2005 - takeovers and rip-offs as solidarity with immigrant workers is born

Review of the year compiled by Niamh Hennessy.

January

TOP STORY:

Willie Walsh and two of his senior Aer Lingus colleagues, Seamus Kearney and Brian Dunne, announce they will leave the airline three months early on January 28.

GOOD MONTH FOR:

Up to 1,000 ESB customers who receive news that they have been under-charged for years of supply of electricity. The company will not be re-claiming the money.

CRH as it becomes the first Irish Industrial group to generate pre-tax profits of €1 billion a year.

Green Isle which announces the creation of 130 jobs in Kildare.

Amazon.com which says it will set up a network operations centre in Dublin and create 25 jobs in the next two years.

A group of investors, led by radio and TV entrepreneur David Harvey who were awarded a licence for a new Dublin TV station called City Channel.

Ryanair as passenger figures are up 20% to over two million.

The unemployed as the FAI advertise for a new chief executive and finance director.

BAD MONTH FOR:

Irish pensions fund which finished 2004 worse off despite a 10.4% growth in assets.

Thailand, Sri-Lanka and Indonesia as the economic impact of the tsunami will cost them up to $3.5 billion in re-building costs.

Willie Walsh as he comes under fire over claims that there was a conflict of interest during his time at Aer Lingus and he denies reports that he and two other departing chief executives were contemplating setting up an Irish-based airline.

ESB customers as bills rose for the fifth time in as many years.

February

TOP STORY:

Deputy Joe Higgins accuses Gama Construction, during leaders’ questions in the Dáil, of paying workers as little as €2 an hour.

GOOD MONTH FOR:

Minister Micheál Martin as he announces four firms are to create 255 jobs in Dublin over the next five years.

Wireless users as the EU announces it is to invest €1 billion in wireless research.

Computer retailer, PC World which will create 200 jobs with the opening of six new stores in Ireland as part of a €10 million investment.

Ryanair which announces it is to purchase 140 new planes worth up to $9 billion from Boeing giving it the capacity to double its passenger numbers to 70 million by 2012.

Ulster Bank as its total income exceeds €1 billion in 2004 through strong growth and last year’s acquisition of First Active.

Residential users who, in theory, are now free to choose their electricity supplier for the first time as deregulation of the market is completed.

Tax cheats as fewer will be named and shamed in the future, thanks to plans in the Finance Bill to raise the threshold for publishing Revenue settlements from €12,700 to €30,000.

Bad month for:

Greencore as close to 400 sugar beet and malting barley growers protest outside its annual general meeting in Dublin against the company’s decision to close Carlow sugar factory and Banagher Maltings in Co Offaly.

Job hunters as it’s reported that Ireland lost out on a new Dell plant to Glasgow which would have generated up to 1,500 new jobs.

Diageo which blames the smoking ban for a 5% decline in sales.

Irish people as personal debt in this country soars to €30,000 per adult.

Bank customers who will have to wait another year to avoid the double stamp duty imposed when they switch cash and Laser cards, following the publication of the Finance Bill.

Eircom as it emerges it could face the prospect of hefty fines after the telecoms regulator threatened it with court action for repeatedly ignoring its orders.

March

TOP STORY:

Irish drugs group, Elan sees €5.4 billion wiped off its share price. Elan and its partner Biogen withdraw sales of its multiple sclerosis drugs after a patient died from the rare and often fatal central nervous system disease, sending shares of both drug makers tumbling.

GOOD MONTH FOR:

Almost 700 Gama workers who received an unexpected windfall of up to €20m lost wages from bank accounts held in the Netherlands.

New babies born in Ireland between 6 March and 12 March who will get €50 from the prize bond company as part of a Mother’s Day promotion.

Intel as it seeks planning permission for two new computer chip plants in Leixlip at a cost of €2.8 billion.

Eugene Sheehy who is appointed as chief executive of AIB.

An Post as it sells two international subsidiaries which provide top-up services to mobile phone users for €85m.

Ryanair’s, Michael O’Leary who won the Entrepreneur of the Year award at the European Business leaders Awards in London.

John Darrance III who is Ireland’s richest man, according to the annual Forbes Rich List.

Mr Darrance is worth €1.86 billion thanks to his Campbells Soup empire.

Former Wall Street Journal executive, Laura Zubulake who won €22.5m damages from UBS after being called ‘old and ugly’ by a colleague.

IPSO says more than one million chip and pin cards are now in circulation in Ireland.

Former Aer Lingus boss Willie Walsh who landed a €850,000-a-year job as chief executive of British Airways.

