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THE GOVERNMENT HAS been urged to hasten efforts to reimburse people who sell excess renewable energy that they produce ahead of a feared national shortage in the winter.
Under a new scheme, homes, businesses and farms that generate renewable energy, such as through solar panels, will be able to sell back any extra power that they produce to their supplier.
It’s a long-awaited measure that is aimed at bringing Ireland in line with other countries and helping to reward take-up of renewable energy, which in turn reduces the fossil fuel burning that spells chaos for the climate.
However, while the legislation was signed into law in February and came into effect last month, most microgenerators are still waiting for details from their energy supplier on when and how much they will be paid.
Several suppliers told The Journal they plan to issue payments, which will be backdated as far as February, in the coming weeks and months. Climate Minister Eamon Ryan previously stated that eligible microgenerators would start to receive payments from 1 July, depending on their billing cycle.
Industry experts and Opposition politicians have said that the scheme should have been rolled out quickly and widely, but the Department of the Environment said that suppliers required time to put the scheme in place.
Other snags for prospective sellers include a delay to the final design of the scheme due to recruitment issues and a reduction in the value of solar panel grants, as well as the removal of a battery grant.
The slow progress on solar comes despite fears of energy shortages this winter and a national target to massively increase renewable sources.
“We have an energy crisis and the cost of installing solar PV has escalated as well, but yet the government doesn’t seem to be veering anywhere from where they’re at,” said Pat Smith, chair of the Micro-Renewable Energy Federation.
Speaking to The Journal, Smith said that the “government has to put significant resources into place to try to help people make the adjustment”.
“The talking has to stop and the walking has to start.”
People power
Microgeneration is the practice of producing energy on a small scale. It’s usually taken up as a way of powering a home, business or farm using a renewable source like solar energy.
Under a new programme called the Microgeneration Support Scheme (MSS), microgenerators who produce more energy than they need themselves should be able to sell it back to their electricity suppliers, but most of Ireland’s suppliers are yet to make the necessary arrangements with customers.
In a statement to The Journal, a spokesperson for the Department of the Environment said it is expected that all suppliers will have made a first payment by 31 August at the latest.
“This date recognises that suppliers require time to develop the necessary systems and processes needed to make payments to customers, following the date that export data was first made available to suppliers by ESB Networks,” the spokesperson said.
“The Commission for Regulation of Utilities (CRU) has therefore allowed for one 2-month billing cycle after the date on which export data was made available to suppliers by ESB Networks, which was 1 July 2022.”
Bord Gáis Energy and Energia told The Journal that they plan to implement the scheme this autumn, while Electric Ireland said it expects to contact customers with details later this month.
Panda said it is developing its system to “be capable of remunerating customers” by the end of this month and is in the process of modelling the rate it will pay.
Arden Energy, Pinergy and SSE Airtricity are offering microgenerators a rate of 17.5 cent, 13.5 cent and 14 cent per kilowatt hour (kWh) respectively.
Pinergy said it plans to issue the first set of payments in January 2023 for electricity exported in 2022, while SSE Airtricity said it expects payments to begin later this year.
Other energy suppliers including Community Power, Eco Power, FloGas, PrePayPower and Waterpower were contacted but did not respond.
Speaking to The Journal, Sinn Féin Senator Lynn Boylan said it is “deeply frustrating for people who took the initiative, spent their money and thought that they were contributing to climate action and they’re still waiting to be rewarded for that effort”.
“Even this week, someone showed me a letter they got from their energy supplier saying that they still haven’t set the tariffs for how much they’re going to pay them back,” the senator said.
In a statement this week, Laois-Offaly Independent TD Carol Nolan also described being contacted by people who are ‘increasingly frustrated’ by a lack of timeline from their supplier on when they will receive payment or being passed between different points of contact for documentation.
She said the minister should “directly intervene” with suppliers and ESB Networks to try to resolve matters quickly, saying it was unfair for people to be “continually kicked from pillar to post”.
