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Brian Cowen - €1,000 charity bet and three apartments, including this one in Leeds
Mary Harney - Spent €13,000 on shares in Bank of Ireland and AIB
January 30, 2011
VOL 28 NO 5
Bank shares, flats in Hungary and mobile homes: how our TDs invest
Both government and opposition members are shy about dabbling in the markets, writes Martin Frawley
Richard Bruton - Owns shares in AIB, Bank of Ireland and Anglo Irish Bank
Dermot Ahern - Has a share in four rental properties - two in Dublin and two in Louth
John Curran - Owns an apartment in Hungarian capital Budapest
Martin Mansergh - €2,000 in shares in History Ireland magazine: 'no expectation of financial return'
Willie O'Dea - Shares in three firms that mine for gold and diamonds
Health minister Mary Harney is the only member of the cabinet who owns shares, according to the Dáil's register of interests for 2009. The shares, in Bank of Ireland and AIB, have plummeted in value in the last two years, despite the minister and her colleagues pumping billions of euro into the ailing banks.
In the 2008 register of interest, Harney commented that while the shares were worth over €13,000 when she and husband Brian Geoghegan bought them, "they are not so now".
Had former defence minister Willie O'Dea managed to hold on to his job, he would have been the biggest holder of shares in the cabinet.
O'Dea has retained his shares in African Diamonds Ltd as well as shares in gold exploration companies Kibo Mining and Swala Resources.
The only other interests registered by the cabinet include Taoiseach Brian Cowen's property interests which include three apartments which are rented – two in Dublin and one in Carr Mills student accommodation centre in Leeds, England.
Under the heading 'gifts', the Taoiseach acknowledged that on an official visit to the HQ of bookies Paddy Power he was presented with a charity bet valued at €1,000. The Taoiseach said all proceeds of the bet, including the stake, went to the Irish Hospice Foundation.
Justice minister Dermot Ahern is the only other minister who has small property interests, with a share in four rented properties, two in Dublin and two in Co Louth.
Junior ministers are far braver on the stockmarket than their senior colleagues, with six of the 15 holding shares and eight holding properties here and abroad.
They are led by Seán Haughey, who lists over 44 separate share portfolios, including worldwide interests in property, chemicals, oil, construction and banking. The junior education minister also declares an interest in 4.3 acres in Ballyduboy, Co Wexford, which he states is an "undeveloped site for mobile home".
He also declares rental interests in Portmarnock and Kinsealy in north Dublin – the home of his late father and former taoiseach Charles Haughey.
New junior minister Ciaran Cuffe, of the Green Party, declares an interest in a stewardship fund in Friends First. Billy Kelleher has shares in the Kerry Group as well as an interest in 126 acres of farmland in his native Co Cork while Peter Power declares shares in Analog Devices and Dell – the IT company which moved most of its operations from Limerick to Poland last year.
At the other end of the spectrum, Martin Mansergh declares €2,000 worth of shares in the journal History Ireland, which he notes is "a gesture of support without any expectation of a financial return". But Mansergh also owns 165 acres of farmland in his native Co Tipperary with his brother, Nicholas.
New chief whip John Curran still can't let his apartment in Budapest – a victim of the worldwide property crash.
The opposition shows as little interest in the volatile world of stocks and shares as the government.
Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny declares no shares or property while Labour leader Eamon Gilmore declares joint ownership of a house and 37 acres of land – the former family home in Ballinasloe.
Unlike finance minister Brian Lenihan, who has no shares in the banks he is supporting, his opposite number, Richard Bruton, has shares in AIB, Bank of Ireland and the much-maligned Anglo Irish Bank, which Bruton has called for to be shut down.
Bruton also declares part ownership of 175 acres of farmland in Dunboyne, Co Meath, and ownership of another 50 acres in nearby Drumree.
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Every civil servant above Principal Officer who has any role in the preparation of policies on fiscal, taxation and competition matters and who provide such advice to Ministers or has a role direct or indirect in public procurement and government contracts should be obliged to make a full declaration of their interests in a register of interests. This should immediately apply to the estimated 650 civil servants who used their disproportionate influence to have their pay cuts waived. When important Government decisions were needed to be taken to control the property boom in 2005/2006, Irish taxpayers need to know which civil servants if any, frustrated any attempts by Government Ministers to take corrective action.