kingdom and United States. When I queried NAMA on this issue last week, Mr. Frank Daly replied to me, "I am not aware that Cerberus is under criminal investigation in any jurisdiction". The same Mr. Daly admitted to the Committee of Public Accounts in July that the purchase of Project Eagle was being investigated but now he is not aware that the actual purchaser, Cerberus, is being investigated. Is it not little wonder that the people have serious questions about NAMA? They would like the Taoiseach to initiate a commission of inquiry.
Aside from the investigation by the National Crime Agency in the United Kingdom, in the United States the Department of Justice is investigating the role of American companies in the Project Eagle transactions. The investigation involves the Attorney General's office in New York, the New York office of the FBI and the US Securities and Exchange Commission, yet NAMA believes Cerberus is not being investigated.
Can the Taoiseach explain that to me? He might remind his friend Mr. Daly that these boys in America are not in the wedding planning business.
Will the Taoiseach do this country a service and suspend the sale of Project Arrow, now rather than later? A serious amount of assets, over half of which are residential, are in the Republic. God knows, we could do with them to address the housing crisis. They will be sold for a fraction of what it will cost NAMA to build units. The agency is saying it will cost €225,000 to build each of the 20,000 units. The assets in Project Arrow will be sold for a pittance. The Taoiseach should freeze the sale now. Under no circumstances is it a legal process given that Cerberus is under criminal investigation.
The Taoiseach: I have reminded Deputy Wallace before that there are a number of investigations ongoing in regard to this matter. NAMA has appeared before the Committee of Public Accounts on several occasions. The matter has been discussed on at least three occasions. The Deputy himself was invited to appear before the Committee of Public Accounts and, for his own reasons, has refused to do so. I have said to him before that I acknowledge he is properly elected to the Dáil and has the rights and privileges that go with that but he should go before the Committee of Public Accounts. He was invited to do so by the Chairman, Deputy John McGuinness. If Deputy Wallace has further information, or other information, the committee is the place for him to give it. It is through the Committee of Public Accounts that NAMA is responsible to the Oireachtas.
The question of the American company that withdrew was made clear. The Deputy said on the last occasion that I was involved in a cover-up myself over this. He now tells me that I am a friend of Mr. Daly. He makes these allegations without any foundation or backup. If he has something to say, I advise him to say it to the Committee of Public Accounts, which is the duly elected and appointed body in which to do such business in here.
Deputy Mick Wallace: The Taoiseach is giving out about me not going before the Committee of Public Accounts, but he does not seem to have any problem with Mr. Daly misleading the same committee. I have gone to the Garda, I have been interviewed by the National Crime Agency and I have offered to go to New York. I do not actually believe the Taoiseach could possibly try to make out that the Committee of Public Accounts has more teeth than those three organisations.
Last week, I asked NAMA how it could have allowed the Project Eagle transaction to proceed knowing that Brown Rudnick and Tughans were involved, given that the same players were involved in the PIMCO deal in which the fixtures fee of £5 million had been sought for Mr. Frank Cushnahan. When I asked NAMA about this, Mr. Frank Daly replied, "Our advice is that such fee payments are not illegal". Could the Taoiseach confirm for me who NAMA received the advice from? Did that advice cover the laws of the United States and the United Kingdom, including Northern Ireland? If NAMA was so sure this was not illegal, why did its board decide that if PIMCO, one of the largest investment funds in the world, did not withdraw from the process, NAMA would force it out? How could it possibly have decided this if everything was rosy in the garden? Can the Taoiseach explain that to me?
Deputy Finian McGrath: The Taoiseach should answer the questions.
The Taoiseach: As I said, the Deputy has already made allegations here that I was involved in a cover-up about this.
Deputy Finian McGrath: The Taoiseach did not answer the question.
Deputy Clare Daly: The Taoiseach does not care-----
The Taoiseach: I would like him to address that.
Deputy Micheál Martin: This is Leaders' Questions, a Cheann Comhairle.
