BERN, SWITZERLAND – Ireland and Switzerland announced Thursday morning 26 January that they have signed a protocol to amend their double taxation treaty, in the area of taxes on income and capital. Under the terms of the new agreement, which must be approved by both parliaments, each country can withhold up to 15 percent on gross dividend amounts, with some significant exceptions: if “a company holds a stake of at least 10 percent in the capital of the distributing company, the dividends will be exempt from withholding tax. Moreover, there will be no withholding taxes on dividends paid to the national banks of the two countries or to pension funds.”
The amendment also includes a OECD administrative assistance clause. Since the OECD insisted in 2009 that Switzerland revise its treaties to match OECD international standards covering judicial assistance in cases of tax avoidance, Switzerland has revised more than 30 double taxation treaties. Switzerland has proposed in some cases to maintain bank secrecy laws at home while helping other governments collect taxes by using withholding taxes that allow holders of assets to choose if they will declare their accounts in order to recover the tax at home, or not. Such agreements have been signed with France and Germany, but the European Union has said it opposes these on the basis that numerous bilateral agreements are not in line with EU rules.
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – Ireland’s employers’ will soon be asked by the government to foot €150 million to cover the cost of the first four weeks of workers’ sick leave, the Irish Times reports. The cost is currently covered by the Ministry for Social Protection, which has been told to cut its budget in December by €700 million. The newspaper reports that the plan would take a year to implement but the savings could be realized in 2013. It adds that employer groups are likely to oppose the move.
Irish workers’ sick leave and pay, Citizens Information Board
DUBLIN, IRELAND – Two brothers, ages 24 and 39, were to go on trial 7 November for the 2010 murder of a 15-yar-old boy. The trial was adjourned by the judge before it could begin when the lawyer defending the older brother “Paul Barry, told Mr Justice Paul Carney his client had been taken to hospital this morning and was deceased,” according to the Irish Times. The judge then gave instructions that “the indictment against him should be marked that he was deceased.”
No cause of death was given by Irish media, who reported only that the younger brother had shown up for court, but left for the hospital upon learning of his brother’s situation.
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – Michael Higgins was officially declared Ireland’s next president, to be sworn in 11 November. He won with 1.007 million votes, more than 400,000 votes ahead of second-place candidate, independent Sean Gallagher.
Higgins immediately resigned from the Labour Party, saying he intends to make his presidency all-inclusive. Congratulations poured in from all parts of the island, following his victory press conference, where he vowed to continue the work done to heal North-South relations, by his predecessor, President Mary McAleese.
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – Irish voters are heading for the polls Thursday 27 October to elect a new president, choosing from a record seven candidates. Top of the issues is the woeful state of the Irish economy, with one of the worst recessions in recent history. The past history of the candidates has played a role in the bitter and often dirty campaign for today’s elections. The 3.1 million people eligible to vote will also be dedingon two referendums, one about reducing judicial pay and the other about broadening the scope of investigative committees.
The seven-year post is seen as largely ceremonial, but the president does wield influence and has limited absolute power in some areas.
Links to other sites: Irish Times, RTE
LITHUANIA – A court in Lithuania has sentenced Michael Campbell of Ireland to 12 years in prison for attempting to smuggle arms from that country to the Real IRA, a paramilitary group in Ireland.
Campbell was arrested in an undercover operation after handing over cash to buy a sniper rifle, detonators and timers.
According to the Daily Mail, the man boasted that he could make a day trip to London to plant a bomb and be back in Ireland by the time it exploded.
The BBC explains the undercover sting was called, “Operation Uncritical” and it involved MI5 agents travelling from England to Ireland, to Poland to Spain, and eventually to a field in the Lithuanian countryside.
