Galway investor Gerry Barrett is working with Nama to agree a plan to trade out assets in his Edwards Holdings group until they can be prepared for sale.

Accountancy firm KPMG has emerged as the big winners in Nama work over the past three years, earning over €22.29m.

Eighteen years have passed since the Rugby World Cup brought a bitterly divided country together and provided an impetus for what would become the ‘Rainbow Nation’.

A group of more than 80 investors have found themselves owing almost €18m to Bank of Scotland after signing over power of attorney to an accountant for an investment project.

One of the best-known seaside attractions in the Mid-West has enjoyed a double boost.

Over €300,000 in fees and expenses have been paid to the receiver of HMV Ireland since the Irish arm of the retail music giant went out of business eight months ago.

Auditors are coming under the spotlight for all the wrong reasons and it appears that the profession’s public role of giving a ‘true and fair’ view of the state of a company’s finances is far from straightforward, writes Kyran Fitzgerald

Mitt Romney has none. Barack Obama has lots. Bill Clinton has an abundance. Charisma, a combination of presence, power and warmth, is key to success — and you can learn it.

Plans are in place to revive a loss-making tourist amenity at one of Ireland’s best-known seaside resorts at Lahinch.

An auditing firm has received over €18m in fees from Nama as part of a €114.7m bonanza for professional firms, figures reveal.

A FOUR-STAR hotel owned by Menolly Homes boss Seamus Ross recorded an operating loss of €1.7 million in 2009.

THE company that operates the four-star Meyrick Hotel in Galway’s Eyre Square recorded losses totalling €53.2 million in 2009 and 2008, new figures show.

ONE of the country’s best known hotels, the five-star Ashford Castle in Co Mayo recorded combined pre-tax losses totalling €39 million in 2009 and 2008.

I SERVED for 12 years in a voluntary capacity as secretary of the Mallow Hospital Retention Committee under the chairmanship of the late Joe Sherlock TD who was at that time a socially committed member of Mallow Urban District Council.

THE taxpayer bill for witnesses and their legal costs at the Mahon Tribunal continues to mount – a year and a half after the planning corruption inquiry stopped hearing evidence.

THE taxpayer bill for witnesses and their legal costs at the Mahon Tribunal continues to mount – a year and a half after the planning corruption inquiry stopped hearing evidence.

AUDITORS for Limerick-based international construction group, Chieftain Construction, have indicated there is uncertainty over the future of the group.

A FORMER tánaiste and a number of ex-ministers are on the Government panel from which the six major banks and building societies covered by the guarantee scheme are to select additional board members.

Around 2,500 jobs are under threat at budget clothing chain MK One after the group was put into administration.

Investors in ailing Carter & Carter will be left with nothing after the training firm’s fall into administration, the company said today.

RECEIVERS have been appointed to a Dublin-listed investment fund hit by the collapse of the subprime mortgage market.

Going the extra mile is crucial for financial companies to create competitive advantage, according to the deputy managing partner with Deloitte & Touche, Leon J Bloom.

Green Party leader Trevor Sargent TD today accused the Taoiseach of putting the interests of the French nuclear industry ahead of Irish business and consumers.

HEDGE funds have invested in wine, whiskey and movies in pursuit of returns that outpace stocks and bonds.

ON Thursday night the top man at Chevron, Irishman David O’Reilly, insisted that Ireland would have to deploy all of the ingenuity it used to create the Celtic Tiger to successfully tackle the current energy crisis.

A high level of business sale and transfer activity should be expected in 2006, according to a Bank of Ireland business banking survey released today.

A TOP consultancy group has condemned Finance Minister Brian Cowen for his failure to deliver any initiatives to relaunch the Irish Financial Services Centre (IFSC).

The health service, which makes up 5% of the national workforce, must deliver better value for money, it was claimed today.

A FORMER head of accountants Deloitte & Touche has been appointed to chair the €14.5 billion National Pension Reserve Fund (NPRF).

TAOISEACH Bertie Ahern attempted to spread blame for the €195 million PPARS debacle to the Opposition yesterday.

CHAOS, confusion and a lack of leadership in the health service led to taxpayers facing a €195 million bill for the flop PPARS computer system, it was revealed last night.

ELECTRICITY prices would fall by almost 10% if the Government stopped demanding massive dividends from the ESB.

Not one, but two expensive computer systems have been put on hold by the Health Services Executive (HSE) because of doubts over their long-term value.

“DELIGHTS,” Bertie Ahern kept saying in the Dáil yesterday. Which left Labour leader Pat Rabbitte slightly baffled.

TAOISEACH Bertie Ahern yesterday insisted the controversial health service payroll system was not “a waste of time”, but admitted consultants had been “overused” on the project.

SENIOR officials in the Department of Finance attempted unsuccessfully last June to halt the out of control spending on the maladroit €150 million Personnel, Payroll and Related Systems (PPARS).

Shielded by a cordon of policemen, Parmalat’s former chairman Calisto Tanzi appeared briefly in a packed courtroom in Milan yesterday as angry investors who lost their savings crowded outside for the opening of a trial into the huge fraud at the dairy empire.

Parmalat’s founder and former chairman goes on trial today in Milan alongside other former directors, lawyers and accountants, nearly two years after the prolonged and massive fraud at the Italian dairy giant was discovered.

A MILAN judge has formally charged Parmalat founder Calisto Tanzi, plus 15 other executives and three financial institutions over their role in the scandal that plunged one of Italy's best-known brands into insolvency.

The Department of Health has today published a report into the general medical services which calls for a complete review of the scheme.

Helen Murphy has been appointed as commercial director of Dublin Zoo and Fota Wildlife Park in Cork.

FBD Holdings has announced the appointment of Andrew Langford to the Board as executive director of finance and Adrian Taheny as executive director of insurance, marketing and sales.

African immigrant Ibrahima Gueye has it all: A top executive job with a future. A two-story, four-bath deluxe home.