But Ms Carey told the tribunal it was her understanding that Mr O’Brien had spoken to Mr Hogan himself and then agreed to make the donation.
The tribunal sided with Ms Carey’s account of events.
A second donation of IR£4,000 was made to the Fine Gael Golf Classic in October 1995. Mr Hogan was chair of the event’s organising committee.
Ms Carey told the tribunal Mr O’Brien specifically instructed there be ‘no advertising at the gold classic’. She wrote a letter to Mr Hogan saying: “I understand Denis has requested that there are no references made to his contribution at the event.”
The tribunal found that bank drafts used for the Wicklow and golf classic payments were “indicative of a desire for secrecy” over the donations.
Before the golf classic, auctioneer Mark FitzGerald, son of former Taoiseach Garret FitzGerald, said he got a phone call from Mr O’Brien asking him to come to a meeting at Lloyd’s Brasserie in Dublin.
Mr FitzGerald told the tribunal that he was surprised that, when he arrived, Mr O’Brien was sitting with the late TD Jim Mitchell and Mr Hogan. He has said that when he arrived he was asked by Mr O’Brien if he’d heard anything about the mobile phone licence competition, which was then nearing conclusion.
Before he died, the late Mr Jim Mitchell told his solicitor that he had no memory of any such meeting.
Mr Hogan told the tribunal the meeting, as described by Mr FitzGerald, did not take place and if it did, he couldn’t recall it. He said he had no recollection of any meeting.
The tribunal sided with Mr FitzGerald’s version of events, finding that it was “difficult in the extreme to conceive” of any reason why Mr FitzGerald would give false evidence.
June 1, 2011: Environment Minister Phil Hogan announces that water meters are to be rolled out to more than one million homes from early 2012 and that the new water services company will be called Irish Water. He said international experience and that of Irish group water schemes had shown metering and charges would reduce consumption an impact positively on the €1billion the State spends every year on water services.
July 19, 2011: It’s reported that a report on the setting up of Irish Water – carried out by PricewaterhouseCoopers and McCann Fitzgerald – is to be delivered to the Department of the Environment in September. It’s also reported that Bord na Móna has expressed its ‘willingness and desire to take on the role of Irish Water’.
July 29, 2011: It’s reported Siteserv’s revenue grew by 11% and remained profitable in its 2011 financial year, despite difficult market conditions. It reported revenue of €168.5million in the year to April 30, 2011, up from €151.4million a year earlier.
September 8, 2011: Minister of State Fergus O’Dowd said an announcement on the establishment of the NewERA project (Economic Recovery Authority) is imminent. NewERA will have three areas of focus – broadband, energy and Irish Water. NewERA will be funded by €2billion raised from the sale of State assets, while it will also receive funding from the National Pension Fund.
December 16, 2011: It’s reported that Siteserv’s revenues to the six months to the end of October grew by 9% to €92million. It’s pre-tax profits rose to €1.1m, from €500,000, compared to the same period the previous year while operating profits rose by 4% to €4.8m from €4.6million. Key contracts agreed during the six months included a contract with RTÉ, AA Ireland and Bord Gáis. It also launched a big customer call centre for BSkyB, Bord Gáis and AA Ireland. But, the Irish Independent reports (on December 17, 2011) that Goodbody Stockbrokers analyst David O’Brien warned that until Siteserv’s €150million debt pile was reduced, investors were likely to ‘remain on the sidelines’.
January 15, 2012: It’s reported that Davy, the Dublin stockbroker, and KMPG are seeking a new owner for Siteserv and it will be sold at a ‘significant discount to its bank debt of €150millon’. A bidding process is understood to be under way and that hundreds of shareholders in the stock – which is now trading at almost zero – are unlikely to receive any payment from the sale.
January 16, 2012: Siteserv says it is exploring a number of strategic and corporate options for discussion with Irish Bank Resolution Corporation, formerly Anglo.
January 16, 2012: Phil Hogan says the roll out of water meters will created 2,000 new jobs during the three-year metering installation period. It’s also reported that PwC has argued against ‘embedding’ Irish Water into an existing semi-State agency, saying any ‘perceived or real cross-subsidisation could pose issues for the regulators’.
