The question as to what the queen of England has in common with Mrs Brown's Boys might have drawn a few quizzical looks this time last week, but a leak of more than 13 million documents has bound together wealthy figures from all over the world.
Dubbed the Paradise Papers, the trove of documents obtained by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists has shone a spotlight into the shadowy corners of the global economy and the financial affairs of some of the world’s most powerful people.
The queen, Donald Trump's secretary of commerce Wilbur Ross, U2 frontman Bono, some of the cast of Mrs Brown's Boys, and businessmen Denis O'Brien and Sir Anthony O'Reilly were just a handful of the names featured in the files.
The records are from two offshore services firms based in Bermuda and Singapore, as well as from 19 corporate registries maintained by governments in jurisdictions that serve as waystations in the global shadow economy.
As any of those named in the papers who spoke publicly this week were keen to stress, the activities are legal, but, as many others have stressed, the siphoning of billions from national treasuries, often from some of the world poorest countries, raises ethical questions.
One of the more galling cases in the papers concerned the overseas arm of State-owned AIB, which continued to target Irish customers who wanted to avoid paying tax even after its parent had been bailed out at a cost to the public of €7 billion.
The documents also resurrected the Apple tax controversy, showing the tech giant may still be using Ireland to avoid tax on the billions of euro it earns outside of the US. A complex reorganisation combined with changes in Irish law mean the multinational may still be writing off profits against intellectual property held here.
Of course, there has been much wringing of hands, with the EU pledging to blacklist and act against states which persist in acting as tax havens. Taoiseach Leo Varadkar described closing loopholes as “a game of cat and mouse”. He promised action, but it might not be wise to hold one’s breath.
Leo’s ready to give it socks on Brexit
Perhaps Taoiseach Leo Varadkar was still riding high from the latest batch of jazzy socks he received and tweeted about the day before, but he nonetheless struck an unusually upbeat tone when speaking about the Brexit negotiations on Wednesday.
He said it was “likely” that European Union leaders will give the go-ahead for the talks to proceed to the next phase, focusing on trade, at their next meeting in December. That being said, he was quick to point out that he doesn’t really know what’s going on between Brussels and London.
“People ask me all the time what is going to happen,” he said. “I don’t know what is going to happen. I don’t think anyone does, quite frankly. Deputy [Joan] Burton referenced the ongoing confusion in London at the moment.”
There was also said to be some disquiet in London over a toughened stance from Dublin. A leaked European Commission document claimed the Republic is demanding Britain sign up to 100 rules and regulations to ensure an open Border with the North.
Meanwhile, both British prime minister Theresa May and opposition leader Jeremy Corbyn were batting their eyelashes at British businesses during the Confederation of British Industry’s annual conference.
Speaking to the business lobby group at London’s O2 centre, May called for a “strategic, long-term partnership” with business, and said she was determined to give “as much certainty as possible” on the Brexit transition period.
US secretary of commerce Wilbur Ross, meanwhile was on a five-day visit to the UK for “scoping” talks. On the last day of his trip, he raised the alarming prospect for London that a UK-US free trade agreement after Brexit could take a decade to negotiate.
Back home, the news wasn’t an awful lot better. A Government report warned that many businesses are not prepared for Brexit, and urged firms to accelerate their preparations and avail of Government supports and assistance.
A second report, from cross-Border development agency InterTrade Ireland, found that an overwhelming 95 per cent of businesses here are still not actively planning for the event, preferring instead to adopt a “wait and see” approach.
It also emerged that more than half of Irish-based insurers, including overseas-owned firms, have considered transferring portfolios between Ireland and the UK as they navigate the uncertainty.
Brexit is, however, proving a boon for accounting and professional services firm RSM Ireland. It reported a 144 per cent increase in international referrals, with more than 40 per cent of those coming from the UK.
At least it might get somewhat easier to keep track of what’s happening, as the Central Statistics Office launched a new Brexit-themed webpage to examine how Ireland’s relationship with the UK is being impacted.
Bank of Ireland’s naughty list is getting longer
Bank of Ireland could be in for another “admonishment” from Minister for Finance Paschal Donohoe after the bank bowed to pressure from the Central Bank and added a further 6,000 customers to the compensation list.
Despite having twice the number of impacted customers, the bank set aside roughly the same amount of money as rival AIB to compensate customers, but that could be because 3,700 of its customers were apparently only overcharged a small amount.
However, it is a major scandal for the bank, and it has now increased its provisioning for the matter to €200 million, almost 10 times the €26 million originally earmarked. The latest provision charge equates to about 15 per cent of its pretax profits for last year.
The tracker issue is just one tenet of the State’s dysfunctional housing market. Separately, Minister for Finance Paschal Donohoe said he cannot commit to the introduction of a vacant property tax because of legal and social complexities.
He said more than a third of the 183,000 properties currently classified as vacant in the State were owned by elderly people, “pointing to all kinds of reasons why those properties might not be used”.
Figures from the Central Bank show home ownership levels continued to decline in the first six months of the year, despite the introduction of the Help to Buy scheme in January 2017. They have now hit a record national low.
The Central Statistics Office, meanwhile, showed the cost of buying a home in Dublin has climbed by 87 per cent since the bottom of the property market in the post-crash period was recorded in 2013.
On a related note, the Government will spend in excess of €3 billion on rent subsidies over the next five years, according to official projections, which is up 25 per cent on the previous five-year period.
Davy chief economist Conall Mac Coille, however, said he expects house price rises to cool next year, especially in Dublin, as banks hit the limit on money they can lend outside of the current mortgage lending rules.
There was better news for those fortunate enough to own their houses, as increases in the value of property have driven the net worth of Irish households up by nearly 60 per cent since 2012, according to the Central Bank.
