Varadkar's on the case; grinning and bearing it at Anglo; Quinn and the regulator

Hangar Six remains high on FG's agenda

FINE GAEL continues to pursue the Hangar Six controversy, although not with much joy.

On Tuesday, the Competition Authority wrote to Fine Gael's enterprise spokesman Leo Varadkar to inform him that, in its opinion, the Dublin Airport Authority (DAA) did not breach any competition rules in the way it granted the lease on Hangar Six to Aer Lingus.

On March 9th, Varadkar wrote to the since-departed Competition Authority chief Bill Prasifka requesting that he investigate if the lease should have been put out to a competitive tender.

Hangar Six was at the centre of a row in February between Ryanair chief executive Michael O'Leary and Tánaiste Mary Coughlan after it emerged that the airline offered to create 500 maintenance jobs there, but only on condition that the Government arranged the hangar's sale or lease to the airline.

The reply came this week.

"In summary, the failure by DAA to accede to Ryanair's demand does not constitute an abuse, as DAA is not in a dominant position in the market for the provision of maintenance hangars in Europe," John Evans, manager of its monopolies division, stated in his letter.

The authority also found that, as the DAA was the "seller and not the buyer" in this instance, the airport manager was "not procuring anything and so would not appear to be under any specific public procurement obligations".

Varadkar told me this week that he was disappointed with the decision. "Even though the authority has ruled that the DAA did not break competition rules, it does not necessarily follow that the DAA was right to decide not to put Hangar Six out to tender."

Putting on a brave face at Anglo

ANGLO IRISH Bank’s new management team had their first team photo taken this week, led by Aussie Mike Anysley (pictured centre, seated).

A few forced smiles are in evidence – and who can blame them, given they have the unenviable task of trying to recoup some of the prospective €22 billion bill (and rising) facing the taxpayer from the State-owned bank?

Aynsley and Dutch banker Maarten van Eden – he’s wearing the green tie in the back row – presented the bank’s awful €12.7 billion loss this week and defended the Government’s decision to inject €12 billion to date into the ailing institution, including €8 billion this week.

The bank’s annual report for the 15 months to the end of last year shows that Aynsley was paid a salary of €160,000, having taken the reins in September.

He also received €137,000 in benefits comprising a car allowance, temporary rent allowance and agreed travel expenses. Anysley received €32,000 towards his pension. This amounted to a total remuneration package of €329,000 for the period.

This compared with €348,000 received by Donal O’Connor, the bank’s chairman who is handing over the post to Government appointee Alan Dukes this summer.

O’Connor received a salary of €273,000, €21,000 in benefits and €54,000 towards his pension. In his roles as non-executive director and non-executive chairman, O’Connor received €19,500 and €151,949 respectively.

The former PricewaterhouseCoopers chief reverted to the role of non-executive chairman of Anglo when Aynsley was appointed last September.

Given the events of the past 15 months, O’Connor probably cannot wait to pass the baton to Dukes.

Quinn's sense of irony

SEÁN QUINN has a strange sense of irony. In a hard-hitting statement published on Wednesday, his Quinn Group cited how it was “highly ironic” that the Financial Regulator had taken its court action in relation to Quinn Insurance on the same day as “significant announcements” were made about the banking sector.

This from the company that played a large role in the demise of Anglo Irish Bank by secretly building a stake of 28 per cent in the now nationalised bank, a move that contributed to the chain of events that destabilised the bank. Quinn participated in the scheme to offload a large chunk of his holding to 10 clients of Anglo with money borrowed from the bank.

That’s to say nothing of the way Quinn used the insurance company to help finance his foray into Anglo, a move that yielded a large fine from the regulator.

Quinn is willing to take to the airwaves to attack the regulator. But he has never offered a word of apology or explanation for his role in Anglo’s collapse. Whatever irony there is in this matter will be lost on taxpayers, who are carrying the can for Anglo.