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A GOVERNMENT-BACKED INVESTMENT fund plans to put its money into Abtran – the outsourcing company that handles Irish Water billing and complaints.
Carlyle Cardinal Ireland (CCI) today announced it was investing an undisclosed sum in the company, which employs about 2,000 people across its offices in Cork and Dublin.
The privately-managed €292 million CCI fund was set up in 2013 with support from the government’s then-National Pension Reserve Fund (NPRF), which put €125 million into the pool. It also includes money from Enterprise Ireland and private investors.
The fund’s stated aim was to take a stake on a commercial basis in Irish small and medium-sized businesses for amounts worth between €5 million and €50 million. It has previously invested in Payzone and chocolate maker Lily O’Brien’s, among others.
Carlyle managing director Peter Garvey said Abtran was a “deeply innovative company” with an excellent management team that had a vision for growing the business.
Its success to date has been built on an impressive track record of high quality service delivery for a diverse base of clients,” he said.
Cardinal Capital’s John Dolan said: “The Abtran team have exciting plans for the development of the business in the medium term and using CCI’s network and resources we look forward to working with management to accelerate those growth plans”
Abtran announced in March that it was hiring 350 temporary staff to handle Irish Water customers in the lead-up to the first bills being sent out in April.
The company also handles customer service and other outsourced work for companies and government agencies like Electric Ireland, Sky and the HSE. In 2009 it was charged with handling the calls for the controversial Local Property Tax.
The government’s Irish Strategic Investment Fund (ISIF), which replaced the NPRF late last year, will also have put an estimated €450 million directly into Irish Water in short-term loans by the end of 2015.
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so the over staffed Irish water don’t do billing or deal with complaints WTF are they doing ??
Sending letters to dead people.
In Vietnam…
And bills to people in Vietnam….
they calculate their pensions
Could everyone please start calling these Government parties by their real name..I mean make a concerted effort…EVERYONE…..Its RNU/Labour/FG
Thank you
You’d better all start paying those water bills. Going to be some shock when you get a court summons next year and lump sums deducted from your welfare.
the government’s money?
thats our money…
the Government does not have money…. only our collective cheque book….
Nira line thanks for the useless information.
Considering they will have to take each and every non payer to court INDIVIDUALLY and ability to pay/means to pay has to be decided on each case by merit, I think you will find that the Court system and the judges are in for a much bigger shock when there are 800,000 people who will crash the whole court system and grind it to a halt.If you, don`t believe me do a bit of research, find out what they are terrified of hence all the scare tactics and bluster from Kelly and Co.
Can`t get revenue involved, can`t take it from source.
NO WAY WE WON`T PAY
Hows them for apples?
The company is the same company that IW use to telephone you with “advice” on how to pay your IW bills among other things.
The Cork based Call Centre, Abtran.
http://www.revenue.ie/en/press/archive/2013/pr-130513-credit-card.html.
Iw fg ff labour you can f^ck off.Eu lickarses
Remember this.__……._…_https://youtu.be/27UL3tZW1bk well dont forget..
Also the same company that had the taxi contract taken off them because of incompetence.
Ever been to court on a day when they’re hearing speeding ticket cases? They clear 50 cases in an hour.
There’s no escaping your utilities bill – expect penalties on top of the amount you owe.
Except the company suing for payment would have to exist.
Not much chance of that happening.
Is that you Simon Harris lol
The people of Ireland need a means of ousting governments that lie and squander our money. Is it fu€k the government’s money. It’s our money. Parties who lied their way into power, like FG who a few years ago said this was an unfair tax but went ahead and set it up anyway and lab with their “our way or Frankfurt’s way” and “not another cent” but went ahead and payed the bond holders, should have been ran out long ago. They piss on the name of the Republic
800.000 / 50 = 16,000 Days
16000 days/ 5 = 3200 working weeks
3200 working weeks/52 = 61.5 Years
I think I`ll take my chances Nira – you nearly had me going to the bank for a minute, LOL
Ye Eejit
Ha Ha Nira.
