Examiner Irish News

Haughey wins first
round in tax battle

by Mark Hennessy
Political Correspondent
FORMER Taoiseach Charles J Haughey yesterday won the first round in a battle against the Revenue Commissioners, which is seeking over £1m in back-taxes from him following a series of gifts from Ben Dunne.
In a ruling delivered to Mr Haughey and which will not be published, the Office of Appeal Commissioners found difficulties with the handling of the investigation launched into his financial affairs by the Revenue in the wake of the McCracken Inquiry.
Last night, it was understood that the two appeal commissioners, top accountants Mr Ronan Kelly and Mr John O'Callaghan, are unhappy with the methods used to total Mr Haughey's Capital Acquisitions Tax bill.
However, the issue is now set for a airing in the New Year in open court, since the taxmen are to appeal yesterday's findings to the Circuit Court, and the High Court if issues of tax law are questioned.
Last night, the Revenue refused to comment: "We would not comment on any aspect of the tax affairs of a private individual, but we would confirm that it is standard practice in cases where considerable taxes are at risk and where points of tax principle are involved that we will vigorously pursue these through the courts."
Last March, during a challenge to the Moriarty Tribunal by himself and members of his family, Mr Haughey acknowledged before the High Court that the Revenue Commissioners were investigating his affairs.
a citizen unhappy with a Revenue tax demand is entitled to an adjudication by the St Stephen's Green-based Appeal Commissioners.
In his Tribunal of Inquiry findings, Judge Brian McCracken condemned Mr Haughey for failing to reveal that he had received five gifts from the multi-millionaire retailer worth £1·3m in the late Eighties and early Nineties.
The payments occurred after the accountant, the late Des Traynor attempted to organise a group of a half-a-dozen businessmen to make £150,000 donations each in 1987 to bale out Mr Haughey, who was then Taoiseach, of financial trouble.
In the course of this, Mr Traynor approached the accountant, Noel Fox, who was then a close adviser to Dunnes Stores. The latter told Mr Dunne of Mr Haughey's difficulties, who agreed to pay the debt of £900,000.
On three further occasions Mr Traynor contacted Mr Fox, seeking money for Mr Haughey. In July, 1988, he asked for stg£471,000; in April or May, 1989, he asked for stg£150,000 and in February, 1990, he asked for a further stg£200,000.

North poised for breakthrough with historic pre-Christmas deal

by Joe Oliver
POLITICIANS at Stormont were last night on the brink of reaching an historic pre-Christmas deal. A compromise package over the number and extent of cross-border bodies was virtually clinched after marathon behind-the-scenes talks at the Assembly.
And major progress has also been made on the shape of new government structures.
No-one was prepared to give precise details, but it is understood agreement was reached on six cross-border bodies, with two others to be decided on at a future date. Despite unionist opposition, it also seems clear there will be 10 departments in the new government.
While it is thought some Ulster Unionists remain unhappy with the prospect of ministerial posts being split 50-50, the bulk of their party in the Assembly gave its consent to the move.
The intense efforts to break the impasse which threatened the Assembly's future followed warnings that unless agreement was reached the North could drift back to violence.
British Premier Tony Blair and Taoiseach Bertie Ahern were instrumental in the latest efforts to end the stalemate. As a result of talks between the pair, Mr Blair tabled a position paper to help the parties clear the final hurdle towards a compromise. The paper set out the respective positions of the parties and urged them to find the middle ground.
Mr Blair's involvement had been urged by Sinn Fein in recent weeks as the parties got bogged down in wrangling over cross-border bodies and the make-up of an Executive. If the agreement reached by the parties can be formalised by Friday then steps would be put in motion to ensure the transfer of power from Westminster early in the New Year.
An Alliance Party source, insisting on anonymity, said: "I don't want to create false hopes, but at long last we're on our way. The small print has still to be discussed but on all the major points the parties are now firmly in agreement and there can be no going back."
Earlier, First Minister David Trimble had told the Assembly it would be unwise to make public the current state of inter-party contact but said he was hopeful agreement could quickly be reached.
His deputy, Seamus Mallon, memorably said that the "political crucible of the summer from Drumcree to Omagh to Ballymoney should inspire us all to create the institutions under the Good Friday Agreement".
As the parties forged ahead towards agreement, the Assembly gave its support to a motion from UK Unionist leader Bob McCartney that decommissioning was a cornerstone of the Agreement. Mr McCartney is at the centre of a furious bust-up within his party which has left him isolated from his four Assembly colleagues.
The row showed no sign of abating yesterday and Mr McCartney, effectively reduced to a one-man band at Stormont, faces some hard thinking after his colleagues refused to join him in a planned walkout.

