An Bord Pleanála has granted planning permission for developer Liam Carroll to complete the building of the proposed Anglo Irish Bank headquarters in the Dublin docklands.
State-owned Anglo Irish Bank formally ended its agreement to occupy the building in February.
The property was already facing an uncertain future prior to Anglo's withdrawal following the collapse of Mr Carroll’s Zoe Group, which owned the development, and a successful legal action by developer Seán Dunne quashing the planning on the land.
The skeletal structure has become synonymous with the country’s defunct property development market.
Construction on the proposed Anglo head office stopped after Mr Dunne won a High Court case quashing fast-track planning permission granted by the Dublin Docklands Development Authority (DDDA) to Mr Carroll’s company, North Quay Investments, to construct the building.
During Mr Carroll’s failed bid to secure court protection from his corporate debts last year, Anglo offered to loan a further €8 million to his Zoe Group to clad the shell of the building and a further €60 million to complete the project.
Mr Carroll’s firm had already drawn down €40 million from Anglo as of last June to finance the development of the property.
Despite permission being given to North Quay Investments Limited to complete the building, there is doubt whether the troubled developer has the funds needed to finish the project.
According to North Quay's submission to An Bord Pleanála, the company intends to retain the eight-storey structure as an office building. The submission says the owner intends to undertake works that would complete the construction of the building, such as facades, roof plant areas and an internal fit-out.
Earlier this year the former chief executive of the DDDA told The Irish Times there was "no conspiracy" in the authority's agreement with Mr Carroll over the new building.
Paul Maloney said he never had a discussion about the project with former DDDA directors Seán FitzPatrick and Lar Bradshaw, who are also both former directors of Anglo Irish Bank.
The new DDDA board has criticised the deal and voiced concerned over cross-directorships between Anglo and the authority.
Irish Times
www.buckplanning.ie
Showing posts with label dublin docklands development authority. Show all posts
Showing posts with label dublin docklands development authority. Show all posts
Friday, 3 September 2010
Sunday, 13 June 2010
Back in the dock for players in this unholy alliance
A further inquiry is needed in light of the Moylan report that exposes the many conflicts of interest in Anglo Irish Bank's link to the DDDA, writes Neil Callanan
Developer Liam Carroll: his firm agreed to cede some of its land to the DDDA in return for being granted permission for a 16-storey building
Further probes are now likely into the implications of a High Court decision overruling planning permission granted by the DDDA for a Liam Carroll office block on Dublin's north quays that was earmarked for Anglo Irish Bank. The draft Moylan report, published last week by the DDDA, reviewed certain issues in relation to the build-up to the loss but it is clear that the issue is far from over. Sources believe an investigation by the Oireachtas's Public Accounts Committee may be warranted.
At the heart of the report is a "secret" deal whereby Liam Carroll's company agreed to cede some of its land to the DDDA for a public park in return for being granted permission for a 16-storey building in an area where the maximum height was seven storeys plus a setback storey.
It also became apparent, according to Moylan's report, that the relevant planning file was "sometimes unavailable to the public, and further that the content of the file was incomplete from time to time, when viewed by interested parties".
In many respects, the statement issued by the DDDA accompanying the report's release contained more interesting information than the report itself. Particularly striking was the revelation that in June or July 2008 a board member of the DDDA was informed by somebody outside the authority of the "true" content of an agreement between the DDDA and Liam Carroll in relation to the future development of the land. "When that board member attempted to bring the agreement to the attention of his fellow board members, he was impeded from so doing," the statement said.
The public has a right to know who impeded the board member and why. A public hearing through the Public Accounts Committee would be an ideal way of revealing this information.
Questions also need to be asked of then DDDA chairman Donal O'Connor's decision to tell Declan Moylan, who is chairman of legal firm Mason Hayes + Curran, to adopt a "co-operative" approach to his inquiry that would not result in "apportioning blame or liability on individuals". The state-owned DDDA had wasted millions on the court case and the inquiry should have been rigorous. Instead, a note to Moylan's report said he was asked "to adopt a low-key co-operative and non-confrontational style in my dealing with persons to be interviewed. I was asked not to conduct the exercise or any interviews with a view to apportioning blame or liability on individuals in due course, but to encourage interviewees to interact with me in a spirit of co-operation, seeking relevant solutions to the issues facing the authority in the future having 'learned the lessons' of the past".
His report was presented to the board on 13 December 2008 and "some small changes to the draft were made as a result of comments from board members, and a revised draft document was generated on 27 January 2009". It is that report that was released last week under Freedom of Information legislation.
Moylan withdrew from the project in September of last year because, Moylan stated, current DDDA chairwoman Niamh Brennan made clear that the extended work would "inevitably involve apportionment of blame on various parties, a direction in which I could not go in view of my earlier promises to the interviewees. I felt I could not proceed in this way either professionally or legally."
He had also learned that "an approach had been made to a key interviewee, that aspects of my draft conclusions had been discussed with him, and that recommendations had been made as to how he might communicate with me in further interview(s)".
The conflicts of interest at the heart of the DDDA in relation to this Liam Carroll site are obvious. The DDDA, which had a number of directors related to Anglo Irish Bank, backed planning approval for a building whose construction was being financed by the bank and which would also be occupied by the bank.
As the DDDA itself put it last week: "The conflicts of interest at the nexus of the relationships between the developers of that building, Anglo Irish Bank and certain individuals on the former Board of the Authority are striking. If no other controversy had occurred at the DDDA over the past 10 years, these matters alone would be sufficient to have seriously undermined public confidence in the authority. They therefore deserve the most careful scrutiny and examination."
It went on to say that "the issues which arose at that time and which emerged through the High Court case require a more far-reaching and comprehensive examination than has proved possible to date."
Other reports have followed into issues at the DDDA but the authority believes further independent investigation is required to "fully and properly address" these events.
Sunday Tribune
www.buckplanning.ie
Developer Liam Carroll: his firm agreed to cede some of its land to the DDDA in return for being granted permission for a 16-storey building
Further probes are now likely into the implications of a High Court decision overruling planning permission granted by the DDDA for a Liam Carroll office block on Dublin's north quays that was earmarked for Anglo Irish Bank. The draft Moylan report, published last week by the DDDA, reviewed certain issues in relation to the build-up to the loss but it is clear that the issue is far from over. Sources believe an investigation by the Oireachtas's Public Accounts Committee may be warranted.
At the heart of the report is a "secret" deal whereby Liam Carroll's company agreed to cede some of its land to the DDDA for a public park in return for being granted permission for a 16-storey building in an area where the maximum height was seven storeys plus a setback storey.
It also became apparent, according to Moylan's report, that the relevant planning file was "sometimes unavailable to the public, and further that the content of the file was incomplete from time to time, when viewed by interested parties".
In many respects, the statement issued by the DDDA accompanying the report's release contained more interesting information than the report itself. Particularly striking was the revelation that in June or July 2008 a board member of the DDDA was informed by somebody outside the authority of the "true" content of an agreement between the DDDA and Liam Carroll in relation to the future development of the land. "When that board member attempted to bring the agreement to the attention of his fellow board members, he was impeded from so doing," the statement said.
The public has a right to know who impeded the board member and why. A public hearing through the Public Accounts Committee would be an ideal way of revealing this information.
Questions also need to be asked of then DDDA chairman Donal O'Connor's decision to tell Declan Moylan, who is chairman of legal firm Mason Hayes + Curran, to adopt a "co-operative" approach to his inquiry that would not result in "apportioning blame or liability on individuals". The state-owned DDDA had wasted millions on the court case and the inquiry should have been rigorous. Instead, a note to Moylan's report said he was asked "to adopt a low-key co-operative and non-confrontational style in my dealing with persons to be interviewed. I was asked not to conduct the exercise or any interviews with a view to apportioning blame or liability on individuals in due course, but to encourage interviewees to interact with me in a spirit of co-operation, seeking relevant solutions to the issues facing the authority in the future having 'learned the lessons' of the past".
His report was presented to the board on 13 December 2008 and "some small changes to the draft were made as a result of comments from board members, and a revised draft document was generated on 27 January 2009". It is that report that was released last week under Freedom of Information legislation.
Moylan withdrew from the project in September of last year because, Moylan stated, current DDDA chairwoman Niamh Brennan made clear that the extended work would "inevitably involve apportionment of blame on various parties, a direction in which I could not go in view of my earlier promises to the interviewees. I felt I could not proceed in this way either professionally or legally."
He had also learned that "an approach had been made to a key interviewee, that aspects of my draft conclusions had been discussed with him, and that recommendations had been made as to how he might communicate with me in further interview(s)".
The conflicts of interest at the heart of the DDDA in relation to this Liam Carroll site are obvious. The DDDA, which had a number of directors related to Anglo Irish Bank, backed planning approval for a building whose construction was being financed by the bank and which would also be occupied by the bank.
As the DDDA itself put it last week: "The conflicts of interest at the nexus of the relationships between the developers of that building, Anglo Irish Bank and certain individuals on the former Board of the Authority are striking. If no other controversy had occurred at the DDDA over the past 10 years, these matters alone would be sufficient to have seriously undermined public confidence in the authority. They therefore deserve the most careful scrutiny and examination."
It went on to say that "the issues which arose at that time and which emerged through the High Court case require a more far-reaching and comprehensive examination than has proved possible to date."
Other reports have followed into issues at the DDDA but the authority believes further independent investigation is required to "fully and properly address" these events.
Sunday Tribune
www.buckplanning.ie
Wednesday, 2 June 2010
Glass Bottle consortium paid €100mm ore than under bidder
The consortium that bought the Irish Glass Bottle site in Dublin in 2006 paid up to €100 million more than any other bidder offered, The Sunday Business Post has learned.
The purchase of the site for €412 million has led to investigations into the activities of the Dublin Docklands Development Authority (DDDA),which formed the Becbay consortium with property developers Derek Quinlan and Bernard McNamara.
The purchase price for the site is expected to be central to a new investigation into the DDDA by the Comptroller & Auditor General, sources familiar with the inquiries said.
The C&AG will attempt to ascertain how the consortium arrived at the €412 million valuation. It has already emerged that the DDDA did not get a professional valuation of the site before entering the deal with the property developers.
Evidence has emerged in recent weeks that the underbidder, believed to be developer Sean Mulryan, offered between €70 million and €100 million less than the Becbay bid.
The site is now valued at around €60 million and sources said the National Ass et Management Agency (Nama) would devalue it further by imposing a ‘haircut’ of between 80 and 90 per cent on the related loans.
The investigation comes as the DDDA considers its future options for the site. A report commissioned by the government from accountancy firm FGS has outlined a number of options, including offloading the DDDA’s stake in the site on the open market.
Regardless of what option it takes, FGS has warned that the agency will be forced to take a massive hit on its investment. Last week, the government published three reports into the DDDA, highlighting serious failures within the agency.
The site was part-owned by the Dublin Port Company, which was a major beneficiary of the Becbay buyout. Its former chairman, Joe Burke, has confirmed that some of the proceeds were used to fill a €73 million hole in the company’s pension fund.
The Dublin Port Company’s annual report for 2005 shows that the pension fund was short by €72.7 million.
A year later, it declared a once-off profit of €109 million from the sale of the Irish Glass Bottle site, which was used to top up the pension fund, pay off borrowings and support its capital investment plans.
Sunday Business Post
www.buckplanning.ie
The purchase of the site for €412 million has led to investigations into the activities of the Dublin Docklands Development Authority (DDDA),which formed the Becbay consortium with property developers Derek Quinlan and Bernard McNamara.
The purchase price for the site is expected to be central to a new investigation into the DDDA by the Comptroller & Auditor General, sources familiar with the inquiries said.
The C&AG will attempt to ascertain how the consortium arrived at the €412 million valuation. It has already emerged that the DDDA did not get a professional valuation of the site before entering the deal with the property developers.
