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    Developer who entombed badgers walked away with Probation Act instead of a conviction after promise to pay money to wildlife charities

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    Con McCarthy paid €15,000 to walk away from conviction for unprecedented case of suffocating badgers near Citywest. By Donna Mullen. Con McCarthy, a developer, planned to construct a warehouse in Brownsbarn, Citywest, Dublin, and hired an ecologist, Brian Keeley, to conduct a badger survey in February 2022. Brian Keeley found two adult badgers bringing bedding into a sett and presumed that they were breeding. He made the developer aware of the badger sett and was asked to step down from working on the project. Later when he went to see the site, he found that the sett had been destroyed, and a large mound of clay was on the area. It is likely that the badgers were entombed. That Con Mc Carthy…. used, allowed and/or caused to be used a mechanically propelled vehicle to wit, plant machinery to aid the commission of an offence under the Wildlife Acts as amended, to wit, the destruction of a badger sett, in contravention of section 69 (7)(A) of the Wildlife Act 1976 as amended The government’s National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) were immediately called, and the developer said that the sett had been destroyed while a fence was being erected. The case went to the District Court and the developer was convicted on the following charge (1) with reference to charges 2 and 3 below: (1)    “Con Mc Carthy, on dates between 1st April 2022 and 25 May 2022, both dates inclusive, at Brownsbarn, County Dublin, wilfully interfered with the breeding or resting place of a protected wild animal to wit, a badger sett, in contravention of Section 23(5)(d) of the Wildlife Act 1976 as amended. Two other charges were taken into consideration. (2)    That Con Mc Carthy …did aid abet, procure or counsel the commission of an offence under the Wildlife Acts as amended, to wit, the wilful destruction of a badger sett, in contravention of Section 23(5)(d) and Section 69(1)of the wildlife Act, 1976, as amended. (3)    That Con Mc Carthy…. used, allowed and/or caused to be used a mechanically propelled vehicle to wit, plant machinery to aid the commission of an offence under the Wildlife Acts as amended, to wit, the destruction of a badger sett, in contravention of section 69 (7)(A) of the Wildlife Act 1976 as amended. Con Mc Carthy was convicted and fined 5000 euros. On 7 March 7, 2024, Con Mc Carthy appealed the severity of the conviction to the Circuit Court. NPWS District Conservation Officer Kieran Buckley showed photographs in court of a bank of clay on top of the sett, which would have entombed badgers. “The badgers probably would have suffocated from the sheer volume of clay” he said. “I’ve been enforcing the law for 20 years and this is the most wilfully cruel act I’ve seen”. Mr Brian Keeley , ecologist, took the stand “In my opinion, this was premeditated. This is a severe case. I’ve been a consultant since 1996 and haven’t seen this before. They just needed to keep the machinery 30 metres away from the sett. Much of my work involves working with developers to protect setts. I have a farm and we put up fences all the time. We don’t need to level all the ground”, he said. Mr Mc Carthy offered to make a donation to a charity if his criminal prosecution was reduced to having the probation act applied. Concern was raised by the barrister for NPWS that this could be seen as a developer “buying their way out”. He also said that a prosecution was more beneficial, because of the significant time and resources expended by NPWS. However, the judge asked for 15,000 euros to be split between three wildlife charities, and the conviction was not upheld.  Instead, the Probation Act, Section 1, was applied. Meanwhile, even though the case has been proven, the NPWS and the whistleblower cannot claim for their costs in this case, and the state pays for the case. The Beatles say that “Money can’t buy you love”. But in Irish courts, it seems it can buy you from the consequences of killing badger cubs.

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    Inside the negotiations for Ireland’s new national park