Energy pressure
Renewables are a major part of Ireland’s efforts to shift away from burning fossil fuels, which are a key driver of climate change, and to diversify the country’s energy sources, particularly in the context of Russia’s war on Ukraine and the pressure it has placed on energy prices and security.
Last year, EirGrid warned that Ireland may face electricity shortages over the coming five winters as demand keeps ticking upwards, particularly due to large-energy users like data centres.
Since then, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has shocked Europe’s energy market, prompting the EU to ask member states to cut gas use by 15% over the winter. While Ireland will be exempt from that particular step, other concerns remain about energy supply.
Two emergency gas generators that were expected to open in Ireland before this winter have been pushed back by 15 months, The Journal reported last week, and EirGrid issued two amber alerts this week as the electricity system experienced “tight margins” between supply and demand.
Senator Boylan said that the microgeneration support scheme “absolutely” should have happened sooner in the context of the current pressure on the energy system.
“It seems this is the low-hanging fruit and it’s been painfully slow,” Boylan said.
“I know, maybe from EirGrid’s perspective, it’s only a small amount of electricity in the grand scheme of what they’re facing in terms of demand, but there’s two elements to it.
There’s one, that of course anything can help, but equally, people can feel part of the process and feel like they’re actually doing something worthwhile and contributing.
“That’s a really important part, I think, that’s missing in a lot of climate action at the moment.”
Similarly, CEO of the Irish Solar Energy Association Conall Bolger said that implementing the payment process has “been a little slower than we would have liked”.
“We’ve noted that the CRU has given the industry a bit of a prompt, so I think we’re going to see more of those tariffs coming through now in the near future, which is great,” he said.
“Every kilowatt hour that somebody makes in their home is one that doesn’t have to be made somewhere else. Scaling it up is definitely important,” Bolger said.
“It would have been great to have done this earlier. Similarly, for renewables more widely – utility-scale solar and on the wind side as well – there’s a lot of projects that have been waiting a long time to get onto the network.
The security supply issue was in the post for years. We knew it was coming.
“Every solar farm you put on, every customer that puts panels on their roof, they’re helping make that problem a bit smaller.”
Renewables
A recent MaREI study commissioned by the ISEA found that one million homes in Ireland would be suitable for installing six solar panels, which would produce enough energy total to equate to 21% of the power system’s current size.
The government is trying to increase the proportion of electricity that comes from renewable sources such as wind and solar to up to 80% by 2030.
Under the Climate Action Plan 2021, a final High-Level Design for the Microgeneration Support Scheme was due to be published in the first three months of the year.
However, the scheme design was delayed in the first quarter, delayed again in the second, and is still yet to be published.
The Department of the Environment has been working with the Commission for Regulation of Utilities (CRU) to finalise the final scheme design (FSD) document.
“Whilst the CRU has provided substantial input to date, they have significant resource gaps and are currently recruiting to staff up this area,” an update report outlined.
In a statement to The Journal, the CRU said that it has started recruitment for 73 new posts, planning to increase its staff by 60% to 195. Currently, applications received for manager and graduate roles are being assessed and analyst roles are due to be advertised in September.
“These posts will enable the CRU to take on significant new functions and accelerate existing programmes of work to deliver on Ireland’s policy goals and the transition of Ireland to a net-zero carbon economy,” the CRU said.
Despite its absence to date, some of the scheme’s measures are already in place, including solar panel grants through the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI).
In 2022 and 2023, the maximum grant available for solar panels is €2,400, a decrease compared to a previous value of €3,000.
“In the context of an energy crisis, they should not have a regressive policy on grants for solar PV,” Pat Smith of the MREF said.
“We should have a progressive policy of encouraging as many people as possible to put solar PV on the roofs as quickly as possible, both to reduce the business or the homeowner’s energy costs but also to generate renewable energy.”
Additionally, a grant for batteries that allow surplus energy to be stored and used later is no longer available, which Smith described as a “massive mistake”.
“If you can encourage people to store surplus energy that’s generated during the day with battery storage to run their homes in the evening, it makes sense,” he said.
