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WEXFORD TD MICK Wallace has criticised the lack transparency and accountability within organisations under the Freedom of Information Act remit.
While he said he sometimes gets satisfactory answers from government departments and State agencies he submits requests for information to, oftentimes he does not.
The Independents4Change TD has long-campaigned against the lack of transparency of Nama, and has made a series of allegations about the workings of the agency.
Last year, Wallace launched a website, Namaleaks, which he said is an anonymous whistleblowing platform encouraging people to share information about the agency.
Speaking in the Dáil this week, he said:
“Recently a while back, I put in a freedom of information request about NAMA’s freedom of information system to see how it works on a day-to-day basis. Pádraig Corkery, the freedom of information manager in NAMA, on a request I put in on Project Eagle stated:
The freedom of information is from Mick Wallace, so I am trying to close off any angles of attack in advance.
“That does not sound like a State agency that is interested in transparency and accountability,” he told the Minister for Finance and Public Expenditure Paschal Donohoe.
Freedom of Information
The Freedom of Information Act obliges government departments, the Health Service Executive (HSE), local authorities and a range of other public bodies to publish information on their activities and to make the information they hold, including personal information, available to all citizens.
Previously, each individual FOI request cost €15 but the law was changed to ensure all requests are now free of charge. However, search and retrieval fees (which are applied if there is a lot of work needed to carry out a request) still apply.
The 2014 Freedom of Information Act was “heralded as ground-breaking and progressive legislation”, Wallace said this week.
“At the time, we pointed out many problems with it, but they were obviously ignored. It is three years since the Act was put in place and these problems have now come to fruition in many areas and practice,” continued the Independent 4 Change TD.
Giving another example, the TD said he also put in a request to the Central Bank about the Ulster Bank global restructuring group and all emails regarding it from 2016 to the present day.
Charged for information
“It charged me €250 to retrieve information. When the Act was introduced in all its glory by the former Minister, we were told we were getting world-class legislation and it was the best thing since fried bread.
“I believe the minister should have another look at the legislation. It is not perfect and could be improved in the interests of transparency and accountability, as well as the public interest,” he said.
Donohoe said the Freedom of Information Act 2014 introduced a “modernised, consolidated, restructured and more accessible system”. While he said commercial State bodies operating in a competitive market are subject to freedom of information, their private counterparts are not.
“I am satisfied that the reasons for the full or partial exemptions stand and are consistent with the public interest. I hope the deputy will acknowledge 600 bodies are now encompassed by this legislation,” added the minister.
He said decisions of refusal or partial granting of requests made by some semi-State agencies is often based on whether making the information available would cause commercial difficulty for the organisation and tendering processes, adding that “commercial sensitivity” also plays a role in the decision-making process.
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Much as people may dislike him, Wallace has been a warrior in uncovering people who have deliberately and knowingly sought to defraud the taxpayer by speculatively loading their firms up with VAT liabilities in the hope of massive personal profits and then collapsing the firm fraudulently when it didn’t pan out, leaving the taxpayer heavily short..
More power to him. He’s an honourable man.
@alphanautica:
Mick’s pink polo shirt should really have its own Facebook page at this stage.
@Tweed Cap: Stop taking the mick
@alphanautica: He knows exactly how tax defraud works out of experience.
@alphanautica: playing the man instead of the subject is low. NAMA should be transparent in all of its operations. If a politician you don’t particularly like brings up their lack of transparency, it would behove you to tackle the subject matter instead of the man.
@alphanautica: he’s not a bit honourable.
He defrauded the state, he’s employees and looked after number 1 ahead of all other considerations.
@alphanautica: completely agree, him and some of the other independents deserve statues to them for what they have doggedly pursued and revealed about our corrupt little state.
Amazing how the two main parties missed all that.
Why was Mick never prosecuted for massive tax evasion?
Cause in the scheme of things it wasn’t massive … Apple and the multinationals on the other hand …
@alphanautica: FYI (you don’t seem to be aware)
https://amp.independent.ie/irish-news/mick-wallace-off-the-hook-after-14m-tax-dodge-26891291.html
@David Murphey: because his company reached an agreement with revenue. In case you were not fully aware, his company withheld tax revenue to be able to keep his employees in jobs, and didn’t personally benefit from it (as his settlement case had shown) and repaid €2.1m to them. By the way, did Regina Doherty ever get prosecuted by the director of corporate enforcement, as far as I’m aware, that was illegal and still outstanding.
