Ryan playing for high stakes in Barryroe licence move

The state could take a big financial hit if it lost a court case to Barryroe Offshore Energy, Minister for Environment Eamon Ryan was warned by officials before he signed off on a decision not to renew its licence to prospect for oil off the Cork coast.

The warning was contained in a cover note accompanying a submission to the minister on April 25th from the Geoscience Regulation Office (GSRO), a unit within the Department of the Environment. The note said Barryroe had passed a technical assessment but, based on a report by external consultants EY and an internal review by the department’s own financial adviser, they did not meet the investment cover criterion set down by law.

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With the temporary 9% VAT rate for hospitality set to return to 13.5% at the end of August, what impact could that have on a sector still finding its feet post-pandemic?Ciaran Hancock gets some insights on the multitude of challenges facing the sector from hotelier Lorraine Sweeney and chef & restaurateur JP McMahon – challenges that already include rising food prices, huge electricity bills, and a staffing crisis across the sector.Plus, Irish Times Political Correspondent Jennifer Bray on the likelihood of government extending the 9% VAT rate, and what opposition parties have to say about it.

Released to us under the Freedom of Information Act, the note points out there was one previous instance of a company being given an exploration licence extension without meeting investment cover. “However in that case the proposed work programme was desktop studies, and not for costly and high-risk activities such as the drilling of a well,” the officials said.

The decision not to extend the Barryroe licence was “very likely to be legally challenged by the applicant – they have indicated same”, the note went on. “If the department were to lose any case in the Barryroe challenge, there are potentially substantial financial impacts to the department and reputational damage to the GSRO”, and its strategic goal to “ensure best-in-class governance and regulation”.

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Ryan wrote to Barryroe a few weeks later to say their licence had been withdrawn. So far the decision has not been legally challenged.

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Punters prepared to pay for sports broadcasts

Off the Ball, the sports talkshow, has attracted subscribers from more than 30 countries since moving to a paid model last week, according to managing director Ger Gilroy. “Like anything new it’s taken a bit of getting used to for our users but as the news settles with people, they’re subscribing on all available platforms. On balance, we’re pleased with the response, and this is a long-term play,” he says.

“We’ve fairly ambitious targets that we’re not sharing publicly for now but we’re actually a bit ahead of schedule given ours is a very seasonal business.”

With intercounty GAA over, the Premier League only just kicking off, and the Rugby World Cup still three weeks away, it’s not the busiest time of year for sports broadcasts. “It’ll be the end of October before we fully assess how the launch has gone,” Gilroy agrees.

He stresses that it’s a freemium model – three free before you are asked to subscribe at €9.99 a month, while the OTB breakfast show will still be streamed live on YouTube and the radio output will be broadcast on Newstalk. “We’re also keeping all our female-sports coverage non-subscription,” he adds, in the spirit of 20x20.

The Irish public is certainly prepared to put their hands in their pockets for sports podcasts. Second Captains has 13,734 members paying €5 a month on Patreon while The 42.ie, the Journal.ie’s sports outlet, has attracted more than 4,500 subscriptions having introduced a €7.99 a month paywall earlier this year.

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FAI clears the deck of Euro 2020 bric-a-brac

Once on the brink of insolvency, having paid a €3 million bonus to its former chief executive John Delaney, it is heartening to see the Football Association of Ireland (FAI) becoming more prudent. Last week, it offloaded a lot of old bric-a-brac at Wilsons Auctions, including dozens of headphones and blankets, a portable pop-up desk, display cases, rope barriers and mannequins for showing off jerseys.

An FAI spokesman explained: “The items were all equipment and materials related to the National Football Exhibition from 2020 – display cases and such like which are no longer of any practical use to the association. We expect them to be bought by trade buyers.”

The exhibition was part of the build-up to Dublin hosting four matches in Euro 2020. Typically of the FAI’s luck at the time, the tournament was postponed for a year due to Covid, and then Dublin handed back its games because it wasn’t clear public-health restrictions would allow spectators to attend.

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RDS pushing open door on stadium funding

The Royal Dublin Society (RDS) has got planning permission for a €50 million stand at its arena in Ballsbridge but with the Government having only promised €10 million so far, where will it get the balance?

The Lobbying Register shows RDS executives have beaten a path to Government Buildings, writing to and meeting ministers for months. Leo Varadkar, the Taoiseach, met them earlier this year and told the Dáil afterwards that he was a strong supporter of the project and wanted to see it go to tender this year. He said State funding was committed “but I understand that, because of the increase in building costs, the RDS is looking for additional State funding”, the Taoiseach noted. “We need to look at that in the round, and other sporting projects also need to be considered.”

The Department of Sport confirms that it allocated €10 million to the RDS redevelopment from the Large Scale Sport Infrastructure Fund in January 2020. “The pandemic gave rise to significant financial challenges for grantees,” it says.

“In more recent times, the high level of construction inflation has also presented considerable challenges.” Accordingly, the department wrote to all grantees on August 4th inviting them to ask for further State money for their projects.

There is a further complication for the RDS, however: it doesn’t have a chief executive as Geraldine Ruane stood down last month after just two years in the post, for reasons that have not yet been made clear.

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Glanbia updates its executive rankings

When Hugh McGuire takes the top job at Glanbia, the Kilkenny-based nutrition group, he will have the title of chief executive officer. Yet the person he is succeeding, Siobhán Talbot, was group managing director, as was her predecessor, John Moloney. So has it become a more senior role?

Actually no – the group managing director title is a throwback to Glanbia’s origins in the co-operative movement. The old-fashioned title sometimes caused confusion overseas, and Talbot was informally known as chief executive.

“This was an opportunity to bring the title into line,” a Glanbia source tells us. “It’s the same job.”

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Making sense of Covid tax debt data

Revenue is about to put the squeeze on companies that “warehoused” tax debts during Covid-19 and haven’t yet paid them back. At the end of July, there was a balance of €1.93 billion in the warehouse, owed by more than 60,000 firms.

Most of that is down to 6,000 entities that have outstanding balances of more than €50,000: they account for €1.64 billion of the total.

Which means a lot of others owe very little. In fact, Revenue tells us, one in three of the original 60,000 firms have warehoused debts of less than €100. With Covid making a mini-comeback, could it be some thought it wise to leave a small balance in case they needed to use the warehousing scheme again?