Senator Boylan also raised concerns about the solar grant, saying it is not sufficient for people who are unable to afford the upfront costs of installing the panels.
“We have to be really careful that any climate measures we’re taking are not wealth transfers and leaving a whole cohort of people behind,” she said.
Conall Bolger of the ISEA also said that the upfront costs of installing solar panels pose a challenge. As it stands, people living in energy poverty face a “lot of their income going out the door on energy payments”.
“Something we think for people in energy poverty that makes sense would be looking at some sort of model that’s 100% grant funded. Ultimately, a lot of other fixes like the PSO levy or credits or VAT reductions are very short term, whereas the panels are something that can help people long-term free up money to be used for other things.”
Agriculture
While the residential sector is a key focus, another area of society will also be looking to see if it can make solar work: agriculture.
Farmers, who must collectively reduce their emissions by 25% by 2030, have been advised to consider adopting solar power to decarbonise their energy consumption.
In a slightly different system to homeowners, microgenerators like farms and businesses will be paid for surplus energy sold back to the grid through a Clean Export Premium (CEP) feed-in tariff.
In 2022, that tariff is set at 13.5 cent per kilowatt hour and will be fixed for 15 years.
Pat Smith said the government must set a tariff “that reflects the cost of installing solar PV and that ensures that the feed-in tariff can give a market return”.
“It should be fixed at a minimum of 17 and a half cent initially and it should be linked to the Consumer Price Index over the next 15 years,” Smith said.
“To ask somebody to sign up to a contract at 13.5 cent for 15 years, when the market price today for renewable energy is between 15 and 20 cent per kilowatt hour, it seems a bit senseless and out of touch with their stated ambition of encouraging people to adopt renewables.”
Between grants and reimbursements, farmers interested in solar will have been crunching the figures to work out whether it makes financial sense, according to Paul O’Brien of the Irish Famers’ Association.
O’Brien, Chair of the IFA’s Environment Committee, said that Ireland has been “very slow” to adapt to developments in solar power.
“This has to really start taking off massively,” O’Brien said.
“That’s not only from the farming perspective, that’s from everybody’s perspective, because there’s going to be considerable amounts of people looking at their energy bills over the last couple of months and saying to themselves, okay, if we can apply for grants or we can get panels in, then at that stage, we want to be able to export surplus.”
O’Brien encouraged farmers to consider taking up solar but added that the government “has to allow this process to work”.
“It’s the government who will be the drivers of this,” he said.
He said solar power represents a significant opportunity for the government to drive renewable energy in agriculture as well as other sectors such as transport.
However: “We are late to the game, we should have been starting this in maybe 2016 or 2017. We were slow.”
It’s up to the government now to come very, very clearly and give us the plan of how we can adapt and how we can sell our surplus electricity back to the grid.
“That will encourage adaptation, that will encourage measures down at farms. Farmers are massively into that sort of thing. They will really grasp this,” he said.
“I think this is going to really take off massively. But it can only take off massively if it’s backed.”
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How about pledging support for the people who have to find extra money for their car and home insurance for the next decade thanks to sean quinns greed?
The only Quinn I like is the one from Irish Pictorial Weekly. The rest of them should spend the rest of their lives afraid to pick up the soap.
And the taxpayer who will be paying for their actions in perpetuity.
Here here! So much for the GAA being non-political
So they have support for a man who is partly to blame for costing the country billions and then tried to illegally hide his assets meaning the country has to pick up even more of a tab! Good one GAA! Everything that is wrong with our country in one headline!
Cormac, you concede that Quinn tried to hide HIS assets. Period.
Your point rusty9?
Kerry Blake,
Quinn is in jail for hiding his own assets. The ownership of the foreign assets has never been established in a court of law. Anglo claim they own them, he begs to differ, and the issue won’t be solved until the pending courtcase. (Which, I’m sure you’re aware was brought back this week) Justice Dunne was ruling on the case in front of her ie. the contempt of court orders. The validity of the debt has yet to be decided on. Quinn has paid back the 455 Million of undisputed debt, and the rest is in dispute, so that is what he is in jail for….hiding his own.