Paedophile ring targeted
after abduction bid

by Bryan MacDonald
A SPECIAL unit to investigate a suspected paedophile ring is to be set up by the gardaí following the latest attempt to abduct a child. They now believe the 39 abduction attempts over the past 10 weeks are related.
A 14-year-old boy on his way home from school was approached by a man who asked him to get into his car in Naas.
The boy fled to a nearby housing estate where the alarm was raised. The man, described as being in his mid to late 30s, followed him for some time before driving away in a large black car.
Gardaí have appealed for witnesses to the approach which happened on the Ballymore Road, close to Naas General Hospital on Monday evening.
There have been a number of attempted abductions in the north Kildare, west Dublin areas recently. They follow similar incidents in Lucan, Maynooth, Straffan, Celbridge and Newbridge. Attacks have also been reported in Portlaoise and Kilkenny.
Gardaí believe a gang of paedophiles are targeting children. The probe is being carried out by detectives attached to Operation Trace, set up to investigate the case of six missing women believed murdered in the south east over the past few years.
Gardaí warned at the weekend that a number of convicted British child attackers may be in Ireland, including the notorious Raymond Hewlett (53). He has been registered for dole payments in various north west towns in recent years after serving 12 years in a British jail and is thought to be in the north Kildare area.
Details of his past offences and character profiles were forwarded to detectives at Operation Trace.
In a statement last week, the chief crime prevention officer for Co. Kildare, Sergeant Mary Corcoran, warned parents to be vigilant and gardaí are conducting early morning and evening patrols in north Kildare.

Clane assault raises fears
of sex attack gang at large

by Bryan MacDonald
AN assault on a young woman in Clane at the weekend has increased fears that a gang of sex offenders are at large in the Leinster area.The woman was assaulted at 1.10am on Monday morning as she walked the short distance home from a function in the local GAA club. A lone assailant grabbed her as she walked along Prosperous Road and dragged her up a secluded driveway.
He placed his hand over her mouth to prevent her from screaming and despite the woman's continued struggle managed to force her quite a distance up the driveway. She repeatedly kicked and punched her attacker and her cries were heard by a young couple who live nearby. The couple ran to her aid and her assailant fled in the direction of Clane village.
Gardaí have issued a description of the attacker. He is thought to be in his early 20s and is six foot tall with blond
hair; he was wearing dark clothes.
Clane GAA Club lost Sunday's Kildare county football final to Round Towers and the club house was packed with supporters all night. Gardaí are appealing to witnesses who noticed a man acting suspiciously in the vicinity as they left the club house. Naas Gardaí have established an incident room at 045-868262, and they are treating the matter very seriously.
Monday's attack follows a similar incident in Carlow at the weekend and other almost identical attacks in Kilkenny, Tullow, and Newbridge in the past fortnight. There have also been a series of assaults on teenage schoolgirls and fears are increasing that a gang of sex offenders is at large in the area.
The possibility exists that the attacks are separate, unrelated incidents, but gardaí now believe such a level of coincidence is extraordinary and unlikely. However, the descriptions issued in both the Carlow and Clane attacks mean it is unlikely the same assailant carried out both assaults.
Gardaí are seriously concerned about the frequency and disturbing nature of the attacks and detectives attached to
the Naas-based Operation Trace, which was initially established to investigate the cases of six missing women in the
area, are looking into the incidents.