An Ceann Comhairle: Hold on a second.
The Taoiseach: The Deputy did not refer to the very detailed, strong and clear response Mr. Daly gave to his allegations in this matter. He chose not to refer to that at all.
Deputy Mick Wallace: The Taoiseach has not answered the question.
The Taoiseach: I repeat for Deputy Wallace that every time he comes in here, he comes with very specific allegations.
Deputy Mick Wallace: And every time the Taoiseach refuses to answer any questions.
The Taoiseach: I am saying to Deputy Wallace that the appropriate place for him-----
Deputy Micheál Martin: There is no argument about the fees.
The Taoiseach: -----to make his allegations and to have NAMA respond to the Committee of Public Accounts is at the Committee of Public Accounts.
Deputy Micheál Martin: There is money in an offshore account.
The Taoiseach: For everybody's sake, in respect of all those people who are giving him pieces of information-----
(Interruptions).
The Taoiseach: -----which they are entitled to do, will he bring his allegations before the Chairman of the Committee of Public Accounts and its members? NAMA is duty bound to respond-----
Deputy Clare Daly: It has not responded so far.
Deputy Mick Wallace: It does not want to answer questions.
The Taoiseach: to that body in reference to the Oireachtas. I ask the Deputy please to take up the invitation to him.
Deputy Mick Wallace: The Taoiseach does not want the truth.
The Taoiseach: He has refused three times to go before that committee.
Deputy Micheál Martin: The Taoiseach is stonewalling.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Speech during Motion re Project Eagle
“I will address some of the points which have been raised tonight. Government speakers have stated that just because something had a par value of £4.5 billion and it ended up being sold for £1.241 billion, it does not mean it was sold for more than £3 billion too little, but the fact is that when NAMA was set up the argument was made at the time, that the reason for doing so was so we would not firesale assets, but wait for the market to recover, and get value. Sadly, this rule was not kept. Property does have a value. It is worth what it cost to build, even if the land does not cost anything. If property is sold for less than it cost to build, in my opinion, it is being sold for less than its value.
The point has been made that the parcels of land were so big that only a handful of companies on the planet could have bought these big portfolios. It was impossible for Irish business people to buy into this property area. When NAMA was set up, it was one of the biggest property companies on the planet. What has happened is that we have actually sold this property mostly to US vulture funds. We have sold a huge chunk of Ireland away to people who only care about the bottom line, which is profit. The Government seems to be content with the idea of the Kennedy Wilson’s controlling the rental market in Dublin. I do not think this is such a good idea. If what we had before lacked regulation, this was something which should have been addressed, but we had landlords who owned two, five or ten houses and they will be wiped because of how things have gone. An apartment in Dominic Street has gone from €900 a month to €1,500 a month in the space of three years because a small group of players such as Kennedy Wilson have a major stranglehold on the rental market.
A number of Deputies have said that no allegations have been made against NAMA itself. I am sorry, but I beg to differ. At present, 15 different investigations are being carried out by An Garda Síochána into the workings of NAMA, and this is just the reported stuff. Trust me, there is more coming down the tracks in terms of complaints about how NAMA has done its business. People have said enough investigations are going on, but it just so happens the Department of Justice and the Securities and Exchange Commission in the United States are only interested in US companies. This is their remit under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. They can only look at the four US companies involved, namely, Brown Rudnick, Cerberus, PIMCO and Fortress. The National Crime Agency in Britain is looking at the Northern Ireland angle. In actual fact, we are still not getting any proper independent investigation into the workings of NAMA. If we go back through the answers the Committee of Public Accounts was given by NAMA, when Deputy Mary Lou McDonald asked about the conflict of interest of Frank Cushnahan and the Project Eagle sale, she was told it was commercially sensitive, and that another issue was personally sensitive. This is understandable and NAMA is within its rights to do this, but only a commission of inquiry will get the unredacted version, and only this way will we get to the truth of what is happening.
