Denis O'Briens donation

[Billsthoughts]

O'Brien can keep his tainted money. it would be more in his line to pay his tax here. its just a PR exercise. why not be anonymous?

If the tax rates werent so feckin ridiculous maybe he would stay here..
Have to say the coverage yesterday was mind bogging. Am no fan of Delaney but I felt for him yesterday on the 6 o clock news as he was been grilled about details of the appointment. really negative tack on this from the media. Great appointment for Irish football. End of story.

[OwlsFan]

When you have bothered your arse to read the comments, you will then be entitled to pony up your own opinion. You wouldn't have to 'suspect' anymore you might 'know' things instead.

Oh, so there are some deep insights in to the donation are there? Or just people saying he should have given it to the St Vincent de Paul, or to Galway Slashers or that the FAI are awash with money and should turn their back on money given by a successful Irish business man.

Where is the thread on the Irish business men putting money in to Sunderland? They can apparently do that without raising an eyebrow but if we donate to our own, we have a huge thread. Mind you, they are entitled to do with their money as they please.

Thanks Denis. I am not surprised you left the country.

[Ringo]

Oh, so there are some deep insights in to the donation are there? Or just people saying he should have given it to the St Vincent de Paul, or to Galway Slashers or that the FAI are awash with money and should turn their back on money given by a successful Irish business man.

Where is the thread on the Irish business men putting money in to Sunderland? They can apparently do that without raising an eyebrow but if we donate to our own, we have a huge thread. Mind you, they are entitled to do with their money as they please.

Thanks Denis. I am not surprised you left the country.

Sunderland was in an investment, end of story. I really thought we'd never hear who actually put up the money. i was surprised when they announced it. This is just another move for Denis O'Breien. No strings attached my hole.

[Macy]

Oh, so there are some deep insights in to the donation are there? Or just people saying he should have given it to the St Vincent de Paul, or to Galway Slashers or that the FAI are awash with money and should turn their back on money given by a successful Irish business man.

I think most who are not hailing O'Brien as the great white knight are saying the FAI are right to take the money, but it's wrong to applaud someone who has so much money from avoiding tax in this country.

I'm saying he should've stayed and paid his taxes, not give it to VdP or Galway Slashers or even the FAI, unless it was after tax money.

Where is the thread on the Irish business men putting money in to Sunderland? They can apparently do that without raising an eyebrow but if we donate to our own, we have a huge thread. Mind you, they are entitled to do with their money as they please.

There are many threads on foot.ie on this issue. Check out the eL forum for starters.

Thanks Denis. I am not surprised you left the country.

Niether am I, much easier to avoid tax and avoid tribunals when you're non-resident.

Have to say the coverage yesterday was mind bogging. Am no fan of Delaney but I felt for him yesterday on the 6 o clock news as he was been grilled about details of the appointment. really negative tack on this from the media. Great appointment for Irish football. End of story.

Inevitable, given the influence of INM and O'Reilly in setting the news agenda, and the way O'Brien has been upping the stakes in the long running handbags by, eh, upping his stakes in INM and asking awkward questions about director renumeration and how the company is run. If Delaney wasn't expecting this kind of reaction, it's another example of why he shouldn't be CEO.

[paul_oshea]

You never know. The Irish football team might just have a bit of his heart. Watching them at the world cup may have been some of the happiest weeks of his life and he probably wants to experience something like that again.

To a lot of LOI fans the national team is just a bit on the side from their first love, some even want the national team to fail. It's completely different for many of us on here who love the team with a passion.

who love the team, because its our country, and no matter what happens who comes and goes, balance sheets, boards, managers, players and fans, its still our country and always will be.

[citizenerased]

fair play to Denis O'Brien, I was never a fan of his before that as he robbed the state of about 50m CGT. But paying for trappa to come in(esp if we qualify) has made up for it.

O'Brien does what any astute business man would do, in manipulating the tax laws to suit his balance sheet..Even U2 have done this...dont see them forking out for diddly squat!

[NeilMcD]

THere is a clear difference between tax evasion and tax avoidance. I think what he has done is tax avoidance rather than evasion. Also it has never been proved that he and Lowry got up to anything.

Bill O Herlihy was on Conversations with Dunphy on Saturday and Lowry was a client of his and he said that Lowry said throughout the process that he did not want any part of it.

[Jerry The Saint]

THere is a clear difference between tax evasion and tax avoidance. I think what he has done is tax avoidance rather than evasion.

Avoision, it's a crime, look it up... I don't say evasion, I say avoision!

[jbyrne]

I think the FAI made something like €30m profit last year.

turnover. not profit. spent €11m on grassroots football alone last year(according to delaney anyway)

[OneRedArmy]

Genius! Like takin' candy from a baby....what age are you, 15?!