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    Government sole bidder on €11 million Dowth Hall estate purchase with millions more to be spent over the next few years. By Conor O’Carroll. The government was the sole bidder on the Dowth Hall estate, which was purchased for €11 million last year, documents released to Village Magazine reveal. The estate in County Meath, including an 18th-century Georgian residence, a Victorian manor and associated lands, was put up for sale in April 2023 across three separate lots, with a guide price of €10 million set for the entire 550-acre estate. This price included a nominal discount of €100,000 in comparison to purchasing each lot separately. A valuation report was prepared by estate agent Lisney Sotheby’s Int. on behalf of the Office of Public Works (OPW), who were liaising with the Department of Housing on the purchase. It stated that the market value of the entire estate fell within the range of €9,475,000 – €10,345,000, however, this report did not include the potential additional cost owing to the government being classified as a special purchaser. A special purchaser, as defined by the RICS Valuation Global Standards, is a buyer “for whom a particular asset has a special value because of advantages arising from its ownership that would not be available to other buyers in a market.” Once the site is opened to the public, the government expects almost €5.3 million in income will be earned from visits to the site over the first decade This means that special purchasers often pay more than the market value of the property due to their “over-riding motivation or business need for the asset”. In the case of Dowth Hall, the estate is of particular value to the State as it and its surrounding lands are situated within a UNESCO World Heritage Site, forming part of the pre-historic Brù na Bòinne site. The business case report for the purchase presented to the Minister for Housing, Darragh O’Brien TD, and released under Freedom of Information to non-profit Right To Know, stated that the purchase of the Dowth estate was a “compelling” and “once-in-a-generation” opportunity to protect one of the “most historic and quite literally magical elements of Irish culture” from any “inappropriate development”. According to the Negotiated Purchase Price report released to Village Magazine, no other offers were made for the entire estate during the negotiations with the government, though an asking price offer of €2.85 million was made for the Victorian-era house, Netterville Manor. However, the agent advised that the vendor’s preference was to sell the entire estate as a single lot, strengthening the government’s position. An updated business case released to Village indicates that the cost for the first five years will be in the region of €23 million, according to a quantity survey conducted by the OPW Initially, an offer of €8 million was discussed verbally with the agent, though this was swiftly rejected with the government told: “an offer in excess of the guide [was required] to remove the property from the market and progress to sale agreed”. Internal emails show that officials at the OPW agreed to submit a formal offer “below or close to bottom end of market value” in June. An offer of €9 million was later submitted, however, again this was rejected, with the agent stating “it falls well short of market value and value of what is available specifically to the state agencies”. The rejection was also accompanied by a counter-offer of €12 million, with the addition of all equipment & machinery and all rights and ownership of the intellectual property related to the research platform at Dowth. These were valued at €1.2 million and €4.3 million respectively by the vendor. They also imposed a completion timeline of ten weeks. At this point, though the Department of Housing was interested in purchasing the additions included in the counter-offer, officials at the OPW urged caution and restraint in making another offer in quick succession as no other offers for the entire estate had been made. The imposed timeline was also considered to be “unrealistic”. The market value of the entire estate fell within the range of €9,475,000 – €10,345,000, however, this report did not include the potential additional cost owing to the government being classified as a special purchaser The equipment & machinery offered by the vendors included the furniture and artefacts from the properties, though it was determined that “none of the contents have any provenance to the house and most seem to need complete restoration”. “We don’t want to be in a situation where we agree to take on items that we have no use for and subsequently incur costs for the storage and/or repair, restoration of same”, an internal OPW email stated. A complete list of the additional items shared with the OPW included the deer fencing surrounding the property, CCTV system and vandal-proof toilets, as well as farm machinery and lab equipment. However, the OPW did not accept that some of these items represented additional value, with internal discussions concluding that many of the items “should be included in a normal sale”. In early July, the government returned with an improved offer of €11 million. This offer included the additional equipment & machinery and intellectual property rights. The furniture and artefacts were not of interest to the government, given their limited connection to property and state of disrepair, and so were not included in the offer. However, a pair of Irish rococo-style gilt mirrors and a pair of Victorian marble-topped pier tables valued at €25,000 were requested. This offer was proposed as the government’s “best and final offer” and just over 24 hours later, it was accepted by the vendors. The final price represents between a 6% and 16% increase over the brokerage advice received, though as the Negotiated Purchase Price report notes, the advice did not include the value of the “unique archaeological heritage of the estate, recent discoveries or consider the benefit of State ownership of a UNESCO Heritage site”. The

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    €75m spent on CEOs of commercial state companies in the last decade

