Fine Gael are looking sillier than ever (if that's possible) with the double whammy of the ticking off from Garret Fitzgerald in Saturday's Irish Times and Richard Bruton's admission at today's Finance Committee hearing that his 'good bank' alternative to NAMA is riddled with inaccuracies. This is astonishing, considering Fine Gael are the main opposition party in the State and pay a small army of cleverclogs to come up with these proposals. What is worse, is that it shows the world that Ireland is completely bereft of anything that could be called an alternative government at the moment, which makes it even more imperative that the present incumbents get their act together and come up with a workable plan.
It also transpired today that the European Central Bank (which is now the only thing stopping the banks closing up shop for good) is becoming increasingly uneasy at the unfairness of the government's NAMA proposals as they stand (for the taxpayer) and their leisurely progress to implementation.
At this rate, former Taoiseach Fitzgerald's warning on the IMF being called in by Christmas, is looking ominously accurate. The pity is that Brian Lenihan seems to be getting his act together, and is now willing to listen to alternative views on NAMA (or is it the Greens breathing down his neck that is working the transformation?). Either way, the politicians are having to change their tune in the face of a remarkable groundswell from the ordinary taxpayers, who are now fully engaged in this crisis and are no longer willing to take anything on trust from the establishment insiders who brought us to this pass.
Lenihan is now talking about holding back some of the public money from the banks until it is proven that the bad loans are being redeemed by a rising market at some time in the future. This is an improvement on the original plan to wait until there was another property bubble in order to get our investment back, which was frankly mad. However, there is still an unwillingness to let the market do it's stuff and to start selling off some of the overvalued land banks and commercial property now, to let the price find its own level.
This scares the pants off the insiders, because they fear the collapse of the banks, the speculators, and, perhaps, the major political parties. Let's not forget, that as sure as God made little acorns, all the politicians have big shareholdings in the banks. The last thing they want is a collapse or nationalisation, which explains a lot of the doomladen talk about those possibilities from ministers over the last year. But the 'lost decade' in Japan, during the 90s, when the politicians did a major cover-up of the state of the banks and poured public money into them, is a stark lesson in what happens to an economy when harsh medicine is delayed just to favour vested interests. We need to burn away the accumulated greed and lies that these massive bad loans represent, and the only way to do that is to pay the banks the going rate for them, right now. And the only way to do that is to start selling them. Now!
Monday, August 31, 2009
Tuesday, August 25, 2009
Give Dan Boyle A Break
It's a mystery why Dan Boyle has become the bete noire of the press in the last week or two. It's also difficult to understand the odium heaped on the Green party.
Yes, they are in government with the people who let the bust happen. Yes, they are now propping up the most unpopular administration ever. But if people who are knocking them listened carefully, they would soon realise the Greens are the thin puce line between every taxpayer in the land and financial armageddon.
If you think NAMA is a good idea in its current form; have a go at the Greens. If you think Enda Kenny's inability to discern the correct figure of bad loans from the banks is no problem; have a go at the Greens. And if you believe rescuing the banks should be done on the explicit intention of stoking up a new property bubble within the next 10 years; Dan Boyle and the Greens are not for you.
This is because 4 million people are now totally dependent on the 2,000 members of the Green party to debate, decide and propose amendments to Brian Lenihan's legislation on NAMA. This means, the only political organisation in this country democratic enough to allow its members to steer its policies has, by some miracle, been given the chance to materially affect legislation which all the other parties are unwilling to improve on (in the hope they will bring down the government and get into power) and that Fianna Fail TDs and members are just silently, pathetically, accepting: simply doing what they are told.
So if you care about Ireland's survival as a sovereign nation, or whether you and your children will be paying punitive levels of tax for the next 30 years in order to salvage bank shareholders; get down on your knees and thank Dan Boyle and the Greens, because nobody else is doing anything to help you!
Yes, they are in government with the people who let the bust happen. Yes, they are now propping up the most unpopular administration ever. But if people who are knocking them listened carefully, they would soon realise the Greens are the thin puce line between every taxpayer in the land and financial armageddon.
If you think NAMA is a good idea in its current form; have a go at the Greens. If you think Enda Kenny's inability to discern the correct figure of bad loans from the banks is no problem; have a go at the Greens. And if you believe rescuing the banks should be done on the explicit intention of stoking up a new property bubble within the next 10 years; Dan Boyle and the Greens are not for you.
This is because 4 million people are now totally dependent on the 2,000 members of the Green party to debate, decide and propose amendments to Brian Lenihan's legislation on NAMA. This means, the only political organisation in this country democratic enough to allow its members to steer its policies has, by some miracle, been given the chance to materially affect legislation which all the other parties are unwilling to improve on (in the hope they will bring down the government and get into power) and that Fianna Fail TDs and members are just silently, pathetically, accepting: simply doing what they are told.
