O Driscoll Boost for Leinster

Leinster 36 Scarlets 19
The good news was not just that Leinster pushed into second place in the RaboDirect Pro12 with this bonus point win, but that the iconic Brian O’Driscoll will be available to lead their Heineken Cup charge at Franklin’s Gardens next weekend.

 

By Barry Coughlan

All but Fergus McFadden of the Irish international contingent will be available for selection and, by his own admission, the biggest problem facing coach Matt O’Connor now will be who to leave out of his starting XV.

“Yeah, it’s a good problem to have,” he said. “We have guys who played very well for us through this international period. We’ve had guys who went away and represented Ireland and played good footie so it will be a tough call next week.

“Brian, he has been in the environment all week and he will play. Rob [Kearney] too, all of the test guys except for Fergus.”

Marty Moore and Shane Jennings shipped knocks during Saturday’s match but O’Connor has no doubts over their availability: “They’re pretty good, it was precautionary, it was a good opportunity to give them time.”

Leo Cullen was amongst those given time and he marked his return with a strong display that will have impressed the new coach.

In general, O’Connor was pleased, even if there were times when Leinster frustrated the fans, particularly in an error-strewn second half. Having led 22-0 at the break, the supporters expected a rout but Scarlets won the second half.

“Unfortunately,” said Easterby, “you can’t give a quality side like Leinster a lead like that and expect to pull it back.”

But if Leinster’s defence was opened up three times in that frustrating last 40, O’Connor was inclined to forgive, if not forget.

“We started the game really well. The three tries we scored in the first half to their none was a good result for us. We probably lost our way when we didn’t take the opportunities we had in the second half which was disappointing. But they were always going to play and keep playing.”

A sense of anxiety leading up to Saturday’s big Heineken Cup date?

“No. [There was] a certain amount of inaccuracy, a lot of blokes being reintegrated and a couple of poor decisions in the second half that we should have executed better, but full credit to the Scarlets, they kept playing to the death and got rewards in the end.”

O’Connor did concede the tempo would have to rise this weekend.

“Yeah, we’ve got to be better across the board than we were tonight. The Heineken Cup is a different level totally. You won’t get away with the inaccuracies and not taking opportunities against a side as good as Northampton.”

For a team that didn’t see the ball in the first five minutes, Leinster enjoyed a remarkably successful start. Ian Madigan kicked them into an eighth minute lead and provided the final pass for the first try from Brendan Macken.

Leinster followed that up with a penalty try and Madigan converted for a 15-point advantage inside the opening quarter.

Jack McGrath got the third and Madigan converted to push the lead out to 22 and then they brilliantly defended that lead through four agonising minutes up to half time after Cullen was shown yellow for a ruck infringement.

Scrum half Gareth Davies grabbed a 47th minute try just seconds before Cullen’s return and Leinster conceded a second breakaway score to Gareth Maule that Aled Thomas converted.

But Eoin Reddan restored calm, nipping in for the bonus point try that Madigan converted to push the lead back out to 17 points at 29-12, and Zane Kirchner rounded off a fine display by scoring the fifth just four minutes from the end. Madigan nailed the conversion from the touchline although the Scarlets had the last say with a third try from centre Adam Warren that was converted by Aled Thomas.

LEINSTER: Z Kirchner, L Tuqiri, B Macken, G D’Arcy, L Fitzgerald, I Madigan, E Reddan, J McGrath, A Dundon, M Moore, L Cullen, M McCarthy, R Ruddock, J Murphy, S Jennings (captain).

Replacements: M Ross for Moore (23, injured), D Ryan for Jennings (55, inj), S Cronin for Dundon, J Gopperth for D’Arcy (both 60), M Bent for J McGrath, L McGrath for Reddan, D Fanning for Fitzgerald (all 63), T Denton for McCarthy (67).