Evidence has emerged in recent weeks that the underbidder, believed to be developer Sean Mulryan, offered between €70 million and €100 million less than the Becbay bid.
The site is now valued at around €60 million and sources said the National Ass et Management Agency (Nama) would devalue it further by imposing a ‘haircut’ of between 80 and 90 per cent on the related loans.
The investigation comes as the DDDA considers its future options for the site. A report commissioned by the government from accountancy firm FGS has outlined a number of options, including offloading the DDDA’s stake in the site on the open market.
Regardless of what option it takes, FGS has warned that the agency will be forced to take a massive hit on its investment. Last week, the government published three reports into the DDDA, highlighting serious failures within the agency.
The site was part-owned by the Dublin Port Company, which was a major beneficiary of the Becbay buyout. Its former chairman, Joe Burke, has confirmed that some of the proceeds were used to fill a €73 million hole in the company’s pension fund.
The Dublin Port Company’s annual report for 2005 shows that the pension fund was short by €72.7 million.
A year later, it declared a once-off profit of €109 million from the sale of the Irish Glass Bottle site, which was used to top up the pension fund, pay off borrowings and support its capital investment plans.
Sunday Business Post
www.buckplanning.ie
Sunday, 30 May 2010
Docks body losses not known, says Gormley
THE COST to the State of the losses caused by serious failings at the Dublin Docklands Development Authority were not yet known, Minister for the Environment John Gormley told the Dáil.
He was replying to Fine Gael spokesman Phil Hogan who asked what the taxpayers’ liability would be “arising from this irresponsible mess and the decisions that were made over the years”.
Mr Gormley said the loans had been taken into Nama (National Asset Management Agency) and the authority had been asked to produce a business plan by the end of July.
“It is only after rigorous examination and total engagement with Nama that we will know what the outstanding liability is,” he added.
Mr Hogan welcomed the Minister’s decision to extend the remit of the Comptroller and Auditor General (C&AG) to include the authority, as had been provided in a Fine Gael Bill which Mr Gormley had voted against last December.
“I am not a total hypocrite, as some other people might be,” he added.
Labour’s Joanna Tuffy said the Minister had received advice from the Attorney General that the authority could be brought under C&AG’s remit by way of ministerial order.
Yet the Minister had written to Bernard Allen TD, chairman of the Committee of Public Accounts, last September, indicating that amending legislation would be required.
Ms Tuffy said that legislation would do much more than bring the authority within the CAG’s remit. Legal advice received by her party indicated that merely adding the authority to the schedule of the existing Act would mean the CAG only being able to look into the future.
He would not be able to examine the authority’s past decisions.
Ms Tuffy said in the case of the Dirt T inquiry, it was necessary to ensure the legislation enabled the C&AG and the Oireachtas committee to examine the banks’ past treatment of bogus non-resident accounts. The same should apply to the authority, if precedent was anything to go by.
Mr Gormley said that was not the advice he had received from the Attorney General, and it would not make sense if it were so.
He had been told that the C&AG’s remit could look at issues raised in two reports.
Pressed further on the issue, Mr Gormley said as the Minister with responsibility for the authority, he was most anxious that there be total openness and transparency in the various matters involved.
“I will not be wanting in this regard and anything that is required for such an investigation will be given,” he added.
Mr Hogan said the matter would have moved further on by now if the Minister had agreed to the Fine Gael proposal last December.
Mr Gormley said Mr Hogan knew he had not received the various reports relating to the authority at the time.
The reports, he added, had been cited in newspaper articles as containing explosive information, but he had said that was not the case and he had been proved right.
Irish Times
www.buckplanning.ie
He was replying to Fine Gael spokesman Phil Hogan who asked what the taxpayers’ liability would be “arising from this irresponsible mess and the decisions that were made over the years”.
Mr Gormley said the loans had been taken into Nama (National Asset Management Agency) and the authority had been asked to produce a business plan by the end of July.
“It is only after rigorous examination and total engagement with Nama that we will know what the outstanding liability is,” he added.
Mr Hogan welcomed the Minister’s decision to extend the remit of the Comptroller and Auditor General (C&AG) to include the authority, as had been provided in a Fine Gael Bill which Mr Gormley had voted against last December.
“I am not a total hypocrite, as some other people might be,” he added.
Labour’s Joanna Tuffy said the Minister had received advice from the Attorney General that the authority could be brought under C&AG’s remit by way of ministerial order.
Yet the Minister had written to Bernard Allen TD, chairman of the Committee of Public Accounts, last September, indicating that amending legislation would be required.
Ms Tuffy said that legislation would do much more than bring the authority within the CAG’s remit. Legal advice received by her party indicated that merely adding the authority to the schedule of the existing Act would mean the CAG only being able to look into the future.
He would not be able to examine the authority’s past decisions.
Ms Tuffy said in the case of the Dirt T inquiry, it was necessary to ensure the legislation enabled the C&AG and the Oireachtas committee to examine the banks’ past treatment of bogus non-resident accounts. The same should apply to the authority, if precedent was anything to go by.
Mr Gormley said that was not the advice he had received from the Attorney General, and it would not make sense if it were so.
He had been told that the C&AG’s remit could look at issues raised in two reports.
Pressed further on the issue, Mr Gormley said as the Minister with responsibility for the authority, he was most anxious that there be total openness and transparency in the various matters involved.
“I will not be wanting in this regard and anything that is required for such an investigation will be given,” he added.
Mr Hogan said the matter would have moved further on by now if the Minister had agreed to the Fine Gael proposal last December.
Mr Gormley said Mr Hogan knew he had not received the various reports relating to the authority at the time.
The reports, he added, had been cited in newspaper articles as containing explosive information, but he had said that was not the case and he had been proved right.
Irish Times
www.buckplanning.ie
Sunday, 2 May 2010
DDDA sculpture left high and dry
The Dublin Docklands Development Authority (DDDA), which recorded a deficit of €213m last year, has spent hundreds of thousands of euros on developing a landmark sculpture in the Liffey that has now been postponed indefinitely.
Wire Man by Antony Gormley, the British sculptor, is a 46-metre steel sculpture that was supposed to be located in the river. However, it has now been shelved due to “the financial challenges faced by the authority”, the DDDA admitted last week.
But files released under the Freedom of Information Act show that more than €340,000 has already been spent on the project, which was granted planning permission following an appeal early last year. The total budget for the project is estimated at about €1.6m.
The project may never be completed due to the parlous state of the DDDA’s finances.
The proposed towering sculpture, modelled on London-born Gormley’s own body, was to have been situated beside the Sean O’Casey Bridge overlooking Dublin’s International Financial Services Centre.
Gormley, who designed the Angel of the North sculpture in Gateshead, England, has been paid €54,110 to date for developing his idea of a steel lattice figure that would have towered over the city.
The DDDA also spent €80,200 on a competition to select a sculptor from a shortlist of eight candidates, eventually won by Gormley. The agency spent a further €172,418 bringing the project through the planning process and a total of €36,054 on “public consultation”.
A spokesman said last week that the planning costs were exacerbated by an appeal to An Bord Pleanala and the need for an environmental impact statement. The planning costs included fees for consultants, engineers, architects and geologists. The public consultation costs, according to the DDDA, included marketing and promotional expenses.
In May last year, Gormley texted Paul Maloney, the then chief executive of the DDDA, to express his frustration at delays in the project. Maloney replied by email, assuring Gormley that the DDDA “remains committed to the delivery of this project” but said the authority was facing “extremely serious financial challenges in light of the collapse of international financial and property markets”.
Maloney continued that the DDDA would investigate and take up any offers of assistance in funding the project. “For the next six months, it will be a priority of ours . . . to secure any support for the project so that we can proceed in January 2010,” he said.
Despite this assurance, the DDDA admitted this weekend that the project was not “being progressed”.
Gormley told The Sunday Times last year that “the international art world was watching Dublin and it would be foolish not to go ahead with the project”. He said that he had been assured by the DDDA that the €1.6m set aside for the project had been “ring-fenced”.
“I would be surprised and disappointed if the project didn’t go ahead as planned,” he said at the time.
In June 2008, just as its finances were unravelling, the agency spent €170,218 on an installation by Spencer Tunick, a photographer who takes images of nude groups.
The installation took place over a weekend in June 2008. Tunick was paid €31,768 and €13,574 was spent on project management. Some 25,000 volunteers posed naked on the South Wall harbour in the Dublin docklands.
The production costs for the event, and a subsequent photo shoot at a nearby apartment building, cost €49,381, while a marketing campaign to highlight the event — including a website — cost another €75,493. The overall spend included the cost of sending each volunteer a limited-edition photograph. Earlier in the month, Tunick had created another installation, in Blarney Castle, in Co Cork, featuring 1,200 volunteers, including Ray D’Arcy, a Today FM DJ. The cost was met by the organisers of Cork Midsummer Festival.
William Galinsky, the festival director, said Tunick charged the same fee as for the DDDA project. There were also costs of just under €32,000, but marketing expenses were lower because it was part of a festival and production costs were lower because the site was easier to work on than in Dublin.
Sunday Times
www.buckplanning.ie
Wire Man by Antony Gormley, the British sculptor, is a 46-metre steel sculpture that was supposed to be located in the river. However, it has now been shelved due to “the financial challenges faced by the authority”, the DDDA admitted last week.
But files released under the Freedom of Information Act show that more than €340,000 has already been spent on the project, which was granted planning permission following an appeal early last year. The total budget for the project is estimated at about €1.6m.
The project may never be completed due to the parlous state of the DDDA’s finances.
The proposed towering sculpture, modelled on London-born Gormley’s own body, was to have been situated beside the Sean O’Casey Bridge overlooking Dublin’s International Financial Services Centre.
Gormley, who designed the Angel of the North sculpture in Gateshead, England, has been paid €54,110 to date for developing his idea of a steel lattice figure that would have towered over the city.
The DDDA also spent €80,200 on a competition to select a sculptor from a shortlist of eight candidates, eventually won by Gormley. The agency spent a further €172,418 bringing the project through the planning process and a total of €36,054 on “public consultation”.
A spokesman said last week that the planning costs were exacerbated by an appeal to An Bord Pleanala and the need for an environmental impact statement. The planning costs included fees for consultants, engineers, architects and geologists. The public consultation costs, according to the DDDA, included marketing and promotional expenses.
In May last year, Gormley texted Paul Maloney, the then chief executive of the DDDA, to express his frustration at delays in the project. Maloney replied by email, assuring Gormley that the DDDA “remains committed to the delivery of this project” but said the authority was facing “extremely serious financial challenges in light of the collapse of international financial and property markets”.
Maloney continued that the DDDA would investigate and take up any offers of assistance in funding the project. “For the next six months, it will be a priority of ours . . . to secure any support for the project so that we can proceed in January 2010,” he said.
Despite this assurance, the DDDA admitted this weekend that the project was not “being progressed”.
Gormley told The Sunday Times last year that “the international art world was watching Dublin and it would be foolish not to go ahead with the project”. He said that he had been assured by the DDDA that the €1.6m set aside for the project had been “ring-fenced”.
“I would be surprised and disappointed if the project didn’t go ahead as planned,” he said at the time.
In June 2008, just as its finances were unravelling, the agency spent €170,218 on an installation by Spencer Tunick, a photographer who takes images of nude groups.
The installation took place over a weekend in June 2008. Tunick was paid €31,768 and €13,574 was spent on project management. Some 25,000 volunteers posed naked on the South Wall harbour in the Dublin docklands.
