A bird's eye view of the vineyard
Alternative Copy of thesaker.is site is available Thu May 25, 2023 14:38 | Ice-Saker-V6bKu3nz Alternative site: https://thesaker.si/saker-a... Site was created using the downloads provided Regards Herb
The Saker blog is now frozen Tue Feb 28, 2023 23:55 | The Saker Dear friends As I have previously announced, we are now “freezing” the blog.? We are also making archives of the blog available for free download in various formats (see below).?
What do you make of the Russia and China Partnership? Tue Feb 28, 2023 16:26 | The Saker by Mr. Allen for the Saker blog Over the last few years, we hear leaders from both Russia and China pronouncing that they have formed a relationship where there are
Moveable Feast Cafe 2023/02/27 ? Open Thread Mon Feb 27, 2023 19:00 | cafe-uploader 2023/02/27 19:00:02Welcome to the ‘Moveable Feast Cafe’. The ‘Moveable Feast’ is an open thread where readers can post wide ranging observations, articles, rants, off topic and have animate discussions of
The stage is set for Hybrid World War III Mon Feb 27, 2023 15:50 | The Saker Pepe Escobar for the Saker blog A powerful feeling rhythms your skin and drums up your soul as you?re immersed in a long walk under persistent snow flurries, pinpointed by The Saker >>
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What I Learned from My College Stasi File Thu Apr 24, 2025 07:00 | Michael Rainsborough When Prof Michael Rainsborough was cancelled over a lecture series on free speech it came, as befits the hushed corridors of academia, like a velvet cosh to the back of the head. Read what he learned in his Stasi file.
The post What I Learned from My College Stasi File appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.
News Round-Up Thu Apr 24, 2025 01:06 | Richard Eldred A summary of the most interesting stories in the past 24 hours that challenge the prevailing orthodoxy about the ?climate emergency?, public health ?crises? and the supposed moral defects of Western civilisation.
The post News Round-Up appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.
Global Warming is Mostly Caused By the Sun, Not Humans, Says Astrophysics Professor Wed Apr 23, 2025 19:00 | Hannes Sarv Up to two thirds of recent warming is because of the Sun, not humans, according to Astrophysics Professor Nir Shaviv. This means there is no climate emergency and we should adapt rather than curb CO2 emissions.
The post Global Warming is Mostly Caused By the Sun, Not Humans, Says Astrophysics Professor appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.
Professor Fired for Questioning Gender Ideology Wins $1.6 Million Settlement Wed Apr 23, 2025 17:00 | Dr Frederick Attenborough In a landmark victory for academic freedom, the University of Louisville will pay nearly $1.6m to a respected psychiatrist fired for questioning the use of puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones on children.
The post Professor Fired for Questioning Gender Ideology Wins $1.6 Million Settlement appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.
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The post Miliband Poised to Charge People in South More for Electricity appeared first on The Daily Sceptic. Lockdown Skeptics >>
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Whitewash: Report On Broadband Is A Cover Up
national |
crime and justice |
press release
Wednesday November 28, 2018 23:30 by PBP - People Before Profit

The report into the activities of the former Minister, Denis Naughton, on rural broadband is a total whitewash.
Naughton held eighteen meetings, and five dinners with representatives of Granahan McCourt. Minutes of these meetings were not kept and there were often no civil servants present. Yet the company was a bidder for the lucrative broadband contract.
But aside from Naughton’s unusual behaviour, there is an even bigger scandal looming.
Rural broadband was originally supposed to cost some hundreds of millions. But the latest estimate puts that figure at a staggering €3 billion.
 Once again privatisation means huge costs for Irish taxpayers.
Up to 1999, the telephone network was run by a state company, Telecom Eireann. But the Fianna Fail government decided to copy Margaret Thatcher and sell it off. Ever since then, disaster has piled on disaster.
Instead of providing long term investment to install broad band, a series of private owners simply asset stripped the company, which had been re-named Eircom.
By October 2010, for example, Ireland was ranked 29 out of 30 countries, ahead only of Mexico for broadband speed. Only a fifth of the population had access on that date.
Yet this disaster presented another opportunity for private companies to further blackmail the government.
One of the first companies to bid for contracts was Enet, a small company based in Michael Noonan’s Limerick constituency but backed by Granahan McCourt.
It won an original contract to bring broadband to 94 towns but after a meeting with Fine Gael Minister, Michael Noonan, this contract was extended without any tender being issued. The extension pushed up the value of Enet and then, lo and bold, the state controlled Irish Investment Fund bought a major stake in the company for approximately €150 million.
On one hand, a state decision to extend a contract increased the price that another arm of state paid for a share in a private firm. You could not make it up!
Then, mysteriously, the Irish Investment Fund bought the remaining share of Enet for an undisclosed sum.
Meanwhile in a move that is not unknown among multi-nationals who bid for state contracts, two other consortiums pulled out of a bid to install rural broadband.
That left behind David McCourt, the founder and chairman of McGranahan McCourt, the company from which the state’s Investment Fund had bought shares in Enet.
As the last bidder, McCourt has the state over a barrel – or more precisely he looked on as the state threw itself over that barrel.
And in a final twist of fate, McCourt quietly announced that the make-up of his own consortium had changed.
The main supplier of the physical infrastructure would now be a new company, Actavo owned by none other than Denis O Brien.
Actavo used to be known as Siteserv and faced considerable criticism over how it won contracts to install Irish water meters.
But here it is again, standing at the ready to take its slice of another lucrative state contract – after many mysterious moves.
Only in Ireland, as they say!
The report can be found at: https://www.dccae.gov.ie/documents/NBP_Procurement_Process_Audit_...8.pdf
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