EVEN MEMBERS of the Cabinet are not immune from the financial effects of the recession, Minister for Health Mary Harney has revealed.
Her entry for the annual Register of Interests of Members of Dáil Éireann, released this week on the Leinster House website www.oireachtas.ie, shows that Ms Harney has suffered along with most other investors.
Stating that she holds shares jointly with her husband Brian Geoghegan in the Bank of Ireland and AIB, the Minister adds as a footnote: “Although value exceeded €13,000 when acquired, do not do so now.”
Former taoiseach Bertie Ahern reveals that an Aids charity brought him to the Champions League final in Moscow last May. The London-based Chello Foundation provides scholarships to Aids orphans in sub-Saharan Africa.
Mr Ahern was also brought to Korea last October by the Washington Speakers’ Bureau. He derives additional income as a speaker with the Bureau’s World Lecture Agency.
Sinn Féin TD Arthur Morgan’s entry states that he is a non-executive director of a firm which has a contract for the supply of seafood products to the Defence Forces and the HSE. Seafood Processors Ltd is based at Omeath, Co Louth.
Former Fine Gael leader Michael Noonan declares that he held shares in Anglo Irish Bank, but sold them in January last year.
Fine Gael TD Seán Barrett has a range of shareholdings and directorships with investment, property and insurance companies.
Fine Gael deputy leader and finance spokesman Richard Bruton has shares with AIB, Bank of Ireland, Irish Life and Permanent and CRH as well as 225 acres of farmland in Co Meath.
Fine Gael TD for Cork South-Central, Deirdre Clune, a member of the Barry’s Tea family, has shares with the company as well as two investment firms.
Fianna Fáil backbencher Seán Connick derives extra income as a warehouse landlord in New Ross, Co Wexford, and holds shares with a Glasgow-based fund managed by Bank of Ireland.
Green Party TD Ciarán Cuffe lists himself as a landlord at Montpelier Hill, Dublin, and also has a property in Dublin’s Fade Street, which he is currently letting. He has shares with Dolmen Securities and Friends First.
Considerable property interests are held by Fianna Fáil backbencher Frank Fahey in Ireland and abroad. Fine Gael TD Frank Feighan has properties in Sligo, Dublin, Leitrim and Roscommon.
Minister of State for Education and Science Seán Haughey lists shareholdings in 31 companies, some of which he disposed of last year, including his shares in the Altria Group, a New York-based tobacco firm. Mr Haughey told The Irish Timeslast March that he was unaware of the nature of the company's business as the shares were bought through an investment manager.
