Taxpayers To Pay Billions For Upgrade Of M50 Ring Road

The upgrade of the M50 ring road in Dublin will leave taxpayers with a multi-billion bill to fund the project. The Comptroller and Auditor General’s report shows the €727.4m bill of tolled M3 Clonee Kells motorway, which is spread over the next 42years.

The M50 ring road upgrade in Dublin from a two-lane to a three-lane motoroway by the ICON consortium which will cost upto €1 billion upto year 2042.

Drivers will end up paying billions in euros in tolls to use these motorways, while the state pays private contractors for building and maintaining the roads in annual instalments.

The National Roads Authority will contribute in some of the toll revenue if traffic goes beyond certain targets. The National Roads Authority believed it would earn €1.7billion in tolls from motorways built under PPP contracts, said the controllers report.

They also estimate it will earn a further €1bn in tolls by 2020 from the toll bridge (West Link) on the M50, which is now barrier free as the report shows detailed costs to the state of its buyout of that particular toll bridge.

From August 2008 to March 2020 it now has to pay €50m per year to national road tolls and take responsibility for VAT of €140m. €600m is the estimated overall cost. €6m is the amount NTR in vested in the West Link toll bridge in 1987 (which is thought to be around €14m in todays money.)

Zoe Group Seek Protection From Creditors

Liam Carroll’s Zoe group will find out if they secure court protection today at the High Court against crucial companies being wound up by ACC Bank.

The decision will be made today whether to issue an examiner to seven key Zoe companies by Mr Justice Frank Clarke. Dutch-owned ACCBank is opposing the examinership, as ACCBank is owed €136million, plus the groups other bank creditors support the application.

A petition that was applied for previous to the current one was rejected by High and Supreme Courts due to no evidence to show reasonable prospect of survival. If the seven companies were to be liquidated the companies would have liabilities of €1.1bn.

Wider public interest is “at the forefront” of its second application for protection, the group told the High Court earlier this week. The application is also predicated on “some hope over despair” for the wider economy ad property market, the application also shows enough evidence to support the appointment of examiner Ray Jackson, told counsel for Zoe in court on Monday.

Due to the support of Zoe’s other bank creditors ACC believes court protection has to be seen against the possibility of atleast half of the group’s bank loans being transferred to Nama. Rossa Fanning for ACC said the prospect was “light years removed” from the objective of the laws allowing for court protection of companies.

10,000 People Could Face Losing Jobs

Upto 10,000 people could face losing their jobs if the state bought the banks, said Irish Bank Officials Association (IBOA).

IBOA has said that after weighing up its options the tosic-bank option was the wisest choice, its union was not prepared to detail how many people would face losing their jobs as they did not want to “show its hand” during negotiations with management.

Although no proposals have yet been been put to the union, IBOA have said they expect larger- redundancy plans at bigger institutions, which may include AIB or Bank of Ireland.

They have agreed with the prediction  that a possible 10,000 job losses could happen if the state were to take over the main institutions.

Larry Broderick IBOA’s general secetary said that job losses would happen with all options layed out. He also said that nationalisation of banks could push up the cost of state borrowing as international investors are wary of state run institutions. Which could in effect reduce pay across the public sector.

"If there were five state-owned banks, there would be huge pressure on the Government to reduce that number to two, and possibly one," said a spokesperson for the union.

"It is hard to see how a government of any complexion could justify five state-owned banks operating simultaneously.”

"NAMA is not perfect but the rate of job attrition is likely to be lower. The cost to banks of being part of Nama is likely to lead to some job losses.”

"We are anticipating that there will be a general contraction in the industry from next year onwards when the banks will be reviewing their staffing levels."

Mr Begg ICTU general secetary  has recommended that nationalisation of banks is the best option and that it should happen sooner rather than later. "There is no other route to ensuring that we have an effective banking system in place, and we cannot put off that decision indefinitely," he said.

Bank Of Ireland Over Charged 120,000 Customers

Bank of Ireland Staff have been working through the night to refund millions of euro to 120,000 customers who have been mistakenly double-charged for every transaction on their laser card since last Friday.

"glitch in the bank's system" is what a spokeswoman for the Bank of Ireland confessed, they also admitted that a problem with its software meant customers had their accounts debbited twice when they used their cards. This meant that a lot of customers were sent into the ‘red’ after the second mistaken transaction.

