Saturday/Sunday:
Proposals to divide the State into rich and poor areas for EU structural funding were strongly urged in a memo to Cabinet submitted by the Tanaiste, Ms Harney. The Minister for Enterprise and Employment said it was the best way to guarantee balanced industrial development in the Border, west and midland regions.
In her memo to Cabinet she said there would be a dramatic increase in the level of both industrial State aid for such regions, along with higher EU investment, if they were allowed to retain Objective 1 EU grant status for the period 2000-2006.
In the wake of the controversy over the non-payment by AIB of DIRT due on bogus non-resident accounts before April 1990, it has emerged that the then bank chairman, Mr Peter Sutherland, established a top-level committee of AIB directors in 1991. The committee examined allegations made by the former head of the bank's internal audit department, Mr Tony Spollen, who alleged management inaction on bogus non-resident accounts. He calculated that a tax liability of £100 million was outstanding. AIB paid £14 million to the Revenue Commissioners to settle the DIRT tax liability on these accounts on behalf of its depositors.
Mr Spollen was told in 1991, after five years as head of the internal audit department, that he was to move position as part of a management reshuffle. He did not favour the move and drew up a memo containing information about the bogus non-resident accounts and strongly criticised management's response. The committee met a number of times and concluded that the complaints about management inactions were unfounded. Mr Spollen resigned from the group in 1991.
Monday:
The man found guilty of the murder of his then girlfriend's sister and brother-in-law in Caran, Co Roscommon, in August last year had also made statements to gardai in which he admitted murdering two elderly women patients of Grangegorman Psychiatric Hospital, Dublin, in March last year.
Mark Nash (25) was given two life sentences for the murder of Ms Catherine Doyle (28) and Mr Carl Doyle (29) at their home. He was also found guilty of causing grievous bodily harm with intent to Ms Sarah Jane Doyle, and sentenced to eight years' imprisonment for this conviction.
Tuesday
The chairman of the Revenue Commissioners, Mr Dermot Quigley, denied that any settlement was made with AIB which involved writing off £86 million of DIRT tax. Appearing before the Dail Public Accounts Committee, Mr Quigley said that no "sweet deal" was done and no settlement was made. "No tax was written off," he said. The £14 million seemed to refer to an "alleged uplift in subsequent DIRT payments", he said. This did not represent a "settlement" of £14 million.
However, internal AIB documents published in the Vincent Browne column in The Irish Times indicated that the bank believed that in return for improving its procedures on the opening of non-resident accounts, it was offered a deal whereby DIRT due on bogus non-resident accounts from before April 1990 would not have to be paid. The Revenue was criticised strongly by the Public Accounts Committee about its attempts to discover the number of bogus non-resident accounts at AIB.
Wednesday:
A garda who knocked down and killed a 28-year-old pedestrian last December had a six-month prison sentence lifted on appeal at a sitting of Portlaoise Circuit Court in Tullamore, Co Offaly. Martin Shankey-Smith (39) had received the sentence for the drink-driving charge and been fined and disqualified from driving for 10 years.
Mr Alan Jones died last December after being struck by Garda Shankey-Smith's sports car after he and his brother, Mr David Jones, left a disco at Portarlington, Co Laois.
Government and opposition party whips deferred a decision on amending legislation to give the Dail Public Accounts Committee extra powers to facilitate a full investigation of the non-payment of DIRT on bogus non-resident bank accounts. All the party whips were concerned about giving a committee of politicians the right to send for people's tax files.
Thursday:
The difference between AIB and the Revenue Commissioners over whether the bank had an "amnesty" on tax arrears due before 1991 on bogus non-resident accounts became a major conflict, as the bank's chief executive, Mr Tom Mulcahy, appeared before the Dail Public Accounts Committee in a five-hour meeting. The committee demanded that both sides produce documentary evident to back up their claims.
The bank maintained that talk of £100 million in tax arrears was "off the wall", but angered committee members by maintaining that it could still not put a figure on outstanding arrears. Mr Mulcahy maintained that the Revenue board had authorised the deal.
A Roscommon Fianna Fail councillor said he would rather "rot in prison" than pay court-ordered compensation of £500 to Mr Sean Doherty TD.
"On a matter of principle I will not pay to Sean Doherty. I will pay to the court poor box," Mr Tom Crosby, of Tarmonbarry, told a sitting of Roosky District Court. "I'll rot in prison before I pay Mr Doherty. I wouldn't trust him with 5p," he added. The judge ruled that the £500 be paid to the Roscommon-Mayo hospice, the charity of Mr Doherty's choice. Mr Crosby was convicted on September 17th of assaulting Mr Doherty at a private meeting in the village in January this year.