Yes he illegally hid his own assets in contempt of court. I or the courts would have no problem with this if he didn’t owe the state ( granted the only reason it’s the state is cause somebody stupidly gaurented Anglo on our behalf) billions of euros. Just cause you don’t agree with them does not mean you can ignore the rulings of a court or preempt the rulings of a court with illegal actions.
Why is the GAA pledging support for someone who’s in jail for showing contempt for the laws of this country exactly?
Says a lot about the GAA’s ‘value system’.
Very bad move by the GAA, nothing to do with them. they are setting a precedent that will have serious consequences
It’s one County ….not all the gas membership….
Meant all gaa …I don’t support him and I know many who are gaa members who don’t….
agree completely angela the need to distance themselves immediately
What are the serious consequences?
EVEN RYAN TUBRIDY?!!?!? Welll….. I’m now with you… that’s such an endorsement.
If Pat Kenny gets on board now I’ll stop questioning EVERYTHING….
Cult of personality pal….
I’d prefer if you would reply to my other question which asks you for a link to the claims your making and stating that it’s public record.
I’ve looked, I can see no offer.
Back it up with something worthy, not just the doubts of an overpaid celebrity.
Rusty every time I insure my car, my house or something of personal value. Brass neck Quinn is costing me extra. Those are the facts, No matter what you might claim. Even tonight he is costing me money as he is locked up for contempt of court. State needs to recover any money possible and hopefully lock that example of Irish business away for a long time.
Ryan Tubridy called to the defence – infantile.
Cut their state funding due to the cutbacks needed to fund Quinn’s gambling. See how quick they are to voice support then.
like you Jason,
the DUP aren’t very much in favour of “state funding” for Fermanang GAA, either,
or for funding of the GAA in any of the Six Counties.
The Six Counties? Is that an official geographical term, or is it just one that SF/IRA use?
michael, that’s taking his comment in a light you know it wasn’t intended.
If there’s one thing we learn from this story it’s that even thieves can manage to take advantage of the Irish addiction to (the financial equivalent of) parish pump politics.
Hello fermanagh & cavan by the way – the red thumb is the one on the left….
Professor:
is “SF/IRA ” a political party, or is it just a term that ol Jim Alster & those of his ilk tend to use ?
“The Six Counties?”
yeah – the six counties of northeast Ireland that are still under British rule.
Tuigeann tú anois ?
Michael,
Spoken like a true Ra head.
Show me the map which shows that part of the British Isles officially known as the Six Counties. Only the mentally deficient would seriously think that SF and IRA are not two sides of the same ugly coin.
Póg mehoop. Tuig that.
To be fair, I grew up in Donegal where the term “six counties” was used a widely – by that I mean by people with all kinds of political persuasion.
I’ve always regarded it as an abbreviation for “the 6 counties of ulster that are under british rule, not ulster on the whole which, surprisingly some dopes don’t realise has 9 counties”
So more a case of identifying a specific 2/3rds of ulster rather than confusing the few who are unaware.
I thought the official name, Northern Ireland, would have had the same effect?
Can’t they just say Northern Ireland?
ah – comon Professor
you may not be a Professor of Geography, but –
surely you’ve seen a map of Ireland, showing the border, that partitions our country into the Six & Twenty Counties ??
as for your “SF/IRA”
even the DUP & FG have largely ceased using the term.
the PDs were fond of the term too – but, thank God, they’re no longer with us,
but i have noticed, that like you, ol Jim Alister & the TUV tend to use it, still.
We have to refer to everything in it’s official terminology now do we? Let’s not use semantics – it’s completely irrelevant, I said what I said because you appeared to be trying to attach the term to nationalists/republicans. I simply stated that it’s not. So why not refer to NI as the “six counties”. Or are you suggesting that there’s some hidden agenda behind calling the Killkenny team the Cats? Or Limerick/Clare being in the Mid-West or Ireland being in western europe.
