Google vs NAMA

Phill Ewinn

A lack of urgency by Nama almost cost the country
230 jobs and over €100m of investment by global
internet giant Google , the Sunday Independent
can reveal.
Google 's investment in a new data centre which is
now under construction at Profile Park in west
Dublin would have gone to Stockholm, had it not
been for the last-minute intervention by
Environment Minister Phil Hogan with officials at
South Dublin County Council.

www.independent.ie/national-news/now-nama-almost-loses-google-jobs-3024308.html

It took NAMA one year and a kick in the arse from Google to organise a couple of pipes. Should we be able to sack the people responsible?

Sounds reasonable to me. €100m contract almost lost because someone didn't get off their backside. The TD was given two hours to sort the mess out.

So it took one minister two hours to do the work someone couldn't or wouldn't do in a year.

shantolog

I wish I could say I was suprised, but as long as no-one takes responsibility, nothing will get done.

oppenheimer1

I wish I could believe anything written in the Sunday Independent, but I can't.


There is obviously more to the story, than the simplistic, childish way it was written.

Sindri

Heard this on the radio today as well OP.

Today's revelation comes just two weeks after it emerged that 800 jobs promised for Dublin by broadcasting giant Sky were nearly lost to the UK when Nama refused to back down on demands that the company lease more office space than it actually needed. Jobs Minister Richard Bruton rowed in to ensure the Sky deal was done.

I find it hard to comprehend the level of idiocy.

galwayrush

I'm sure the incompetent twits who run NAMA will be entitled to massive compo/golden handshakes and super pension packages if they get sacked..

L.Jenkins

Clint Eastwoods quote comes to mind, "Cluster Fúck"

namawinelake

This was a development in south Dublin which was owned by developer David Agar until a couple of weeks ago. It was still David Agar's when the Google matter arose in August 2011. David Agar isn't very happy with NAMA following the Agency's appointment of receivers two weeks ago to his properties, and David confided in the Sunday Independent that NAMA won't be happy until all developers are driving classic cars and living in three-bed semis.

Minister Hogan didn't, according to the report in the Independent, intervene with NAMA. He intervened with the council.

And somehow it's all NAMA's fault?

squod

Some should tell Google about ''talk to Joe''. Shure he gets everything done.......

mikom

Remember folks, NAMA is only costing us 1 million a day to run.
If you want a couple of pipes organised then that's gonna cost at least 2 million a day.

dirtyden

oppenheimer1 wrote: »

I wish I could believe anything written in the Sunday Independent, but I can't.


There is obviously more to the story, than the simplistic, childish way it was written.

It used be a half decent paper once!

oppenheimer1

dirtyden wrote: »

It used be a half decent paper once!

When?

It has always been a gutter tabloid in broadsheet clothing.

44leto

They should find out who is responsible and put them in stocks in the middle of O Connell street, it beggars belief.

POLICY for any government department with 400,000 unemployed ,,if jobs are on offer drop everything else and make this a priority.

douglashyde

Private Sector giving status quo, pen pushing civil service a kick up the arse.

Why can't we get young private sector blood into the likes of Nama - Healthcare and other government departments.

Seanchai

dirtyden wrote: »

It used be a half decent paper once!

When? During the Lockout in 1913 when its scumbag owner, the notorious William Martin Murphy, was paying and telling the Dublin Metropolitan Police to beat trade union members black and blue off the streets of Dublin, while their families starved?

Extraordinarily, Independent Newspapers has managed to become even more of a cesspit under the control of the oligarch that is Anthony O'Reilly. In this instance, the Sunday Independent is continuing its campaign against NAMA on behalf of its developer friends, the same people who have given O'Reilly millions in advertising revenue for all those properties throughout the years.

CatFromHue

I think there might be more to this than just NAMA being the bad guy.

"the minister had to be called in to see that the site Google wanted would have water pipe connections and sewerage services after Nama failed to resolve the issue with the council for over a year."

"It is understood Mr Hogan was contacted by phone immediately and asked to intervene with South Dublin County Council to get the matters Nama had failed to resolve sorted out."