@Gulliver Foyle: mick never reached an agreement with Revenue. He paid back small amounts out of his Dail salary but stopped doing that after the General Election. He stated he would do that in Vincent Brown’s People’s Debate. (You’ll find that on the TV3 Player). At the time of his bankruptcy he still owed most of the VAT.
@Gulliver Foyle: repaid 2.1 million? Where did he get that? He was broke!
Don’t believe everything you read on Facebook.
@alphanautica: What???? HE is defrauding taxplayers. Are you mental. He’s as crooked as they come.
All from the man who defrauded the tax payer.
@Michael Geraghty: Defrauded the tax payer what have the banks done and all the builders who went bust they got bailed out like he did declared bankruptcy and your grand
@high ho silver:
No, he didn’t declare bankruptcy.
He cheated the State out of over €1 million in tax.
Stole VAT.
And you’re defending him.
Pathetic
@Michael Geraghty: terrible comment. i am sure he would’ve lost his seat if there was anything unconstitutional associated with him. he stood up and took responsibility. in a sense, he is a victim of the banks and the recession.
now he’s just using his knowledge to call out the people who created the bubble, are reaping the rewards, and are now creating another one.
all those FF and FG patrons
@Living The Laws:
So where’s all OUR vat money he stole from us??
@Avina Laaf: That’s an easy shot. Why not address the questions he has raised instead of whataboutery?
@Avina Laaf: He is paying it back to revenue. Look it up. You never seem to be concerned about the BILLIONS the banks broke us with.
@Ian Walsh:
Do you have any idea how long he’ll take to pay it back at the rate he’s chosen?? Hasn’t stopped him swanning off on foreign trips to watch soccer matches though.
@Shakka1244:
It’s not binary
@Ian Walsh:
Hint: if he’s a TD for another 85 years he’ll clear it (excluding the interest of course)…
@high ho silver: look at the builders of the Schools that have to be relooked at now. The said same builders are still allowed to build. A great little Country. The laws are mostly made to accommodate all the while collar crime . Rotten from top down every where it seems .
@Avina Laaf: our tax money went to his employees and suppliers. Unlike another TD whom did not pay her debts either to revenue, employees, or suppliers. If he took the money and paid revenue and the banks the families of his employees and suppliers would have had a harder time. Where by it us wrong not to pay up on taxes owed there is a certain honour in what he did. He paid those whom could least afford not to be paid.
@Brinster: Ignore drama queen shit stirrer Brinster. According to him I was defending welfare cheats last night? Which is a bit rich coming from someone that defends politician cheats.
In short the person is a clown, better to ignore them and their blueshirt ramblings.
@Michael Geraghty: i see the FG think tank are all out in firce today. Rule No1 always attack yhe messenger and by means address the message!!!
@Brendan Hughes:
I think all the subbies who got stiffed by him might disagree. Either way it wasn’t his money to do as he pleased with, it was our money and he stole it from us.
“I am satisfied that the reasons for the full or partial exemptions stand and are consistent with the public interest.”
Nothing Fg does is in the public interest and i don’t believe a word that comes out of his mouth, the slippery little focker with his nostrils pointing to the sky.
@Richard Sweeney:
“Namaleaks”.
Set up by a tax evading builder.
Like Bertie Aherne setting up an “Anti Brown Envelope” furnace.
@Brinster: That’s an easy shot. Why not address the questions he has raised instead of whataboutery?
@Richard Sweeney: an less of what comes out of F/F mouths .
@Richard Sweeney: WELL SAID
Inside the secretive state of …… ireland.
With Leo’s propoganda machine.
@Adrian: hang in there the men in the white coats are on the way
Wallace reached an agreement with Revenue and is repaying his debts.
Unlike many of the bigger developers to whom Nama payed a yearly income.
Any one who has ever been in busness would know how difficult it was in 2008/09 to manage finances.
Mick was no different and buy all accounts was a decent employer and well respected.
I wish him well and thank him for his contibution to exposing the FG/FF/LB / GP sponsored corruption that has taken place around Bank bailouts and statr owned assets under the control of Nama.
The irish people who payed for the bail puts should be benefiting from all these property assets but still we have a housing crisis where even a couple who earn good money cant find a mortgage or a place to live.