A lot of red thumbs in support of Quinn by the looks of it but none brave enough to voice an opinion. The Quinn situation in Cavan is everything that is wrong with this country. “Jail all the cute hooers that caused this economic problem, but the the cute hooer from our part of the country who we blindly think is a God!”. Its the same bloody mentality in Tipp North when it comes to the likes of Lowery. They keep voting in that cute hooer even though anyone can see he is as crooked as they come………This country is a joke and we have to wake up and stop being so stupid! Baaaaaaaaaaaaaa Baaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
Well said Tom !
Tom you are wrong on so many levels. You, the people who are led by the nose by the gospel according to Dukes and his cronies, are the sheep. There are no, or few animal noises coming from the border region. Fair play to the GAA for standing up to injustice, for standing by a man who is being mistreated and for not being afraid to voice their opinion in a climate where the media circus are running the country.
I see the red thumbs brigade are out in force, but oddly silent. Anyone care to elaborate on why they think the GAA should support this traitor?
Something very fishy about these red thumbs. ???
You beat me to it!! Nearly every comment is red-thumbed to green thumbed in equal measure despite most if not all comments making sense! Yet no Pro-Quinn commentary, because at the end of the day, although Quinn is being made the poster-boy for his and his cronies greedy actions in the years gone by, his actions are indefensible!!! Just local parish-pump blind faith from the Cavan Fermanagh crowd who benefited from local jobs thinking the bould Government up in Dublin took their jobs from them!!
jazus i thought the same meself serious red thumbs for my comment, i didnt think there was that many gombeens about the place
The whole of Fermanagh GAA is on…..
there is no doubt
Gombeen haha
Does not compute
Maybe the GAA should support him because they are not afraid to have an opinion, and to voice it, even if it means that people with a lesser knowledge on Quinn matters may take a bit of a huff about it. Maybe they haven’t forgotten the huge contribution Quinn has been to them over the last 35-40 years. Maybe the GAA have read up on the entire debacle, and read the facts, and not what has been shoved in our faces via a biased media over the last 2 years. Maybe they have read http://anglothetruth.files.wordpress.com, which would have left them with no doubt that Quinn is, not only Anglo’s, but the government and the whole countries scapegoat. Maybe the GAA have integrity and are courageous enough to stand up for someone who has been wronged and mistreated
Maybe the GAA do not bleat…
On behalf of the red thumbs brigade here are a couple of things for your pipe.
1) Quinn has forever changed Cavan or the better. It used to be that our children could never hope to get jobs in Cavan. Mr Quinn has fixed that.
2) I take it none of you live in a border county? Well we are forgotten by Dublin and Belfast, Mr Quinn has put us on the map and given us something to be proud of.
3) it’s Anglo we should be pursuing not this great man
I don’t honestly expect any of you smoked salmon socialists to understand but one can always hope
I’m from a border county and I’m sorry but it’s absolute tripe to see things so blinkered.
Quinn has bought your loyalty at the expense of the Irish taxpayer – it’s that simple. If you want to continue to delude yourself, go ahead but that’s the facts.
To all the Quinn bashers, just log on the Concerned IRish Citizens facebook page or Quinn/Anglo blog spot and you will get more commentary than you are able to digest. See in particular a letter from Dr. Rory Hanley who explains effectively why people should support the Quinns. When you have read all the relevant articles, report back. and tell us why we should not support the man who created 8000 jobs, paid bililons to the Exchequer, and offered to pay the State 2.8 billion.
The amount of red thumbs is hysterical!!! It’s hard to believe the amount of people that look up to a CRIMINAL as a hero!!! FOOLS!!
Well said!
Siobhan, Sean Quinn is not a criminal as this is a civil matter. You are going to have your eyes opened when the full truth emerges.
Don’t CRIMINALS go to prison???
Where is Sean Quinn right now eh??
Jog on!!
