As you might surmise by my last name, I am not exactly neutral on the topic of Ireland. Every so often, I like to fantasize that the country of my great ancestors is above the ethical fray. I like to believe that while Ireland has its missteps (maybe a rascal stealing a chicken from Mrs. Murphy as a house pet), that the 
country is relatively free of ethical problems. Yet business ethical misconduct is alive and well in Ireland.
Of course, I am making an intentionally naïve statement. With its growing economy and her position on the world financial and technology stage, in addition to her importance in agriculture and trade, Ireland has been subject to the very same ethical business pressures as every other free-world economy.
What is surprising is that the very same types of ethical scandals involving real estate and land development that have plagued the United States are now affecting the Irish landscape.
On July 25, 2013, The Irish Times ran an article by Frank McDonald entitled, “Comment: Our culture of impunity lives on.” If you take away the local allusions, political titles and convert monetary units, the story is all too familiar.
At the center of the scandal is a 180 acre shopping center, complete with the traditional anchor store, and with more than 500 parking spaces. From a planning standpoint, the “town centre” in question was found to be an environmental and design nightmare. The chief planning inspector recommended that the entire concept be refused. There is no logical reason for the shopping center to exist where the developer wishes it to exist.
In his article, Mr. McDonald stated the shopping center:
“Represents an almost classic ‘American style’ shopping mall, (that is) very much dependent on the private car and relatively remote from existing long-established urban centres.”
He goes on to explain:
“Even South Dublin County Council’s local area plan describes it as ‘off-centre’ in relation to the communities it is meant to serve.”
Picture a town shopping center not only in a very inconvenient location, difficult for pedestrians (remember this is a much smaller country with a tradition of walking to shop) but will force current residents into re-locations to undesirable areas. How in the world did this happen?
Unethical Relationships
In the very simplest of terms, the blame for the location of the so-called town centre, can be traced to bribery demands pure and simple. It involves a rich, powerful and allegedly unscrupulous developer who used his influence to roll over a legitimate developer. A shopping center location was somehow shifted from a perfectly logical setting to a perfectly inconvenient one.
Bribery was involved and apparently the bribery was done by a middle man; a lobbyist type whose strings were pulled from a “Hidden sourse.” The scope of the deal not only involved payments to the local county councillors, but members of the national parliament of Ireland. If the legitimate developer wanted to play, he was told, he would be faced with paying a massive bribe (into the millions of dollars) that he could not afford to pay.
Even more outrageous, the legitimate developer was told to place the sum in an untraceable account in the Isle of Man and even more outrageous than that, that if he said anything, the consequences could be dire.
There was an inquiry to be sure and do you know what happened?
Just about nothing happened. The middle man, the man supposedly carrying the bribe money, received a light sentence. The politicians all got off without so much as a slap on the wrist. The entire case was essentially dropped because the developer accused of bribery reportedly developed a serious heart condition.
Where this will go
In regard to this and many other Irish land deals, as the article states:
“There had been ‘a vast and damaging over zoning of lands throughout the country, much of it in the wrong location’ – and generations will be left living with the consequences.”
While the above states an obvious conclusion, I would expand the scope.
This case is not a real estate development problem; it is not even a bribery problem. It is a breakdown in the ethics of the way business has been conducted in Ireland. These are deals without consequences made by people who have every opportunity to gain and little to lose.
Is Ireland a corrupt country? No, it is not – and I would say this even if the Gallagher’s did not come from Ireland but from Scandinavia or Japan! But it is a serious problem where ethical standards must be established, and where ethical firewalls must be erected between those in the public and private sectors.
White collar crime is serious enough, but when its crimes are able to slip through people in the public trust, it is a tragic loss, even for the Gallagher’s generations removed.
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