Compiled by CAROLINE MADDEN
Remember Michael! The look we're going for is ‘austerity’
EVERYONE LOOK busy – our troika pay-masters are back in town this week.
Officials from the IMF, the ECB and the EU touch down in Dublin tomorrow and will spend about 10 days reviewing our bailout programme and checking that we’ve met all our targets and deadlines for the first quarter.
One item on the agenda during the visit will be Irish Life Permanent, as the financial services provider is expected to submit a detailed restructuring plan to the troika during this review. Also, the Government is likely to engage further with the troika on negotiating the precise quantum of funds generated from the sale of State assets that can be reinvested in the economy, and not just used to pay down debts.
As for what else will go on behind closed Government doors, one wonders whether the officials will crack the whip over the amount splashed out on St Patrick’s Day junkets or, more worryingly, the shambolic handling of the household charge.
In any event, remember the look we’re going for this week is “austerity”, so anyone driving a 2012-reg car, or with penchant for flashing their Laboutins should steer clear of the Merrion Street vicinity this week, as the Troika usually sets up camp in Dublin’s Merrion Hotel.
Spotlight on debt write-off
ON THURSDAY the legal rights body Flac will shine a spotlight on the potential consequences of personal debt write-off in an Irish context.
The conference was prompted by the Government’s recent publication of a draft personal insolvency scheme ahead of the Personal Insolvency Bill, which is to be published at the end of April. From an Irish perspective, experts including Prof Gerry Whyte of TCD law school will consider the constitutional and economic ramifications of personal debt write-off. Let’s hope that some Government representatives make it along to the conference so that we avoid reinventing the wheel, or worse, repeating the mistakes of others.
Not another deja vu moment? Justice Kelly awaits the O'Donnells with bated breath
IT WILL BE interesting to see whether solicitor-cum-failed property investor Brian O’Donnell and his wife Dr Mary Patricia turn up in the High Court for cross-examination tomorrow as instructed by the frustrated Mr Justice Peter Kelly (right).
Surprisingly for a man who once described himself as one of Ireland’s leading corporate lawyers, O’Donnell seems to have a distaste for appearing in court. He and his wife were conspicuous by their absence at a court case in December which related to a €75 million debt the couple owes to Bank of Ireland.
This cautionary tale of prolific commercial property investment took another turn last month when the pair filed for bankruptcy in the UK. This did little to ingratiate them with Mr Justice Kelly, who learned of the move on the day of Bank of Ireland’s application to the Commercial Court in Dublin to examine the O’Donnells on contradictions between certain asset statements.
The judge said he was “not impressed” with how the couple had handled matter, and went on to complain of a “sense of deja vu”, given how they dealt with the court in December. He then ordered the O’Donnells to appear in court on April 17th.
But will the beleaguered couple find time in their diary to fit in tomorrow’s cross-examination? For the sake of the judge’s blood pressure, we certainly hope so.