The production costs for the event, and a subsequent photo shoot at a nearby apartment building, cost €49,381, while a marketing campaign to highlight the event — including a website — cost another €75,493. The overall spend included the cost of sending each volunteer a limited-edition photograph. Earlier in the month, Tunick had created another installation, in Blarney Castle, in Co Cork, featuring 1,200 volunteers, including Ray D’Arcy, a Today FM DJ. The cost was met by the organisers of Cork Midsummer Festival.
William Galinsky, the festival director, said Tunick charged the same fee as for the DDDA project. There were also costs of just under €32,000, but marketing expenses were lower because it was part of a festival and production costs were lower because the site was easier to work on than in Dublin.
Sunday Times
www.buckplanning.ie
Monday, 5 April 2010
DDDA did not follow guidelines in €83k contracts
The Dublin Docklands Development Authority (DDDA) gave contracts worth nearly €83,000 in 2008 and 2009 to a business without following public procurement guidelines.
A report into the finance function of the DDDA by Ray King found there "was no documentation available in respect of one contract worth €75,000" which was awarded to the company. It was the only one of 37 contracts worth more than €50,000 given by the DDDA that did not comply with public procurement guidelines during the two-year period, the report states.
The same business was also the beneficiary of a €7,275 contract. In that case, the report reveals, it was one of two of the 22 contracts reviewed that did not comply with guidelines. The business that benefited from the contract does not appear to be registered as a company or as a business trading name.
The King report also criticised the awarding of pay increases in the authority, saying there was very little information or documentation in some cases. In general, the report states, there is one page showing the salary increase that has been approved, usually by then DDDA chief executive Paul Maloney.
"This page on occasions contains a phrase or sentence explaining the reason for the increase in salary or car allowance but on other occasions contains no such information," it states.
Later it states that "when you see the detailed documentation and information that appears on the personnel files when a new employee is engaged, the lack of information and documentation for increases in salary and car allowances is remarkable."
Sunday Tribune
www.buckplanning.ie
A report into the finance function of the DDDA by Ray King found there "was no documentation available in respect of one contract worth €75,000" which was awarded to the company. It was the only one of 37 contracts worth more than €50,000 given by the DDDA that did not comply with public procurement guidelines during the two-year period, the report states.
The same business was also the beneficiary of a €7,275 contract. In that case, the report reveals, it was one of two of the 22 contracts reviewed that did not comply with guidelines. The business that benefited from the contract does not appear to be registered as a company or as a business trading name.
The King report also criticised the awarding of pay increases in the authority, saying there was very little information or documentation in some cases. In general, the report states, there is one page showing the salary increase that has been approved, usually by then DDDA chief executive Paul Maloney.
"This page on occasions contains a phrase or sentence explaining the reason for the increase in salary or car allowance but on other occasions contains no such information," it states.
Later it states that "when you see the detailed documentation and information that appears on the personnel files when a new employee is engaged, the lack of information and documentation for increases in salary and car allowances is remarkable."
Sunday Tribune
www.buckplanning.ie
Sunday, 28 March 2010
Docklands board to seek inquiry into deals
The board of the Dublin Docklands Development Authority (DDDA) will call for an inquiry into the property deals and planning decisions made by the previous board and executive of the state agency over a 10-year period.
The inquiry, which will have full powers of discovery, will be proposed next month by Professor Niamh Brennan, who was appointed DDDA chairman in March 2009. The agency is finalising three reports to government on the planning decisions, financial management and corporate governance of the agency since it was set up in 1997.
Sources close to the DDDA said the reports had identified structural weaknesses in the agency and “confirmed all the reasons we have to be worried”.
“Niamh Brennan and the board were never going to be in a position to look at files in the offices of Anglo Irish Bank [which financed a number of the DDDA’s projects], interview Sean FitzPatrick [the former Anglo chairman] and others, or put allegations to people. That was not their role,” the source said. “But in gathering the information they have, they could be in a position to say, here’s what we think you should be inquiring further about.”
The three reports requested by John Gormley, the environment minister, were circulated to interested parties, including former directors, in recent days.
Phil Hogan, the Fine Gael environment spokesman, leaked copies of the draft reports to the media, accusing Gormley of covering up Brennan’s findings. He also published correspondence between the DDDA, the Department of the Environment and the Department of Finance in 2006, secured under freedom of information legislation.
The emails and letters showed that Dick Roche, then environment minister, gave DDDA approval within 14 working days to borrow €127m — its annual borrowing ceiling — so it could become a partner in the €427m purchase of the Dublin Glass Bottle site in Ringsend.
Hogan demanded to know why Brian Cowen, then finance minister, signed off on the approval, as required under law, within such a short timeframe and without seeking a due diligence test on the value of what was a record property transaction for a state agency.
A government spokesman rejected the charges as “a cheap attempt to smear the taoiseach” which deliberately ignored crucial facts.
“Brian Cowen as minister for finance did not approve the purchase of the site in question,” he said. “The [DDDA] is entitled to borrow up to a limit of €127m, with the approval of the minister for the environment, heritage and local government and the consent of the minister for finance.”
He said Cowen gave his consent following full consideration of this matter by senior officials in his department who “recommended, subject to your approval, that the DDDA be allowed to borrow the funds necessary to purchase the site”.
The Hogan correspondence tracks exchanges between civil servants as they assess whether to recommend the consent of government. In one, a senior finance official tells a colleague that “our main concern would be that any semi-state borrower has had quotes from a number of banks”.
The second civil servant then tells a department of the environment official that because the DDDA was a commercial semi-state, its borrowings would not impact on the general government debt.
Although its request to use its annual borrowing limit in a single deal was “unusual”, he noted, it was a matter for the environment department to assess if this was appropriate.
Asked about the apparently casual nature of some of the exchanges between civil servants, Hogan said the officials “took a view” based on the assumptions of Paul Maloney, [the then DDDA chief executive], and his board promising a 15% return on this investment.
“Nobody did any due diligence in relation to these assumptions,” he said. “There was no valuation carried out on the site independently, there was no financial expertise deployed independently and there was only one bank asked to quote, as far as we can see.”
Sunday Times
www.buckplanning.ie
The inquiry, which will have full powers of discovery, will be proposed next month by Professor Niamh Brennan, who was appointed DDDA chairman in March 2009. The agency is finalising three reports to government on the planning decisions, financial management and corporate governance of the agency since it was set up in 1997.
Sources close to the DDDA said the reports had identified structural weaknesses in the agency and “confirmed all the reasons we have to be worried”.
“Niamh Brennan and the board were never going to be in a position to look at files in the offices of Anglo Irish Bank [which financed a number of the DDDA’s projects], interview Sean FitzPatrick [the former Anglo chairman] and others, or put allegations to people. That was not their role,” the source said. “But in gathering the information they have, they could be in a position to say, here’s what we think you should be inquiring further about.”
The three reports requested by John Gormley, the environment minister, were circulated to interested parties, including former directors, in recent days.
Phil Hogan, the Fine Gael environment spokesman, leaked copies of the draft reports to the media, accusing Gormley of covering up Brennan’s findings. He also published correspondence between the DDDA, the Department of the Environment and the Department of Finance in 2006, secured under freedom of information legislation.
The emails and letters showed that Dick Roche, then environment minister, gave DDDA approval within 14 working days to borrow €127m — its annual borrowing ceiling — so it could become a partner in the €427m purchase of the Dublin Glass Bottle site in Ringsend.
Hogan demanded to know why Brian Cowen, then finance minister, signed off on the approval, as required under law, within such a short timeframe and without seeking a due diligence test on the value of what was a record property transaction for a state agency.
A government spokesman rejected the charges as “a cheap attempt to smear the taoiseach” which deliberately ignored crucial facts.
“Brian Cowen as minister for finance did not approve the purchase of the site in question,” he said. “The [DDDA] is entitled to borrow up to a limit of €127m, with the approval of the minister for the environment, heritage and local government and the consent of the minister for finance.”
He said Cowen gave his consent following full consideration of this matter by senior officials in his department who “recommended, subject to your approval, that the DDDA be allowed to borrow the funds necessary to purchase the site”.
The Hogan correspondence tracks exchanges between civil servants as they assess whether to recommend the consent of government. In one, a senior finance official tells a colleague that “our main concern would be that any semi-state borrower has had quotes from a number of banks”.
The second civil servant then tells a department of the environment official that because the DDDA was a commercial semi-state, its borrowings would not impact on the general government debt.
Although its request to use its annual borrowing limit in a single deal was “unusual”, he noted, it was a matter for the environment department to assess if this was appropriate.
Asked about the apparently casual nature of some of the exchanges between civil servants, Hogan said the officials “took a view” based on the assumptions of Paul Maloney, [the then DDDA chief executive], and his board promising a 15% return on this investment.
“Nobody did any due diligence in relation to these assumptions,” he said. “There was no valuation carried out on the site independently, there was no financial expertise deployed independently and there was only one bank asked to quote, as far as we can see.”
Sunday Times
www.buckplanning.ie
DDDA denies making representations
The Dublin Docklands Development Authority (DDDA) has denied it or its former CEO Paul Maloney made “representations” to developer Bernard McNamara which induced him to get involved in a joint bid with the authority for the Irish Glass Bottle (IGB) site at Ringsend and caused him massive losses.
While Mr Maloney had written to Mr McNamara in October 2006 concerning the site, the DDDA has denied he “represented” the DDDA could fast-track permission for its development or could procure a Luas route to the site, Mr Justice Peter Kelly was told today.
The DDDA also pleads any losses suffered by Mr McNamara and Donatex over the IGB site acquisition are not attributable to its alleged failure to fast track permission for the site as, it claims, such permission always had to be approved by the Minister for the Environment.
In Commercial Court proceedings against the DDDA, Mr McNamara has claimed these and other alleged “representations” by Mr Maloney persuaded him to get involved in bidding for the site and ultimately exposed him to claims of more than €108 million.
He claims, following a High Court finding in 2008 the DDDA acted outside its powers in how it fast-tracked permission for another docklands development at North Wall Quay, the DDDA was never entitled to enter in November 2006 into an agreement involving himself and developer Derek Quinlan related to development of the site.
The DDDA was unable to perform its obligations under that IGB agreement and had therefore frustrated the ability of Mr McNamara and others to develop the site, meaning very substantial losses for them, it is alleged.
Mr McNamara said he faced potential claims totalling more than €108 million on foot of loans raised from Anglo Irish Bank and private investors with Davy Property Holdings Ltd and also on foot of personal guarantees given by him over those loans.
The proceedings by Mr McNamara, Ailesbury Road, Ballsbridge, Dublin, and his company Donatex Ltd, Pembroke Road, Ballsbridge, against the DDDA were before Mr Justice Kelly today to deal with discovery issues.
The sides had agreed most of the discovery matters but disagreed about the time length for discovery of documents related to alleged “representations” by the DDDA to the plaintiffs which allegedly led to the agreement of November 2006.
The DDDA was prepared to discover documents from September 2006 to January 2007, when the formal contract was signed, but Mr McNamara’s side argued such discovery should extend up to the time their proceedings issued.
Mr Justice Kelly ruled discovery up to January 2007 relating to the alleged representations was adequate and the additional discovery sought was irrelevant and not necessary.
In his case, Mr McNamara claims the Dublin Port Company and South Wharf plc had advertised the IGB site for sale by tender in September 2006. He claims Mr Maloney approached him a month later about becoming involved with the DDDA and submitting a bid for the site. Mr McNamara said he initially indicated he was not interested as he believed it would not be possible to generate a profit.
He claims Mr Maloney made several later representations to him, including the DDDA could procure a route for the Luas to the site and, as planning authority, could “fast-track” any application for permission for development without the risk of appeals to An Bord Pleanála by others.
It was in those circumstances Mr McNamara alleges he would be prepared to consider a joint bid with the DDDA for the site, it is claimed. Beebay Ltd was later incorporated and used by Mr McNamara and the DDDA to bid for the site.