Bank customers as Bank of Scotland rocked the banking market with a €120m deal to buy the ESB’s chain of electrical stores and turn them into a nationwide branch network promising cheaper mortgages, credit cards and car loans.

Bad month for:

INTEL as the EU’s competition commissioner called for an investigation into the Government’s plan to give the multinational €170m of taxpayers’ money. The funding is later withdrawn.

The FAI as GAA chiefs say the rental cost of Croke Park would not come at a cheap price, following the lifting of Rule 42.

April

TOP STORY:

It emerges that Bank of Ireland was overcharging 65,000 customers on payment protection insurance since 1989.

GOOD MONTH FOR:

Bank of Ireland Mortgages as it announced it has become the first private sector institution to enter the affordable housing market.

The Government as strong Exchequer returns in the first quarter show a surplus of 880m for the first three months of the year, as tax returns ran about 2.5% ahead of projections.

The Irish economy is forecast to grow by 5% over the next two years.

Hibernian Life and Pensions, owned by British-based Aviva, which reported a 32% increase in first-quarter sales to £185m (€273m).

Dermot Mannion who is named as the new chief executive of Aer Lingus.

Bad month for:

Financial institutions which are repeatedly the subject of complaints by consumers may be named and shamed, the new financial services ombudsman, Joe Meade threatened.

GAMA management as it is summoned by Minister Micheal Martin to meet with department officials following new complaints of intimidation and abuse. Meanwhile 400 Gama workers travel from Dublin to the Tynagh site in an escalation of their protest.

Ryanair chief executive Michael O’Leary and the company’s director of flight and ground operations David O’Brien who were in the High Court for the hearing of an application by one of the airline’s pilots to have them jailed for alleged contempt of a previous court order.

Dairygold as only 200 farmer shareholders showed up to its annual general meeting, in sharp contrast to the 2,000 farmers who showed up the previous year when the group was in the throes of restructuring.

May

TOP STORY:

Racing tycoons John Magnier and JP McManus were €130m richer after selling their shares in Manchester United to American billionaire Malcolm Glazier.

GOOD MONTH FOR:

RTÉ as it pulls in more than €165m from licence fees in 2004.

Bank of Ireland which reported a 10% rise in profits to €1.4 billion in the year to the end of March.

Cork, as Enterprise, Trade and Employment Minister Micheál Martin announced investments by three existing international companies in the county which will create 215 jobs over the next five years.

Third level graduates as American company, Waters Corporation announced an investment of €11.5m in Waterford, which will create 125 high quality jobs over five years and over 60% of the positions will require a third level qualification.

Bad month for:

Pat Kenny as fellow RTÉ presenter Gerry Ryan beat him to the top spot in RTÉ’s best paid broadcaster list.

According to the list Gerry Ryan’s 2003 salary was €463,450.

Irish families as the findings of the Money, Advice and Budgeting Service (MABS) survey says families on €40,000 a year are struggling to survive.

Waterford Crystal who announce the loss of 485 jobs.

Irish workers as it emerged thousands of people will be forced to work until they are 70 to fund their retirement because they are leaving it too late to take out pensions.

Decentralisation, as only 620 of the 10,300 civil servants due to be decentralised have been assigned to locations outside of Dublin.

June

TOP STORY:

The Revenue Commissioners latest crackdown on tax defaulters yielded over 100m in unpaid tax, interest and penalties in the first three months of the year.

GOOD MONTH FOR:

Mobile phone users as new operator 3 launches in the Irish market.

Dole workers who can expect work as latest figures reveal the number of people at work in Ireland grew by 72,400 to more than 1,908 million in the year to the end of February.

Third world debt as Bob Geldof and Live Aid help to influence the write-off of €33 billion in debts.

Criminal Martin Cahill as his former home in Rathmines sells for €1m.

Dublin as American company, QLogic Corporation announces it is to establish a new EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa) Headquarters operation in Blanchardstown, which will create up to 100 new jobs.

Packaging tycoon Michael Smurfit who paid €115m to buy the K Club in Straffan, Co Kildare.

Pernod Ricard, the French drinks giant that owns the Midleton Jameson distillery, sold off its Bushmills whiskey brand to Diageo for €298m.

Bad month for:

Waterford Wedgewood as the luxury goods group reported pre-tax losses of €149m for the year to March.

The Leinster Leader Group as it is put up for sale.

London city law firm executive, Richard Phillips who resigned after a public spat with his secretary, Jenny Amner over a pair of stained trousers.

Mr Philips left his €225,500 position at Baker and McKenzie after being ridiculed for e-mailing Ms Amner asking for €6 to cover a dry-cleaning bill for his trousers.

The euro as it hits a nine month low against the dollar.

