22/03/2020
Frank McAlonan, BA, MBA
“Doire Liam Sea’n”
....Serving the World since 1947, Scented candles, roofing nails & barbed wire sold, Rebellions quelled, revolutions fomented, Beaten but Unbowed Candidate for Mayo County Council 2019, Proud member of the IRS RFC which was formerly played on request, Sightseeing in the Mekong Delta 1968 – 1970, The older I get, the better I was…..
March 21, 2020
Mr. Leo Varadkar
37A Main St.
Northside, Dublin 15
D15 AYT1
Mr. Varadkar:
1. Have you ever looked into NAMA, as to qualifications of the people put in charge? The fellows that I met had backgrounds in used cars prior to the boom, say 2001, then mortgage brokerage thereafter. Mortgage brokers whom I met just wanted their commissions while selling an inappropriate product to people who were borderline illiterate or just wowed them with negative amortization, low introductory rates, non-disclosure of fees and prepayment penalties. Did you or Mr. Donahue think that €4 Billion was a great return on all of the properties they were given? Didn’t you ever go to buy a new car and not be directed to the Finance guy? They’re the very same people who were put in charge of NAMA. If you put a sharp eye to many of their deals you might find deals that couldn’t have been done in an open market. Someone was illegally enriched inside of the deal. If it looks too good to reflect the market it was. Here’s a scenario, Bob the developer goes to Pat the mortgage broker (Nama guy) and says Pat, there’s a 10 unit development in Kildare that only needs appliances and I’d like to buy them for 10 cents on the Euro. BTW, I have 40 shares of Google in your name/some cash in the Cayman’s/an undisclosed piece of a Florida limited partnership, etc.
2. As to the Nat’l Broadband Plan (NBP), I had several advertisements in the Mayo News castigating the government and the entrenched parties for their tendering to a limited number. Why would you not offer the general public to bid for a contract that guarantees one a ratio of 15 to 1 to place technologically obsolescent fiber optic cable in the ground when 5G is just around the corner. I had said in one of my ads that I wondered how much more was spent on “promoting” the NBP. BTW, I and a couple of friends Stateside could have crowd funded €220 Million for a State guaranteed return of 10 to 1 and laughed all the way home with the remaining guarantee of 5-1. Brendan Howlin actually stated on Newstalk that the NBP would be contributing €2.4 Billion in equity after installation. That is just Silly Spin (a Howler, ouch!), as contributing after installation and billing the Us for it over time is not equity. NBP will load that figure into COGS then add their desired profit margin onto the total investment of €3.22 Billion, not €220 Million! I had reached out to an investigative journalist at the Indo to give me the 10-20 decision makers who made that call just to see if there was any significant increase in assets but he was too busy
3. FG budgeted €4-5 million per annum for a PR firm or Spin doctors. World leaders have had PR men pretty much starting with JFK and his mastermind Ted Sorenson but I think you lost the plot by putting a line item in the budget and touting it. Politically, we do hit above our weight worldwide but that doesn’t mean a nation of 4.5 million should have so many politicians who are so well compensated.
4. I won’t say a thing about the National Children’s limited bed hospital, as it speaks for itself.
All these consultants and, apparently, they don’t know anything about cost benefit analysis, decision making or good public relations, viz., Irish Water, NBP, that hospital, the banks, ad nauseam.
Fianna Fail & Fianna Gael lost and will continue to do so since your two parties’ base support of older people remembering an hundred year old civil war have actually gotten disenchanted with the two of you. If one loses they run for the Senate or even gets appointed! You have become so entrenched and entitled that you’ve forgotten that you are spending Our money
Please try to think about Us before you feather your own people’s nests, and Thank you, should you decide to use common sense.
Frank the Yank
cc: Michaél Martin
Lisa Chambers
Michael Ring