Mempal Ltd, a company controlled by Mr Quinlan, later acquired an interest in Beebay. In November 2006, Donatex held 41 per cent, Mempal 33 per cent and DDDA 26 per cent of Beebay.
Beebay acquired the site for some €412 million with funds of some €288 million from Anglo Irish Bank (later converted into a joint facility provided by Anglo and Allied Irish Bank), €57.5 million from Donatex, €32.1 million from the DDDA and €46.3 million from Mempal.
Mr McNamara claims it was a condition of the loans to Beebay he provide a guarantee for €41 million of the sum advanced to Beebay and also for 41 per cent of all interest payable by Beebay.
The funds provided by Donatex were sourced from private clients of Davy Property Holdings Ltd (Davy) who last January secured judgment for €62.5 million against Mr McNamara under his personal guarantee over loans to Donatex. The investors also obtained €98 million judgment against Donatex.
Irish Times
www.buckplanning.ie
While Mr Maloney had written to Mr McNamara in October 2006 concerning the site, the DDDA has denied he “represented” the DDDA could fast-track permission for its development or could procure a Luas route to the site, Mr Justice Peter Kelly was told today.
The DDDA also pleads any losses suffered by Mr McNamara and Donatex over the IGB site acquisition are not attributable to its alleged failure to fast track permission for the site as, it claims, such permission always had to be approved by the Minister for the Environment.
In Commercial Court proceedings against the DDDA, Mr McNamara has claimed these and other alleged “representations” by Mr Maloney persuaded him to get involved in bidding for the site and ultimately exposed him to claims of more than €108 million.
He claims, following a High Court finding in 2008 the DDDA acted outside its powers in how it fast-tracked permission for another docklands development at North Wall Quay, the DDDA was never entitled to enter in November 2006 into an agreement involving himself and developer Derek Quinlan related to development of the site.
The DDDA was unable to perform its obligations under that IGB agreement and had therefore frustrated the ability of Mr McNamara and others to develop the site, meaning very substantial losses for them, it is alleged.
Mr McNamara said he faced potential claims totalling more than €108 million on foot of loans raised from Anglo Irish Bank and private investors with Davy Property Holdings Ltd and also on foot of personal guarantees given by him over those loans.
The proceedings by Mr McNamara, Ailesbury Road, Ballsbridge, Dublin, and his company Donatex Ltd, Pembroke Road, Ballsbridge, against the DDDA were before Mr Justice Kelly today to deal with discovery issues.
The sides had agreed most of the discovery matters but disagreed about the time length for discovery of documents related to alleged “representations” by the DDDA to the plaintiffs which allegedly led to the agreement of November 2006.
The DDDA was prepared to discover documents from September 2006 to January 2007, when the formal contract was signed, but Mr McNamara’s side argued such discovery should extend up to the time their proceedings issued.
Mr Justice Kelly ruled discovery up to January 2007 relating to the alleged representations was adequate and the additional discovery sought was irrelevant and not necessary.
In his case, Mr McNamara claims the Dublin Port Company and South Wharf plc had advertised the IGB site for sale by tender in September 2006. He claims Mr Maloney approached him a month later about becoming involved with the DDDA and submitting a bid for the site. Mr McNamara said he initially indicated he was not interested as he believed it would not be possible to generate a profit.
He claims Mr Maloney made several later representations to him, including the DDDA could procure a route for the Luas to the site and, as planning authority, could “fast-track” any application for permission for development without the risk of appeals to An Bord Pleanála by others.
It was in those circumstances Mr McNamara alleges he would be prepared to consider a joint bid with the DDDA for the site, it is claimed. Beebay Ltd was later incorporated and used by Mr McNamara and the DDDA to bid for the site.
Mempal Ltd, a company controlled by Mr Quinlan, later acquired an interest in Beebay. In November 2006, Donatex held 41 per cent, Mempal 33 per cent and DDDA 26 per cent of Beebay.
Beebay acquired the site for some €412 million with funds of some €288 million from Anglo Irish Bank (later converted into a joint facility provided by Anglo and Allied Irish Bank), €57.5 million from Donatex, €32.1 million from the DDDA and €46.3 million from Mempal.
Mr McNamara claims it was a condition of the loans to Beebay he provide a guarantee for €41 million of the sum advanced to Beebay and also for 41 per cent of all interest payable by Beebay.
The funds provided by Donatex were sourced from private clients of Davy Property Holdings Ltd (Davy) who last January secured judgment for €62.5 million against Mr McNamara under his personal guarantee over loans to Donatex. The investors also obtained €98 million judgment against Donatex.
Irish Times
www.buckplanning.ie
DDDA plan is not 'fair, equitable and transparent' report
The planning scheme drawn up for the €412m Irish Glass Bottle site and the surrounding area has "not to date been carried out in a fair, equitable and transparent manner", according to a report drawn up for the Dublin Docklands Development Authority (DDDA). The planning scheme, which is the responsibility of the DDDA, has "planning problems" but "no illegalities have been found", according to planning consultants Brady Shipman Martin, which was commissioned to write the report into the Poolbeg draft planning scheme.
The DDDA is now considering how the issues raised by Brady Shipman Martin can be resolved.
Meanwhile, documents released last week to Fine Gael environment spokesman Phil Hogan show that Dublin Port, which was one of the vendors, believed the site was worth €300m in June 2006, but that the DDDA only believed it was worth about €220m in October of that year. The DDDA ended up being part of a consortium that tendered €412m for the site.
The documents show that former DDDA chief executive Paul Maloney wrote to the Department of the Environment on 2 October, 2006 seeking approval to borrow up to €127m to allow it invest in property.
The letter was sent to Mary Moylan, an assistant secretary at the department who was also a board member of the DDDA at the time. "As discussed with you, the Authority is now seeking approval from the Department… to put a borrowing facility in place with one of the main Irish clearing banks," the letter said, adding that this was to allow it "pursue a number of land acquisitions in the next number of months".
It later states that "acquisitions will be pursued in joint venture with private developers on a commercial basis where the development will seek a return that will equate to those achieved in the open market. Currently this is expected to deliver returns of c 15%".
The following day, at a board meeting of the DDDA, Maloney briefed them on the "confidential negotiations he had undertaken with a developer who had indicated an intention to bid for the site" and would welcome the DDDA becoming involved. "The board agreed that the executive could open negotiations with the potential tender partner with a view to formulating a joint bid," the minutes show.
Sunday Tribune
www.buckplanning.ie
The DDDA is now considering how the issues raised by Brady Shipman Martin can be resolved.
Meanwhile, documents released last week to Fine Gael environment spokesman Phil Hogan show that Dublin Port, which was one of the vendors, believed the site was worth €300m in June 2006, but that the DDDA only believed it was worth about €220m in October of that year. The DDDA ended up being part of a consortium that tendered €412m for the site.
The documents show that former DDDA chief executive Paul Maloney wrote to the Department of the Environment on 2 October, 2006 seeking approval to borrow up to €127m to allow it invest in property.
The letter was sent to Mary Moylan, an assistant secretary at the department who was also a board member of the DDDA at the time. "As discussed with you, the Authority is now seeking approval from the Department… to put a borrowing facility in place with one of the main Irish clearing banks," the letter said, adding that this was to allow it "pursue a number of land acquisitions in the next number of months".
It later states that "acquisitions will be pursued in joint venture with private developers on a commercial basis where the development will seek a return that will equate to those achieved in the open market. Currently this is expected to deliver returns of c 15%".
The following day, at a board meeting of the DDDA, Maloney briefed them on the "confidential negotiations he had undertaken with a developer who had indicated an intention to bid for the site" and would welcome the DDDA becoming involved. "The board agreed that the executive could open negotiations with the potential tender partner with a view to formulating a joint bid," the minutes show.
Sunday Tribune
www.buckplanning.ie
Dublin Docklands Development Authority in a battle for survival
'It is now clear that key information on planning issues were deliberately and systematically withheld from the current executive board. The agreement entered into by senior executives of the authority without the knowledge or authority of the executive board in relation to the Anglo Irish Bank headquarter building is a case in point"
January 2010 report by executive board of the DDDA to the Minister for Environment John Gormley
The Dublin Docklands Development Authority is in a battle for its financial life, a battle that it now seems destined to lose. The corporate governance reports released by Fine Gael's Phil Hogan show the extent of the problems.
"The financial outturn for 2010 is dependent on a payment due to the Authority of €20m in September 2010," according to a report by the executive board.
In addition, the DDDA is owed over €8m in levies and, as first reported in the Sunday Tribune, it has had to appoint debt collection services to pursue the unpaid debts. On top of this is its annual interest bill of €5m for the Irish Glass Bottle site and the DDDA quite simply is "incapable of operating on a break-even basis with this annual liability".
The upshot is that the authority may come under pressure to exceed its borrowing limits of €127m and that's where the taxpayer comes in. The State may have to pump money into a body that is running at a significant annual loss and where there is little hope of the money being recouped. The resemblance to Anglo Irish Bank is striking. And it is Anglo's tentacles that move everywhere in the DDDA, with cross-directorships and the bank's culture influencing the way the authority did its business. The damning result is that both are insolvent.
The documents released last week contain a wealth of new information. There was a "loose culture" in relation to internal systems of financial control. Salary increases were handled by then ceo Paul Maloney with "no oversight in his execution of these responsibilities, partly because the ceo did not bring these matters to the board's attention". In other areas, there were systems in place for cost control but they weren't implemented in practice. Perhaps most worryingly of all, "value-for-money considerations were largely absent in the work of the authority" until 2007.
This is summed up by the €625,000 spent on board and executive expenses between 2005 and 2009 and a jaw dropping €650,000 spent on public relations since 2006, all of which was first revealed in the Sunday Tribune. The worry for the taxpayer is that this may only be the beginning. The authority says it is operating "in a very litigious environment and it is possible that the Authority may be subject to other legal challenges in the future". Some of these legal challenges are likely to come from developers, some of whom have found that the planning permission for their buildings may not be valid while others are waking up to the possibility that they lost out on tenants to buildings that should not be standing because of "inappropriate planning decisions in the past", according to the executive report.
The authority put it best when it said that the findings of the report into planning by Declan Brassil "are commercially sensitive, with significant risks that legal steps may be taken against the Authority arising from its past planning practices". The costs of such actions can only be guessed, but no prizes for guessing who will be left with the bill.
Sunday Tribune
www.buckplanning.ie
January 2010 report by executive board of the DDDA to the Minister for Environment John Gormley
The Dublin Docklands Development Authority is in a battle for its financial life, a battle that it now seems destined to lose. The corporate governance reports released by Fine Gael's Phil Hogan show the extent of the problems.
"The financial outturn for 2010 is dependent on a payment due to the Authority of €20m in September 2010," according to a report by the executive board.
In addition, the DDDA is owed over €8m in levies and, as first reported in the Sunday Tribune, it has had to appoint debt collection services to pursue the unpaid debts. On top of this is its annual interest bill of €5m for the Irish Glass Bottle site and the DDDA quite simply is "incapable of operating on a break-even basis with this annual liability".
The upshot is that the authority may come under pressure to exceed its borrowing limits of €127m and that's where the taxpayer comes in. The State may have to pump money into a body that is running at a significant annual loss and where there is little hope of the money being recouped. The resemblance to Anglo Irish Bank is striking. And it is Anglo's tentacles that move everywhere in the DDDA, with cross-directorships and the bank's culture influencing the way the authority did its business. The damning result is that both are insolvent.
The documents released last week contain a wealth of new information. There was a "loose culture" in relation to internal systems of financial control. Salary increases were handled by then ceo Paul Maloney with "no oversight in his execution of these responsibilities, partly because the ceo did not bring these matters to the board's attention". In other areas, there were systems in place for cost control but they weren't implemented in practice. Perhaps most worryingly of all, "value-for-money considerations were largely absent in the work of the authority" until 2007.