Irish tourism as it is reported that the number of bed nights generated by foreign holiday makers outside of the Dublin region in 2003 was a massive €2.7 million less than it was in 1999.

Terenure printers in Dublin as it announces that it is to close, in the process of doing so more than 160 employees lose their jobs.

July

TOP STORY:

The estimated cost to the Tax payer of refunding the illegal charges at nursing homes rose to €1.4 billion.

GOOD MONTH FOR:

Homebuyers as First Active launch their 100% Mortgage package.

Cork hurlers, Niall Mc Carthy and Kieran Murphy as they land a controversial deal to display a beer logo on their football boots.

Government ministers as they get a salary increase, which includes an increase in Taoiseach Bertie Ahern’s salary to over €253,000.

Eircom which won a High Court challenge to the procedure adopted by the Commission for Communications Regulation (ComReg) in seeking to enforce directions aimed at advancing “local loop unbundling”, the process of opening the last mile of Eircom’s telephone network to rival firms.

AIB which made pre-tax profits of €851m for the first six months of 2005 against €706m in the same period last year.

BAD MONTH FOR:

Denis O’Brien as he drops out of the race to buy Meteor as the asking price soars to over €420m.

IRELAND, as the slow rate of economic growth continued in the first half of the year as exports weakened and construction activity remained flat.

Aer Lingus chairman, John Sharman who refused to condemn a leaked document of proposals to force staff to accept redundancy.

National Irish Bank as corporate enforcer Paul Appleby begins High Court proceedings to disqualify nine former senior executives of NIB from acting as company directors.

August

TOP STORY:

Eddie Hobbs and his Rip-Off Republic programme records the highest viewership figures on RTÉ for a factual programme.

GOOD MONTH FOR:

Limerick woman, Deloras McNamara who won €115m in the Euro Millions lottery.

Former Taoiseach Charles Haughey as it emerged he received pension payments of over €132,000 in 2004 as part of a €12m Pension Bill for former Oireachtas members.

Hibernian as profits rise by 21% during the first half of 2005 according to interim figures.

Brown Thomas as pre-tax profits climbed by 25% to €24.19m last year.

Millionaire Dermot Desmond bought one third of Rietumu Banka, Latvia’s fourth biggest bank in terms of assets.

Waterford as an American-owned financial services group, BISYS announces it is to increase its workforce there from 400 to 650 over the next five years.

BAD MONTH FOR:

A Brazilian Central Bank as thieves in north-eastern Brazil spent three months tunnelling under a busy city avenue to break the Central Bank vault netting €54.75m.

The suspected mastermind reportedly escaped from prison three years earlier by digging a tunnel.

Shares of Dell Inc, the world’s largest maker of personal computers, which fell the most in four years after the company said second-quarter sales missed estimates and revenue will fall short.

Dell said that revenue rose 15% to Bank of Ireland who paid out €326,000 to customers after discovering an overcharging error at its banking 365 phone and internet unit.

September

Top story:

MOTORISTS brace themselves for another petrol price hike as a second hurricane in America, in less than four weeks, moves towards Texas, home to key US oil facilities.

Good month for:

SHOPPERS, as Harvey Nichols opens its €10m store at Dundrum shopping centre.

CADBURY Schweppes, which confirms it is to sell its European drinks arm, estimated to be worth €1.47bn, to concentrate on its sweets and US drinks business.

SMURFIT, as it announces plans for a merger with Kappa.

CENTOCOR construction, which opens a Cork plant, which will create 330 jobs over five years.

THOMAS Crosbie Holdings, as it reports a 50% increase in operating profits.

BANK OF IRELAND, which controversially appoints multi-millionaire tax exile Denis O’Brien as its new deputy chairman.

Bad month for:

THE Government, under fire for pumping over €35 million of taxpayers’ money into Media Labs, a digital technology research centre. According to a report from the Comptroller and Auditor General, it did this despite repeated misgivings about its viability.

CAR owners, as rising oil costs pushed petrol prices up by more than 12% and diesel by more than 15% in the last year. Research by the Director of Consumer Affairs Office found that the most expensive petrol topped 123c per litre in Dublin and 119c per litre outside Dublin.

IRELAND, as inward Investment fell sharply from $26bn (€21.9bn) to $9.1bn (€7.6bn) in 2004 according to a United Nations study.

PASSENGERS at Dublin Airport, as charges are set to rise by 23% from January.

IRISH banks, as a report from the Competition

Authority says banks have not done enough to remove anti-competitive practices and they should be forced to become customer-friendly if they do not do so voluntarily.

