Let’s put an end to golden circles, concrete bubbles and bad politics

OVER August 28-29, 1990 an extraordinary debate took place in the Dáil. Even the fact that it was taking place at all was amazing because it would normally take the outbreak of war to recall the Dáil in August.

The debate took place about a measure called the Companies (Amendment) Bill, 1990. It was moved by the then Minister for Industry and Commerce, Des O’Malley, who described it as introducing a valuable new mechanism to rescue ailing but potentially viable companies. Its urgency, he said, had been caused by “a recognition that significant extra difficulties may be faced by Irish companies as a result of the present unrest in the Middle East”.

In the course of his speech he outlined certain difficulties faced by the Goodman group of companies as a result of these “difficulties”. The Goodman Group was owed around £180 million by “Iraqi entities” (actually, Saddam Hussein, who had been feeding his army on Irish beef, but it was never considered polite to say so). And that wasn’t all – when you added it all up, it was clear the Goodman Group, which had over recent years become Ireland’s largest beef processor, needed a lot of help, and quickly.