January 22, 2012: It’s reported that their are divisions between the Coalition partners about the setting up of Irish Water with senior Fine Gael members preferring the creation of a new company – as outlined by the PwC report – while a ‘growing number of Labour backbenchers and senior TDs would prefer to embed the new utility into an existing State agency, such as Bord Gáis, Bord na Móna, the ESB, or the National Roads Authority. It’s reported that the unease in Labour is prompted by concerns among representatives of the 3,600 staff working in the local authority water sector. It’s reported that ‘they feel that workers moving from 34 city and county councils into the new public utility would fare better if their terms and conditions were linked with those of a state agency’. It’s also reported that Phil Hogan announced a further six-week consultancy period.
January 24, 2012: Minister of State Fergus O’Dowd tells the Joint Committee on Environment, Transport, Culture and the Gaeltacht that nobody will be charged for water until the beginning of 2014. He said there will be a, as yet undetermined, free allowance of water for householders, and after that householders will be charged. He also said the Government will establish a regulator for the water sector.
February 24, 2012: It’s reported Bord Gáis has bid for the task of establishing Irish Water and claimed it can save €120m in start-up costs.
March 9, 2012: The Irish Times reports that Government sources have claimed that the Coalition is leaning more towards Bord na Móna.
March 11, 2012: It’s reported that a group, involving Denis O’Brien, is the front runner to buy Siteserv and that it tabled a bid of €50m for the company. It’s also reported that IBRC, former Anglo, is expected to write off some of the €150million that Siteserv owes Anglo. Several trade buyers and private equity groups have also shown an interest in Siteserv.
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.
March 17, 2012: It’s reported that the sale represents a 70% haircut on the €150m in outstanding debt IBRC is owed by Siteserv. Without this agreement, the proposed disposal would not be capable of implementation and it is likely that shareholders would not have realised any return on their investment, said Siteserv. Shareholders including chief executive Brian Harvey, Chris Neate and John Neal, will receive €4.96 million, or €3.92 per share, representing a premium of 96 per cent on the previous Thursday’s closing share price, or a premium of 26.9 per cent based on the average price of Siteserv over 12 months. This is surprising as it’s generally believed with insolvent companies, equity is normally wiped.
March 29, 2012: Minister for Social Protection Joan Burton warns her government colleagues ‘to review how they interact with businessman Denis O’Brien’, after he featured alongside Taoiseach Enda Kenny at the New York Stock Exchange.
The tribunal sided with Ms Carey’s account of events.
A second donation of IR£4,000 was made to the Fine Gael Golf Classic in October 1995. Mr Hogan was chair of the event’s organising committee.
Ms Carey told the tribunal Mr O’Brien specifically instructed there be ‘no advertising at the gold classic’. She wrote a letter to Mr Hogan saying: “I understand Denis has requested that there are no references made to his contribution at the event.”
The tribunal found that bank drafts used for the Wicklow and golf classic payments were “indicative of a desire for secrecy” over the donations.
Before the golf classic, auctioneer Mark FitzGerald, son of former Taoiseach Garret FitzGerald, said he got a phone call from Mr O’Brien asking him to come to a meeting at Lloyd’s Brasserie in Dublin.
Mr FitzGerald told the tribunal that he was surprised that, when he arrived, Mr O’Brien was sitting with the late TD Jim Mitchell and Mr Hogan. He has said that when he arrived he was asked by Mr O’Brien if he’d heard anything about the mobile phone licence competition, which was then nearing conclusion.
Before he died, the late Mr Jim Mitchell told his solicitor that he had no memory of any such meeting.
Mr Hogan told the tribunal the meeting, as described by Mr FitzGerald, did not take place and if it did, he couldn’t recall it. He said he had no recollection of any meeting.
The tribunal sided with Mr FitzGerald’s version of events, finding that it was “difficult in the extreme to conceive” of any reason why Mr FitzGerald would give false evidence.
June 1, 2011: Environment Minister Phil Hogan announces that water meters are to be rolled out to more than one million homes from early 2012 and that the new water services company will be called Irish Water. He said international experience and that of Irish group water schemes had shown metering and charges would reduce consumption an impact positively on the €1billion the State spends every year on water services.
July 19, 2011: It’s reported that a report on the setting up of Irish Water – carried out by PricewaterhouseCoopers and McCann Fitzgerald – is to be delivered to the Department of the Environment in September. It’s also reported that Bord na Móna has expressed its ‘willingness and desire to take on the role of Irish Water’.