Siobhan,
Your statement really proves how little you know about Quinn. He is not a criminal….it was a civil case. His punitive treatment it not unlike the treatment a criminal would get, but that does not make him a criminal…
Justify it how you like, he was the one that got greedy and WE are the ones to suffer because of it.
When his JAIL TIME is done he will still have his secret stash of millions.
WE will pay for his greed for a long time!
Should stay well clear of politics.
What planet are these people living on? That man is costing the state billions. I am a hurler myself and a fan of the Gaelic games but I think the gaa have no place in politics
Justin, this is not politics. Its a human rights story not just for the Quinn family but for every citizen of this country.
Yeah, that we’re all paying someone’s gambling debts. almost enough debt to reverse most of the budget cuts.
I hope the GAA are not getting goverment grants, lotto funding,or FAS grants. I hope they have no special tax credits or reductions. Children’s allowance and other cuts are paying a percentage of the Quinns criminal activity.
Frank
you say – “Children’s allowance and other cuts are paying a percentage of the Quinns criminal activity”
10% correct -
providing the ‘Quinn’ you’re referring to is called Ruairí or ‘Ho Chi Min’ .
Looks like a lot of people from Cavan and Fermanagh voting here today.
IM from Cavan and don’t support him ….do t understand how people can defend his blatant disregard for our justice system or how his supporters can call him a hero ..
The GAA in the border areas have a history of backing bad things, they are just continuing their traditions!
In all due respect GAA people of Fermanagh, it’s easy to see it’s not your tax money being squandered to patch up the Quinn mess.
Peter, I understand where you are coming from but the reality is that SEAN QUINN AND HIS FAMILY OFFERED 2.8 BILLION TO THE STATE PLUS COMMITTED TO RETAIN ALL THE JOBS AND CREATE 1700 ADDITIONAL JOBS.
This is a matter of public record and would have saved the taxpayer and consumer at least 5 billion. It would also have prevented any call on the Insurance Compensation Fund.
THIS OFFER WAS THROWN IN HIS FACE BY PEOPLE WITH VESTED INTERESTS IN FAVOUR OF A STRATEGY THAT WILL NEVER SEE THE RETURN OF ONE CENT AND WILL COST US BILLIONS.
The people of Ireland deserve to know the truth. The Quinn family have asked to appear before a Dail Com. to answer questions but were denied the opportunity to do so. The decision makers are doing everything possible to sweep the corruption at the very heart of the establishment, under the carpet but it will come out in the big case that Quinn is taking against Anglo next year when it finally comes to court.
Rusty – provide a link. Where is it in public record? It seems strange to me that anyone who would claim that the loans were 2.34bn would then offer to pay more than that while simultaneously trying to sue anglo over the unlawful character of the loans?
Tomy forget the link were is the €2.8 billion? Maybe in Russia? Quinn family a bunch of con men costing the tax payer in this country much need money in legal fees every day
I’ll refer you to the following 2 posts on Boards.ie
http://touch.boards.ie/thread/post/79993102
http://touch.boards.ie/thread/post/79883947
In short, the 7 year plan was waffle.
My point Kerry is that there appear to be two sides to this. Each side thinks the other is deluded.
There is plenty of reliable sources out there pointing the finger of blame at Quinn while accepting that Anglo had a significant hand in there too.
I won’t accept people using CAPS LOCK as any kind of reason to think they should be believed. Source it and it shall be considered.
P.S. Considered does not mean accepted.
Rusty in all due respect if I run company A into insolvency while also squandering billions of my only other assets into worthless shares, how the bloody hell can I seriously base my survival strategy on a massive loan injection into A to support repaying my losses on the shares. Fanciful at best! The guy f@&$ed up, insurance is not a sweet shop, money in is not pure income as every cent relates to YOU guaranteeing a possible future event, due to this guarantee naturally you are required to keep big reserves to disperse should these events occur. Quinn didn’t do this so naturally his insurance business was considered worthless and therefore any guarantees or future strategies based on this worthless business non financeable. Why are people too stupid to see this
In case anyone is wondering, I wrote both of the linked posts above on Boards… If any of the red thumb’ers would care to provide financial analysis on the 7 year plan, I’m all ears.
