Bóthar audit investigation; Europe’s wake-up call on gas; and indebted couple tripped up by Lanzarote villa

Chartered Accountants Ireland are investigating the work of Grant Thornton as long-time auditor of Bóthar, according to sources. The charity’s former chief executive was involved in the alleged misappropriation hundreds of thousands of euro over two decades. Joe Brennan writes that the investigation is in its very early stages and Bóthar’s reconstituted board clearly has no issue with them as they are still listed as the charity’s auditor.

Europe was told on Monday that it needs to drastically slash natural gas consumption now to prepare for a long hard winter ahead, words that resonated all the more as it emerged that Russian gas monopoly Gazprom has told European customers it cannot guarantee contracted supplies. The EU, also on Monday, signed a deal with Azerbaijan to reduce reliance on Russia but International Energy Agency executive director Fatih Birol said it wouldn’t be enough.

Closer to home, the High Court terminated personal insolvency arrangements for a former accountant and his wife that had written wrote off millions of euro of their debts because they failed to disclose that they owned a Lanzarote villa. Thomas Colton is now a registered wedding solemniser and also a psychic medium, who really should have been able to see what such a gap in his financial disclosures might mean. The judge said it was impossible to conclude that the pair deserved a second chance.

On the hottest day of the year so far, Dublin-listed Greencoat Renewables announced its first move into solar energy in Ireland with a deal to buy half of a Meath solar farm being developed by Statkraft once it is completed next year.

Sticking with renewables, another Dublin company, Mainstream, unlocked €89 million with the sale of its 15.5 per cent share of an African renewables joint venture Lekela — a play on the Le Chéile, of course — that it established seven years ago.

Plans for an 11 sound stage, 460,000 square foot major film and television studio in the midlands moved a step closer this week as Westmeath County Council announced that councillors would vote in September on whether to contravene their own county development plan to accommodate an investment that promises investment in the region. Ian Curran reports.

And in her media column, Laura Slattery looks at the Media Commission report published last week and suggests it may be optimistic to suggest that common identity would help maintain the social contract between audiences and public service media.

Laura also reports that RTÉ has recorded a net surplus of €2.4 million for 2021 after commercial revenue bounced back from the Covid-struck previous year. The figure may be substantially down on 2020’s €7.9 million surplus but that was a year when lockdowns meant spending was sharply curtailed and Government pandemic-related advertising filled the state broadcasters coffers.

Developer Noel Smyth has finally persuaded Dún Laoghaire County Council of the merits of an apartment scheme for a car park behind St Michael’s Private Hospital in the town. Having originally targeted 102 units, he has now settled for 74 after a previous proposal for 88 also failed to find favour. Whether local residents will accept the outcome remains to be seen.

Elsewhere in south Dublin, Citywest hotel owner Tetrarch has submitted plans for a 108 unit build to rent scheme targeting the newly fashionable senior living market on a site acquired from the heavily indebted Blackrock rugby football club.

Cantillon looks at the mixed messages coming from environment minister Eamon Ryan when it comes to energy supplies, energy security and green politics

In Personal Finance, Fiona Reddan asks whether it is time to look again at whether your pension is better invested in annuities as interest rates start to rise.

In Q&A, we look at a someone midway through a fixed-rate mortgage term who wonders if it makes sense to break the contract now in order to lock into a long-term fixed deal before interest rates rise.

And a woman whose mum died in a nursing home recently is looking for advice on any flexibility there might be in paying back the nursing home loan which is secured on the family home.

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