This is summed up by the €625,000 spent on board and executive expenses between 2005 and 2009 and a jaw dropping €650,000 spent on public relations since 2006, all of which was first revealed in the Sunday Tribune. The worry for the taxpayer is that this may only be the beginning. The authority says it is operating "in a very litigious environment and it is possible that the Authority may be subject to other legal challenges in the future". Some of these legal challenges are likely to come from developers, some of whom have found that the planning permission for their buildings may not be valid while others are waking up to the possibility that they lost out on tenants to buildings that should not be standing because of "inappropriate planning decisions in the past", according to the executive report.
The authority put it best when it said that the findings of the report into planning by Declan Brassil "are commercially sensitive, with significant risks that legal steps may be taken against the Authority arising from its past planning practices". The costs of such actions can only be guessed, but no prizes for guessing who will be left with the bill.
Sunday Tribune
www.buckplanning.ie
Sunday, 14 March 2010
Treasury had big role in Docklands development
MANY people may never have heard of the company, but just look to Dublin's Docklands and Treasury Holdings has had a hand in building big chunks of the business hub.
It has been without doubt one of the country's most successful commercial property firms.
And it is one of a small number of firms still building landmark projects. The Montebetro office block -- a 15-storey building on Barrow Street close to the Phoenix Park in Dublin -- is due to be finished later this year.
At Spencer Dock it constructed a number of office blocks as well as upmarket apartments, while some of its landmark developments in the area include the almost complete National Convention Centre.
Treasury Holdings has developed sites such as the Westin Hotel in College Green, Dublin, in a former bank building, and a raft of other high-profile offices and commercial properties.
It also built the swish Ritz-Carlton hotel in Powerscourt, Co Wicklow. Richard Barrett also persuaded celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay to open a restaurant there.
Treasury Holdings' swanky offices in Dublin 4 were formally opened in late-2007 by then Taoiseach Bertie Ahern. He praised Treasury Holdings for its use of carbon-neutral cement in the convention centre, and using wood-pellet boilers in the Ritz-Carlton. Treasury Holdings now has interests in China, Russia, Sweden and France, as well as in London.
Irish Independent
www.buckplanning.ie
It has been without doubt one of the country's most successful commercial property firms.
And it is one of a small number of firms still building landmark projects. The Montebetro office block -- a 15-storey building on Barrow Street close to the Phoenix Park in Dublin -- is due to be finished later this year.
At Spencer Dock it constructed a number of office blocks as well as upmarket apartments, while some of its landmark developments in the area include the almost complete National Convention Centre.
Treasury Holdings has developed sites such as the Westin Hotel in College Green, Dublin, in a former bank building, and a raft of other high-profile offices and commercial properties.
It also built the swish Ritz-Carlton hotel in Powerscourt, Co Wicklow. Richard Barrett also persuaded celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay to open a restaurant there.
Treasury Holdings' swanky offices in Dublin 4 were formally opened in late-2007 by then Taoiseach Bertie Ahern. He praised Treasury Holdings for its use of carbon-neutral cement in the convention centre, and using wood-pellet boilers in the Ritz-Carlton. Treasury Holdings now has interests in China, Russia, Sweden and France, as well as in London.
Irish Independent
www.buckplanning.ie
Untangling the docklands web
The Comptroller & Auditor General will not be called in to look at the activities of the Dublin Docklands Development Authority, Taoiseach Brian Cowen decided last week, by refusing to sanction the move. The docklands was one of the playgrounds of the Celtic Tiger, and Neil Callanan outlines the links between the banks, the developers and the businessmen involved:
Lar Bradshaw
Seán Dunne
Bernard McNamara
Liam Carroll
Johnny Ronan
Paddy McKillen
Declan Quinlan
DDDA-Anglo
Current DDDA chairwoman Niamh Brennan has said that because of Anglo's influence, the DDDA "became very focused on development and used planning to facilitate and encourage development". The "association between Anglo and the DDDA has not served the authority well".
Gerry McCaughey -DDDA
Businessman McCaughey had barely started as chairman of the DDDA last year when he decided to step down after it was leaked that he took advantage of a loophole to legally reduce his tax liability when he sold his building company, Century Homes, in 2005.
Gerry McCaughey -Anglo
McCaughey is suing Anglo Irish Bank in relation to an investment fund that was set up by the bank to purchase and refurbish two hotels in New York. The bank claimed McCaughey was the "ringleader" behind claims of fraudulent representation and concealment against the bank and one of its subsidiaries.
Anglo-Quinlan, Paddy McKillen
McKillen invested in several properties with Quinlan's private equity management company, Quinlan Private. Anglo Irish Bank financed a number of the purchases. Sources in London say the two men were the main investors in the Asprey building at Bond Street there, which sold recently.
DDDA-Seán FitzPatrick, Lar Bradshaw, Donal O'Connor
Brennan has criticised the cross-directorships between the DDDA and Anglo Irish Bank. Former Anglo director Lar Bradshaw was the first chairman of the DDDA, former Anglo chief executive Seán FitzPatrick was on the board of the DDDA, and after Donal O'Connor became chairman of the DDDA he was invited to join the board of Anglo, which he accepted. After the bank was nationalised, O'Connor became its chairman and stepped down from the DDDA to ensure there was no suggestion of a conflict of interest. It was confirmed in recent days that he is to step down from the board of the bank later this year.
Lar Bradshaw and Seán Fitzpatrick
The two were on the board of the DDDA and Anglo. Both resigned from Anglo after it emerged FitzPatrick had hidden €87m of loans with the bank, transferring them to Irish Nationwide. Bradshaw resigned because one of his loans, held with Fitzpatrick, was temporarily transferred.
DDDA-Seán Dunne
Dunne took the DDDA to court after it gave the go-ahead for the Anglo headquarters buildings on the north docks on land adjoining a small site owned by him. The High Court took Dunne's side, saying the DDDA acted ultra vires in relation to the planning for the building. Dunne also developed the office block let to Matheson Ormsby Prentice in the docklands and The Bloodstone office block there.
Paul Coulson-Lar Bradshaw and Seán Fitzpatrick
Coulson, Bradshaw and FitzPatrick are among the investors in Balcuik, which owns the Atrium office buildings in Sandyford, Dublin, acquired for more than €95m. Other investors in Balcuik include Smurfit's Gary McGann, a former Anglo director.
Paul Coulson-Bernard McNamara and Derek Quinlan and the DDDA
Coulson's Ardagh found a loophole in the lease on its site in Poolbeg and subsequently agreed a deal with Dublin Port that it would take two-thirds of the proceeds when the site was sold. The land was then placed into a separate vehicle called South Wharf and put on the market. The DDDA contacted Bernard McNamara about a joint bid for the site and Quinlan also came on board. They bid €412m to win the tender with more than €30m subsequently spent on cleaning up the toxic site. Coulson and his fellow South Wharf shareholders earned €273.6m from the sale. The site is now worth €50m.
DDDA-Bernard McNamara
McNamara has taken a legal action against the DDDA over the terms of the Irish Glass Bottle site deal. McNamara developed the Longboat Quay scheme in the docks.
Liam Carroll-Seán Dunne
Dunne took a legal action to stop work on the Anglo Irish Bank headquarters building after mediation efforts by him failed. He wants the part-completed structure torn down.
Seán Mulryan-Seán Dunne
Mulryan and Dunne developed much of Charlesland outside Greystones together and have significant land interests there.
DDDA-Liam Carroll
Carroll owned a significant amount of land in the docklands, redeveloping the old gasworks into an area colloquially known as Googleland; the former gasometer became an apartment block and later attempts were made to turn it into a hotel. He held talks with the DDDA in relation to a joint development of the U2 tower site and an adjoining site where he planned to develop a skyscraper, and went so far as to draw up a draft legal agreement in 2005 setting out the development plans for the sites. He planned to develop a domestic financial services centre at North Wall Quay for Anglo, AIB and Bank of Ireland but his plans fell apart when the financial crisis hit and the High Court ruled that the Anglo headquarters could not be completed.
Anglo-Bernard Mcnamara
Anglo funded several of McNamara's developments but the relationship was deeper than that. The bank held an 89% stake in office buildings at Great Minster North and Finsbury Dials in London which had "been sourced, negotiated and secured" by a company owned by McNamara, which owned the remainder. The bank bought the buildings as part of a "high-risk" property fund it set up just before the property market began to collapse.
Anglo-Liam Carroll
As well as funding the headquarters building earmarked for Anglo Irish Bank at Dublin's north docks, the bank went to Liam Carroll looking for additional space on the top of the building, only six weeks after Anglo's share price was hammered in the so-called Saint Patrick's Day massacre.
Quinlan-McNamara-McKillen-Anglo
Quinlan's Quinlan Private bought the Knightsbridge Estate in London for £540m with backing from Anglo Irish Bank. Investors included McKillen and McNamara. Part of the complex is now on the market with Lafico, the company set up by Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, among the bidders.
Treasury Holdings-Paddy McKillen
Johnny Ronan of Treasury and Paddy McKillen invested in a number of properties together in the early 1990s including the Temple Bar Hotel, the Treasury Building and the Pepper Canister office complex in Dublin. They also had other business interests together.
DDDA-Treasury Holdings
Treasury Holdings is involved in the Spencer Dock development in Dublin's north quays and, through the company that is developing that scheme, took a legal action against the DDDA in 2008 in relation to the planning granted for the Anglo headquarters building.
McKillen-Quinlan-U2
U2's Bono and the Edge, McKillen and financier Derek Quinlan own the Clarence hotel in Dublin which they planned to redevelop before shelving the project. The Edge and Quinlan also own sites in Malibu.
DDDA-Paddy McKillen, Ballymore and U2
The DDDA eventually struck a deal with developer and retailer Paddy McKillen, Seán Mulryan's Ballymore and U2 themselves to develop the U2 tower. However, the agreement now looks set to be axed after the collapse in the property market, meaning the Norman Foster-designed tower earmarked for the site may never be built.
Sunday Tribune
www.buckplanning.ie
Lar Bradshaw
Seán Dunne
Bernard McNamara
Liam Carroll
Johnny Ronan
Paddy McKillen
Declan Quinlan
DDDA-Anglo
Current DDDA chairwoman Niamh Brennan has said that because of Anglo's influence, the DDDA "became very focused on development and used planning to facilitate and encourage development". The "association between Anglo and the DDDA has not served the authority well".
Gerry McCaughey -DDDA
Businessman McCaughey had barely started as chairman of the DDDA last year when he decided to step down after it was leaked that he took advantage of a loophole to legally reduce his tax liability when he sold his building company, Century Homes, in 2005.
Gerry McCaughey -Anglo
McCaughey is suing Anglo Irish Bank in relation to an investment fund that was set up by the bank to purchase and refurbish two hotels in New York. The bank claimed McCaughey was the "ringleader" behind claims of fraudulent representation and concealment against the bank and one of its subsidiaries.
Anglo-Quinlan, Paddy McKillen
McKillen invested in several properties with Quinlan's private equity management company, Quinlan Private. Anglo Irish Bank financed a number of the purchases. Sources in London say the two men were the main investors in the Asprey building at Bond Street there, which sold recently.
DDDA-Seán FitzPatrick, Lar Bradshaw, Donal O'Connor
Brennan has criticised the cross-directorships between the DDDA and Anglo Irish Bank. Former Anglo director Lar Bradshaw was the first chairman of the DDDA, former Anglo chief executive Seán FitzPatrick was on the board of the DDDA, and after Donal O'Connor became chairman of the DDDA he was invited to join the board of Anglo, which he accepted. After the bank was nationalised, O'Connor became its chairman and stepped down from the DDDA to ensure there was no suggestion of a conflict of interest. It was confirmed in recent days that he is to step down from the board of the bank later this year.