I argue that the process of the sale of Project Eagle was not competitive. Fortress bid less than £1.1 billion and the reserve was £1.24 billion. There was something amiss. Cerberus was the only live bidder left on the pitch. We probably have not heard the last of Fortress, and there are problems with it.
As Deputy Michael McGrath said, there is a cloud over the workings of NAMA and it will remain there until there is an independent commission of inquiry of some nature. If the Government does not do it, we will probably get it after the election, but we will get one eventually, and the sooner the better. Project Arrow should be frozen. It would be criminal if NAMA goes ahead and sells to a company under criminal investigation.”
Mick Wallace
Good heartiness is a result of proper food and hygiene. How can medicaments hels up? Circumstances that can influence your choice when you are buying medications are different. Below are basic reasons about cialis vs levitra vs viagra which one is better. Surely there are also other momentous questions. Choosing the ideal 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 keep 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 disfunction, including many blood pressure medicines, pain remedies, and most of antidepressants. Sometimes the treatment options may switch on erectile disfunction remedies or hormone treatments.
Budget 2016 -Anyone who thinks that NAMA are going to solve our Housing Crisis, is living in Cuckoo Land…
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Budget 2016 -Anyone who thinks that NAMA are going to solve our Housing Crisis, is living in Cuckoo Land…
Dáil Diary no 56 -14 October 2015
The Present Fine Gael/ Labour Government are in power for over four and a half years, and one of the most glaring examples of their poor governance has to be their failure to properly address the Housing Crisis, of which Homelessness is just one of the symptoms. Their latest version of a plan, to involve NAMA in the construction of Housing, for the private sector, with 10% social, is one more Neo Liberal answer to a problem that requires a totally different response. We have a problem with supply, we have a problem with quality, we have a problem with the cost of housing and we have a problem with the cost of rent – all of these problems have been exacerbated by NAMA’s fire sale of Residential units and Development land, mostly to US Vulture Funds. The end result is US Vulture Funds 1 – Irish People 0. The goal assist goes to the Irish Government. Here’s my Dáil Budget Speech…
“It was not easy to listen to the two Ministers tell us how wonderful and fair the Government had been. It reminded me of listening to Jose Mourinho tell us that Chelsea was still the best team and that he was the best manager, despite the fact that they were still losing football matches.
It has been obvious for a while now that the Taoiseach does not want to have an inquiry into the workings of NAMA, despite all the unanswered questions. Looking at the budget, I can see why. Given NAMA's new role as a State-sponsored developer, I do not think the Taoiseach or the Minister for Finance would want NAMA to be investigated. They certainly would not like the answers they would get if there was to be an independent inquiry.
NAMA is now going to operate as a developer. It was set up as a bad bank that would hold assets until there was a recovery and it has had fire sales to kingdom come. It has supplied 1,400 social housing units, despite promises to provide more. These are the people who are going to provide a social dividend and it is hard to credit that we are going to trust them to solve the housing crisis. The housing and homelessness crisis is worse now than when the Government parties came to power. What have they done to address it? Their failure to properly deal with the crisis will go down as a disgrace. I do not understand the manner of their approach. NAMA will operate as a developer and given that its allocation of social housing units will be only 10%, these units will be for the private sector. Will NAMA sell them to US vulture funds which, in turn, will rent them to people who, in turn, will have to receive a rent supplement from the Government to pay for them? In that way, the Government will be giving an indirect subsidy to landlords. Is that what will happen? Some 20,000 units will be built at a cost of €4.5 billion, which works out at an average cost of €225,000 each and that is not counting the cost of land which NAMA already possesses. Half of the units included in Project Arrow are residential. I would like to know for how much these residential units will be sold? I will bet with any of the Deputies opposite that NAMA will not get €100,000 each for them. Where is the sense in the Government selling Project Arrow to another US vulture fund that will drive up rental and house prices in this city? The Government will not solve the housing crisis until it organises for the State, through the local authorities, to build social housing. If it does not organise for the building of social housing, it will not deal with the homeless crisis.