Still all ears…
Money talks!!
Fact of the day!fact f. A. C. T look it up quinners
Why are people in Northern Ireland having a say in what goes on down here in the South ???
Matt:
if you’re from “the South”
why are you “having a say” about what people in Fermanagh are doing ??
because Fermanagh is one of the 32 counties of Ireland, prhaps ??
Hear hear Matt.
There’s definitely a concerted effort by the Pro-Quinners to red-thumb and not comment on anything that doesn’t support their emperors’ cause. Wonder what organisation is helping out…? It’s brilliant to watch these bird-brains in action.
I think the GAA – The Grab All Association should focus themselves on more worthy issues than backing a man that has helped bring this country to it knees with greed on a criminal scale.
Ah begora! To all you insufferable liberals criticising Quinn, he bought jobs and sprawling housing and ghost estates to Cavan. Ah sure so what if he stole a few billion here or there, wouldn’t you in the same situation. Before you criticise this legend, come to Cavan bring a pair of wellies, knee high muck everywhere you know, talk to us and you will see we aren’t savages that you make us out to be
*sarcasm
John, I’m from Cavan so am I expected to be loyal to Seán Quinn because I’m from Cavan? I played GAA and all that and grew up in wellies so you cant say I didn’t live out the stereotype some people are using as *sarcasm* in here.
I don’t disagree that he created employment in the region and had a massively positive impact on people’s lives BUT the fact is he broke the rules of the court and that’s why he’s in prison. Same way that anyone who created hundreds/thousands of jobs broke the law would end up inside for a few weeks.
John. — we the citizens of Ireland brought jobs to Cavan it seems. We subsidised all the gambling and reckless management. We are still subsidising it by cuts to caters and children’s allowance plus many more worthwhile projects that have shut as a result of greed by the Quinns , Banks, etc. The Quinns happen to be the most addicted to the money as they will go to any length to keep it like drug addicts. Even jail!!!
Frank, see my comments above and refer to sites named for FACTS.
Are there so many Red Hands being pressed as that is the hand the associate with the most in Northern Ireland
Sorry Donal…. That’s the red hand of Ulster you’re talking about. that’s ULSTER with 9 counties not NI with 6 counties.
Cavan and Monaghan. Full of numptey’s.
Actually that’s a bit harsh. Monaghan people are all right
Are these people for real?
To quote Jacobim Mugatu in Zoolander; ” I feel like I’m taking crazy pills! “
The way things are going it looks like we will have a new political party for the next general election – The GAA Party !! Love to see their manifesto :-)
Matt, I do not know if the GAA will run a candidate but I will tell you one thing for certain. IF the Quinn family run members in a number of constituencies, they will have no problem being elected and whats more THEY WILL KEEP THEIR PROMISES AND WILL DELIVER ON JOBS ETC.
and so the financial equivalent to parish pump politics would become parish pump politics.
hopefully it’s just a noisy minority supporting the Quinns.
Can’t understand why you are all so down on Sean Quinn. He did bring a lot of wealth to Ireland and jobs. We all gambled during the boom and lost the run of ourselves. Does that make us greedy too? You talk about how much it is costing the taxpayer, well what is it costing us for the many people driving about in uninsured vehicles do you not think our insurance costs are higher because of them? Anyway I think Quinn is being a scapegoat because they haven’t jailed any of their cronies in the banks yet and they were the real crooks in all of this.
We all gambled… Did we now? *Rolleyes*
What I’m saying SmcB is the majority of people cashed in on the boom. I personally didn’t gamble but you can’t say it didn’t happen. The only difference is that Anglo KNEW they were in trouble well before anyone else and were hiding it. Even when the government guaranteed the banks they didn’t come clean.
Anglo DID NOT force Sean Quinn to gamble on their stock. He did that of his own free will.