Links to: Daily Mirror, BBC
AUCKLAND, NEW ZEALAND – The preliminary stage of the Rugby World Cup ended on 2 October and it is already certain that the semi-finals and the final, to be held 23 October at 10:00 Swiss time, will be contests between the Northern and Southern hemispheres. England secured top place in Pool B and sent Scotland home early with a narrow and stodgy 16-12 win over their northern neighbours. France looked out of form as they were beaten 14-19 by Tonga but still qualified as second behind New Zealand in Pool A. England will now face France for the third sussessive World Cup: the English won the last two. Argentina came second in the group and will face the mighty All Blacks next. South Africa won all their games to win Pool D and will now meet Australia. Wales came second in the Pool after losing by a single point to South Africa but were in awesome form as they swept past Fiji 60-0. They next play Ireland, which beat Australia on the way to the top of Pool C.
Links to other sites: Rugby World Cup, Telegraph,
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – Ryanair blames falling passenger traffic and high airport charges for its decision to stop Dublin-Kerry and Dublin-Cork flights in the south of Ireland. The company says it will end the first in early September and the second in late October. Ireland’s greatly improved highway system has cut travel time by road in the south, and the company mentions this as a factor in falling traffic, reports the Irish Times.
Vaud sailor Bernard Stamm's Cheminee Poujoulet was in 5th place Sunday in what the organizers call the "fearsome" Fastnet race (photo, ©2011 Gwendal Danguy)
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – Swiss sailors were in a strong position at the end of Sunday in the 608 nautical miles Fastnet race, often called a “mythical” sailing event, in part because 15 people died during the storms that battered the race in 1979.
The 2011 race began Sunday 14 August on the Isle of Wight under what the event organizers called perfect conditions, with a record number of entries, 314. A line of clouds on the horizon suggested dramatic sailing might lie ahead.
The race runs along the south coast of the UK, across the Celtic Sea to the Fastnet Rock off southwest Ireland, before returning around the Scilly Isles to the finish in Plymouth.
Several of the boats, including Steve Ravussin’s (Swiss) Race For Water, were over the line early and had to turn around for a re-start, adding to the day’s drama.
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – The Vatican has recalled its ambassador to Ireland following the harsh accusations of the Irish government saying the Vatican sabotaged efforts by Catholic bishops to report clerical sex abuse cases to police.
The Irish government had demanded the Vatican to explain a report suggesting it may have discouraged the reporting of child abuse allegations as reported by The New York Times on 15 July.
According to a report on Vatican radio, Papal Nuncio Giuseppe Leanza is being called back to Rome for consultations over the Cloyne Report.
Further details: The Irish Times, the Cloyne Report, Vatican Radio
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – Ireland is reeling today after Taoiseach Enda Kenny tore into the Vatican Wednesday 20 July, “in language never before used by an Irish government leader,” as the Irish Times put it, with the national newspaper noting that relations with the Vatican had reached a historic low. “Kenny accused the Vatican of downplaying or ‘managing’ the rape and torture of children in order to uphold its own power and reputation”, and the heavily Catholic country is holding its breath to hear the Vatican’s response.
Kenny’s remarks were made in connection with fallout from the Cloyne Report, which identifies 19 priests and reports on multiple cases of sexual and child abuse in the diocese of Cloyne in Country Cork.
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – World stock markets slid early Wednesday 13 July as investors’ nerves were tested, first by Ireland Tuesday evening becoming the third Eurozone country after Greece and Portugal to have its sovereign debt given a junk rating, then by news from Italy that borrowing costs are at their highest level in a decade.
Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi called on Italians Wednesday morning to make sacrifices, saying national unity is needed to reduce what he referred to as the country’s debt mountain. Parliament is scrambling to pass a deficit-reducing budget by Friday, before a European Union meeting on budgets.
The Financial Times reports that Moody’s downgrading Tuesday of Ireland’s debt is based on reasoning “similar to that used in Portugal’s downgrade to junk last week, a move that provoked a furious reaction from European policymakers who threatened new regulation of rating agencies.”
France is watching warily, with Le Monde saying markets are affected by “sharp concern” that the debt problem is moving beyond Greece, Portugal, and Ireland and is now threatening Italy and Spain.
