Cowen is $58,000 student in California but who is paying the huge fees

Our former taoiseach takes an 'Executive Education' course - but he won't say who is paying the huge fees

By John Lee and Julie Moult  8 July 2012

Former taoiseach Brian Cowen has gone back to school – enrolling on a $58,000 six-week course at Stanford University in California.

Mr Cowen is a student in the Executive Education Programme, which includes a range of courses and features prestigious speakers such as Condoleezza Rice, the Irish Mail on Sunday can reveal.

The course of study is ‘customised to the needs of senior executives working in global companies, government agencies, and non-profit organisations’, according to its website.

American presidents, famous actors and even disgraced golfer Tiger Woods have studied at Stanford University, near San Francisco, on the stunningly beautiful Pacific Coast of California.

Family and friends of Mr Cowen, speaking exclusively to the MoS, said he intends to use the summer study programme to ‘work towards something else’ and maybe ‘return to public life’.

Mr Cowen has longstanding connections with the university. As taoiseach in 2010, he held talks with Dr John Hennessy, President of Stanford University, while on a visit to California.

Stanford had hosted 60 chief executives from Irish IT and life science companies under the Enterprise Ireland leadership for growth programme, all subsidised by the Irish taxpayer.

A source at Enterprise Ireland said: ‘The leadership for growth programme is something that we do subsidise. If somebody has a business idea and needs strategic training this course can be of value, it is something like an MBA (Master of Business Administration).

‘It is subsidised by us but participants would usually pay a fee.’

Mr Cowen, 52, refused to comment when he was approached while leaving morning lectures on Friday.

He said: ‘I’m not doing any interviews, I’m here on a private matter.’

The qualified solicitor refused to divulge any details of a future career.

And when asked who paid the substantial fees for his course, he grew visibly irritated and asked: ‘Are you serious?’

When asked whether the Stanford trip had been sponsored by a future business employer, he added: ‘It’s got absolutely nothing to do with you at all.’

He then walked off.

Mr Cowen was one of the architects of the now notorious bank guarantee of  September 29, 2008, which effectively made the Irish people responsible for the huge debts of irresponsible Irish banks.

On Friday this week the Dáil’s influential Public Accounts Committee published a framework for its inquiry into the drafting of the bank guarantee, and it is seeking the power to compel witnesses to attend. Mr Cowen would certainly be a key witness.  It further wants cabinet confidentiality to be waived.

As a former taoiseach, Mr Cowen received a retirement package of some €213,000 and is paid a public pension of more than €150,000 a year. Fees for the six-week Stanford Executive Programme, which began on June 24 and ends on August 4, come to a hefty $58,000 (€47,000) or €7,800 for each week of study.

The tuition includes comfortable accommodation, all meals, course materials and even an iPad. Mr Cowen also has the option of tagging on an ‘Individual Leadership Skills Development’ course at an additional $5,800 (€4,800).

‘It will lead to something else, he is only 52 years of age and he has a lot to offer with his experience,’ said a close family member.

Family and friends said the trip to California offers a respite from the ‘terrible abuse’ he receives on the street and in pubs since he left office.

They also believe the new focus will allow him to stop replaying the mistakes of his two and a half years as taoiseach over in his head.

‘He has been thinking of what happened, thinking of the mistakes and otherwise and how he could have done things differently,’ a close family member told the MoS.

‘And he has talked to me about it. But he was doing less of it lately and hopefully this will help and he can move on. It’s not nice seeing a close family member do that to himself.’

The programme at the university’s acclaimed business school is designed for elite business executives and attracts the creme de la creme of global corporate talent. Former US secretaries of state Condoleezza Rice and George P Shultz are among the guest speakers and distinguished lecturers are the best in their field.

According to the university: ‘The typical participant in the Stanford Executive Program has set aggressive professional goals for the years ahead and often faces a number of professional challenges.

‘Experience the sunshine, the renowned faculty, innovative coursework, beautiful classroom space, global executive participants, and food prepared by an award- winning executive chef to see why participants rave about Stanford GSB Executive Education programs.’

Mr Cowen left the Knight Management building within the Graduate School of Business around midday on Thursday with a handful of others.

He appeared to be chatting with several international students. One yelled out ‘hey Brian’ and seemed to be asking his opinion.


Dressed casually in dark grey trousers, baggy, blue-checked, short-sleeved shirt and beige shoes and carrying a black rucksack in one hand and what appeared to be course notes in the other, he took the short walk back to his temporary home behind the huge doors at the Schwab Residential Centre – which offers luxurious suite accommodation in the form of ‘guest rooms’.