The mistake Anglo made was lending him the funds to take out his CFD position as under company law ‘it is unlawful for a company to give any financial assistance in connection with the purchase or subscription of shares in that company or its holding company’. On that basis I think SQ will win his case however that does not excuse his reckless behaviour (in term of the CFD purchased) or his nonsense offer to repay the funds borrowed. Nor does it excuse his behaviour in respect of Quinn Insurance or his current contempt of court.
Ultimately the taxpayer will pay again for Sean Quinn’s recklessness. It’s bad enough that we’re paying for Anglo and the rest of the banks.
SMcB,
Anglo did not force Quinn to invest in their bank. You’ re right there. However, they cooked their books, and showed fictitious accounts for the bank, that made investment in it look extremely attractive. On the basis that what Quinn was investing in was false and incorrect, then one could assume that any dealings, based in these false accounts, would then become nul and void. This too, must be determined in a court of law.
Also, the plan than Quinn put forward to repay the entire debt was perfectly viable. It was approved by the Deutsche bank and government ministers, (even Anglo, initially). However Matthew Elderfield did not want Quinn involved in the running of the companies, and the plan was ignored based on this. What we have seen since that has been the catastrophic effects of putting people who know nothing about a business into the running of said business.
Would you sue the owner of a horse that turned out to be a crock of shite just because you stuck your life savings on? Quinn will get away with his recklessness because of Anglo’s stupidity. Taxpayer pays again.
In terms of the 7 yr plan, funny you’ve chosen to ignore my post above – links are attached again http://touch.boards.ie/thread/2056714200?page=13#post_79993102
http://touch.boards.ie/thread/2056707066?page=16#post_79883947
As well as that… The CFD loan was PERSONAL debt (€2.8bil that is)… His companies would have needed to make in the order of €5.6bil to allow the Quinn Family pay back the Anglo debt alone!!! Profits paid from a company to a shareholder (individual(s) that is) are taxed at the marginal rate…. (You do know that of course?) As well as forgetting about interest, the Quinn’s forgot about tax as well….
I see no correlation between betting on a horse, and investing (through CFD’s, or otherwise) into a bank that has shown the investor fictitious and aggressively overstated bank books, which were audited yearly. Don’t you find it strange that the bank has now started investigating the auditors of the bank at the time? They know the proverbial is about to hit the fan, so they’re shifting the blame once again. The arguements on your link are lame re the viability of the plan…….things like paying back no interest etc……Do you really think that the paying back (or lack of ) the interest would have had any effect on the consideration of the plan? Don’t you think that to it would have been a better scenario with regards employment, the tax-payer footing the bill etc?
“Fermanagh’s greatest wedding band “The Wedding Banditz” plan to release a Christmas single with the proceeds going Sean Quinn and his family.The song will be the classic “Release Me”.Let’s get this to number one.So watch out Simon Cowell.”
Disclaimer : I have no idea,whether “”The Wedding Banditz” support the Quinn’s or not??? I used there name for the purpose of the comment because it sounded better than “Wedding Knights”(both are actual wedding bands from Fermanagh) and I certainly wasn’t going to sully the good name of “Mama’s Boy’s”.
A bunch of parochial idiots supporting a disgraced dishonest person who is costing the people of this country billions.
Maureen, good for you. It is nice to seeing people such as yourself not falling for the Anglo propaganda that we are all being billed for.
The Quinn bashers are in for a real surprise when the big case runs.
Does anyone know how much exactly is been stolen from me to pay and all of us for this guys need for greed on insurance polices? Is it a percentage or a set amount per policy?
I think it’s a 2% levy……for the next 15 years or so.
Sorry Maureen. My response to your comment is posted in the wrong place and can be seen a few comments above this.
I think Michael O Toole is the red button saboteur.
Says it all.
So much for GAA being neutral
Sad. Quinn never made a profit, and the claim that the reserves were set higher for them is beside the point. There was a call elsewhere on all the money in the accounts from other parts of the group. This was a Ponzi scheme.
I wish you the best of luck explaining that to the Quinnites… Financial literacy is not one of their strong points.
have your say