Not much corporate hospitality from SHELL!
mayo |
rights, freedoms and repression |
news report 
Saturday November 05, 2005 17:14
by Éamonn Ó Flanngagáin
cupla2 at gmail dot com
086 066 1055
No Shell Freebies
We have it from Noel Dempsey that thre is no foundation to unsubstantiated rumours that SHELL and its asscociates in The Corrib Gas Field may have been generous with corporate hospitality to public servants.
In answer to a Parliamentary Question from Treveor Sargent, the Minister replied :
"There has never been sufficient corporate hospitality by any licensee involved in offshore exploration to warrant the necessity for a declaration under the [Ethics in Public ]Acts."
Comments (4 of 4)
Jump To Comment: 1 2 3 4Does anyone know what the limits are to warrant declaration? How much can Shell give you in one go before you have to declare it?
Shell are certainly being very generous with some people in Mayo, and we all know they paid for a full Irish breakfast for 70 people at the Institute of Engineers a few weeks ago, so I'd be very surprised if they weren't oiling a few wheels for some of the good folks in one of the many government departments they deal with, somewhere along the line.
Buíochas le do chuid leannúint is foighne a Éamonn.
http://www.indymedia.ie/newswire.php?story_id=71467&search_text=corporate%20hospitality
Based on experience, I am concerned about Corporate Hospitality. For commercial reasons, many major corporations are Corporate Members of prestigious clubs and sporting organisations. There is a risk that some public servants dealing closely with the affairs of any licensee involved in offshore exploration might be targeted for the receipt of an excessive degree of corporate hospitality hosted by a licensee and or associated entity.
Please see the following excerpt from the REPORT [of the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Public Service and Finance] ON THE GOVERNMENT PROPOSALS FOR A STANDARDS IN PUBLIC OFFICE BILL, Bealtaine 1999, (Pn. 7184) Page (ii).
"One aspect that proved disappointing from the Joint Oireachtas Committee's point of view, related to the very poor response to the advertisement in the national newspapers for submissions from the public. Apart from a few general comments and enquiries, there was only one substantive response, which was followed up by way of an oral hearing [in private] with the respondent [Éamonn Ó Flannagáin]."
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