Great reply.➕➗➖✖️ Ha Ha.
(Meant for Nira Line)
Looks like Nira line set up account to troll on behalf of irish water.
Sorry, laughing at Nira. Brill from the Mother Superior.
Just ignore Nira Line in all his/her Journal guises and concentrate on committing yourselves to getting down to the polling station on GE day and voting against his corrupt, lying, government cronies.
Everybody should make an extra special effort to be there this time and remember, no lower preferences for FG/FF/Labour.
Motherofdivine Jesus – two problems with your formula. 50 cases would be cleared in an hour, not in a day as you have calculated.
Secondly – after the first several hundred people are fined and brought to court, the remainder will scamper to get their bills paid before they have to face a court.
Nira it’s well past your bed time now get of mummy phone
Firstly :
50 people per hour up in court, each to be heard individually as different circumstances apply to different cases,This means the judge will in effect have to listen to every persons circumstances as to why they can`t/won`t pay, these will range from
“i have no contact” -
“i never signed a contract with Irish Water”,
“i am not paying a i have been on boil notice for the last 2 years”
“I can`t afford it as i am a pensioner”
“that is not my address”
etc,etc,
The judge will have to investigate each individuals finances and circumstances to make a distinction as to how much they can afford to pay whilst not affecting the minimum standards of living conditions as laid down by law, then he will have to make a judgement as to how much they have to pay weekly in arrears to make up the difference to catch up to the current bill.
Then we will have the die-hards who will still refuse to pay or engage as they know their water cannot be turned off.and no revenue involved to enforce payment.
All this the judge will have to do in roughly 1 minute, 1 second per person,according to your calculations. and THATS not including having to hear their name, address being read out into the court records by an official etc.
the Judge and the secretaries of the court will not get through 50 in a day,
then we have peoples families in the galleries, cars parked outside, protests outside, yada, yada, yada
if the court sits for 6 hours a day, that means they are going to have circa 300 – 500 people hanging around the courts every day,plus their families/supporters etc. how many guards do you think it is going to take to police that every day?
secondly – in this fight there will be very very few scampering to pay bills, not when they see the crowds inside and outside the courts on a daily basis, and not when our backs are up for the fight. Speeding tickets are a set fee, and 95% dont turn up to hear the judge rattle it off`, hence the speed of the courts in those matters
each and every case in this will be different so will require seperate judgments.
Every case in this will be a whole different set of circumstances, not least due to the fact that some people will have meters and some won`t.
Stop being an eejit
Court case goes like this :
“Are you on the dole as well?”
….”Yes”
“Okay, your bill of €550 plus a penalty of 20% will be deducted from your welfare over the next 2 months”
“Next! Are you on the dole too?”…. 60 seconds per case.
Nira you are one obnoxious idiot troll away it’s great fun reading your hourly crap
Ah now Nira, will ye ever Whisht, -
I still haven`t factored in that the courts do not sit for 52 weeks a year,
nor the fact that they have other cases to adjudicate as well, such as,
Drunk Driving,
Drug Possession,
burglary,
viloence,
drunk and disorderly,
Divorce,
child custody,
Arson
shoplifting
water meter protestors,
kidnapping( specifically for joany)
speeding,
no insurance,Etc Etc…
And this is all going to have to go on in the district courts.
you get my drift buddy
Do yourself a favour and quit while you`re behind.
stop being an Eejit…….
Its that idiot Line again.
“Governments money” !?! Did Enda do a whip around at the cabinet table or something??? Very generous of them………. I think you’ll find that this is TAXPAYERS MONEY…..
Maybe it should be stopped out of their pensions when we retire them in the spring.
Here’s my theory ..I’m guessing that this is a bit like the toll . If enough cars don’t use the toll the government has to stump up the difference.