Lar Bradshaw and Seán Fitzpatrick
The two were on the board of the DDDA and Anglo. Both resigned from Anglo after it emerged FitzPatrick had hidden €87m of loans with the bank, transferring them to Irish Nationwide. Bradshaw resigned because one of his loans, held with Fitzpatrick, was temporarily transferred.
DDDA-Seán Dunne
Dunne took the DDDA to court after it gave the go-ahead for the Anglo headquarters buildings on the north docks on land adjoining a small site owned by him. The High Court took Dunne's side, saying the DDDA acted ultra vires in relation to the planning for the building. Dunne also developed the office block let to Matheson Ormsby Prentice in the docklands and The Bloodstone office block there.
Paul Coulson-Lar Bradshaw and Seán Fitzpatrick
Coulson, Bradshaw and FitzPatrick are among the investors in Balcuik, which owns the Atrium office buildings in Sandyford, Dublin, acquired for more than €95m. Other investors in Balcuik include Smurfit's Gary McGann, a former Anglo director.
Paul Coulson-Bernard McNamara and Derek Quinlan and the DDDA
Coulson's Ardagh found a loophole in the lease on its site in Poolbeg and subsequently agreed a deal with Dublin Port that it would take two-thirds of the proceeds when the site was sold. The land was then placed into a separate vehicle called South Wharf and put on the market. The DDDA contacted Bernard McNamara about a joint bid for the site and Quinlan also came on board. They bid €412m to win the tender with more than €30m subsequently spent on cleaning up the toxic site. Coulson and his fellow South Wharf shareholders earned €273.6m from the sale. The site is now worth €50m.
DDDA-Bernard McNamara
McNamara has taken a legal action against the DDDA over the terms of the Irish Glass Bottle site deal. McNamara developed the Longboat Quay scheme in the docks.
Liam Carroll-Seán Dunne
Dunne took a legal action to stop work on the Anglo Irish Bank headquarters building after mediation efforts by him failed. He wants the part-completed structure torn down.
Seán Mulryan-Seán Dunne
Mulryan and Dunne developed much of Charlesland outside Greystones together and have significant land interests there.
DDDA-Liam Carroll
Carroll owned a significant amount of land in the docklands, redeveloping the old gasworks into an area colloquially known as Googleland; the former gasometer became an apartment block and later attempts were made to turn it into a hotel. He held talks with the DDDA in relation to a joint development of the U2 tower site and an adjoining site where he planned to develop a skyscraper, and went so far as to draw up a draft legal agreement in 2005 setting out the development plans for the sites. He planned to develop a domestic financial services centre at North Wall Quay for Anglo, AIB and Bank of Ireland but his plans fell apart when the financial crisis hit and the High Court ruled that the Anglo headquarters could not be completed.
Anglo-Bernard Mcnamara
Anglo funded several of McNamara's developments but the relationship was deeper than that. The bank held an 89% stake in office buildings at Great Minster North and Finsbury Dials in London which had "been sourced, negotiated and secured" by a company owned by McNamara, which owned the remainder. The bank bought the buildings as part of a "high-risk" property fund it set up just before the property market began to collapse.
Anglo-Liam Carroll
As well as funding the headquarters building earmarked for Anglo Irish Bank at Dublin's north docks, the bank went to Liam Carroll looking for additional space on the top of the building, only six weeks after Anglo's share price was hammered in the so-called Saint Patrick's Day massacre.
Quinlan-McNamara-McKillen-Anglo
Quinlan's Quinlan Private bought the Knightsbridge Estate in London for £540m with backing from Anglo Irish Bank. Investors included McKillen and McNamara. Part of the complex is now on the market with Lafico, the company set up by Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, among the bidders.
Treasury Holdings-Paddy McKillen
Johnny Ronan of Treasury and Paddy McKillen invested in a number of properties together in the early 1990s including the Temple Bar Hotel, the Treasury Building and the Pepper Canister office complex in Dublin. They also had other business interests together.
DDDA-Treasury Holdings
Treasury Holdings is involved in the Spencer Dock development in Dublin's north quays and, through the company that is developing that scheme, took a legal action against the DDDA in 2008 in relation to the planning granted for the Anglo headquarters building.
McKillen-Quinlan-U2
U2's Bono and the Edge, McKillen and financier Derek Quinlan own the Clarence hotel in Dublin which they planned to redevelop before shelving the project. The Edge and Quinlan also own sites in Malibu.
DDDA-Paddy McKillen, Ballymore and U2
The DDDA eventually struck a deal with developer and retailer Paddy McKillen, Seán Mulryan's Ballymore and U2 themselves to develop the U2 tower. However, the agreement now looks set to be axed after the collapse in the property market, meaning the Norman Foster-designed tower earmarked for the site may never be built.
Sunday Tribune
www.buckplanning.ie
Docklands executives are allowed to respond to report before publication
The publication of a report into the Dublin Docklands Development Authority (DDDA) is on hold while senior executives who worked in the state agency are given an opportunity to respond to criticisms of them in the document.
The report, ordered by the DDDA chairman Niamh Brennan, a corporate governance expert, is understood to contain criticisms of the way the semi-state body was run.
The DDDA reported losses of €213 million last year after disastrous property investments, which have threatened the solvency of the agency and raised the prospect of a taxpayer-bailout.
The agency’s investments included the purchase of the former Irish Glass Bottle site in Ringsend for over €412 million in a joint venture with property developer Bernard McNamara and financier Derek Quinlan.
The value of the site is now estimated at €62.5 million.
The Sunday Business Post understands that the report, commissioned from an independent consultant, does not single out particular individuals, but is critical of the operations of the agency.
The Attorney General has advised environment minister John Gormley that senior staff and executive board members of the DDDA need to be given the opportunity to comment on the report. Their responses will then be considered before the report’s publication, which is not expected until Easter.
According to sources familiar with the findings of the report, it does not speculate on the relationships between the agency and other bodies, but is highly critical of how the DDDA operated. One source said it explained how the agency operated, but not why.
The DDDA had the job of regenerating the area around the River Liffey, but also had planning powers for the area.
It is understood that the report will be critical of the arrangement whereby the authority was both developer and planning authority. The DDDA has also been criticised for conflicts of interest on its board.
Two senior directors, chairman Lar Bradshaw and Sean FitzPatrick, were on the board of Anglo Irish Bank, which was involved in financing many DDDA developments.
Sunay Business Post
www.buckplanning.ie
The report, ordered by the DDDA chairman Niamh Brennan, a corporate governance expert, is understood to contain criticisms of the way the semi-state body was run.
The DDDA reported losses of €213 million last year after disastrous property investments, which have threatened the solvency of the agency and raised the prospect of a taxpayer-bailout.
The agency’s investments included the purchase of the former Irish Glass Bottle site in Ringsend for over €412 million in a joint venture with property developer Bernard McNamara and financier Derek Quinlan.
The value of the site is now estimated at €62.5 million.
The Sunday Business Post understands that the report, commissioned from an independent consultant, does not single out particular individuals, but is critical of the operations of the agency.
The Attorney General has advised environment minister John Gormley that senior staff and executive board members of the DDDA need to be given the opportunity to comment on the report. Their responses will then be considered before the report’s publication, which is not expected until Easter.
According to sources familiar with the findings of the report, it does not speculate on the relationships between the agency and other bodies, but is highly critical of how the DDDA operated. One source said it explained how the agency operated, but not why.
The DDDA had the job of regenerating the area around the River Liffey, but also had planning powers for the area.
It is understood that the report will be critical of the arrangement whereby the authority was both developer and planning authority. The DDDA has also been criticised for conflicts of interest on its board.
Two senior directors, chairman Lar Bradshaw and Sean FitzPatrick, were on the board of Anglo Irish Bank, which was involved in financing many DDDA developments.
Sunay Business Post
www.buckplanning.ie
Monday, 1 March 2010
DDDA planning permissions to be scrutinised
Decisions by the Dublin Docklands Development Authority (DDDA) to grant planning permission to a number of projects are likely to be scrutinised following the publication of reports into the authority’s activities in the coming weeks.
The DDDA has accumulated losses of some €230 million as a result of the collapse in the value of property developments in which it was involved. In particular, it has been criticised for its involvement in the purchase of the Irish Glass Bottle site in Ringsend, which was bought for €400 million but is now worth an estimated €50 million.
However, The Sunday Business Post understands that other aspects of the agency’s activities as a planning authority for the docklands area are also likely to be investigated.
In particular, the practice of granting planning permission for developments while land or other assets were ceded to the agency has been cited by informed sources as one area of interest.
In 2008, the High Court overturned a decision of the DDDA to grant a certificate exempting developer Liam Carroll from planning permission. The judge cited a side agreement between Carroll and the agency, under which Carroll would give a site to the DDDA if he was granted the planning exemption. The judge ruled that the agreement could give rise to ‘‘a reasonable apprehension of bias’’ in the granting of the certificate.
The reports into planning and financial procedures at the DDDA are also expected to be critical of the authority. If further agreements such as the one with Carroll are revealed, it could open the agency to legal action. ‘‘We need to ensure that work in areas such as Section 25 certificates is done properly in the future," said environment minister John Gormley in the Dáil last week. He said that he hoped to publish the DDDA reports soon.
Gormley was criticised by the former Green senator Deirdre de Bu¤ rca for not acting on the Docklands reports.
Sunday Business Post
www.buckplanning.ie
The DDDA has accumulated losses of some €230 million as a result of the collapse in the value of property developments in which it was involved. In particular, it has been criticised for its involvement in the purchase of the Irish Glass Bottle site in Ringsend, which was bought for €400 million but is now worth an estimated €50 million.
However, The Sunday Business Post understands that other aspects of the agency’s activities as a planning authority for the docklands area are also likely to be investigated.
In particular, the practice of granting planning permission for developments while land or other assets were ceded to the agency has been cited by informed sources as one area of interest.
In 2008, the High Court overturned a decision of the DDDA to grant a certificate exempting developer Liam Carroll from planning permission. The judge cited a side agreement between Carroll and the agency, under which Carroll would give a site to the DDDA if he was granted the planning exemption. The judge ruled that the agreement could give rise to ‘‘a reasonable apprehension of bias’’ in the granting of the certificate.
The reports into planning and financial procedures at the DDDA are also expected to be critical of the authority. If further agreements such as the one with Carroll are revealed, it could open the agency to legal action. ‘‘We need to ensure that work in areas such as Section 25 certificates is done properly in the future," said environment minister John Gormley in the Dáil last week. He said that he hoped to publish the DDDA reports soon.
Gormley was criticised by the former Green senator Deirdre de Bu¤ rca for not acting on the Docklands reports.
Sunday Business Post
www.buckplanning.ie
Sunday, 28 February 2010
Gormley gets third report on DDDA deal
A third report on the controversial deal in which the Dublin Docklands Development Authority (DDDA) bought the former Irish Glass Bottle site in Ringsend in Dublin has gone to government.
The DDDA has sent the report dealing with the purchase of the site for €400m to Environment Minister John Gormley.
Mr Gormley received two earlier independent consultants' reports on the deal and he has sent them on to the Attorney General for consideration before they can be published.
The fact that these two reports have not yet been published led to a political row last week when former Green senator Deirdre de Burca claimed Mr Gormley was delaying publication because they would embarrass Fianna Fail.
The latest report deals with the DDDA's involvement with joint venture partner Becbay -- which included developer Bernard McNamara and financier Derek Quinlan -- in the purchase of the Ringsend site. That decision resulted in €32m of taxpayers' money being pumped into the site.
PATRICIA McDONAGH
Irish Independent
www.buckplanning.ie
The DDDA has sent the report dealing with the purchase of the site for €400m to Environment Minister John Gormley.