IFA warning over imports of non-Irish pig products

by Ray Ryan
Agriculture Correspondent
CONSUMERS are being misled into believing that some imported pigmeat products are Irish, it was claimed, yesterday.
The Irish Farmers Association said this was due to inadequate and sometimes misleading labelling, which gives the impression that the product is Irish.
President Tom Parlon told a press conference in Dublin that pig farmers were very concerned and angry over growing levels of pigmeat imports which give consumers that impression.
At a time of oversupply at home, imports to Ireland increased to almost 16,500 tonnes for the first half of 1998, which was equivalent to importing 15,000 pigs per week.
He advised consumers to always check and question the product's country of origin if it did not carry the Bord Bia green shamrock quality symbol or a guaranteed Irish symbol. Just because product was sold in familiar local packaging or sold loose and unlabelled did not mean it was Irish.
"Some processors are importing product and because it is packaged under an Irish company name, consumers assume it to be Irish," he said, urging them to be wary of pigmeat products labelled as being packed for a locally-based company, when there was no clear Irish symbol on the pack. Mr Parlon said the pig sector was battling through its worse price recession in 25 years.
Farmers were losing up to £30 on every pig sold depending on location.
This situation, unfortunately, might continue for several months, and producers were requesting consumers to support native produce.
"Although we operate in a single market with free movement of goods, consumers must be given the clear choice to buy native produce.
"There can be no fudge allowed through inadequate or misleading labelling," he said.
Mr Parlon called on the Government to update labelling legislation to ensure consumers have precise information on the country of origin of all products.
He said the growing level of pigmeat imports was evidence of a lack of commitment by some pigmeat processors to Irish produce. This was more likely to arise with secondary processors.
The IFA leader said he was extremely disappointed that Bord Bia had failed to prevent imports from increasing dramatically since 1990.
He called on the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment to amend legislation and crack down on loose labelling to ensure Irish consumers and producers got a fair deal in the market place.
Irish retailers in both large and small shops should also be more discerning about the origin of pigmeat supplies, he said.

Company faces huge
clean-up expenses from EPA

by Conor Ganly
THE ISPAT Steel company could face a major environmental clean-up bill next year when the company comes under new Environmental Protection Agency, (EPA), licensing procedure.
"If the company does not meet the necessary criteria when it applies for the licence it could then face significant costs to allow it operate," according to Dr Padraic Larkin, director at the EPA, yesterday.
EPA inspectors will go into the plant to ensure that all standards would be met before the company would be given a licence, he added.
From June 10 next, the company will be governed by the new Integrated Pollution Control, (IPC), licensing Regulation.
Under the law the company will have to meet certain criteria to qualify for a licence to operate.
In November the Cork Environmental Alliance sent a submission to the European Commission for the environment calling on the Commission to investigate emissions at the plant.
It claimed that the company was releasing life threatening toxins and lead into the atmosphere and that these releases had not been properly regulated by any state agency.
The Steel Plant has up to now been monitored by the Environmental office of the Cork County Council. The Environmental alliance included in its submission an analysis of the dangers of the plant emissions carried out in 1991 by an expert in the area of toxic emissions at the request of Cork County Council.
The report, obtained through the Freedom of information act, stated that the Irish Steel plant was the biggest source of pollution in the Region.
In a separate development yesterday the European Commission warned 11 EU countries that they have two months to integrate laws on air pollution into national legislation or else face court action.
Five countries – Britain, Ireland, Italy, Portugal, and Greece, are accused on two counts.
They are several months late in adopting an EU law on air quality, and another law on polluting emissions from engines in stationary places such as factories and petrol stations.
The deadline for integrating the EU law on air quality into national legislation was May 21 1998.
The deadline for adopting the second law was June 30 1998.
Under EU procedure, the EU Commission can take these countries to the European Court of Justice if they do not comply with the EU warning within two months.

EU to pay for plans to dispose of waste

by Ray Ryan
INNOVATIVE proposals to deal with Ireland's waste management problems will be paid for by the European Union, it was predicted yesterday.
European Parliament Vice President and Munster MEP Gerard Collins said the future of waste disposal here does not and cannot lie in the continued countrywide search by local authorities for landfill sites.
The former Fianna Fáil Cabinet Minister said there was growing public concern about the long-term environmental impact of landfill sites.
But there was strong economic growth at present and resources must be invested in alternative waste management.
"We must be courageous in relation to how best we address the problem of disposing of our waste. It is certainly time for a reasoned debate to take place on this issue," he said.
Mr Collins welcomed the Government initiative to commission a study into the possible use of new and alternative forms of waste generation and waste disposal.
Stressing that it was right to look boldly at new ways to dispose of residential, industrial, commercial and agricultural waste, he said there was over 42 tonnes of waste alone in 1995.
Pointing out that the Waste Management Act was a step in the right direction, he said local authorities were required to prepare waste management plans either individually or jointly.
The Environment Protection Agency was also required to prepare a national hazardous water management plan.
Mr Collins said he would be confident the European Commission would financially support alternative waste disposal methods during the next round of Structural Funds if these were included in the National Development Plan, now being prepared.
"The Environment Directorate of the European Commission and the European Parliament certainly want us in Ireland to take advantage of the cleaner and newer technologies which are coming on stream to deal with the problem of waste management in Ireland.
"The bottom line is that the future of waste disposal in Ireland does not lie in our reliance and use of landfill sites nation-wide. We must be innovative and courageous in devising new methods for waste disposal, and the maximum consultation must take place between the Irish Government and local and regional authorities on this matter," he said.