So if you care about Ireland's survival as a sovereign nation, or whether you and your children will be paying punitive levels of tax for the next 30 years in order to salvage bank shareholders; get down on your knees and thank Dan Boyle and the Greens, because nobody else is doing anything to help you!
The Cabinet - Drunk on Power?
It has been interesting to see lately how the big topic of discussion has changed from the economic meltdown to just how drunk the Cabinet is on any given day.
This has finally gone mainstream, with Taoiseach, Brian Cowen's interview with Jody Corcoran in the Sunday Independent, when he claimed he was able to handle his level of alcohol consumption and was "all right." Truly, we are now in GUBU territory, when the serving head of the administration has to reassure us that his drinking problem isn't getting in the way of doing his job.
On any bog-standard day in Irish politics, he might be right. Trouble is, we are now in the middle of a financial and fiscal crisis that has Ireland in a starring role in all kinds of apocalyptic headlines across the world. This, perhaps for the first time since independence, requires leadership of an extraordinary kind. But above all, it requires a crystal-clear, disciplined intelligence.
If you were to notice Brian Cowen in your local pub, you would clearly label him as a certain type of dysfunctional individual with 'problems'. The fact that Fianna Fail in their collective stupidity have made him Taoiseach, shouldn't blind us to the facts staring us in the face. This is a man who, on every conceivable level, is unfit to be prime minister and, indeed, unfit to be holding down any responsible position until he receives the proper level of care and attention that a man in his state should receive.
The fact that other senior members of the cabinet are also reported to be drunk on duty, tells us all we need to know about the mystifying sense of 'drift' in this government's response to the current crisis. Indeed, it has come to the point where the President should start taking an active interest in her ministers' ability to do the job for which they were given their seals of office. It is the very least the public need her to do to ensure that Ireland has a functioning government. We didn't elect these people to roll around drunk and then nurse hangovers while we pay them to work.
This has finally gone mainstream, with Taoiseach, Brian Cowen's interview with Jody Corcoran in the Sunday Independent, when he claimed he was able to handle his level of alcohol consumption and was "all right." Truly, we are now in GUBU territory, when the serving head of the administration has to reassure us that his drinking problem isn't getting in the way of doing his job.
On any bog-standard day in Irish politics, he might be right. Trouble is, we are now in the middle of a financial and fiscal crisis that has Ireland in a starring role in all kinds of apocalyptic headlines across the world. This, perhaps for the first time since independence, requires leadership of an extraordinary kind. But above all, it requires a crystal-clear, disciplined intelligence.
If you were to notice Brian Cowen in your local pub, you would clearly label him as a certain type of dysfunctional individual with 'problems'. The fact that Fianna Fail in their collective stupidity have made him Taoiseach, shouldn't blind us to the facts staring us in the face. This is a man who, on every conceivable level, is unfit to be prime minister and, indeed, unfit to be holding down any responsible position until he receives the proper level of care and attention that a man in his state should receive.
The fact that other senior members of the cabinet are also reported to be drunk on duty, tells us all we need to know about the mystifying sense of 'drift' in this government's response to the current crisis. Indeed, it has come to the point where the President should start taking an active interest in her ministers' ability to do the job for which they were given their seals of office. It is the very least the public need her to do to ensure that Ireland has a functioning government. We didn't elect these people to roll around drunk and then nurse hangovers while we pay them to work.
Saturday, August 22, 2009
Lisbon - Who's Paying the Bill?
There was a bit of a stir in the press about the 'Ireland in Europe' stunt outside the office of the referendum commission. Pat Cox and Bridget Laffan stood on the steps holding up big red and yellow cards (as in football, geddit?) signifying that "lies" would not be accepted this time around in the push to get the Lisbon Treaty passed.
The Irish Taxpayer has no brief for either side on this question. Our main gripe is why, after spending millions on the first referendum campaign that, by all accounts, was properly run in all respects, we are now spending millions on a second campaign?
Clearly, the No vote first time around was deeply distressing to the powers that be. Yet we were all assured before that vote was taken that a rejection of the treaty would be accepted by the EU, who would simply move forward under the provisions of the Nice Treaty, or go away and have a serious rethink about Lisbon. But no: little old Ireland was told not to be so silly and to go away and do it all over again.
This is deeply worrying for those of us who are supportive of the European project and appreciate the harmony European integration has brought to a continent that almost consumed itself in conflict. Nevertheless, the democracy and unanimity that the EU prided itself on in the past now seems to be little more than a distant memory, if the peremptory instructions to our 'leaders' to "do it all over again until they get the right result" are anything to go by.