The Irony.
@Stephen Maher: well said. I note how many here jump on the bandwagon to shoot the messenger while ignoring the message. Mick Wallace has done terrific work to make the public aware of the workings of NAMA. If he was in breach of the law in his personal finances he would not be allowed in the Dáil, well not as an independent anyway. You have to be a party member to have that sort of thing kept secret! At least we know that he chose to pay those who could least sustain the loss and is now returning the money. How many others have done that?
A the hairy buffoon is back. This man’s arrogance is breathtaking, let me get this right, he sets up a website, solely aimed at undermining the very organisation that legitimately took over his substantial debts and he wants sympathy, self promotion and slap on the back, it’s unbelievable. His sole aim in the Dail is to try and use his position to cry foul on his owed proven deeds of daring Do. His utter lack of respect for the institution is shocking as it is, perhaps Mr Wallace might be disposed to clear some of that questionable VAT he claimed and is somewhat owing, Disgusts me how he is tolerated, let alone listened too.
@Joseph Dempsey: what a croc
@Joseph Dempsey: he was never nama-fied.
@Joseph Dempsey: Can you try that in a language people might understand?
@Joseph Dempsey: absolute nonsense couldn’t be more wrong
NAMA is a dishonest organisation whose aim is to distort house prices so they can boost about making a profit. Despite the fact they have lost 40 billion from the out set. They don’t seem capable of coming clean with their overall loses. They’ll just keep banging on about the 3 billion surplus and not mention the fact that the loans they control have lost 40 billion. Never mind the interest the taxpayer have had to pay on the loans. Their house price strategy is just a tax on the young.
Fried bread?
@john: Bried fread?
@john: it’s all smoke and daggers…
He is unearthing a process that is Nama which is as ropey as he was though
Mick wallace speaks the truth and has done this country some service ,nama,is shrouded in mystery and in a modern democracy this can not be tolerated .The people have continuely demanded transparency and accountability but successive government have refused on all fronts .why, because exposing the truth undermines their rotten system. KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK MICK
A failed Builder
A failed Tax Payer
A failed Shannon Protester
A successful manipulator
A successful disrupter
A successful job in getting elected by offering nothing but bullshit to Clowns who gobble it up and vote for him.
Ireland is still rearing them.
@James Keogh: and what have you to say about NAMA?
@James Keogh: A very decent man-went down with Limerick u 20s team many years ago to play Wexford youths and Mick brought us into the local hotel and bought every one of those youngsters and coaches their dinner-even bought us all a drink.What a great job he has done down there.
@TheBluffmaster2: exactly. He’s done a lot for Wexford they wouldn’t have that lovely soccer pitch and training grounds out the Enniscorthy road only for Mick.
@James Keogh: 13500 people in Wexford said Mick was right in the last election-are they all wrong and you right ????
Lucky the pic had a caption nama building -left , mick Wallace – right !!
I trust in the Law!
I find the Offences Against the State Act a wonderful instrument!
Financial offences have a Statutory limitation of 10 yrs which we are about to overtake so a lot of illicit/illegal types will be feeling a sigh of relief, almost away with their ill gotten gains!
The Offences Against the State Act is another beast entirely…
I trust in the Law!
My God the FG trolls are flat out lately. Attack and reflect. Wallace is getting to deep into the corrupted FG ways . ….
How do you toggle the cryptic clue headlines back to the simple clues??
I love fried bread its much nicer than fried nama. I hate parsnips they should all be shot
Fact check – is it OK for TDs to drink and drive if they are going to or coming from the Dail bar
I wish he would just go away.Hes hard on the eyes.A mad yoke altogether!
@gerry fallon: I don’t vote on apoearances. Try Tinder you want to look at attractive people. The other TDs are smartly dressed and well-groomed since that became the priority. Enjoy looking at them – your tax is paying for every suit and hairstyle and every dry-cleaning bill. That’s not the point of having a vote.
@gerry fallon: poor you Gerry… sore eyes.. try some cucumber ..
Nama was never really investigated and it should have been after the fiasco in the North of Ire now they are closing off freedom of information when it comes to FF and FG the Mafia comes to mind politics has to be about all of the people of this Country not just the chosen few .
Wallace is at NAMA every other week. Trying to stop them shutting his dodgy company down. He should be ashamed of himself.
lol
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