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NAMA’S COSTS IN the recent High Court environmental information case totalled €71,350, while the Office of the Commissioner for Environmental Information incurred fees of €50,000, it has emerged this evening.
The figures came from the Minister for Finance, Michael Noonan, in the answer to a Parliamentary Question from Sinn Féin Finance Spokesperson Pearse Doherty.
He asked the Minister for Finance:
further to the judgement in the High Court case between the National Asset Management Agency and the Office of the Commissioner for Environment Information, the total legal fees incurred by NAMA to date in the case; and the estimate of all legal costs including those of the OCEI.
Minister Noonan said he was advised by NAMA that costs totalling €71,350 have been incurred by them to date in respect of the case, while the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform has advised him that the Office of the Commissioner for Environmental Information has informed him that the estimated fees incurred by them to date in respect of the case is €50,000.
Deputy Doherty said that the total cost is more than the total amount collected from all the Freedom of Information requests in 2011.
Deputy Doherty continued:
The case won by the Environment Commissioner last week against NAMA, which was initiated by Gavin Sheridan of thestory.ie, was an important victory for citizens. It proved that as a citizen, Gavin Sheridan had been entitled to information under ‘Information on the Environment Regulations’ which NAMA had attempted to deny him.
Doherty described access to information as “a citizen’s right” and said “this government along with the last has tried to censure that right”.
We can see that censuring in the fact that the NAMA spent over €71,000 fighting this case against another arm of the state, the Environment Commissioner. The Commissioner was forced to spend another €50,000 fighting the case, bringing the total cost to the taxpayer to over €121,000.
He continued that it is “imperative now that NAMA does not try to appeal this case, costing the state more money”.
I am also calling on the Government to look at moving towards a policy of open data for citizens, where information is provided as a transparency and accountability right, not a privilege.
Last Wednesday, the High Court dismissed an appeal by the State-owned ‘bad bank’ NAMA against a finding that it had a legal responsibility to deal with public requests for environmental information.
NAMA failed in its bid to overturn a finding by the Commissioner for Environmental Information, Emily O’Reilly, who had ruled in September 2011 that it was a ‘public authority’ as outlined in regulations on environmental information.
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Aoife the National Library of Ireland have a great page on Flickr where they post old images for identification purposes. It started slowly a few years ago and now they have garnered a great crew of historians, photo nerds and genuine amateur investigators who go to all lengths to ID people, places etc etc. Can’t remember the admins name but she is great, I think this angle may help Age Action!
The Flickr page is
http://www.flickr.com/photos/nlireland/
They are great and I’m sure they or the people who comment on their posts could help or will know people who can.
That is not military.. It is St John Ambulance
Exactly what I was thinking!
Love the Third photo. Welcome to Sister Immaculate Airlines.
Those were the days when a slab of toffee was 2 6′ and a litre of milk was a pint.
The term sky pilot springs to mind at photo #3, but does it refer to priests only? Curious. They look like Loreto nuns.
I have to agree with an earlier comment which said that the sister on the far right looks like aongus mac anally!
Lovely to see the compositors at work in photo 1……all done by computer now. In relation to this photo I would suggest Age Action contact The National Print Museum, Beggar’s Bush. Plenty people there to help with identifying the photo – they may have related material in their archives. Good luck with it.
Jaysus…..the women at work in photos 1 and 2 weren’t up to much….wonder what the chat was at the water cooler….while the “brides of Christ ” was a major career high versus the ” trolley dollies” of the airlines.
“The favourite daughter would become an air hostess and then the idiot brother would be sent off to the priesthood.”
They’re fantastic photos though, in fairness. It would be some savage blasht from the pasht if somebody recognised their grandparents in these!
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