July 29, 2011: It’s reported Siteserv’s revenue grew by 11% and remained profitable in its 2011 financial year, despite difficult market conditions. It reported revenue of €168.5million in the year to April 30, 2011, up from €151.4million a year earlier.
September 8, 2011: Minister of State Fergus O’Dowd said an announcement on the establishment of the NewERA project (Economic Recovery Authority) is imminent. NewERA will have three areas of focus – broadband, energy and Irish Water. NewERA will be funded by €2billion raised from the sale of State assets, while it will also receive funding from the National Pension Fund.
December 16, 2011: It’s reported that Siteserv’s revenues to the six months to the end of October grew by 9% to €92million. It’s pre-tax profits rose to €1.1m, from €500,000, compared to the same period the previous year while operating profits rose by 4% to €4.8m from €4.6million. Key contracts agreed during the six months included a contract with RTÉ, AA Ireland and Bord Gáis. It also launched a big customer call centre for BSkyB, Bord Gáis and AA Ireland. But, the Irish Independent reports (on December 17, 2011) that Goodbody Stockbrokers analyst David O’Brien warned that until Siteserv’s €150million debt pile was reduced, investors were likely to ‘remain on the sidelines’.
January 15, 2012: It’s reported that Davy, the Dublin stockbroker, and KMPG are seeking a new owner for Siteserv and it will be sold at a ‘significant discount to its bank debt of €150millon’. A bidding process is understood to be under way and that hundreds of shareholders in the stock – which is now trading at almost zero – are unlikely to receive any payment from the sale.
January 16, 2012: Siteserv says it is exploring a number of strategic and corporate options for discussion with Irish Bank Resolution Corporation, formerly Anglo.
January 16, 2012: Phil Hogan says the roll out of water meters will created 2,000 new jobs during the three-year metering installation period. It’s also reported that PwC has argued against ‘embedding’ Irish Water into an existing semi-State agency, saying any ‘perceived or real cross-subsidisation could pose issues for the regulators’.
January 22, 2012: It’s reported that their are divisions between the Coalition partners about the setting up of Irish Water with senior Fine Gael members preferring the creation of a new company – as outlined by the PwC report – while a ‘growing number of Labour backbenchers and senior TDs would prefer to embed the new utility into an existing State agency, such as Bord Gáis, Bord na Móna, the ESB, or the National Roads Authority. It’s reported that the unease in Labour is prompted by concerns among representatives of the 3,600 staff working in the local authority water sector. It’s reported that ‘they feel that workers moving from 34 city and county councils into the new public utility would fare better if their terms and conditions were linked with those of a state agency’. It’s also reported that Phil Hogan announced a further six-week consultancy period.
January 24, 2012: Minister of State Fergus O’Dowd tells the Joint Committee on Environment, Transport, Culture and the Gaeltacht that nobody will be charged for water until the beginning of 2014. He said there will be a, as yet undetermined, free allowance of water for householders, and after that householders will be charged. He also said the Government will establish a regulator for the water sector.
February 24, 2012: It’s reported Bord Gáis has bid for the task of establishing Irish Water and claimed it can save €120m in start-up costs.
March 9, 2012: The Irish Times reports that Government sources have claimed that the Coalition is leaning more towards Bord na Móna.
March 11, 2012: It’s reported that a group, involving Denis O’Brien, is the front runner to buy Siteserv and that it tabled a bid of €50m for the company. It’s also reported that IBRC, former Anglo, is expected to write off some of the €150million that Siteserv owes Anglo. Several trade buyers and private equity groups have also shown an interest in Siteserv.
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.
March 17, 2012: It’s reported that the sale represents a 70% haircut on the €150m in outstanding debt IBRC is owed by Siteserv. Without this agreement, the proposed disposal would not be capable of implementation and it is likely that shareholders would not have realised any return on their investment, said Siteserv. Shareholders including chief executive Brian Harvey, Chris Neate and John Neal, will receive €4.96 million, or €3.92 per share, representing a premium of 96 per cent on the previous Thursday’s closing share price, or a premium of 26.9 per cent based on the average price of Siteserv over 12 months. This is surprising as it’s generally believed with insolvent companies, equity is normally wiped.
March 29, 2012: Minister for Social Protection Joan Burton warns her government colleagues ‘to review how they interact with businessman Denis O’Brien’, after he featured alongside Taoiseach Enda Kenny at the New York Stock Exchange.