Reading only a handful of posts would give a flavour of the begrudgers on here. I'd hazard a guess that there's no need to read the whole thread ...

'I spy with my little eye something begining with 'B'...'

Begrudger: Someone who envies the possession or enjoyment of something held by someone else.

I don't think so. I live very comfortably, have a great life and have the added bonus of sleeping easy at night with my conscience.

O'Brien donates an immaterial sum of money (many, many times less than he would pay in tax if he actually lived in his beloved Ireland and hadn't jurisdiction-shopped his way around the globe, most recently exiting Portugal when it negotiated a double taxation agreement with Ireland), which the FAI have said they didn't need in any case.

Ergo, I see it as a cheap PR stunt given his "difficulties" at the present time. If he actually had any interest in Irish football he'd be doing something along the lines of what Mick Wallace is doing (who amusingly was initially linked with the donation).

[half_full]

Bar a few sane people, this thread is full of exactly what I expected: Irish national team Ole Ole 'fans' worshiping their new hero in DOB and his dirty money. This is a PR stunt by him and I'm sure he is laughing at the thought of how many gulable people are in this country. If he really cared he would have given the money priveatly or better still stayed away altogether. faiLURE had a chance of a (fairly) fresh start in appointing a new manager, but have once again dragged Irish Football through the mud.

[paul_oshea]

ya we are all ole olers on here.

I'm too stupid to know whats going on, only blinded by green optimism. slap me slap me. silly old me.

[NeilMcD]

Must be pretty lonely up their and maybe you should change your name to half empty.

I love the comment "or better still stayed away altogether". So now we have someone who is effectively putting money into the grassroots of the game and they are being told to stay away. This is small minded lack of ambition worst type of Irishness at its worst. O Brien is an Irish fan who has loads of money. Now legally he has this money. We may not agree with the system that has enabled him to amount this amount of money but he has it nonetheless. He is now putting it in to Irish football. I am not jumping up and down about that I am more concentrating on that Trappatoni is our manager. However I think the half empty bitter people are concentrating on this bit as its the only way they can get at slagging the FAI.

This time the FAI have done most of it correctly so the bitter people are concentrating on O Briens money as its the only angle they can see. These people like T'O'D are bitter little men with no ambition who will always be hurlers on the ditch. Its an easy place to be, it does not take any talent or ambition or intellect or drive. The role of the cynic in Irish life has been there for years upon years.

I only can guess that life in Ireland in the 70's and 80's was to be run by people like this.

[TonyD]

Also it has never been proved that he and Lowry got up to anything.

"I didn't do it. Nobody saw me do it. You can't prove a thing"

[finnpark]

Begrudger: Someone who envies the possession or enjoyment of something held by someone else.

I don't think so. I live very comfortably, have a great life and have the added bonus of sleeping easy at night with my conscience.

O'Brien donates an immaterial sum of money (many, many times less than he would pay in tax if he actually lived in his beloved Ireland and hadn't jurisdiction-shopped his way around the globe, most recently exiting Portugal when it negotiated a double taxation agreement with Ireland), which the FAI have said they didn't need in any case.

Ergo, I see it as a cheap PR stunt given his "difficulties" at the present time. If he actually had any interest in Irish football he'd be doing something along the lines of what Mick Wallace is doing (who amusingly was initially linked with the donation).

I don't think any of us are denying that its a cheap PR stunt because it is. Hes in hot water politically just like our scumbag Ahern and hes getting one over Eircom, a major competitor in many market segments. However, lets not look a gift horse in the mouth. If it was not a PR stunt then why would he go public so of course he wants the PR in a troubled time for him where his past is being investigated. Sad really.

[Wolfie]

The FAI went public and named O'Brien yesterday.

If they hadn't named O'Brien yesterday - it would have had the optics of hiding something and then every gob****e with an axe to grind would have more to whinge about.

Sometimes - you can't win.

[half_full]

I'm too stupid to know whats going on

You said it.

[NeilMcD]

http://www.fai.ie/index.php?option=c...k=view&id=2877

[Wangball]

There's a saying about gift horses & mouths that seems pretty appropriate

[OneRedArmy]

I think it's a bloody shame that more attention is given to this donation than to the football.

We had people in general moaning at the process taking so long and all the side issues to that. Now when we have a manager in place and a world-class manager at that, people still have to pick out the 'negatives' as they see it.

Can you for God's sake please concentrate on the football!! On another thread of course so we don't go 'off-topic' - heaven forbid we go 'off-topic' on a football web-site....!

Hence this thread being titled as it is.

There are plenty of other threads to talk about the appointment from a football perspective.