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – Air Lingus, BA and Ryanair late Monday canceled several flights from Ireland and England to Scotland, with volcanic ash threatening northern Europe’s skies following the latest volcanic eruption in Iceland. Grimsvoetn in southeastern Iceland began to spew ash late Saturday 23 May and weather forecasters say ash could reach Scotland Tuesday, forcing airlines to cancel. The volcano is said by experts to most likely be Iceland’s strongest since the 1950s. The rest of the British Isles may be spared the ash for now, thanks to southeasterly winds.
Scotland was also hit by unseasonable weather, with winds gusting up to 150mph, power lines down and ferries and rail lines forced to close. One person died when a tree fell on his car and at the height of the storm 50,000 people were without electricity.
US President Barack Obama was able to travel from Ireland to England for the next leg of his European visit, despite storms and ash clouds to the north.
Links to other sites: Irish Times, The Scotsman
US President Barack Obama will lay claim to his Irish ancestors Monday in the tiny hamlet of Moneygall, Ireland, population 350, when he pays an hour-long visit Monday 23 May. The village lies mostly in County Offaley, nearly 200 km southwest of Dublin, but a key feature of the place, its Gaelic football playing field where local hurling fame is made, lies in County Tipperary. The visit, to which only inhabitants and nearby farmers have reportedly been invited, is the first stop after meeting with the Irish president, on a European tour for Obama.
“No matter how short his stay in his ancestral Offaly home, Barack Obama’s certain to get the mother of all welcomes,” writes the Irish Times. “Looking better after a makeover courtesy of Offaly County Council, this outpost of the Faithful County is surrounded on three sides by Co Tipperary.”
Moneygall comes from the Irish Muine Gall for foreigners’ thicket. Obama’s great-great-great grandfather left the farming community in 1850 to emigrate to the US.
UK media put the accent on the rest of the trip, where Obama is expected to reinforce the “special” US-Europe relationship.
Links to other sites: Irish Times, NPR, Telegraph, UK
Forget gloomy stories of debt and financial ruin from Ireland: one postman from County Cork definitely won’t be feeling the pinch anymore, having just pocketed a €7 million jackpot win.
Pat Broderick of Kinsale in County Cork celebrated with his wife and daughter 31 March at the Lottery headquarters in Dublin. His wife Mary told reporters, “You go from wondering where to get the money to pay the bills to this. It’s so good!” It’s been a lucky year for Cork’s Lotto players, whose wins have so far amounted to €44 million in the National Lottery.
This comes as a stark contrast to the latest estimate of the bailout cost for Irish banks, which stands at a sobering €24 billion following Thursday’s stress tests. Patrick Honohan, Ireland’s central bank governor, has described the crisis in Ireland as ”one of the costliest banking crises in history”, with a total bill equal to €17,000 per Irish citizen.
Links to other websites: The Irish Times, The Guardian
Irish history in technicolour
by Mark d’Arcy
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The centre of Dublin, home to the National Gallery of Ireland, is only an hour and a half from Geneva’s Cointrin Airport. The National Gallery has produced a permanent collection of Irish artists of the 1900s that offers the neophyte to all things Irish a light yet authoritative overview of some the titans of Irish painting.
One of the heavy-hitters of the exhibition, part of the larger permanent collection of 14,000 artworks, is Sir John Lavery’s “The Artist’s Studio”, probably 1909. The subject of this image was the model, muse and spouse of the artist, Chicago socialite Hazel Martyn. It was her noble visage that once graced the Irish one punt (pound) note, long before the arrival of the unbecomingly dull-looking little euro.
Hazel Martyn on old Irish punt note
Her image was also the watermark for all Irish currency preceeding the common European currency. The studio depicted on the canvas is of great historical significance because the artist made this space available to negotiators during the drafting of the Anglo-Irish agreement, the troublesome birth-certificate of the Irish state. Pound for pound, if you’ll excuse the pun, this painting can be considered as the heavyweight prizefighter of the exhibition in terms of its historical punching power.
Next to the Lavery work is a small painting by Paul Henry, “Launching the currach”. The director of the National Gallery, Raymond Keaveney, some years ago said of Henry’s place in Irish painting, to the Independent: “Paul Henry was to Irish landscape painting what WB Yeats was to the Celtic Revival in the shaping of Irish culture.”