Mr Gormley received two earlier independent consultants' reports on the deal and he has sent them on to the Attorney General for consideration before they can be published.
The fact that these two reports have not yet been published led to a political row last week when former Green senator Deirdre de Burca claimed Mr Gormley was delaying publication because they would embarrass Fianna Fail.
The latest report deals with the DDDA's involvement with joint venture partner Becbay -- which included developer Bernard McNamara and financier Derek Quinlan -- in the purchase of the Ringsend site. That decision resulted in €32m of taxpayers' money being pumped into the site.
PATRICIA McDONAGH
Irish Independent
www.buckplanning.ie
Monday, 22 February 2010
De Búrca rejects Gormley claim
Former Green Party senator Déirdre de Búrca today rejected a claim by the Minister for the Environment that she had never raised concerns over the operation of the Dublin Docklands Development Authority (DDDA) with him, or his Department prior to her recent resignation.
Ms de Búrca released the copy of an email, allegedly sent by her to John Gormley in August 2009, relaying public concerns about the authority.
"The email was sent to Mr Gormley's private email address to ensure that it received his immediate and personal attention," she claimed. "I had a brief verbal discussion with him about the issue, and he encouraged me to send the email to his private email address. I had several further discussions with the Minister about the DDDA issue over subsequent months."
Ms de Búrca yesterday called for the immediate release of the DDDA’s report, claiming it contained “significant evidence of malpractice” that would cause discomfort in Fianna Fáil.
But Mr Gormley said he would publish the reportedly “explosive” report once he receives advice from Attorney General Paul Gallagher on its legal implications.
A spokesman for the Minister said Ms de Búrca had “never once” raised the issue with him prior to her resignation. “The only interaction she ever had on it was when John Gormley himself raised the issue at a parliamentary party meeting to inform colleagues of his concerns about the authority and the need to address them,” he said.
Ms de Búrca, who resigned from the Seanad last week, has said she was prompted by the failure of Fianna Fáil to honour a commitment to her party, rather than her personal disappointment at not getting a position in EU commissioner Máire Geoghegan-Quinn’s cabinet.
One of the major issues the report is believed to deal with is how the DDDA became involved in the ill-fated consortium led by property developer Bernard McNamara to buy the former Irish Glass Bottle site in Ringsend for €412 million at the peak of the boom.
It is believed the report makes a large number of recommendations on corporate governance. It is accompanied by two other reports Prof Brennan commissioned – by chartered accountant Ray King and planning consultant Declan Brassil.
Yesterday Ms de Búrca said: "I’m not convinced that there is the willingness there to go ahead to publish it and to act on its findings. My own sense would be that there will be an attempt to sit on it or to delay its publication,” she said on RTÉ Radio 1’s This Week programme.
It is understood the report has only been read by a “tight circle” of people, including the Minister and Attorney General and that it is unlikely to be published until after the Government has made a decision on what to do about its contents.
According to sources, the report would have “legal implications” and could be the subject of court actions by individuals named. One source said it was “pointing big red arrows at salient issues including unhealthy relationships and abuses of power”.
Irish Times
www.buckplanning.ie
Ms de Búrca released the copy of an email, allegedly sent by her to John Gormley in August 2009, relaying public concerns about the authority.
"The email was sent to Mr Gormley's private email address to ensure that it received his immediate and personal attention," she claimed. "I had a brief verbal discussion with him about the issue, and he encouraged me to send the email to his private email address. I had several further discussions with the Minister about the DDDA issue over subsequent months."
Ms de Búrca yesterday called for the immediate release of the DDDA’s report, claiming it contained “significant evidence of malpractice” that would cause discomfort in Fianna Fáil.
But Mr Gormley said he would publish the reportedly “explosive” report once he receives advice from Attorney General Paul Gallagher on its legal implications.
A spokesman for the Minister said Ms de Búrca had “never once” raised the issue with him prior to her resignation. “The only interaction she ever had on it was when John Gormley himself raised the issue at a parliamentary party meeting to inform colleagues of his concerns about the authority and the need to address them,” he said.
Ms de Búrca, who resigned from the Seanad last week, has said she was prompted by the failure of Fianna Fáil to honour a commitment to her party, rather than her personal disappointment at not getting a position in EU commissioner Máire Geoghegan-Quinn’s cabinet.
One of the major issues the report is believed to deal with is how the DDDA became involved in the ill-fated consortium led by property developer Bernard McNamara to buy the former Irish Glass Bottle site in Ringsend for €412 million at the peak of the boom.
It is believed the report makes a large number of recommendations on corporate governance. It is accompanied by two other reports Prof Brennan commissioned – by chartered accountant Ray King and planning consultant Declan Brassil.
Yesterday Ms de Búrca said: "I’m not convinced that there is the willingness there to go ahead to publish it and to act on its findings. My own sense would be that there will be an attempt to sit on it or to delay its publication,” she said on RTÉ Radio 1’s This Week programme.
It is understood the report has only been read by a “tight circle” of people, including the Minister and Attorney General and that it is unlikely to be published until after the Government has made a decision on what to do about its contents.
According to sources, the report would have “legal implications” and could be the subject of court actions by individuals named. One source said it was “pointing big red arrows at salient issues including unhealthy relationships and abuses of power”.
Irish Times
www.buckplanning.ie
Sunday, 21 February 2010
Broke DDDA to hire more spin doctors
The Dublin Docklands Development Authority (DDDA), which recorded a deficit of €213m last year, plans to boost spending on its public relations.
The state-owned authority, which already has two in-house PR staff, is tendering for an expert in “corporate PR, crisis management and public affairs”.
The value of the PR contract will not be revealed until the tendering process is completed. Industry experts believe the contract will be worth between €8,000 and €10,000 per month.
The agency is bracing itself for the publication of what is widely expected to be a damning report on its business activities.
The report, by Niamh Brennan, the authority’s new chairwoman, is being examined by the attorney-general.
Expected to be published within weeks, it is thought to be critical of the DDDA’s corporate governance and planning procedures.
The agency recently had a write-down of €186m on its investments, mainly relating to the purchase of the former Irish Glass Bottle site in the docklands.
The DDDA spent more than €650,000 on PR between 2006 and 2009, most of it paid to Wilson Hartnell, a large Dublin PR firm.
Joe Costello, a Labour party TD, said the latest tender was neither “ethical nor proper” and called on John Gormley, the environment minister, to intervene. “The docklands have gone dead, there is nothing happening except for one or two things,” Costello said.
“They are not taking on new business and are embroiled in debts and planning challenges. To take on a company at this stage with public money is not ethical or proper. There is no sense in them talking about taking on a PR company to provide good publicity when they haven’t any good publicity to talk about.
“It’s totally unacceptable to use up money that they don’t have. [Gormley] should step in.”
A spokeswoman for the DDDA said the agency’s in-house staff have other duties in addition to PR, and that some corporate and communications work could not be dealt with due to staff shortages.
“It comes down to in-house resources,” she said. “We have to abide by the moratorium on fixed-term contracts and we have gone from a staff of 50 to 36.”
She predicted that by the end of the year, the DDDA will be reduced to a staff of 25. “So we do require external support for some services,” she said. “Costs have been aggressively reduced in light of the financial position faced.”
Last year, the DDDA’s deficit of €213m was mainly due to the purchase and devaluation of the Irish Glass Bottle site.
Sunday Times
www.buckplanning.ie
The state-owned authority, which already has two in-house PR staff, is tendering for an expert in “corporate PR, crisis management and public affairs”.
The value of the PR contract will not be revealed until the tendering process is completed. Industry experts believe the contract will be worth between €8,000 and €10,000 per month.
The agency is bracing itself for the publication of what is widely expected to be a damning report on its business activities.
The report, by Niamh Brennan, the authority’s new chairwoman, is being examined by the attorney-general.
Expected to be published within weeks, it is thought to be critical of the DDDA’s corporate governance and planning procedures.
The agency recently had a write-down of €186m on its investments, mainly relating to the purchase of the former Irish Glass Bottle site in the docklands.
The DDDA spent more than €650,000 on PR between 2006 and 2009, most of it paid to Wilson Hartnell, a large Dublin PR firm.
Joe Costello, a Labour party TD, said the latest tender was neither “ethical nor proper” and called on John Gormley, the environment minister, to intervene. “The docklands have gone dead, there is nothing happening except for one or two things,” Costello said.
“They are not taking on new business and are embroiled in debts and planning challenges. To take on a company at this stage with public money is not ethical or proper. There is no sense in them talking about taking on a PR company to provide good publicity when they haven’t any good publicity to talk about.
“It’s totally unacceptable to use up money that they don’t have. [Gormley] should step in.”
A spokeswoman for the DDDA said the agency’s in-house staff have other duties in addition to PR, and that some corporate and communications work could not be dealt with due to staff shortages.
“It comes down to in-house resources,” she said. “We have to abide by the moratorium on fixed-term contracts and we have gone from a staff of 50 to 36.”
She predicted that by the end of the year, the DDDA will be reduced to a staff of 25. “So we do require external support for some services,” she said. “Costs have been aggressively reduced in light of the financial position faced.”
Last year, the DDDA’s deficit of €213m was mainly due to the purchase and devaluation of the Irish Glass Bottle site.
Sunday Times
www.buckplanning.ie
DDDA report 'delayed' - De Búrca
Former Green Party Senator Déirdre de Búrca has accused Minister for Environment John Gormley of delaying the publication of a report on Dublin Docklands Development Authority.
Ms de Búrca said the Minister, who is also Green Party leader, delayed publishing the report on controversial planning at the authority because it would cause "serious discomfort" for Fianna Fáil.
Speaking on RTÉ's This Week programme, she alleged that the report, which was carried out by DDDA chair Prof Niamh Brennan, contains evidence of serious malpractice.
She called on Mr Gormley to publish the report and to act on its findings immediately.
It was Ms De Búrca's first interview since she resigned from the Seanad and the parliamentary party last week. She was speaking from the United States.
She told Mr Gormley in her letter of resignation she regretted she could no longer support the Green Party in government.
Ms De Búrca said she believed the Greens had "gradually abandoned our political values and our integrity and in many respects have become no more than an extension of the Fianna Fail party".
"It would appear that holding onto office and to seats have become more important to the party than holding on to its fundamental political purpose," she said.
Responding to the interview, Mr Gormley said two reports were supplied earlier this month and he fully intended to publish them. But he said he was awaiting advice from the Attorney General before making the reports public.
Mr Gormley said Ms de Búrca had "never once raised the DDDA or its operations" with him or his Department.
It was he who had appointed Ms Brennan to "overhaul the authority and address the serious issues facing it".
Fine Gael and the Labour Party called on the Minister to publish the report.
Fine Gael spokesman on environment and local government Phil Hogan said that if Ms De Búrca's comments were to be believed, then Mr Gormley was "actively protecting the political reputation of Fianna Fáil by hiding a report that would cause serious discomfort for them".
“The public is sick and tired of double talk, half-truths and innuendo from Government Ministers. We all want the truth. By refusing to put this report on the public record [Mr] Gormley is adding to the air of mistrust and cynicism around Irish politics while insulting the residents of the Dublin Docklands.
"[Mr] Gormley must publish the report immediately after Tuesday’s Cabinet meeting after they had a chance to consider and discuss its findings. It appears that [Mr] Gormley would rather share the findings of the report with the Green Parliamentary Party than with the Dáil," he said.
Labour Party leader Eamon Gilmore said the reports by Prof Niamh Brennan had been on the desk of Environment Minister John Gormley for some weeks ago, and he must publish them without further delay.
He noted Ms De Búrca's contention that the Minister was reluctant to publish the documents because they might cause acute embarassment for their senior partners in Government Fianna Fáil.