Abtran get paid a percentage or fee of every water bill paid. Guess what. People are not paying their water tax bills.
The government cannot admit that people are not paying their water tax bill so they had to find another way to give Abtran money.
Pretty much. It really wouldn’t look good if Abtran cut off their service due to unpaid bills… Also are all these outsourcing call centers really the type of companies the government should be promoting.I know it looks good on the books but the fact that a lot of these jobs are being moved here from the likes of the Philippines and India pretty much indicates the type of job they are. Low pay, huge turn over in work force, no unions, employee sick days through the roof due to depression ect ect…they’re the sweatshops of the 21st century.
LOL – I can`t wait for an Indian or phillipino to try and ring me looking for a few bob, is gonna be some laugh that,
just like the Indian blokes that ring you on behalf of microsoft saying you have a virus…
They sound like an old clapped out moped
But,But,But,But..
I think you might have nailed it Niallers, calling al journalists worthy of the name. Why would any Govt business invest in a Service provider that only provides insecure shite quality transient jobs with craps t&c s. I could imagine Siteserv buying this thing when the money runs out.
Pumping millions upon millions into anything connected with this quango in an effort to make it too big to fail while raiding the taxpayer and future pensions to stuff the pockets of their cronies before they get kicked out on their ass.
Embezzlement 101…how to rob the taxpayers purse without them realising.
These stories used to tile me but at this stage I expect nothing more from my taxes and government!! The ballot box is where I retaliate.
Ciaran,
It does not matter who you vote for, what party/parties share the next Government, I would suggest the line from those elected to Govern will be the same. Irish Water cannot be dismantled and therefore is here to stay. I don’t care who made what promises I am certain it will not be abolished. With 4000 people shifted from councils around the country and into IW saving the councils millions in pensions, wages, Bonuses etc. do you honestly think the councils want them back? With a crumbling infrastructure off the council’s books that needs massive investment, any city or county manager would be very foolish to agree to have the water system back on their books.
“County manager…..very foolish”.. Yep..we have them in spades!!!
All previous council employees are still being paid by their respective councils….
Seems an never ending stream of money for Irish water. Disabilities services and all the rest nothing. Fg and labour priorities .
Got my property tax bill for 2016 today. Should I send it on to irish water instead of revenue.
More money down the drain
It’s way past this Governments bedtime.
Getting really tired of incompetence and “legal” corruption from FF, FG and Labour. A huge clear out is what’s needed. These guys are beyond reprehensible.
Love the way they say governments money…eh, that’s our money that the government stole from us would be more appropriate.
Wasn’t it collected under the guise of property tax or some such. Is that not false pretences or fraud?
Government is false pretences and fraud and they got a legal system to back them up too.
Lets get something straight it’s not he governments money its the peoples taxpayers money ,if it was the govts money they wouldn’t be so reckless with it.
Sounds a bit dodgy. I’m sure there is a conflict of detail in there somewhere.
A great little country to do business in.
Can somebody explain how this can be legal?
Whist, this is Ireland….
So basically as a taxpayer I’ll be investing in Abtran. When will I expect to see a return?
You won’t see a return. What you will now see is Abtran staying until after the election so as to not embarrass the government by pulling out of the contract due to not making the estimated profit based on people paying their water bill.
Conflict of interest in the detail in there somewhere.
So taxpayers money is being lumped together with private investors money and is being managed by a private company. Ya,that sound legit.
OK, so the government shouldn’t support business at all then? Or should they only support multinationals? The state invests and supports a whole range of private sector interests, through favourable taxation, grants, investment, the IDA and other means. Would you be moaning if Intel opened another plant due in no small part to the corporate tax rate? No? Same difference.
I’m not moaning about anything. I’m just worried about the incompetence and the mismanagement of taxpayers money by the government and given the recent inquiries and investigations,it’s a legitimate concern.
