Golf events and fireside chats — Sinn Féin's Canadian fundraising arm sees more donations ‘for the Irish peace process'
Sinn Féin's Canadian fundraising arm has had an increase in donations for support of the 'Irish peace process', accounts filed in Canada show.
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Irish Independent
5 hours ago
- Irish Independent
Your questions answered: ‘My brand new €46,000 car constantly needs repairs. What are my options?'
Plus, your rights as a consumer under package holiday legislation Q I bought a new car in January for €46,095. I'd cashed in an old pension and got a credit union loan so I didn't need to use a PCP. I was meant to collect it on January 2, but this was delayed because I was told there was a manufacturing issue with the ball joints in the front suspension. Since then, it's been one problem after another. Initially, the rear camera wasn't working, and I had to take time off work to bring the car in to the dealership to get it fixed. At the end of February, the indicators stopped working. On April 7, it broke down completely. The car company arranged a recovery truck and a replacement car. On May 12, the dealership rang to say it was down to the gearbox, which needed replacing. It's ready for collection now. As I've been without the car for almost half the time since I bought it, I contacted the dealership, the carmaker and even its CEO on several occasions. I'm terrified that if I take the car back, something else will go wrong and I'll have to start this whole exhausting complaint process all over again. What can I do? Noreen, Limerick A When you bought the car, you entered into a sales contract with the dealership. Under consumer law, the dealer is obliged to provide a car that's fit for purpose and has the durability you would normally expect from a new car, taking account of factors like the car's make, its durability, any need for servicing or maintenance, and how far and how often you drive the car. If an issue with a car arises in the first year, the dealer must show that the car was not faulty when you received it. The dealership has already carried out several repairs to your car. If a business repairs a fault and the same or a different fault occurs afterwards, you can reject further repairs if you can't be reasonably confident in the business's ability to fix the car. Complain to the dealer in writing, outlining the issues with the car and request the remedy that you feel is most appropriate. If you don't want further repairs, you can seek a reduction in the price you paid for the car, or you can ask to cancel the sales contract and request a refund. You can get further information on your consumer rights for car purchases on our website. If the dealer doesn't give you a satisfactory response, you can choose to pursue the matter through the courts. We suggest you get independent legal advice. Given your safety concerns, you can report the problems to the Road Safety Authority (RSA) who can then assess if the model of your car needs to be recalled or recalled for repair. ADVERTISEMENT 'We had to cancel our package holiday to Spain. Can we get the tax back?' Q My wife and I, who are in our 80s, booked an all-inclusive package holiday to Spain for 10 days in May. We booked through a Germany tour operator via its Irish branch in February, paying €2,000. But my wife became seriously ill in April, and had to be hospitalised. The medical advice was that she was unfit to travel on the holiday – so we asked the tour operator to reschedule it, a week before we were due to travel. They refused. Our travel insurer reimbursed us, minus an excess of €300. But we believe that the holiday company should return the Vat, which we assumed was included in the total price of the holiday. Are we legally entitled to get these taxes back? Tom, Dundalk A I'm sorry to hear of your wife's illness and hope she is making a good recovery. The holiday you booked is covered under package holiday legislation. When you book such a holiday, you enter into a contract with the tour operator. You should receive all the essential information about your holiday before you agree to this contract. This includes the total price, including taxes and fees, and the tour operator's terms and conditions regarding cancellations. You can find more information about your rights under package holiday legislation on our website, at It's unfortunate your tour operator refused to reschedule your holiday on medical grounds. However, you were wise to have taken out travel insurance so you could claim back most of your holiday costs. A consumer generally has the option to apply for a refund of airfare taxes and charges directly from an airline for a cancelled flight. But the claim usually needs to be made within a set timeframe after the flight – within 30 days, for example. The airline may charge an administrative fee to process the refund. As you bought a package holiday, you should first refer to the terms and conditions in your holiday contract and then speak to your tour operator to confirm if you are eligible to claim back the tax on the flight portion of your package. You can also contact the airline about a refund but you'd need to inform them that the flights were booked as part of a package holiday. Gráinne Griffin is director of communications at the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission. You can email your questions to