If it does not build social housing, rents will continue to be exorbitant and house prices will remain too high. That is at the root of the problem. The Government cannot expect the private sector to solve its problems. Those involved in the sector do not want to build now and the Government is stating NAMA will do it instead. Those involved in the private sector do not want to build because they cannot possibly compete with NAMA's sales and those of the banks, both of which have sold houses for less than half of what it costs to build. There is a value on a property or a house which is at least worth what it costs to build. However, I have seen NAMA sell a lot of properties for less than half of what it costs to build them. Does this represent good governance? The Government has told us how wonderful and fair it is, yet it has allowed this to happen. It is allowing the taxpayer to pick up the tab and the US vulture funds to reap the rewards. Is this a great government? It is not.”
Mick Wallace.
Good health is a result of proper nutrition and hygiene. How can medicaments hels up? Circumstances that can influence your choice when you are buying medications are varied. 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 version 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 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 turn on erectile dysfunction remedies or hormone treatments.
It’s time the Irish Government started promoting Peace, rather than War…
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It’s time the Irish Government started promoting Peace, rather than War…
Dáil Diary no 55 – 9 October 2015
There is a European Council meeting next week, so there was speaking time allotted in the Dáil chamber, this week, giving members an opportunity to challenge the Government on issues which are likely to be discussed. I addressed the ongoing refugee crisis, and the causes of same, which our Government have a strong tendency to ignore. No rational person is going to believe that the Government really care about the refugees, as long as we continue to allow the US Military use Shannon airport as a Military air base, to facilitate their endless wars, bombing the homes and villages of innocent civilians, making refugees of them. The arms business is now one of the biggest industries in the world, and it has developed into a self-perpetuating business, which cares nothing for the lives and communities they destroy, as long as they continue to improve their profit margins. And sadly, the Irish Government is complicit. Here’s my short 3 minute Dáil contribution + video of same. -
“When the Minister of State, Deputy Dara Murphy, and his colleagues are in Europe, they might remind the various European leaders that things are getting worse rather than better. I have seldom seen as little opposition in Europe to the militarisation of the Middle East and beyond. All of them seem almost to have bought into the philosophy that this is the way things are done now. France and Britain were initially pretty reluctant to take in refugees. Obviously, they and many others, including ourselves, have been shamed into it by Germany at this stage. They actually want to bomb Syria now, as if that is going to improve things. It is bad enough that the Russians have started. The whole thing is getting worse. They are all engaged in mindless nonsense. The devastation is incredible. George Monbiot described it accurately in The Guardian today:
There are no simple solutions to the chaos and complexities western firepower has helped to unleash, though a good start would be to stop making them worse. But a vast intelligence and military establishment that no president since Jimmy Carter has sought to control, the tremendous profits to be made by weapons companies and military contractors, portrayals of these conflicts in the media that serve only to confuse and bamboozle: they all help to ensure that armed escalation, however pointless and counter-productive, appears unstoppable.
He also refers to NATO's description of the bombing of the hospital in Kunduz:
"The strike may have resulted in collateral damage to a nearby medical facility." This is how an anonymous Nato spokesperson described Saturday’s disaster in Afghanistan. Let's translate it into English. "We bombed a hospital, killing 22 people." But "people", "hospital" and "bomb", let alone "we": all such words are banned from Nato's lexicon.
The plane came back repeatedly to bomb the people trying to escape from the building. We are sitting at the table with these people. We have troops from our Defence Forces over there. Seven Irish defence personnel are working with these fellows in Afghanistan. What is wrong with us? This is a war crime. We have been told that the Americans are going to do an internal investigation. I suggest that is like getting the fox to investigate a raid on the chicken house. Can the Minister of State and his colleagues start calling the truth the truth and challenging war crime when they see it?"
Mick Wallace.
Good soundness is a result of proper food 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 perfect 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 remember 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 disfunction, including many blood pressure medicines, pain remedies, and most of antidepressants. Sometimes the treatment options may turn on erectile disfunction remedies or hormone treatments.