The bank of Ireland has ensured the affected customers they will refund overdraft fees and penalties. Bank of Ireland also admitted that there was a problem with their laser cards. The problem was discovered yesterday afternoon, which the bank believes the software brokedown over the weekend, which is one of the busiest times for customer transactions.

The spokeswoman also stated that no customer will be left out of pocket after staff have completetd their intensive investigation of all the laser transcations affected. However, the bank refused to comment on the amount of money involved, which is believed to be in its millions.

"Bank of Ireland is aware of an issue that has affected some Laser card transactions and has resulted in a duplication of transactions in some instances.” and "The cause of the problem is now being fully investigated and any customers with duplicate transactions will be resolved." Said a spokeswoman for Bank of Ireland.

This is not the first time Bank of Irelands reputation has been tarnised, last year they were accused of negligence after four of its laptops were stolen from four different members of staff containing details of around 10,000 life assurance customers.

The banks admitted when the incident took place that information stolen on the laptops had not been encrypted, although password protection was in place, which is thought that the information could have been easily accessed by computer professionals.

Billy Hawkes Data Protection Commissioner was only informed of this incident much later. The incident raised a major secuity alret and the consumer’s association recommended the data commissioner to take strong action.

The bank has also admitted in April 2006, for overcharging customers up to €18m for PPI (payment protection insurance).

ESRI Offical Recommends 7% Paycut Across Economy

John Fitzgerald an ESRI official recomended that pay rates across the economy should be cut by an average of 7% if Ireland was to return to full employment in the coming years, he told the institute of Public Administration conference in Dublin today.

Tax increases and majoy cuts in current spending would also be recommended In this Decemebrs budget, but continued investment was also vital to ensure the economy can recover from the current crisis, said Mr Fitzgerald.

Unemployment Soars To Highest In 14 Years

Irelands unemployment rate rose even higher in August this year after maufacturers, insurers and brewers cut jobs, causing the unemployment rate to reach its peak in 14years.

July showed an increase from 12.2pc to 12.4pc (the highest since February 1995), taken from the Central Statistics Office (CSO) in Cork. Which has had a knock on effect on the amount of people claiming benefits, the number applications rose by 5,400, altough this has been reported as the smallest increase in 16months.

In the past month companies such as Eureko BV and United Parcel Sevice have said that they plan to cuts jobs, however, Deirdre Ryan an economist at Goodbody Stockbrokers In Dublin feels that the pace of job losses may be stabilising and that “The hemorrhaging of jobs that was seen in the earlier months of the year is now firmly behind us,” it’s an “encouraging development.”

Chief economist at National Irish Bank (NIB), Ronnie O’Toole has said that the jobless total may average around 400,000 this year, which is significantly lower than the 440,000 forecast by the government.

However, as unemployment soars welfare spending is rising, which is affecting efforts by the Irish government to control budget deficit.

CPL Resources Plc a recruitment company has also reported that they expect the job market will “continue to be difficult” and that “Past cycles indicate that we could see a prolonged period of rising unemployment” and that comments that the worst of the recession is over “ may somewhat be optimistic” said Ann Heraty Chief Executive Officer.

Barclay's Bank Fined £2.45m

Barclays bank was fined £2.45m (€2.8m) by city watchdog today for “serious weaknesses” and failing to provide accurate transaction reports and flaws in its reporting procedures.

The Financial Services Authority (FSA) said that it is of high importance for companies to submit data for reportable transactions, and that failures by investment bank of arm Barclays Capital could have damaged the FSA’s ability to detect suspected market abuse.

This reflects the serious nature of Barclays' breaches and is a warning to other firms that the FSA will not tolerate inadequate systems and controls," said Alexander Justham, the FSA's director of markets.

The breaches were held against Barclays for 57.5million transactions, including failure to submit any report, not identifying whether it was a buy or sell, or including incorrect codes between October 2006 to November 2008.

Family's could face €4,000 tax increase

The Commission on Taxation report which was published yesterday could leave the average family up to €4,000 worse off anually as the report suggests €3bn worth of tax changes.

Despite its aims to spread taxes out evenly, the average family of four of middle income earners could end up paying €4,000 a year more if the new tax proposal is accepted, although it is still uncertain if the new poposal will be accepted or when the changes would happen if it were, says Taoiseach Brian Cowen.