The sad thing about this is that the Lisbon Treaty is probably harmless enough in itself. The trouble is that European insiders like Pat Cox are so embedded in the bureaucracy of the EU that they cannot see the real unease that exists across the continent at the runaway centralising tendency represented by this string of treaties. Clearly, the original intent of "father of Europe," Jean Monnet, to win support for the project through prosperity, has been taken to heart by those members of the elite who have done, and are doing, very well out of Europe: none more so than Mr Cox, who started out as an occasional reporter on Primetime's forerunner on RTE back in the eighties and, thanks entirely to the EEC as then was, ended up as President of the European Parliament, or some such fabulously paid sinecure. Is it any wonder the poor hack's head would be turned?
Standing on the steps of the referendum commission (curious, seeing as they are supposed to be impartial) accusing opponents of telling lies, doesn't get Cox & Co' off the sticky wicket of explaining why the interests of the Irish taxpayer mattered so little to them, that they were happy to make us pay all over again for a referendum that clearly determined the will of the people first time around. And don't forget, exactly the same thing happened when the Nice Treaty was rejected by the Irish, and yes, we got stuck with paying the bill twice for that one as well.
If Pat Cox and his fellow card carriers want to stamp out lying in this campaign, they could do worse than start answering some questions about whose interests they are really representing: ours, or theirs?
The Irish Taxpayer has no brief for either side on this question. Our main gripe is why, after spending millions on the first referendum campaign that, by all accounts, was properly run in all respects, we are now spending millions on a second campaign?
Clearly, the No vote first time around was deeply distressing to the powers that be. Yet we were all assured before that vote was taken that a rejection of the treaty would be accepted by the EU, who would simply move forward under the provisions of the Nice Treaty, or go away and have a serious rethink about Lisbon. But no: little old Ireland was told not to be so silly and to go away and do it all over again.
This is deeply worrying for those of us who are supportive of the European project and appreciate the harmony European integration has brought to a continent that almost consumed itself in conflict. Nevertheless, the democracy and unanimity that the EU prided itself on in the past now seems to be little more than a distant memory, if the peremptory instructions to our 'leaders' to "do it all over again until they get the right result" are anything to go by.
The sad thing about this is that the Lisbon Treaty is probably harmless enough in itself. The trouble is that European insiders like Pat Cox are so embedded in the bureaucracy of the EU that they cannot see the real unease that exists across the continent at the runaway centralising tendency represented by this string of treaties. Clearly, the original intent of "father of Europe," Jean Monnet, to win support for the project through prosperity, has been taken to heart by those members of the elite who have done, and are doing, very well out of Europe: none more so than Mr Cox, who started out as an occasional reporter on Primetime's forerunner on RTE back in the eighties and, thanks entirely to the EEC as then was, ended up as President of the European Parliament, or some such fabulously paid sinecure. Is it any wonder the poor hack's head would be turned?
Standing on the steps of the referendum commission (curious, seeing as they are supposed to be impartial) accusing opponents of telling lies, doesn't get Cox & Co' off the sticky wicket of explaining why the interests of the Irish taxpayer mattered so little to them, that they were happy to make us pay all over again for a referendum that clearly determined the will of the people first time around. And don't forget, exactly the same thing happened when the Nice Treaty was rejected by the Irish, and yes, we got stuck with paying the bill twice for that one as well.
If Pat Cox and his fellow card carriers want to stamp out lying in this campaign, they could do worse than start answering some questions about whose interests they are really representing: ours, or theirs?
Friday, August 21, 2009
Enda Kenny Follows the Herd
So Enda Kenny says Fine Gael will be opposing NAMA. After sitting on the fence so long it almost seemed to be a religious devotion, the leader of the opposition has finally staked his claim to the moral high ground after just about everybody else in the country has had their say. If this is leadership, the guy passed out in his own urine in a pub doorway must be a serious contender for the presidency.
Say what you like about Brian Lenihan (and I have!) at least the guy came up with a plan when the markets were about to pull the plug on Ireland. He also had the humility to admit his own ignorance of economics - and the abject failures of the mandarins in Finance - by bringing Alan Ahearne on board at a crucial moment.
Fine Gael have been a busted flush for at least 20 years. So it is a sad indictment of the body politic in this republic, that the main party of opposition are still the ragtag rabble who inherited the split that took place in the IRA in 1922.
John Hume once asked, when decommissioning was a hot topic in the North, "where are Fine Gael's guns?" He might well have asked, where are their policies? This group of wannabe ministers are truly an ideology-free zone. One might almost say, an ideas-free zone, if it wasn't for honourable exceptions like Alan Shatter and David Stanton.