After lunch he returned to the lecture hall alone around 2pm and took a seat in the middle of the small, modern auditorium where each student has their name written on a piece of card and placed on their desk for all to see.

Classes ended at around 4.30pm.  The building forms part of an 8,000- acre campus filled with tree-lined avenues and impressive buildings, enjoyed by America’s finest academics who often cycle around.

There is an impressive alumni of leading politicians, scientists, actors and businessmen at Stanford. Former president Herbert Hoover studied here as did actors Reese Witherspoon and Ted Danson and Yahoo founders Jerry Yang and David Filo.

But if Mr Cowen is looking for a bit of nightlife, the sleepy Silicon Valley offers little more than a handful of restaurants and bars. San Francisco, however, is less than an hour’s drive and the renowned bon viveur will find the renowned wine region of the Napa Valley just a little farther still.

And it will give Mr Cowen some respite from the opinions of local people in Tullamore.

‘It gives him a break from a lot of the terrible verbal abuse he has been getting. I was with him one day at home and he was abused in the street and then the guy followed him i nto the pub,’ said one close family member.

‘But hopefully this will lead to something, maybe business,’ said the family member.

John Moloney, known as Mol to the Cowen family, was a Minister in Mr Cowen’s Fianna Fáil/Green coalition and is a close family friend. During recent acclaimed documentaries about Fianna Fáil on RTE and TV3, as former colleagues like Mary Hanafin sneered and put the boot in, Mr Moloney won wide respect within Leinster House for standing by his friend.

Mr Moloney said that Mr Cowen will not return to politics. ‘I don’t see him going back into politics, I’d be very surprised if he started back into it,’ he said. ‘The reality is that very few former taoisígh go back into politics and I can’t see him going back into politics. Where do you go?

‘I know he’s involved in his own Comhairle Dáil in Offaly, that’s at local level. It would be unheard of for a former taoiseach to come back in again. ’

Mr Cowen spends his time going to GAA matches in his native Offaly, playing a bit of golf, and socialising in pubs. The Fianna Fáil Comhairle Dáil also remains a significant social outlet for him.

Mr Moloney said: ‘Wherever that [Stanford] leads, after that I don’t know. Whether he remains abroad or not, I don’t know.

‘I would say he doesn’t know what he’s going to do. I wouldn’t say anyone knows. He’s a young man, he’s only 52, in the usual course of events a fella will expect to be active into his 70s anyway,’ he said.

Mr Moloney agrees with family members that Mr Cowen has been ‘mulling things over’ in his head.

But he believes subsequent events in Europe have put Mr Cowen’s predicament in 2008 and 2009 into perspective.

‘I’m not going to start making excuses. Clearly, things were so difficult for us, we were the first ones in. Look at what’s happened in Europe since but there’s no point in saying that now,’ said Mr Moloney.

‘Of course, lookit, we all who ran for election and who were in government, of course you look back and say I could have done things different.

‘I keep thinking that way while I’m down here myself, that’s what politics is about. I’m sure he is thinking more on a regular basis as to what might have been done differently. After all he was the head of government.’

Mr Moloney has seen Mr Cowen receive rough treatment from the public, despite being generally well received while out in public.

Mr Cowen was recently in Mr Moloney’s bar – Moloney’s Gaelic Bar, Mountmellick, Co. Laois – after a match in Tullamore in which Offaly were playing.

He recalled: ‘Along with my fellas in the bar, customers – they wouldn’t be Fianna Fáil let me say, they’d be a cross-section of all parties. He came in, as anybody would, from being in politics and people exchanged points of view with him over the period of an hour and you know they had a good conversation.’

After the election things were worse, however.

‘I had been out with him on two occasions in Tullamore, and in Dublin on one or two occasions last year. And, yes, I will admit that immediately after the election there was some very robust comment.’

Mr Moloney believes the former taoiseach could still offer a lot to the country. ‘Certainly, with that level of experience, and if he is to gain further experience he might make a further contribution to this country. I don’t exactly know what that may be but I certainly would welcome what he’s at.

‘I welcome that he has gone abroad to, as it were, broaden his own horizons.’


Links with Stanford were made in his days as Taoiseach

By John Lee and Warren Swords

As Taoiseach in 2010, Brian Cowen held talks with the President of Stanford University Dr John Hennessy during a trip to Silicon Valley in California.

He maintained contact with Dr Hennessy and met him at a number of events.

Dr Hennessy was also appointed as ‘international advisor’ to Irish Universities during Mr Cowen’s tenure as Taoiseach.

Mr Cowen and Dr Hennessy met in California in 2010 during the second leg of the Taoiseach’s visit to the United States.