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    Half the CEOs of commercial state companies earn in excess of €250,000 a year despite pay ceiling By Conor O’Carroll. Just over €75 million has been spent on the salary and benefits of Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) of commercial state companies in the past decade, a Village investigation has revealed. The total salary of half of these CEOs has exceeded €250,000 a year, while some pay packages reach €300,000 and beyond. This is despite a ‘pay ceiling’ of €250,000 a year being introduced in 2011 by then Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, Brendan Howlin, TD. The cap was introduced amid the severe economic conditions facing the country at the time and set a general pay ceiling of €250,000 for future appointments to CEO posts within commercial state companies. However, Village analysed the financial accounts of 28 of these companies since 2012 and found that while the basic salaries of CEOs typically fell below the pay ceiling, once the slew of benefits, performance bonuses, expenses and pension contributions were included, many of the salaries surpassed the government’s cap. Since 2012, ESB has paid the most of any commercial state company on the total salary of its CEO, with over €4.2 million spent State companies whose CEO’s basic salary exceeded the cap at the time of introduction were encouraged to take voluntary pay cuts to bring them in line with the regulations. Companies such as An Post, the Dublin Airport Authority (DAA) and Coillte complied, bringing their base salaries under the cap within a few years of its introduction. The base salary of the CEO of ESB, however, has had their salary rise since the pay cap, having received an exemption from the government. According to financial records, former CEO Pat O’Doherty’s salary was €295,000 in 2012 and this has risen to just over €318,000 for current CEO Paddy Hayes. As with every other company, Hayes’ salary is also enlarged with various benefits meaning his total remuneration surpassed €389,000 for 2022, making him the best-paid CEO of a commercial state company. Also high on the list of earners include Bord na Móna CEO Tom Donnellan, former RTÉ Director General Dee Forbes and Irish Aviation Authority CEO Peter Kearney. Despite resigning from the DAA mid-way through the year, Dalton Philips still received the 3rd highest package of all the commercial state company CEOs, with total remuneration surpassing €340,000. Each of those in the top 10 received a total salary that surpasses the €250,000 pay ceiling and analysis by Village found that total earnings for a further three state commercial company CEOs breached the cap in 2022. On average, there was a roughly 30% increase in total take-home pay from the base salary once all the benefits and bonuses had been added. Responding to Village’s findings, Sinn Féin’s spokesperson for Public Expenditure and Reform, Rose Conway-Walsh TD said “CEO pay in many cases is excessive” and that the “cap needs to be enforced and should cover all benefits and performance-based payments”. The total salary of half of these CEOs has exceeded €250,000 a year, while some pay packages reach €300,000 and beyond Others who earned just below the cap included the CEOs of Dublin Bus and the Dublin Port Company, both of whom left their respective roles at some point in 2022 and in previous years earned over €250,000. Changing CEOs can often be expensive for these companies, with retirement benefits and pay for interim CEOs often driving the yearly cost up substantially. Long-term ESB CEO Pat O’Doherty left the company after he retired in August 2021 and received over €500,000 before leaving. Hayes was appointed to replace him and after receiving his salary for the remaining months of the year, the total outlay for the year on CEO pay was almost €650,000. Another €500,000 was spent by VHI that same year when John O’Dwyer retired in July 2021, taking home €387,000, while a further €136,000 was spent on Declan Moran as interim CEO. A further €366,000 was spent on two interim CEOs the following year, exceeding the typical remuneration of previous years. A High Court decision in 2022 also obliged the Shannon Foynes Port Company to pay €373,000 in performance-related payments to current CEO Pat Keating for the years 2010-2017, substantially increasing the outlay for the company. Since 2012, ESB has paid the most of any commercial state company on the total salary of its CEO, with over €4.2 million spent. The DAA and VHI are close behind with roughly €4 million spent apiece, while RTÉ and An Post make up the top five having spent a little of €3.5 million. A further seven commercial state companies paid over €3 million in remuneration of their CEO over the period.   In 2011, the government also introduced general salary guidelines for newly appointed CEOs of state commercial companies. Village analysed these figures and compared them with the most recent base salaries of the current CEOs, adjusting for inflation. On average, there was a roughly 30% increase in total take-home pay from the base salary once all the benefits and bonuses had been added Pay for CEOs at 12 state companies have exceeded these guidelines when adjusting the figures for inflation. Among those whose salaries exceed the adjusted salary guidelines by 10% are the Irish Aviation Authority (11%), Eirgrid (10%), the Cork Port Company (20%), the Shannon/Foynes Port Company (23%) and Transport Infrastructure Ireland (25%) – previously the National Road Authority. Not all state companies exceeded these guidelines, however, with some CEOs, including CIE (-36%), ESB (-13%), TG4 (-13%) and RTÉ (-8%), all receiving a base salary under the inflation-adjusted figures. Though, the appointment of Kevin Bakhurst as RTÉ Director-General and an increased base salary to €250,000 will all but wipe out the difference. Conway-Walsh told Village that “the correct and fair level for CEO pay is something that can be debated but state-owned companies must adhere to the salary cap set by government”. “The current approach to CEO pay in state-owned enterprises undermines transparency”, she continued, and while

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