LLANELLI SCARLETS: G Owen, N Reynolds, G Maule, A Warren, F Climo, A Thomas, G Davies, P John (captain), K Myhill, J Adriaanse, J Ball, J Snyman, A Shingler, S Timani, J Barclay.

Replacements:J Williams for Owen (23, injured), E Phillips for Myhill, R Evans for John, H Pungea for Adriaanse (all 40), J Lewis for Maule (60, inj), R Kelly for Snyman, A Davies for G Davies (both 60), J Turnbull for Timani (77).

Germany used Irish shell firms to align budget

German politician Peer Steinbrück – one of the fiercest critics of Ireland’s tax regime – used Irish letter box companies when finance minister to try to balance the German budget through financial engineering.

Mr Steinbrück – an unsuccessful candidate in the recent German election – and his Social Democratic Party (SPD) have been particularly vocal critics of Ireland’s tax laws.

He used the recent election campaign to attack failed finance market alchemy and condemn “tax oases” such as Ireland and the Netherlands.

According to this morning’s Der Spiegel magazine, Berlin began doing business in Ireland to tap into pension funds of Germany’s post office, which was privatised and broken up in 1995 into three companies for telecoms, post and post office bank.

Pension obligations

At the time of the privatisation, the German federal government agreed to shoulder the

companies’ existing looming pension obligations while the three newly privatised companies were obliged to pay some €20 billion until 2042.

This deal was forgotten for a decade until 2005, when Mr Steinbrück’s predecessor as finance minister, SPD man Hans Eichel, struggled to reduce Germany’s deficit below the prescribed EU ceiling of 3 per cent of gross domestic product.

Investment bankers hired by Berlin identified the future income to the pension fund from the privatised companies as an asset and recommended selling it off – a process known as securitisation – through an Irish letter box firm.

Pensions contribution

The company was set up, the asset sold and Berlin used some €

8 billion earned to replace its own pensions contribution from 2005 to 2007.

Its hope of reducing its outgoings – and deficit – fell foul of the European Commission. Brussels ruled the deal had moved, but not reduced, Berlin’s own liabilities to the postal pension fund.

Germany’s federal court of auditors was similarly critical, accusing Berlin of creative accounting to “push liabilities into the future”.

The juggling failed to reduce Berlin’s deficit, though the advising investment bankers still earned €83 million on the deal.

Further Irish companies

Despite this, Mr Eichel’s successor, Mr

Steinbrück, continued the practice – covering the state’s pension liabilities with securitised pension obligations. To save taxes on the transactions, Berlin set up further companies in Ireland, named German Postal Pensions Securitisation 1 and 2.

With the securitisation income now paid up-front, Berlin now has to shoulder – alone – the remaining cost of 275,000 pensioners.

Worse, the pension fund members were told that some €2.8 billion in income from the Irish-based companies was invested in special-purpose vehicles including those of Dexia, the failed Belgian-French bank nationalised in 2011 with €90 billion of public money.

The SPD’s use of Irish firms to juggle pensions payments and save taxes could be an interesting point of discussion when Tánaiste Eamon Gilmore visits Berlin this week.

On Mr Gilmore’s last visit to Berlin, in October last year, Mr Steinbrück used a public discussion forum to criticise Ireland’s tax rate.

“If Germany is making available its creditworthiness to others, we expect others to improve their own revenue base,” said Mr Steinbrück

Former deputy State pathologist will continue to give evidence despite resignation

The former deputy State

pathologist Dr Khalid Jaber who unexpectedly resigned from his post has given strong indications to the office of the Director of Public Prosecutions that he will accede to any request to give evidence in upcoming criminal trials.

He has made clear his intentions to continue to work for the State despite being unhappy about what he sees as the Department of Justice’s failure to act on recent complaints he had made.

At the weekend, it emerged the Saudi-born pathologist had written to the DPP and Royal College of Physicians in Ireland to raise concerns about what he saw as shortcomings in the qualifications of State Pathologist Prof Marie Cassidy, who was his immediate superior.