Irish Independent
5 hours ago
- Irish Independent
Solar 21 founders Michael and Andrew Bradley to pay stg£667k cash for former Solar 21 plant once valued at €100m
Fearghal O'Connor Today at 21:30 A Solar 21 power station – that it valued at over €100m just two years ago – is to be sold for stg£667,000 in cash to a company controlled by brothers Michael and Andrew Bradley, the founders of the investment firm. The sale of the Tansterne biomass plant was expected to be central to Rathcoole firm Solar 21's attempts to raise cash to pay back its investors. But the sale – which has been agreed but is pending approval – as part of a 'pre-pack administration' for a total sale price of €4m, including €3.3m of debt, is a major blow to thousands of Irish investors. The Bradley brothers' former investment firm owes its investors as much as €300m and GB-Bio itself – the Solar 21 subsidiary that holds the ownership of Tansterne and its potentially lucrative grid connection – owed its creditors £123m before it was placed in administration last week. Solar 21's former CEO Michael Bradley – originally from Achill Island in Co Mayo – had told the High Court in Dublin in 2023 that 'following completion of the relevant repair programme, the Tansterne biomass plant has the potential to be sold lo a market sector participant for approximately £96,527,000,' according to court documents. The investment firm had said at the time that it had an offer of £116m for the biomass plant. But Tansterne had been previously damaged by fire and was not operational. The High Court had given Solar 21 nine months to recommission the plant under the scheme of arrangement that was put in place. But recommissioning was unsuccessful and the sales process failed to find a buyer for GB-Bio and the Tansterne plant. That sales process, led by EY, generated just one offer – and this was made on condition of GB-Bio being sold via administration for £4m, according to company filings. The potential purchaser was believed to be interested in using the power station as scrap metal – but the value of scrap fell due to Donald Trump's tariffs, according to a well informed source. ADVERTISEMENT Learn more A number of months after the offer was made, it fell through – and on June 10, RSM was appointed administrator to the insolvent GB-Bio. Discussions between RSM and Andrew Bradley's Isle of Man-registered firm Green Zone Consulting (which continued to hold a charge over GB-Bio) resulted in a new offer from a firm called Teesside Green Energy Park Ltd. Filings to the UK's Companies House show that Teesside is owned by Michael Bradley and Green Zone, and its directors include individuals who had previously led the recommissioning efforts at Tansterne on behalf of Solar 21. Under the proposed sale, which is pending approval, Teesside is to pay stg£667,000 in cash, as well as availing of a further stg£3.3m in debt to be repaid to Andrew Bradley's firm Green Zone, bringing the full purchase price to €4m. 'GB-Bio is owned by Solar 21 Renewable Energy Limited (56pc, Republic of Ireland-registered), Green Zone Consulting Limited (34pc, Isle of Man-registered) and Jeremy and Stuart Saunt (10pc),' the administrator's proposal stated. 'Solar 21 Renewable Energy Limited is 100pc owned by Michael Bradley, and Green Zone Consulting Limited is 100pc owned by Andrew Bradley,' it stated.
Irish Independent
5 hours ago
- Irish Independent
Eoin O'Malley: CityWest deal shows the State is in the asylum business for the long haul, but the opposite approach is working for Denmark
The Danes are pursuing a 'zero refugee' policy and is sending out a strong message about how tough its rules are Today at 21:30 If we were to choose a monument to Irish policy failure, we could do worse than to pick the Citywest Hotel. The Government last week authorised the purchase of the hotel in Saggart, Co Dublin, to become a state-owned International Protection Accommodation Service (IPAS) centre for asylum-seekers. Citywest was built by businessman Jim Mansfield, who borrowed heavily to expand it to become one of the largest hotels in Europe. It became host to some large events. All-Ireland champions partied there after victory. It was where the Fianna Fáil faithful gathered when the party was in its heyday. The faux-Georgian hotel seemed to symbolise Celtic Tiger excess and hubris.
