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dublin | environment | opinion/analysis Friday July 11, 2008 16:38 by Stop Corruption

Stop Corruption in Dublin City Council

I believe that the deal between Dublin City council and JC Decaux, swapping the space on public footpaths for 126 billboards in exchange for a couple of hundred bikes has all the hallmarks of a corrupt deal. I simply cannot believe that, knowing the facts that are public, that any local authority in the country would agree to this deal, without someone in charge being either blackmailed or bribed to agree to it.

I want to make it clear that I don’t have, or claim to have, any information that is not already in the public domain.

Having said that, from the information that is in the public domain, I believe that the deal between Dublin City council and JC Decaux, swapping the space on public footpaths for 126 billboards in exchange for a couple of hundred bikes has all the hallmarks of a corrupt deal. I simply cannot believe that, knowing the facts that are public, that any local authority in the country would agree to this deal, without someone in charge being either blackmailed or bribed to agree to it.

Again, I must stress that I have no information about blackmail or bribery, I am going solely on the information in the public domain, which is pretty flabbergasting:

JC Decaux will give Dublin City Council 500 bicycles. To put it in context, bicycles are currently being advertised by Halford’s (www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?storeId=10001&mpe_id=45176&intv_id=77568&partNumber=919936&evtype=CpgnClick&langId=-1&catalogId=10151&ddkey=ClickInfo) at €109.99 each. Granted, JC Decaux are putting a bit of electronic jiggery-pokery into the bikes to try to prevent theft (ha!) but I presume that if you are buying 500 bikes you get a rather better price than if you are buying just one. Also, there is no VAT to pay since they are not being ‘sold’, so for a round figure, let’s say that the bikes will cost €100 each – total, €50K

JC Decaux have not released the pricing for the 126 advertising panels which they will sell, but the panels will be the same size as ones in bus shelters which are sold by Clear Channel which cost between €250 and €450 each per fortnight (www.clearchannel.ie/content.aspx?ID=34&ParentID=9&MicrositeID=1&Page=2). It should be noted that the JC Decaux billboards will be put in much more prominent places (mostly blocking footpaths) but let’s take a very conservative figure of an average of €300 per fortnight. That is €7,800 for each billboard per year, or just under a €1M per year for all 126.

So for a once-off donation of fifty grand, JC Decaux walk away with a cool million every year, [b]forever[/b].

There is an excellent article on this rotten deal at www.buckplanning.blogspot.com/2007/07/dublin-shortchanged-on-free-bikes.html

I'm fed up sneering. I don’t want any more innuendo. I want to say it straight. I believe the information above is more than enough to prove that this deal is corrupt. The courts accept circumstantial evidence all the time. Where, looking at all the circumstances of a case, even without direct proof, a judge or jury conclude that the only reasonable explanation is guilt, they are entitled to find that an accused is guilty.

If someone from JC Decaux or Dublin City Council wants to argue that €50K once-off in exchange for a million a year forever has an innocent explanation, let them do so from the witness box.

I want to make a citizen’s arrest.
I want to bring a private prosecution.
I want your help to do this.

If you have any information, or can offer any resources, please contact me on [email protected].