Sense of the tribal, memory and the West of Ireland
Cliffs of Moher, County Clare, West of Ireland (photo, ©2010 Loriane Jaccoud)
Taking into account the wonderful ethereal quality of Yeats’s poetry, you could argue with Keaveney that this particular painting is, by contrast, very much about the nitty gritty reality of a group of fishermen dragging a currach, a small open Irish fishing boat, over the sand and into the sea. There is a distinct lack of fairies, Greek gods or mythical Irish heroes to lend a helping hand here: the fishermen are alone in the natural world.
More importantly the fishermen appear to have no delusions about their work being done for them by magical characters. This painting is a love letter to the purest of motives: the need to survive. The straining bodies brilliantly evoke the determination required to move this stubby monolith of a vessel out into the fecund fields of the Atlantic.
There is a sense of the tribal, in that all ages of the family are involved in this Herculean task. The fisherman on the right nearest to the viewer is clearly an older man, judging by his relative lack of cat-like flexibility, which his sons and brothers demonstrate with such grace.
Keaveney’s point is well made, nevertheless. Read more…
International sports, Six Nations rugby
Twickenham, London (GenevaLunch)- England put on a solid but uninspired performance to get past Scotland 22-16, 13 March. The English team have dominated their games this season but were held 9-9 at half-time and never really got going in the second till a try by Tom Croft. The win leaves the team top of the Six Nations race and if they beat Ireland in Dublin 19 March it will mean a Grand Slam.
Italy scored their first ever Six Nations win over France, winning by 22-21 with Bergamasco kicking 17 points. The French trainer responded by dropping six players for the final game against Wales, and stated that some had played their last game for France. Wales were lucky to beat Ireland 19-13 when the Welsh scored from a quick but illegal throw in from a line-out.
Links to other sites: Six Nations, L’Equipe
Ireland’s political parties are slowly working through the issues that will face a new coalition government, even as recounts from are underway in some areas, notably Galway West. The Irish Times reports that “Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny and Labour Party leader Eamon Gilmore will meet again this morning to continue talks on the formation of a coalition government”, noting that “while the positions of the two parties are similar in a number of policy areas, there are major differences between them over key issues such as the reduction of public sector debt; the ratio between tax and cuts; water charges; property tax; indirect taxes and public sector reform.”
The Irish general election Friday 25 February saw a crushing defeat for ruling Fianna Fáil party over the disastrous performance of the economy and the country’s crippling debt.
Links to other sites: CS Monitor, Financial Times, International Business Times
International sports, Six Nations rugby
Millenium Stadium, Cardiff, Wales (GenevaLunch) - England started their quest for the Six Nations trophy with a win in Cardiff Friday evening 4 February. Two tries by Chris Ashton and a masterful performance by stand-off Toby Flood set up a 19-26 victory that could have been greater had England maintained the pressure. In the Saturday games Ireland needed a late drop-goal by Ronan O’Gara to edge past Italy 11-13. France showed some style as they fought off a late challenge by Scotland to win 34-21. The next matches will be played on 11th and 12th February, and feature England-Italy, Scotland-Wales and Ireland-France.
Links to other sites: Six Nations, Telegraph, Guardian
Ireland is faced with the prospect of an election earlier than the one the prime minister has called for 11 March, with the Green Party leaving the ruling coalition Sunday 23 January. Prime Minister Brian Cowen called for an election Thursday, after six ministers resigned from the government, and he then said he would not lead his Fianna Fail party after the election. The Green Party says it will support Cowen’s austerity package, which is provoking anger among Irish voters, despite leaving the coalition. The government’s belt-tightening package is attempting to reduce the country’s high level of debt following the bailout of its banks.
Links to other sites: CNN, Irish Times, Telegraph
Four more members of the Irish government resigned Wednesday 19 January in a move which allows Prime Minister Brian Cowen the freedom to highlight fresh faces ahead of an election expected in March. The ministers of health, defense, justice and transport all handed in their resignations. This follows the resignation of Foreign Minister Micheal Martin immediately after challenging Cowen in a Fianna Fail party no-confidence vote on Monday 18 January.
