On October 22nd I will be bringing forward my Broadband Bill during Private Members Time in the Seanad. I published my bill a year ago and still the Government has failed to provide universal, high-speed broadband to every household and business in Ireland. I am committed to pushing my bill through the Houses and I …
Category Archive
for: ‘Regulating Auctioneers’
Flavin Faces His Waterloo
Tomorrow Jim Flavin’s DCC reports full-year figures. No one is interested in the results. Everyone is interested in Flavin. It had been widely expected that Flavin would seize the day to announce a date for his retirement. If so, it will have been wrung out of him by shareholders working behind closed doors. Now it …
Amnesty For The Auctioneers
CONFESSION time: A few weeks ago, I broke bread with an auctioneer. Throughout lunch, the words of US essayist Ralph Waldo Emerson kept ringing in my ears: “The louder he talked of his honour, the faster I counted the spoons.” Such is my naked distrust of the whole industry. Confession number two: I liked the …
Seanad Should Debate Relevant Issues Like Auctioneering, Autism, and Broadband
It is remarkable that the Seanad is talking itself into a situation where it never debates anything relevant. Time is not allocated to topical items, and we seem to debate subjects that are at times utterly irrelevant. It is not that we do not have major issues to discuss which demand time – the Broadband …
The Auctioneer And The OAP
Today, let me tell you the tale of an auctioneer and an elderly lady. It has a sad beginning, but a happy ending. Colm McEvoy is a mega-rich auctioneer from Kildare. He is an establishment figure. Colm is even a member of the Irish Auctioneers and Valuers Institute (IAVI), the regulator which looks down its …
What Has Happened To The Auctioneering Bill?
For some time now, I have been labouring under the illusion that the Seanad is a chamber for legislation to be introduced and debated. However, when I looked at the Order Paper for the House this morning, I noticed not one item of legislation was to be discussed. It is not as if there are …
Watch My Prime Time Interview On Auctioneers Here!
Last night, I appeared with Alan Cooke of the IAVI on a Prime Time Special on auctioneers. Alan accused me of knowing nothing about the auctineering business. I told him he was right – yet I managed to become one last year! Watch the full exchange between us here. buy cialis buy levitra buy propecia …
Trinity Seanad Election 2007: Watch My Interview With Pat Kenny On The Late Late Show!
Watch my Late Late Show interview here, where I revealed my plans to undercut all the auctioneers with my new licence and where I offered NTR €10,000 to open up the Westlink toll bridge. They later told me to stuff my ten grand!
50% Commission Rise To Be Expected From Cowboys In The Auctioneering Industry
The news that auctioneers Sherry Fitzgerald are to increase their commission rates by 50% is outrageous. Unfortunately, it is also to be entirely expected from a profession of such cowboys. Their colleagues in the industry claim they won’t follow suit, but I wouldn’t hold my breath! Back in February, IPAV lobby’s chief executive Fintan McNamara …
The Unregulated, Unaccountable Anarchy of Auctioneering
FOR brass neck you have to hand it to Ireland’s auctioneers. Last week, the IPAV lobby’s chief executive Fintan McNamara revealed that commissions in the auctioneers’ cartel might have to go up. The reason? Impending hardship! Apparently, now that house prices have flattened, auctioneers intend to compensate themselves by ripping off consumers even more than …