It’s not the same difference at all. It’s more like you pay road tax in the expectation that it’s used to fix roads but find it’s found it’s way into Intel’s pockets by way of a govt gift.
Jesus H Christ.
Another inquiry on the way.
A BVI Controlled company invested in by the government. And allegedly 25% owned by Mr DOB. STRANGE THAT
an investment fund, yeah right, same as the bondholders who gambled and lost but won anyway. pretty sure FG/Lab will compensate any investor who looses their shirt on this gamble too.
So they’re doing a great job dealing with complaints for the HSE?…..which is why Leo wants to implement a new complaints system…..hmmmmmmmm
as for SKY….
….must have hired a lot of ex-builders….talking to brick walls.
Manufactured outrage. Abtran provide outsourced call centre facilities for many well known public and private sector organisations. Outsourcing is especially useful where you have a peak in demand. So would it be better that Irish Water bought a building and staffed it for this purpose so it could be left idle in six months time? And should a government backed investment fund not invest in Irish businesses that are performing well? There’s some seriously tenuous linkage going on here. God help us if this is the future of journalism.
Yet to be decided if this is an investment or a disguised payment to cover losses answering calls for IW who have not turned a profit, most likely never will and therefore can’t pay Abtran for the services it employed them to provide.
Splitting hares, Al Ca?
The only “peak in demand” is for these meandering sheisters to disappear back up the sweaty @rsehole, from whenst they spawned!
Hopefully the experts charged with managing taxpayers money can justify their re-assuringly exorbitant fees and percentages when they meet the Public Accounts Committee.
How much do they pocket per year for the taxpayer money just sitting there, and how much do they get if they invest it?
Joe Public needs to know.
Smells like a gravy train of fees atop of fees.
Simon Harris has his weasel’s head stuck in everywhere. VOMIT
Wage slavery and exploitation.
Yet another Irish company makes a bad business decision. Seriously Cardinal Capital do you really want to be associated with Irish Water?
Ah give it a break. It’s an investment fund. If there was no investment, there would be a different subset of serial complainers on here whinging.
Since when have an investment fund expecting a return on investment in a call centre .
There’s really no point commenting further. Minds made up and firmly closed.
Le lapin noir, below, makes the same point but gets primarily green thumbs. I reckon that the redthumbers don’t bother reading past enough comments to confirm their prejudices.
Closed on what George ?the government just used a taxpayer investment fund to prop up a call centre for Irish water. What mind should one make up on this matter ? I’m confused.
It depends very much on whether it’s a propup or an investment. Given that abtran work for several large clients, I suspect the latter.
Ah George, i felt bad for you mate, So i gave you a green thumb seeing as lapin was getting them all……..
Want to hug it out Bro?
Abtran gets a lot of government contracts. That’s either due to a cosy little relationship between their CEO and someone in FG/Lab HQ. Or it’s to do with the fact they pay their staff minimum wage, expect them to do a stupid amount of work, and pile on pressure till you snap. Saying this as a former employee. Investment in this company is investment in the wrong area.
Correction: The people’s money.
Very misleading headline trying to goad a reaction by linking this to the water controversy. Abtran is probably an excellent investment opportunity. A headline stating government investment in company that handles calls for Paypal, Airbnb and various other blue chip companies does not have the same ring to it , shocking attempt at journalism
well michael why dont these other blue chip companies invest in abtrans?…and why are the government investing in these low pay short contract jobs anyway…
They do invest look it up
While you are correct Michael McTague, the Journal was merely giving a platform for readers to vent their fury once again at the Irish Water debacle.
Commonly known as Clickbait Journalism ISBA
Sure don`t they have to pay Hughs massive wages and expense account somehow?
Joke..
This joke of a government set up a business. It failed. Eurostar said so .
No contract wont see me in side a civil court
You have to hand it to the Journal.
Finding another non-story to stoke up all the usual anti-water crowd into venting their spleen….
have your say