Seen & Heard: Deirdre Foley’s Clerys inspector claim

Clery’s controversy

The Sunday Independent reports a claim by property developer Deirdre Foley that State labour inspectors who are investigating the closure of Clerys accessed Ms Foley's confidential information from her laptop.

The Natrium founder, who led the controversial buyout of the store, filed papers with the High Court in response to claims by one of the inspectors that the closure of Clerys was plotted in advance in secret meetings.

Nama assets

The paper also reports that Nama is seeking “to pull” residential assets from the €1.5 billion Project Tolka portfolio sale. The Sunday Independent says talks concerning the upcoming sale are at an advanced stage, with its sale expected by August 31st.

The portfolio includes assets previously owned by developers Paddy Kelly, John Flynn and the McCormack family.

Bid for TV3

The Sunday Business Post reports that US cable giant Liberty Global is expected to lodge a bid for UTV Ireland "as early as" this week.

The paper’s sources tell it that Liberty is anxious to get a deal done as soon as possible, so that it can transfer British soaps Coronation Street and Emmerdale back to its other channel, TV3, before new series in January.

Abusive posts

Facebook has told government chief whip Regina Doherty that it cannot remove abusive posts aimed at her from its platform because they do not violate its rules. The Post reports that she contacted Gareth Lambe, the head of Facebook's Irish operation, in connection with the posts.

Facebook told the paper it “cannot put ourselves in the position of what defines acceptable free speech”.

Electricity chaos

The Sunday Times says Minister for Natural Resources Denis Naughten is to warn his European Union colleagues this week that Ireland's all-island electricity market "risks being thrown into chaos" by the Brexit vote.

He has already raised his fears at a meeting of the North-South Ministerial Council.

Atlas legacy assets

The Times also reports Atlas Investments, which is selling the legacy assets of the former NTR group, has sold its 50 per cent share in Celtic Anglian Water for €18.5 million to its partner in the venture.

Anglian Water will pay Atlas €15 million upfront, with a further €3.5 million to be paid out in two years’ time.

Mortgage fiasco

Fewer than 10 per cent of mortgage customers caught up in the €40 million overcharging fiasco at Permanent TSB have appealed their offers of compensation, according to the Sunday Times.

It reports that, despite widespread anger at the terms on offer, just 118 customers have taken their awards to the appeals panels set up by the bank.