The Comission on Taxation report includes a list of new taxes including;

• New domestic water charges phased in over a five-year period.
• annual property tax on homes based on market value.
• abolition of stamp duty.
• a third rate of income tax
• a carbon tax on petrol, diesel, coal, briquettes and home heating oil.
• the taxing of child benefit with a credit to be given to low-income families.
• a windfall tax from land re-zonings and a tax for sitting on land banks.
• making workers pay PRSI on all their income.
• scrapping a range of tax reliefs availed of by workers.

New tax proposals outlined above could inflict a further attack on families who are still recovering from being hit with €5,000 in additional taxes and levies in the last year. 

From the list above the only real plus families will benefit from is the proposal to to phase out stamp duty on ATM, credit and debit cards. However, it has been suggested that child benefit will be cut in some form as the commsion did not resolve the problem of taxing unmarried parents, instead, a flat rate cut across all families has been recommended.

Although the report suggests the proposal of tax rates or income levy to be lowered, it does not outline specific recommendations on lowering labour taxes. Frank Daly Commission chairman commented that all recommendations were designed to spread the burden of taxation more evenly and to give the Government more certainty about its tax revenue. The report does suggest lowering taxes on employee, but does not specify which ones should be lowered, and by how much.

Gales party finance spokesman Robert Bruton, said the last thing families needs is an increase in overall tax levels in Ireland whilst the economic the country is an economic crisis. "No country has ever taxed its way back to recovery, but that is exactly what Fianna Fail is trying to do. Between the measures already announced by the Government, and those promised for the years ahead, the ratio of tax increases to day-to-day spending cuts is 2:1," and  "This is unfair and unwise, and will only make the recession deeper and longer." he said.

Father Of One Steals €35,000 To Pay Debts

Joesph Sulivan aged 40 and a father of one was given a 3-year suspeneded sentence after being found guilty of creating false documents in which he transferred more than €36,000 into his own bank account.

Mr sulivan worked as a payroll manager where he took €35,000 from Pioneer Investment Management Ltd to pay for gambling debts of a total of €50,000.

Mr Sulivan pleaded guilty to 3 charges of fraud and deception on dates between June 2005 and May 2006, he had already borrowed €13,000 from a friend before his gilty plea and had also paid €50,000 to the company he frauduently took the money.

Although Judge Delahunt told Mr Sulivan that his crime had “represented a gross breach of trust” which had caused “you, your family and your employer a great deal of trouble” she also said that she had been impressed with his manner by admitting to his employer his crime which he refunded, before being confronted about his crime.

In an agreement that Mr Sulivan coninues to attend Gamblers Anonymous,  Judge Delahunt suspended his entire sentence in which Mr Sulivan must also liase with his probation officer for 12months.

Fuel Suppliers Call Out For "Debt Blocking" Measures

Energy suppliers for gas and electricity want new measures to stop customers avoiding paying their outstanding fuel bills by switching suppliers. The phrase "debt hopping" has been used to describe the increasing amount of customers who switch suppliers before settling their bills, which many companies have complained about to the Commission for Energy Regulation (CER).

Fuel suppliers have reported higher number of consumer debt due to Ireland’s economic downturn. Bord Gais and other companies have petitioned to the commission for “debt blocking” measures, to prevent customers from switching to another supplier with out settling their bills. In the north of Ireland these kind of measures are already in effect for gas and electricity business users.

A spokesman for ESB said they had not called for “debt blocking” measures because of being suppliers for a last resort for many people, they cannot refuse to provide basic electricity requirements for people because of their bad debt history.

Around 500 customers of ESB and Bord Gais are reportedly being disconnected every month because of failure to pay their bills. Bord Gais have confirmed between 350 and 400 customers are being switched off for non payment, whilst 4,000 customers so far have been cut off with ESB.

Bord Gais have confirmed they would welcome some measures of “debt blocking”, and energy suppliers have suggested that businesses with arrears of €500 should have the “debt blocking” measure in place to settle their outstanding bills before they switch suppliers.

They believe that existing debt management tools are not effective, and often have to apply expensive legal proceedings to recover debts that have not been paid.

Although CER are not considering applying the “debt blocking” measures on householders at the moment, they have invited interested groups and the public on the proposal to impose new restrictions on potential customers who wish to suppliers.

CER have said they are concerned that “debt blocking” measures could encourage abuse of the system, and could also conflict with EU legislation allowing customers to switch with minimum delay.