"She also claimed that the reports contain evidence of serious malpractice. This may or not be the case, but there is only one way to clear this up, and that is for the Minister to publish the documents immediately."
Irish Times
www.buckplanning.ie
Ms de Búrca said the Minister, who is also Green Party leader, delayed publishing the report on controversial planning at the authority because it would cause "serious discomfort" for Fianna Fáil.
Speaking on RTÉ's This Week programme, she alleged that the report, which was carried out by DDDA chair Prof Niamh Brennan, contains evidence of serious malpractice.
She called on Mr Gormley to publish the report and to act on its findings immediately.
It was Ms De Búrca's first interview since she resigned from the Seanad and the parliamentary party last week. She was speaking from the United States.
She told Mr Gormley in her letter of resignation she regretted she could no longer support the Green Party in government.
Ms De Búrca said she believed the Greens had "gradually abandoned our political values and our integrity and in many respects have become no more than an extension of the Fianna Fail party".
"It would appear that holding onto office and to seats have become more important to the party than holding on to its fundamental political purpose," she said.
Responding to the interview, Mr Gormley said two reports were supplied earlier this month and he fully intended to publish them. But he said he was awaiting advice from the Attorney General before making the reports public.
Mr Gormley said Ms de Búrca had "never once raised the DDDA or its operations" with him or his Department.
It was he who had appointed Ms Brennan to "overhaul the authority and address the serious issues facing it".
Fine Gael and the Labour Party called on the Minister to publish the report.
Fine Gael spokesman on environment and local government Phil Hogan said that if Ms De Búrca's comments were to be believed, then Mr Gormley was "actively protecting the political reputation of Fianna Fáil by hiding a report that would cause serious discomfort for them".
“The public is sick and tired of double talk, half-truths and innuendo from Government Ministers. We all want the truth. By refusing to put this report on the public record [Mr] Gormley is adding to the air of mistrust and cynicism around Irish politics while insulting the residents of the Dublin Docklands.
"[Mr] Gormley must publish the report immediately after Tuesday’s Cabinet meeting after they had a chance to consider and discuss its findings. It appears that [Mr] Gormley would rather share the findings of the report with the Green Parliamentary Party than with the Dáil," he said.
Labour Party leader Eamon Gilmore said the reports by Prof Niamh Brennan had been on the desk of Environment Minister John Gormley for some weeks ago, and he must publish them without further delay.
He noted Ms De Búrca's contention that the Minister was reluctant to publish the documents because they might cause acute embarassment for their senior partners in Government Fianna Fáil.
"She also claimed that the reports contain evidence of serious malpractice. This may or not be the case, but there is only one way to clear this up, and that is for the Minister to publish the documents immediately."
Irish Times
www.buckplanning.ie
Sunday, 17 January 2010
DDDA seeks security for costs of legal action from McNamara company
THE DUBLIN Docklands Development Authority (DDDA) has brought a preliminary application aimed at having developer Bernard McNamara’s company, Donatex Ltd, provide security for the costs of their legal action alleging the authority exposed them to claims of more than €108 million over the purchase of the Irish Glass Bottle (IGB) site at Ringsend in Dublin.
The motion for security of costs was mentioned yesterday before Mr Justice Peter Kelly, who listed it for hearing on February 10th.
The motion was due to have been heard next Monday but the sides have agreed to defer it on terms including requiring Donatex to file a replying affidavit by January 22nd.
The action against the DDDA has been brought by Mr McNamara and Donatex arising from their involvement in the €412 million purchase of the IGB site.
Earlier this week, judgment for €62.5 million and €98 million was entered respectively against Mr McNamara and Donatex arising from failure by Donatex to repay loans given to it by private investors for the IGB site acquisition.
During those proceedings, the court heard neither Mr McNamara nor Donatex could pay the sums sought.
Mr McNamara and Donatex had last November initiated their action against the DDDA. They claim, because of a High Court finding in 2008 that the DDDA acted outside its powers in how it fast-tracked permission for another docklands development at North Wall Quay, that the DDDA was never entitled to enter in November 2006 into an agreement involving Mr McNamara and developer Derek Quinlan related to development of the IGB site.
They allege the DDDA was unable to perform its obligations under that IGB agreement and therefore frustrated the ability of Mr McNamara and others to develop the site, meaning substantial losses for them.
Mr McNamara said he faced potential claims totalling more than €108 million on foot of loans raised from Anglo Irish Bank and private investors with Davy Property Holdings Ltd and on the basis of guarantees given by him related to those loans.
Mr McNamara claims the Dublin Port Company and South Wharf plc had in September 2006 advertised the IGB site for sale by tender, representing the largest site in Dublin 4 for years to become available for development.
He claims then DDDA chief executive Paul Maloney approached him a month later about becoming involved with the authority in submitting a bid for the IGB site.
Mr McNamara claims he initially indicated he was not interested as he believed it would not be possible to generate a profit from the site.
He alleges Mr Maloney had further meetings with him and made several representations, including that the DDDA could “fast-track” any application for permission for development without the planning risk of third-party observations or appeals to An Bord Pleanála.
On that basis, he said he would be prepared to consider a joint bid with the DDDA for the site.
Beebay Ltd was incorporated and used by himself and the DDDA to bid for the IGB site. Mempal Ltd, a company controlled by Derek Quinlan, later acquired an interest in Beebay.
In November 2006, Donatex held 41 per cent, Mempal 33 per cent and DDDA 26 per cent of Beebay.
In late January 2007, Beebay’s tender was accepted and it acquired the site for €412 million with funds of some €288 million from Anglo Irish Bank (later converted into a joint facility provided by Anglo and Allied Irish Banks), €57.5 million from Donatex, €32.1 million from the DDDA and €46.3 million from Mempal.
The funds provided by Donatex were sourced from private clients of Davy and the loan stock instrument was later transferred from Davy Estates Ltd to Jersey-registered Ringsend Property Ltd (RPL), which earlier this week secured summary judgment against Mr McNamara and Donatex on foot of that instrument.
Irish Times
www.buckplanning.ie
The motion for security of costs was mentioned yesterday before Mr Justice Peter Kelly, who listed it for hearing on February 10th.
The motion was due to have been heard next Monday but the sides have agreed to defer it on terms including requiring Donatex to file a replying affidavit by January 22nd.
The action against the DDDA has been brought by Mr McNamara and Donatex arising from their involvement in the €412 million purchase of the IGB site.
Earlier this week, judgment for €62.5 million and €98 million was entered respectively against Mr McNamara and Donatex arising from failure by Donatex to repay loans given to it by private investors for the IGB site acquisition.
During those proceedings, the court heard neither Mr McNamara nor Donatex could pay the sums sought.
Mr McNamara and Donatex had last November initiated their action against the DDDA. They claim, because of a High Court finding in 2008 that the DDDA acted outside its powers in how it fast-tracked permission for another docklands development at North Wall Quay, that the DDDA was never entitled to enter in November 2006 into an agreement involving Mr McNamara and developer Derek Quinlan related to development of the IGB site.
They allege the DDDA was unable to perform its obligations under that IGB agreement and therefore frustrated the ability of Mr McNamara and others to develop the site, meaning substantial losses for them.
Mr McNamara said he faced potential claims totalling more than €108 million on foot of loans raised from Anglo Irish Bank and private investors with Davy Property Holdings Ltd and on the basis of guarantees given by him related to those loans.
Mr McNamara claims the Dublin Port Company and South Wharf plc had in September 2006 advertised the IGB site for sale by tender, representing the largest site in Dublin 4 for years to become available for development.
He claims then DDDA chief executive Paul Maloney approached him a month later about becoming involved with the authority in submitting a bid for the IGB site.
Mr McNamara claims he initially indicated he was not interested as he believed it would not be possible to generate a profit from the site.
He alleges Mr Maloney had further meetings with him and made several representations, including that the DDDA could “fast-track” any application for permission for development without the planning risk of third-party observations or appeals to An Bord Pleanála.
On that basis, he said he would be prepared to consider a joint bid with the DDDA for the site.
Beebay Ltd was incorporated and used by himself and the DDDA to bid for the IGB site. Mempal Ltd, a company controlled by Derek Quinlan, later acquired an interest in Beebay.
In November 2006, Donatex held 41 per cent, Mempal 33 per cent and DDDA 26 per cent of Beebay.
In late January 2007, Beebay’s tender was accepted and it acquired the site for €412 million with funds of some €288 million from Anglo Irish Bank (later converted into a joint facility provided by Anglo and Allied Irish Banks), €57.5 million from Donatex, €32.1 million from the DDDA and €46.3 million from Mempal.
The funds provided by Donatex were sourced from private clients of Davy and the loan stock instrument was later transferred from Davy Estates Ltd to Jersey-registered Ringsend Property Ltd (RPL), which earlier this week secured summary judgment against Mr McNamara and Donatex on foot of that instrument.
Irish Times
www.buckplanning.ie
Thursday, 10 December 2009
Gormley vows to act decisively over Dublin docklands authority
MINISTER for the Environment John Gormley has pledged to “act decisively” when he receives the corporate governance reports on finance and planning from the chair of the Dublin Docklands Development Authority (DDDA).
He has ruled out for the moment a Fine Gael call to bring the DDDA within the remit of the Comptroller Auditor General but said he would keep the role of the comptroller auditing the authority “under review”.
The Minister was responding to Fine Gael environment spokesman Phil Hogan’s private member’s Bill to bring the authority within the comptroller’s remit and allow the comptroller to carry out special reports on the authority’s activities.
Mr Hogan said the Minister and Fianna Fáil had “serious questions to answer” about the authority and its purchase of the Irish Glass Bottle site and he believed that opposing the Bill could only be seen as “an attempt to avoid political accountability”.
The Dublin Docklands Development Authority (Amendment) Bill he said would allow the comptroller to launch a full investigation into the authority, which he claimed was “hijacked by developers and Anglo-Irish Bank executives and the taxpayer now faces a bill of millions” as the Government seemed set to bail out the authority which had losses of €27 million last year.
For the comptroller to investigate an authority at least 50 per cent of its funding must come from the exchequer. The Minister said the authority’s losses were expected to be reduced to €10 million by the end of 2009 and “the authority is aiming to return to a break-even position in 2011 on its operating costs”.
Mr Hogan described the authority as a “financial septic tank” and said “the comptroller has special investigatory powers that expose waste of taxpayer’s money and highlights poor financial decisions. This was recently best demonstrated through its special report into Fás.”
Irish Times
www.buckplanning.ie
He has ruled out for the moment a Fine Gael call to bring the DDDA within the remit of the Comptroller Auditor General but said he would keep the role of the comptroller auditing the authority “under review”.
The Minister was responding to Fine Gael environment spokesman Phil Hogan’s private member’s Bill to bring the authority within the comptroller’s remit and allow the comptroller to carry out special reports on the authority’s activities.
Mr Hogan said the Minister and Fianna Fáil had “serious questions to answer” about the authority and its purchase of the Irish Glass Bottle site and he believed that opposing the Bill could only be seen as “an attempt to avoid political accountability”.
The Dublin Docklands Development Authority (Amendment) Bill he said would allow the comptroller to launch a full investigation into the authority, which he claimed was “hijacked by developers and Anglo-Irish Bank executives and the taxpayer now faces a bill of millions” as the Government seemed set to bail out the authority which had losses of €27 million last year.
For the comptroller to investigate an authority at least 50 per cent of its funding must come from the exchequer. The Minister said the authority’s losses were expected to be reduced to €10 million by the end of 2009 and “the authority is aiming to return to a break-even position in 2011 on its operating costs”.
Mr Hogan described the authority as a “financial septic tank” and said “the comptroller has special investigatory powers that expose waste of taxpayer’s money and highlights poor financial decisions. This was recently best demonstrated through its special report into Fás.”
Irish Times
www.buckplanning.ie
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