The ruling party’s coalition partner, the Greens, said the shakeup should not be used to extend a general election beyond March. An opposition Labour Party spokesperson called the resignations “unparallelled political cynicism” on the part of Cowen.
Links to other sites: Independent, NZZ (Ger), Wall Street Journal
Irish Prime Minister Brian Cowen has won a vote of confidence among his party’s Fianna Fail members and is assured of leading the party into elections in March. It is widely expected by Irish political observers to lose the election. There were strong signs that Cowen would be dropped as leader when several MPs called for the vote 18 January.
Foreign Minister Micheal Martin resigned his post after losing his bid to topple Cowen.
The government has come under intense criticism for its handling of the country’s banking crisis, which led to Ireland accumulating massive debts that have affected the European Union as a whole.
Links to other sites: Irish Times, Reuters
The European Central Bank is concerned about the law passed by Ireland’s parliament 16 December giving sweeping powers to the finance minister over Irish banks, the ECB said in a statement 17 December. The law gives the government the power to impose conditions on bondholders of Irish bank debt, including the payment and timing of interest and the payment of principal. The law automatically expires in 2012.
The ECB is a major buyer of Irish bank debt in order to prop up that country’s financial system. The new government powers potentially dilute the value of that debt. Saying it “would have appreciated being consulted” at an earlier stage, the ECB notes that the law might interfere with its operational independence.
Links to other sites: Bloomberg, Irish Independent, Irish Times
The Irish government is accepting a massive EU (European Union) and IMF (International Monetary Fund) bailout, it announced late 21 November. The rescue package, in the form of multi-year loans, may amount to over €90 billion. Details of the aid will be worked out over the coming weeks, Prime Minister Brian Cowne says. The loans come with a pledge by the government to allow outside supervision of government economic policies. The aid will go in part towards restructuring Ireland’s big banks.
Ireland’s 12.5 percent corporate tax was not part of the bargain, Cowen said. The United Kingdom may provide Ireland with additional loans.
Links to other sites: BBC, Guardian, Irish Times
The International Monetary Fund gives the UK generally high marks in its appraisal of the government’s economic and fiscal recovery package, but warns that Britain’s banks are dangerously exposed to sovereign risks in Spain, Portugal, Ireland and Greece. Saying that “economic revovery is underway in the UK”, the IMF also recognizes that UK’s banks performed relatively well in the European Central Bank’s stress tests this summer.
UK banks’ exposure to the more indebted and fragile European economies is similar to that of German or French banks in absolute terms, the IMF says in its report (p.78/79), but is much higher as a percentage of GDP, because the UK banking sector contributes much more to GDP than banks in either Germany or France. It notes that the four main British banks have sovereign exposure of £7.8 billion.
Links to other sites: Daily Telegraph, The Independent
Terrorism raised its head across the globe over the weekend, and governments were pooling their expertise to connect the dots, with al-Qaeda figuring prominently among suspected organizations for at least some of the bombings and close calls. Here’s a roundup of incidents from Friday to early Monday 1 November:
- Two bombs called “viable” by governments, who say they were programmed to detonate on their own, were found Friday, one at Midlands Airport in the UK and the other in Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE). Both are suspected of being the handiwork of a 28-year-old Saudi man believed to be living in Yemen, Ibrahim Hassan al-Asiri. He has been on Saudi Arabia’s most wanted list for nearly two years. Saudi Arabia tipped off US and UK authorities, and the bombs, containing the plastics explosive PETN, which is difficult to detect, were found Friday. They were hidden in HP printers, part of cargo plane goods, sent via UPS from Yemen for delivery to synagogues in Chicago, Illinois in the US. The UAE package had earlier been flown on two passenger planes, airline officials have confirmed. A woman and her mother arrested in Yemen in connection with the bombs were released after the younger woman claimed she was a victim of identity theft. BBC, CNN