The press release from the Government at the time read: ‘The Taoiseach will hold talks with the President of Stanford University, Dr John Hennessy. Stanford is one of the leading universities in the world with a global reputation for science, research and innovation.’

It continued: ‘Stanford has hosted 60 CEOs from Irish IT and life science companies under the Enterprise Ireland leadership for Growth programme.

‘A member of Stanford faculty, Burton Lee, was a member of the Government’s Innovation Taskforce, whose report was published last week.’

Mr Cowen also spoke about the Innovation Taskforce.

‘The Innovation Taskforce identified the higher education sector as a crucial element in a successful innovation ecosystem.

‘An education system that fosters independent thinking, creativity and innovation is vital in a smart economy.

‘We need to learn from the best and work with the best.

‘So I am delighted to be able to meet with President Hennessy of Stanford University and to listen and learn from his experience.’

Mr Cowen personally appointed Dr Burton Lee, the Director of Stanford University’s European Entrepreneurship and Innovation Thought Leaders Program, to the National Innovation Taskforce in 2010. Dr Lee is a leading expert in artificial intelligence and innovation policy.


Cowen's pension worth €4m

By Ken Foxe

For any ordinary person, paying university fees of $58,000 (€47.000) would prove a bridge too far.

However, for one of Ireland’s best-paid pensioners, it is easily affordable.

On stepping down from office last year, after overseeing one of the greatest economic collapses of the modern world, Mr Cowen was given more than €200,000 in a golden handshake.

Details from the Oireachtas show that he was paid a gross lump sum of €159,873 based on his service in the Dáil and Cabinet. He was also given a termination lump sum of €16,404 and a termination payment of €36,909, bringing his retirement gift to €213,186.

The retired Offaly TD is paid €49,934.88 by the Oireachtas in a pension.

Mr Cowen also gets an annual Ministerial pension of €101,126.89, paid by the Department of Finance.

Together, the two pensions are worth €151,061.77 each year, only bettered by his predecessor as Taoiseach Bertie Ahern who gets €152,331.66 annually.

Pension expert Catriona Ceitin said such a pension if bought on the open market would cost at least €4m, depending on its terms.

She said: ‘The approximate cost of the pension if this was being purchased today for someone age 51 with the spouse of the same age, providing a pension of €151,000 per annum – with two thirds for the spouse on death – would be in the region of €6.3m.

‘Any cash received in lump sums whether tax free or otherwise would be additional to this. This is assuming the pension increases at 2% per annum.

‘If the pension was level with no increases, the cost on the same basis would be €4.25m. All the figures are for the provision of pension only – any cash received is additional.’


PAC inquiry 'will clear Cowen over the banks guarantee'


By John Lee

Supporters of Brian Cowen believe he will be vindicated by the Public Accounts Committee inquiry into the banking collapse, the Irish Mail on Sunday can reveal.

Former minister John Moloney also condemned former colleague Mary Hanafin for ‘laughingly dismissing’ the ex-taoiseach leader in a documentary on the Government’s collapse.

Mr Moloney, a childhood friend, said that Mr Cowen will not go back into politics.

‘This inquiry might happen and when things open up as regards what advice he was given on the night [of the bailout] and who gave it, I would hope that things might be better for Brian Cowen,’ said Mr Moloney.

PAC chairman John McGuinness detailed the case for his committee’s investigation of the banking collapse and the circumstances of the September 2008 bank guarantee scheme which subsequently bankrupted the country. Mr McGuinness was also an outspoken critic of Cowen within Fianna Fáil.

Mr Moloney believes the inquiry will pin the blame firmly on senior bankers and the Department of Finance.

‘Obviously, advice was given by senior people in banking and in the Department of Finance. Again, I’m loath to try and stack up the blame there, far from that,’ he said. ‘But the reality has to be, and I saw it in my own small part as a junior member of the government, where you take certain advice and you believe it to be the case and you make that call upon that.’

Mr Moloney singled out Mary Hanafin’s contribution to an RTÉ documentary in which she had speculated about what her wealthy constituents in Dún Laoghaire would have made of Mr Cowen and the infamous 2010 ‘Garglegate’ drinking session at the Ardilaun Hotel in Galway.

He said: ‘Of course, people can be critical but to laughingly dismiss him on the basis that the constituents of Dun Laoghaire wouldn’t appreciate it, that was wrong. People who worked with Brian Cowen knew he was a serious politician.


Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/ireland/article-2170386/Cowen-58-000-student-California-sunshine-Irelands-taoiseach-takes-Executive-Education-course--wont-say-paying-huge-fees.html#ixzz203FhzCql