“Vision determines winners and losers,” Frank Cushnahan told various Northern Ireland politicians on at least one occasion.
What Mr Cushnahan’s personal vision might have been since he resigned from Nama’s Northern Ireland advisory committee, in November 2013, is the subject of much debate locally. But as his long and varied career in both the private and public sector in the North illustrates, Mr Cushnahan has never been short of vision when it comes to seeing his own big picture.
A past pupil of the Belfast grammar school for boys, St Malachy's College, Mr Cushnahan would have been well-versed with the school motto Gloria ab Intus – "Glory from within" – from his earliest days. His flair for figures propelled him into a career in banking where he easily accelerated into senior roles in Ireland and the UK, including managing director of Chase Bank Ireland, deputy chief executive of TSB and managing director of Western Savings Limited.
In the late 1990s Mr Cushnahan established his own consultancy, advising companies on corporate finance issues and management buy outs and acquisitions. It was this consultancy which helped him build his extensive network, first directly in the business community and, in turn, securing high-profile appointments in the public sector.
Mr Cushnahan developed a reputation for helping to advise businesses through difficult times and also for being able to close deals and make important introductions for his clients which led to new business. His talent as a business “matchmaker” not only drew clients to him, it also attracted the attention of key government officials in the North who recognised his ability to get things done.
Vision
Some might argue that Mr Cushnahan’s particular “vision” while he held significant public positions – such as chairman of the Belfast Harbour Commissioners – significantly helped to shape certain aspects of life in Northern Ireland today.
The Belfast Harbour Commissioners is the independent statutory corporation that oversees the running of Belfast harbour and the 2,000-acre harbour estate, which represents 20 per cent of the Belfast city area. During his tenure as chairman of the commissioners, Mr Cushnahan was involved in a deal that helped to establish what is today the highly successful Titanic Quarter in the city.
In 2000, the agency signed a lease and development deal with the Harland & Wolff Group for the Titanic Quarter, which at the time represented 105 acres of development land in the Belfast Harbour Estate. The deal became the subject of an intensive Stormont inquiry in 2001 after allegations of a secret land deal surfaced.
There were claims the then Department for Regional Development, which was responsible among other things for appointing the board of the harbour commissioners, was not fully aware of the deal.
The North’s current First Minister Peter Robinson and his DUP colleague Gregory Campbell both had spells as ministers of this department between 2000 and 2002.
Summoned
In his role as chairman of the harbour commissioners, Mr Cushnahan was summoned by the Assembly’s committee for regional development as a witness in its investigations. Appearing before the committee, he denied there had “ever been any secrecy” about his agency’s desire to play a lead role in the regeneration of the waterfront lands.
“In all our dealings as commissioners, we act with total integrity, full accountability, openness and impartiality. We are guided at all times by the overall best interest of our users and all of the stakeholders in Northern Ireland,” he told the committee.
“I wish to dispel any misconceptions that material benefit or personal gain have arisen for individuals on the board or in the management team from any transaction initiated by the Belfast Harbour Commissioners. That suggestion is misleading and disingenuous to the integrity of all those concerned.”
The committee concluded that the agency “should have been proactive in seeking to publicise the deal in the interests of public openness and accountability, as well as the significant potential benefits that the deal would bring to the Northern Ireland economy”.
In 2003, Dublin-based property development company Harcourt Developments agreed a £47 million deal with Harland & Wolff’s parent group, Fred Olsen Energy, to acquire the Titanic Quarter site in east Belfast.
Mr Cushnahan’s experiences with the Assembly’s regional development committee did not dissuade him from getting involved again at various levels with the political machinery that runs Stormont. Far from it.
A brief glance at his public sector CV shows he was, at one time or another, a director of the office of the First and Deputy First Minister; chairman of its audit and corporate governance committee; chairman of the ministerial advisory panel of the office’s performance and efficiency delivery unit; and also a member of the panel of the office’s asset realisation taskforce.
Juggled
During this time, he also juggled his many fee-paying public sector appointments with a wide variety of director roles in private companies, including several property development companies.
He received a CBE (Commander of the Order of the British Empire) in the UK honours system in 2001 for services to the economy.
Yet despite being well connected across the political landscape in the North, he was not immune to scrutiny or criticism from the highest level.
Mr Cushnahan had formerly been a nonexecutive member the audit committee of the Northern Ireland Housing Executive, the North’s housing authority, with a budget of £750 million.
He had resigned from this committee in 2007. In the same year, he was appointed chairman of the Red Sky Group, a company that had multimillion-pound maintenance contracts with the Northern Ireland Housing Executive
Following an investigation by the Northern Ireland Audit Office into the executive’s management of response maintenance contracts, the North’s public accounts committee launched its own inquiry into the housing executive and the maintenance contracts.
It was highly critical of Mr Cushnahan’s involvement in discussions concerning money paid by the housing executive to Red Sky. It stated: “The committee is also concerned about the involvement of a former nonexecutive member of the housing executive’s audit committee – who resigned from the audit committee prior to its March 2007 meeting and became chairman of the Red Sky Group in April 2007 – in negotiations with Red Sky to recover sums which had been paid to the company as a result of it overcharging for work.
Unethical
“While it is unclear as to which side he was representing at these negotiations, in the committee’s view, his involvement was totally unethical and could and should have been avoided. It also highlights a fundamental breakdown of governance and proper accountability in that his involvement was not discussed by senior management at any stage with the audit committee, board or the department.”
While his involvement with Red Sky may have tarnished his image in the public and private sector in the North, Mr Cushnahan has also attracted praise for using what one businessman has described as his “considerable talents” in other circumstances – notably with regards to his work with the Presbyterian Mutual Society.
Nearly 10,000 people could not access their savings when the Presbyterian Mutual Society collapsed in 2008 after a run on its funds. Many elderly members were left in a dire financial position following its failure.
The then moderator of the Presbyterian church, Dr John Dunlop, called on what he described as a small group of very committed people who had experience of working in the banking sector to help find a solution. Among them was Frank Cushnahan.
According to a number of people involved in the process to find a solution to the society’s collapse, Mr Cushnahan’s involvement and his connections were key to securing both the financial and crossparty political support for a £225 million rescue package for stricken savers.
The Presbyterian church went on the record to publicly thank Mr Cushnahan, and fellow panel members Sir George Quigley and Ross Reed, for the “endless amount of time and energy” they had expended in trying to find a solution.