THE Irish Agricultural Wholesale Society (IAWS) Co-op who pulled out of the €64m deal to buy the wind and waste management divisions of Bandon-based SWS Group.

October:

Top story:

STEPHEN Pearson, a former partner in stockbroking firm W&R Morrogh received a two-year jail sentence for defrauding the company’s clients of €5.7m and leaving thousands of investors out of pocket. The DPP is to appeal the leniency of the sentence.

Good month for:

WEALTHY Irish people, as it emerges they will spend over €4bn on property abroad this year.

EIRCOM as shares surge 10% on talk of a takeover.

C&C investors and cider drinkers as Irish drinks and snacks company C&C Group is to invest a total of €25m at its Clonmel base to boost cider production.

THE German economy as Conservative Angela Merkel becomes Germany’s first woman chancellor and vows to shake up the German economy with labour and tax reforms.

MUSIC lovers as Apple announce details of their new generation video iPod.

BEN Bernanke, chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers and a former US Federal Reserve governor, named by President George W Bush as the man to succeed Alan Greenspan as chairman of the Fed.

Bad month for:

IRISH Ferries, which announces 550 Irish workers are to lose their jobs.

IRISH thoroughbred breeders, as the European Commission rejected a request by the Irish Thoroughbred Breeders’ Association (ITBA) to keep the special tax exemption for breeders.

THE Government when it is revealed it spent at least a quarter of a billion euro of taxpayers’ money on outside consultants.

RICHARD Branson, as his Virgin Group suffered a sharp downturn in the Irish market with pre-tax losses of €2.77m.

IRELAND, as inflation rose sharply after fresh warnings from the European Central Bank, while the country remains in the bottom half of a European broadband report.

SEAN Dunne, who rules out making a bid for Jurys Doyle.

FORD, as it announces plans for “significant plant closings” across the company.

MCDONALDS, as operating profits at their Irish unit fell by almost 30% last year to €7.83m.

November:

Top story:

BRIAN Cowen announced a total of €3.25bn spending increases when he unveiled his spending estimates for 2006.

Good month for:

THE transport system as the Government unveils a €34.4bn infrastructure plan in a bid to fast-track improvements.

FAMILIES as the removal of the Groceries Order could save them up to €1,000 a year, according to Eddie Hobbs.

SIEMENS, which employs over 800 people in Ireland, reports a 24% increase in profits.

BANK of Ireland current account customers who are offered free banking if they meet certain requirements. In the same month pre-tax profits at the bank rise 28% to €848m in the six months to the end of September.

KELLOGGS as it increases pre-tax profits in its Irish unit by 28% to more than €12m.

STARBUCKS which opened another outlet in the Dublin market in its first high-profile move in the capital.

THE founders of Merrion Capital who are set to walk away with over €38m from the sale of the business to Icelandic group Landsbanki for a total of €55.3m.

BISHOPSTOWN Credit Union as it announces it is to break new ground for the credit union movement by introducing mortgages.

Bad month for:

SMALL businesses as the Groceries Order, which prevented retailers passing on certain discounts from suppliers to customers, was repealed.

PADDY Power as it is set to lose more than 20% of its value as the bookmaker surprised the market by issuing a profit warning.

REVENUE Commissioners, as over four hours of computer downtime prevented some self-employed getting their tax returns through in time for the deadline.

IRELAND, as the latest report on competitiveness warns that the country’s economic cost base must be lower to compete with India and China.

THE Competition Authority as a third board member announces his departure this year.

December:

Top story this month:

BRIAN Cowen announces details of Budget 2006, with the main focus on reforms in childcare.

Good month for:

GOOGLE, as it announces plans to create 600 jobs in Dublin.

CHILDMINDERS, as they receive a €10,000 tax disregard in Brian Cowen’s Budget 2006.

CORK, as AIB/BNY announces it is to establish an operation there with the creation of 200 jobs. Also this month speculation surrounds the establishment of pharmaceutical plant Amgen in Cork, which could see the creation of up to 1,500 jobs.

Electronics company Alps announces it will create 140 new jobs in Millstreet, Co Cork in a €14m investment.

HONG Kong as it plays host to the World Trade Organisation talks.

Bad month for:

WORKING mothers as Finance Minister Brian Cowen announces a plan in his Budget for a childcare supplement of €1,000 a year for parents of children in the country under the age of six. It will be payable to all parents, regardless of working status.

GEORGE, James and Ray Stanley and their businesses Swanward Enterprises and Stanley Macadam Road Surfacing which were hit with a €10m bill for tax dodging following the latest investigation from the Revenue Commissioners.

THE ECB, under fire for increasing interest rates.

GAMA, as pre-tax losses hit €15m this year.