So last night, I posted on a front-page story from the Sunday Business Post that claimed that the ESRI withdrawing a report on waste management in Dublin.

Titled “Errors force ESRI to withdraw waste document”, the piece by John Burke says:

The Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI) is to withdraw a controversial report it published on waste management in Dublin because of errors in the document.

The report, which was published last week, criticised environment minister John Gormley’s waste strategy, leading the minister to query the think-tank’s standards in preparing the report. Now, in an embarrassing move for the ESRI, one of its most high-profile environment experts has said that the report is being pulled from circulation.

The piece continues by quoting ESRI researcher Professor Richard Tol confirming that report would be rechecked:

Any errors identified will be corrected… we’re in the middle of redoing what needs to be redone

Last night, Tol commented on the Sunday Leads post and denied that the report was being withdrawn:

The ESRI will not withdraw the waste report.

He also denied that the ESRI used the word “withdraw” was used at all.

According to Tol, he told the Sunday Business Post the following:

A number of people and organizations have claimed that there are errors in the ESRI report “An Economic Approach to Municipal Waste Management Policy in Ireland”. We are currently working through these claims, assessing their veracity and, if so, the implications for the conclusions. We will issue a response to the claims once we have finished that work.

Tol says that other media organisations were briefed to similar effect by report co-author Paul Gorecki as well.

Links of interest:

• ‘An Economic Approach to Municipal Waste Management Policy in Ireland’on the ESRI website
• ESRI denies it ‘acted without integrity’ on incinerator report – Irish Times, February 5th 2010

Sunday Independent

The Sindo leads with a piece by Jody Corcoran and Maeve Sheehan on a Sunday Independent/Quantum Research telephone poll to gauge public feeling on the Government and the economy.

The poll consisted a sample of just 500 households randomly selected.

The questions asked:

• Do you have confidence in the political system produce answers to our current economic crisis?
  • Yes – 24% / No – 76%
• Do you worry about your ability to earn or to continue earning a living?
  • Yes – 48% / No – 52%
• Are you concerned that you could possibly lose your home?
  • Yes – 20% / No – 80%
• Have you felt ashamed because you could not pay your bills?
  • Yes – 27% / No – 73%
• Have financial worries ever seriously affected your mood?
  • Yes – 54% / No – 46%
• Do you believe Ireland has anything to offer to those who will finish their education in the next few years?
  • Yes – 38% / No – 62%
• Would you see emigration as an option for yourself?
  • Yes – 22% / No – 78%

The Sindo also says it can:

reveal that officials empowered to seize goods to meet an undischarged debt are coming away empty-handed from the often palatial homes of wealthy developers, lawyers and celebrities.

Dublin County Sheriff John Fitzpatrick said: “A different class of individuals are coming into us. We are getting developers, lawyers, celebrities… and for very big money too.”

…

His current caseload includes a court order against a property developers for €18m, a judgment of €3m against a solicitor and one for €1.4 against a “celebrity”. He does not believe he has a “hope in hell” of getting the money back.

The minor lead is a piece on how the late Celine Cawley’s family is upset with her characterisation as a “ruthless, domineering businesswoman.”

Brendan O’Connor is kicked to the inside pages by Ann Harris with a piece on Brian Cowen’s speech to the Dublin Chamber of Commerce dinner last Friday.

Sunday Business Post

The SBP leads with a story by David Clerkin and Ian Kehoe on how a loophole allowed companies and the super-rich to avoid paying Capital Gains Tax to the tune of €400m in a single scheme. Some 26 taxpayers availed of the scheme.

Ian Kehoe follows up the lead with a front page piece how the owners of the Shelbourne hotel “may never see any return on their €230m investment in the St. Stephen’s Green property.”

He writes:

The consortium of investors, including Bernard McNamara, bought the hotel in 2004 for €120m and injected a further €110m into a redevelopment and refit of the property.

However, court documents filed by John Sweeney, the Galway businessman who owns one-third of the hotel, state that investors have earned nothing from the investment to date and there is no indication that there will be any return in the near future.

Another minor lead by John Burke says that the ESRI was forced to withdraw a “controversial report” on waste management in Dublin due to errors.

Professor Richard Tol said that the move was being taken after the institute identified significant errors after publication. He confirmed that the conclusions reached in the report would be reviewed in the light of the errors and could potentially be changed.

“Any errors identified will be corrected… we’re in the middle of redoing what needs to be redone,” Tol told the Sunday Business Post.

Burke follows this piece with a page 2 piece on how Dublin City Council has paid almost €15m more to consultants that gave it advice on the controversial Poolbeg incinerator.

The council agreed to pay €6.5m to the consortium, headed by consulting engineers RPS, in July 2001, according to documents seen by the Sunday Business Post. However, the local authority has paid more than €21m up the start of this year for services connected to the incinerator project.

Links go live as the pieces do, so do pop by and I’ll send you to the full stories!