He pointed out that the 55-year-old Glaswegian did not have certification in forensic pathology, an expertise centred on establishing the cause of death by examining human remains.

Full confidenceMinister for Justice Alan Shatter has not released any statement on the controversy but said via a spokesman last night he had full confidence in Prof Cassidy.

Dr Jaber has had a number of difficulties dating back over three years with staff at the Dublin City Mortuary, Cork University Hospital and Our Lady’s Hospital in Navan.

The problems meant that whenever Dr Jaber was the pathologist on call, remains requiring postmortems were moved from those places to other institutions.

Dr Jaber believes he was deliberately isolated by the department and treated in an unacceptable manner by some people with whom he came into contact when working.

He was also unhappy at what he believed was a lack of support when his findings about the death of an alleged homicide victim were recently challenged. The details of that case cannot be disclosed because criminal proceedings are outstanding.

Surprise resignationIt is those differences of opinion that appear to have been most to the fore in the fortnight leading up to his surprise resignation.

He submitted his letter of resignation to Mr Shatter last Thursday and, while he offered to continue in his post into next spring to conclude cases he had already begun working on, his resignation was accepted last Friday with immediate effect.

Justice sources said Dr Jaber (55), who was appointed in 2010, has made it clear he remains committed to giving evidence in trials in the future linked to postmortems he has already completed.

US work visaIn March he had secured the post of chief medical examiner in the US city of El Paso in Texas. However, plans by him to take up the post were derailed when difficulties arose over obtaining a US work visa.

This was despite the county commissioners’ court hiring an immigration lawyer to assist in overcoming the obstacle.

When the matter continued for several months into June of this year, the job offer was withdrawn.

Repeated efforts by The Irish Times to contact Dr Jaber yesterday were not successful, with telephone messages not replied to.

When Prof Cassidy was contacted by The Irish Times by phone yesterday and asked if she had any comment on the controversy, she said: “Not at all. I can make no comment. I know as much as you do about this. I’ve read about it in the papers.”

Asked whether she was surprised her colleague had resigned, she said: “I can make no comment on it at all.”

The Department of Justice said it would not be issuing a statement on the matter. Instead, members of the media were invited to send written questions to the department. Some of the questions sent by The Irish Times were answered while others were not.

A spokeswoman said she did not feel the Minister and department could be accused of trying to conceal facts around the controversy by not being proactive with the release of information.

“Someone has resigned and it’s a sensitive matter and, to an extent, it’s his business,” she said.

ReplyIn reply to written questions, a spokeswoman added: “The question of finding a replacement for Dr Jaber will be pursued by the Department of Justice and Equality at an early stage and in that regard the Minister considers that a professional and comprehensive pathology service will continue to be delivered”.

Asked about the implications for forthcoming trials at which Dr Jaber might have been due to give evidence Mr Shatter’s spokeswoman said the resignation will not prevent the prosecution of criminal cases where medical examinations have been carried out by Dr Jaber in his capacity as deputy State pathologist.

“In this context Dr Jaber can be called as a witness by the prosecution and give evidence before the relevant court

Console holds ceremony to remember those lost to suicide

The national suicide prevention and bereavement charity Console will today hold a Christmas Celebration of Light ceremony, in remembrance of those who have lost their lives.
Around 1,000 family members and friends of people lost through suicide will attend the ceremony in St Patrick's College in Maynooth which will include the lighting of candles and a minute's silence.
At least 500 people lost their lives to suicide here last year

Taoiseach Starts out on Japan Trade Mission

The Taoiseach is leading a trade mission to Japan this week, with Bord Bia and representatives from leading food companies.
Irish meat and dairy exporters will meet with potential new customers, visit food facilities and participate in a series of networking seminars with influential local business contacts.
Irish food and drink exports to Japan were valued at €36m in 2012.
The Minister for Agriculture Simon Coveney is also involved in the trade mission