Fishermen face income cuts
if quotas are reduced

by Eddie Cassidy
TRAWLER crews could face a huge drop in their incomes if EU ministers endorse proposed quota cuts, a fishermen's organisation warned, yesterday.
The Irish South and West Fishermen's Organisation demanded a radical overhaul in the management of EU fisheries and called for a regional management system to replace the Common Fisheries Policy.
The organisation claimed that proposed cuts in the Total Allowable Catch for the year ahead could reduce the average incomes by approximately 17%.
The Castletownbere-based organisation estimates that the loss in income in the fishing ports of West Cork, alone, could total £9 million.
"That would be outrageous and totally unacceptable," said the organisation's development officer Jason Whooley.
"What other sector of industry would tolerate such reductions in income without some form of compensation," he asked. An Irish delegation, headed up by the Minister for the Marine, Dr Michael Woods, travels to Brussels today for the December council meeting of EU Fisheries Ministers.
The EC Commission has recommended quota cuts, but a spokesman for the department said that fishermen should be assured that the Minister would be fighting to secure a fair deal for Ireland.
But the ISWFO insisted: "Irish fishermen find it particularly difficult to accept these cuts when they know that their fleets are not the cause of overfishing or the depletion of stocks. The scale of this proposed reduction will have obvious socio-economic effects for most coastal regions."
Mr Whooley said: "It's about time that the EU realised that a further cut in the TAC is not the answer.
"If significant progress is to be made, we must depart from this presently overly-centralised management regime that is the Common Fisheries Policy.
"A system of regional management must be introduced that will allow the stakeholders in a fishery to be directly involved in its management.
"It is the only way in which the stocks will be allowed to recover and the only way to avoid this annual battle."
He further claimed: "The proposed cuts will solve nothing but, rather, will add to the problems of declining stocks and illegal fish being land around Europe.
"Brussels must be made to realise this and recognise that the present CFP system has failed."

Crude and disgusting
adverts must be removed

by Mary Dundon
THE Advertising Standards Authority, yesterday, ordered two companies who breached their taste and decency code to remove the offending advertisements immediately.
The first offending advertisement, Get Fuct at Motion Picture, prompted the ASA to urge advertisers not to exploit sexuality and the use of coarseness in the preparation of their advertisements.
And the ASA's also upheld a complaint that 2FM's poster advertisement, Your Best Assets are in Your Jocks, was in bad taste, crudely sexual and disgusting.
The ASA is a self-regulatory body set up by the advertising industry and its complaints committee adjudicated 12 complaints this month.
The two companies found to have breached their taste and decency code will be given a reasonable time period to remove the offending advertisements, and penalties are only applied if they fail to do so, according to ASA chief executive Edward McCumiskey.
"In the past 17 years we have rarely had to introduce a penalty because we have found that once our decisions are circulated to the media and advertising agencies, the offending advertisements are generally removed without a problem," Mr McCumiskey added.
The ASA complaints committee found that the wording used in the first ad, Get Fuct at Motion Picture, was offensive and urged advertisers not to use provocative copy and images to attract attention.
The complainant had considered the advertisement both vulgar and offensive.
And while the clothing company in question defended the use of this ad on the grounds that Fuct was a registered business name, the ASA upheld the complaint and said they should not use offensive or provocative copy.
The second offending ad, was a 2FM poster advertisement with the words Your Best Assets are in Your Jocks, above a picture of a microphone followed by the words it takes 2FM.
This was objected to on the grounds that it was in bad taste, crudely sexual and offensive, rude and disgusting.
The advertisers responded by saying the ad tells the public in a confident up-front manner that RTE is proud of its disc jockeys — commonly known as jocks — and they rejected any suggestion that the microphone had any sexual connotation.
But the ASA upheld the complaint at its December meeting. The ASA complaints committee also found that three further advertisements were in breach of their code's truthfulness provision.
Of the 12 complaints considered by the ASA committee, 10 were from consumers and two of from within the industry concerned.
Complaints relating to sexism, portrayal of vulnerable persons, violence and anti-social behaviour, misleading advertisements and the use of superlatives were also among those which were not upheld, according to Mr McCumiskey.
"But the vast majority of complaints we receive are those claiming the public is being mislead by the wording or content of an advertisement," Mr McCumiskey said.

More Irish News

Haughey wins first round in tax battle

North poised for breakthrough with historic pre-Christmas deal

Paedophile ring targeted after abduction bid

Clane assault raises fears of sex attack gang at large