- A suicide bomber in Istanbul, Turkey blew himself up in the city’s main plaza, Taksim Square, Sunday, and 32 people were injured, 10 of them reportedly police officers and the rest passers-by. Kurdish separatists are under suspicion due to previous attacks on Turkish police, but the attack was not immediately claimed by any group. Jerusalem Post, Reuters
- Thirty-seven people died, most of them hostages, and nearly 60 were injured, when police in Baghdad stormed a Catholic church where scores of hostages were being held Sunday; al Qaeda links are suspected, according to US and Iraq authorities. The gunmen who stormed the church had attacked the Baghdad Stock Market, where a gun battle ensued, before fleeing to the church. The deaths, according to Iraq’s defense minister, were mainly from explosives set off by the kidnappers. Al Jazeera, CNN, Xinhua
- Two bombs were found by the public and defused by specialist police in Northern Ireland over the weekend: one was in a Toyota in a long-term car park and the other was hidden in a beer keg in Lurgan, Co Armagh. Dissident republican groups are suspected. Belfast Telegraph, Sydney Morning Herald (AFP)
The public spending deficit in Ireland could rise to 32 percent of GDP, if payments are made to three banks in a worst-case scenario, the Irish government announced 30 September. The total bill could rise to €50 billion. Ireland has already nationalized three main banks, and Anglo Irish Bank, the institution at the heart of Ireland’s massive decade-long property bubble, may need a total of €34bn alone. The government has already injected almost €23bn into Anglo Irish Bank.
Investors appeared relieved by the announcement, and Irish sovereign debt yields narrowed against German Bund yields. Irish public debt would rise to about 100 percent of GDP, compared to Greece’s 160 percent and Italy’s 118 percent.
Links to other sites: Bloomberg, CNN, Irish Independent
Update 26 August Zurich, Switzerland (GenevaLunch.com) - The Swiss franc rose to a new high as the euro slipped below CHF1.30 Wednesday 25 August. The Swiss National Bank decided earlier this year that it would no longer intervene to halt the rise of the franc after losing more than CHF14 billion from selling francs to slow down the currency’s appreciation. The euro has been under pressure with bond yields soaring in Greece and Irish debt being downgraded. The Swiss franc has been acting as a safe haven for investors worried about Europe and the fear of a double dip recession in the USA.
Yields on 10-year Swiss bonds fell to 1.02% as funds swept into Switzerland. The strong Swiss franc might be good news for those who earn Swiss salaries but it will make it harder for Swiss exporters to compete.
The Wall Street Journal notes in an article published Thursday that the man widely considered likely to become Switzerland’s next finance minister, Johann Schneider-Ammann, is strongly in favour of a weaker franc, and he backed the SNB’s intervention policy earlier this year. Schneider-Ammann is the head of Swissmem, the machinery industry’s association, and he has close ties to industry in general. The current finance minister, Hans-Rudolf Merz, retires in October. Both are centre-right politicians.
Ireland’s economy is now expected to grow by at least 1 percent this year, following the good news Wednesday 30 June that the country is moving out of recession: after eight quarters of negative GDP growth, the country saw growth of 2.7 percent in the first quarter. Over the past two years Ireland’s GDP has fallen by some 15 percent.
Ireland was the first economy in the eurozone to slip into recession and suffered eight consecutive quarters of negative GDP growth. GNP negative growth was even worse, falling by over 17 percent.
The good news was accompanied by bad, however, with the unemployment rate in Ireland rising to 13.4 percent.
Links to other sites: CNN, Irish Times
Ireland is expelling an Israeli diplomat over the near-certain manufacture of eight fake Irish passports by an agency of the Israeli government, says Foreign Minister Micheal Martin, in a veiled reference to Massud, the Israeli secret service. The passports were used by agents who carried out the murder of Hamas leader Mahmoud al-Mabhouh in Dubai in 2009. Martin noted that the Irish government had come to “the inescapable conclusion that an Israeli government agency was responsible for the misuse and, most likely, the manufacture of the forged Irish passports associated with the murder of Mr Mabhouh” following an investigation. It worked closely with the UK and Australia during the investigation. They, too, have expelled Israeli diplomats over the affair.
Links to other sites: BBC, Irish Times