"Mr Hogan contacted South Dublin County Council and the matter of consent for water and sewage connections at the site was resolved immediately."

The above quotes to me don't exactly paint SDCC in a great light. Without knowing what the issues that held up the project where it's hard to know what was going on. Maybe NAMA asked SDCC to do something and they didn't do it until Hogan told em to.

CajunOnTour

oppenheimer1 wrote: »

I wish I could believe anything written in the Sunday Independent, but I can't.


There is obviously more to the story, than the simplistic, childish way it was written.

Yeah, but I'd still sack someone, even after I closed that poisonous rag. :cool:

CajunOnTour

oppenheimer1 wrote: »

When?

It has always been a gutter tabloid in broadsheet clothing.

Back in the 1960s - it took a bad turn when a certain Knight of the Brutish Empire took over.

oppenheimer1

CajunOnTour wrote: »

Yeah, but I'd still sack someone, even after I closed that poisonous rag. :cool:

Yeah, the two gobshites that penned that piece. You see they got the Who, What and When but conveniently missed answering the most important question "Why".

benway

douglashyde wrote: »

Private Sector giving status quo, pen pushing civil service a kick up the arse.

Why can't we get young private sector blood into the likes of Nama - Healthcare and other government departments.

You are joking, right?

How does one get private sector blood anyway? Is it just something you're born with? :rolleyes:

Freddie59

This adequately demonstrates how deep in the sand are the heads of 'civil servants'. On as lesser scale, a TX Maxx store in Waterford was forced to close because the planning permission only allowed the sale of 'bulky' goods. Who gives a fcuk - apart from some vested interests?

Incredibly the store closed with the loss of sixty jobs. It relocated to Waterford City Centre, but isn't the same.

Says it all really. Red tape at its worst.

donegal_road

oppenheimer1 wrote: »

Yeah, the two gobshites that penned that piece. You see they got the Who, What and When but conveniently missed answering the most important question "Why".

has there been any comment from NAMA since the article was published, for the reason 'why'

Nothingbetter2d

Nama is like ALL other goverment departments....... slow to change, run by extreme anally retentive public sector workers that require forms to be filled out & stamped everytime they need to take a ****.

Nothingbetter2d

the county council planning departments were meant to adopt a digital planning system years ago... to this day we still have to supply 10 copies of everything... why? why can't i submit a planning app completely in pdf format. NO need for storages facility to house all the paper work instead it could be stored in a server farm facility where it is instantly retrievable when needed.

oppenheimer1

Freddie59 wrote: »

This adequately demonstrates how deep in the sand are the heads of 'civil servants'. On as lesser scale, a TX Maxx store in Waterford was forced to close because the planning permission only allowed the sale of 'bulky' goods. Who gives a fcuk - apart from some vested interests?

Incredibly the store closed with the loss of sixty jobs. It relocated to Waterford City Centre, but isn't the same.

Says it all really. Red tape at its worst.

Yeah, to hell with regulation prohibiting out of town shopping centres which necessitate the use of the car.

The same people who moan about this will also moan about the death of town centres. But shur its jobs and inveshtment and to hell with anything else.

Just because the economy is in trouble doesn't mean we need to lose our sensibilities. In fact if there was a lesson to be learned from the last 10 years is that we should never loose touch with our sensibilities.

Buffman

I have to agree that story is very sparse with the facts. Doesn't even say how NAMA was involved at all.

In the case of the Google jobs and investment, the Sunday Independent understands matters came to a head at 1.30pm on Friday, August 5, 2011, when a representative for the internet giant informed Profile Park developer David Agar that he had just two hours left to put things right.Mr Agar was further informed that Google's team in Dublin would be on a plane to Stockholm that evening, bringing plans for the data centre with them, if matters at Profile Park were not addressed to their satisfaction.

So what was Mr Agar doing for the previous year to sort this? It is his development after all.

ThOnda

NAMA was set to protect few people, who heavily invested into properties and need to artificially boost the property market to kick-start it, to get back their investments and start growth of their profits.
Do not expect any logic, any advantage to the state (and 99% of population) from that organisation.
NAMA is official and polite name for CORRUPTION.