The Irish water debacle: a timeline

national | bin tax / household tax / water tax | other press

Monday March 24, 2014 14:56

by fred

broadsheet.ie have put together a great timelline for the activities of Irish water thus far. It makes for very interesting reading. That is, If you are into reading about how our lords and masters and their capitalist friends are taking us for a ride at our own expense and the loss of what should be very basic state run services that should never be run as for profit services. After reading this expect it to be your blood and not the kettle that is boiling!

A picture is worth 1000 words but was this one worth 20,000 euro of taxpayers money?

This timeline is a must read. It goes from November 2006 up to the present. Here's a snippet:

Timeline:
http://www.broadsheet.ie/tag/irish-water-timeline/

March 16, 2012: It’s reported Denis O’Brien has bought Siteserv for €45.4million in cash, with the Siteserv board agreeing to the sale of its business to Millington, an Isle-of-Man-based acquisition vehicle controlled by Mr O’Brien which was established in 2011. The deal is subject to shareholder approval. It’s reported that Siteserv’s directors say they consider the deal to be ‘fair and reasonable as far as shareholders are concerned’. Sitserv says as part of the disposal plan, IBRC has agreed to accept payment of an amount which is less that the full amount owed by Siteserv to it.

March 17, 2012: It’s reported that IBRC has agreed to write off €100m of the roughly €150m debt it is owed by Siteserv, and that the bulk of the €45.4m being paid by Mr O’Brien will be used to satisfy the outstanding debt obligation, leaving the business to be acquired on a debt-free basis. It’s also reported that Siteserv estimates that it will be left with just under €5million in cash which will be distributed to shareholders, with them expected to get €3.92c for every share they own in the group. The group’s chief executive, Brian Harvey, will remain with the business, as will group finance director Niall Devereux. Mr Harvey will receive nearly €800,000 for his 20.2 million shares.

Following on from this, broadsheet have posted this article dealing with the rejected siemens bid. Again here's a snippet:

Siemens offer:
http://www.broadsheet.ie/tag/irish-water/

Independent Senator Sean Barrett addressed Junior Environment Minister Fergus O’Dowd about the offer from Siemens.

He said:

“What is the approved water charges plan? We do not know how much water will cost or the amount of the free allowance that will be granted. I am not trying to make a wrong analogy, but a used car salesman has to tell his customers how much he is charging. The Government has been far too coy. It is time to put the numbers on the table in order that we can approve the water charges plan. In 2010 there were discussions with the Siemens company on its offer to install meters for nothing. More than three years later the dance of the seven veils has gone on for long enough. There is too much concealment and hugger mugger. Put the numbers on the table and let the people make their decision.”

Broadsheet also posted about the ridiculous logo that cost 20,000 euro. (see picture). It apparently used an open source font which is freely available on the net and the contract did not go out to tenure. More easy cash for insiders it seems.

http://www.broadsheet.ie/2014/01/21/more-fontabulousness/

Great work by broadsheet in covering what some might say was
a huge and expensive government scam being pulled on the Irish public.
I hope broadsheet continue their excellent exposes of this matter.