As someone who got closer than I liked to this party during the last Dail, when they had almost been annihilated in the polls but still managed to return 32 TDs thanks to our crazy form of PR, I can vouch for the bovine nature of the FG collective intellect. One only has to look at Paul Kehoe, the Chief Whip! or John Perry and Damian English to realise that any child from a special needs class could run rings around them. And yet these people are seriously being considered as senior ministerial material in the inevitable FG-led coalition we are soon to have.
Ask yourself why our press barons are not the slightest bit interested in asking these dunces any hard questions, or testing their fitness for office in any way at all. If you think Brian Clowen and Mary 'not-a-clue' Coughlan are dire, wait til these tulips start running the country.
Say what you like about Brian Lenihan (and I have!) at least the guy came up with a plan when the markets were about to pull the plug on Ireland. He also had the humility to admit his own ignorance of economics - and the abject failures of the mandarins in Finance - by bringing Alan Ahearne on board at a crucial moment.
Fine Gael have been a busted flush for at least 20 years. So it is a sad indictment of the body politic in this republic, that the main party of opposition are still the ragtag rabble who inherited the split that took place in the IRA in 1922.
John Hume once asked, when decommissioning was a hot topic in the North, "where are Fine Gael's guns?" He might well have asked, where are their policies? This group of wannabe ministers are truly an ideology-free zone. One might almost say, an ideas-free zone, if it wasn't for honourable exceptions like Alan Shatter and David Stanton.
As someone who got closer than I liked to this party during the last Dail, when they had almost been annihilated in the polls but still managed to return 32 TDs thanks to our crazy form of PR, I can vouch for the bovine nature of the FG collective intellect. One only has to look at Paul Kehoe, the Chief Whip! or John Perry and Damian English to realise that any child from a special needs class could run rings around them. And yet these people are seriously being considered as senior ministerial material in the inevitable FG-led coalition we are soon to have.
Ask yourself why our press barons are not the slightest bit interested in asking these dunces any hard questions, or testing their fitness for office in any way at all. If you think Brian Clowen and Mary 'not-a-clue' Coughlan are dire, wait til these tulips start running the country.
Wednesday, August 19, 2009
Banks Work 'Garret's Game' Again
The latest wheeze being worked on the taxpayer by the banks was flagged up today by Respond, the housing association. Apparently, some of their members have reported that their mortgage applications for affordable housing have been turned down by a number of banks in what looks like a highly organised pattern, despite the applicants having solid jobs, clean credit histories and all their other ducks in a row.
According to the respected association, the reason the banks are doing this is clear: giving out mortgages to these low-income buyers will have the effect of setting a statistical benchmark for house prices, something the banks are desperate not to do until the taxpayer (in the form of NAMA) has paid way over the odds for the shedload of bad loans issued by the banks.
This is all of a piece with the desperate attempts by the banks to keep Liam Carroll's Zoe empire on life support until he, too, can be offloaded onto us, the mugs, who will clean up their toxic tank of worthless trash and allow them and their bondholders to go right back to their bad old ways again.
It is a sign of how desperate the bankers are getting that they would risk showing their hand in such an obvious way to a respectable organisation like Respond. Things must be getting rough in the corporate mansions now that NAMA is getting such a rough ride in academia and the press, who are all agreed that this scheme is not much better than the scam that was worked on Garret Fitzgerald's coalition in the 80s by AIB, when they got him to saddle the taxpayer with the losses of an insurance subsidiary after selling him a cock and bull story about depositors losing their savings etc. That's a bill that we, the taxpayers, are still paying nearly 30 years later, but you don't hear anyone in government or the banks agonising about that, do you? Once they dump NAMA on us we'll never hear another word about it, but we'll be paying through the nose for it for the rest of our lives.
According to the respected association, the reason the banks are doing this is clear: giving out mortgages to these low-income buyers will have the effect of setting a statistical benchmark for house prices, something the banks are desperate not to do until the taxpayer (in the form of NAMA) has paid way over the odds for the shedload of bad loans issued by the banks.
This is all of a piece with the desperate attempts by the banks to keep Liam Carroll's Zoe empire on life support until he, too, can be offloaded onto us, the mugs, who will clean up their toxic tank of worthless trash and allow them and their bondholders to go right back to their bad old ways again.
It is a sign of how desperate the bankers are getting that they would risk showing their hand in such an obvious way to a respectable organisation like Respond. Things must be getting rough in the corporate mansions now that NAMA is getting such a rough ride in academia and the press, who are all agreed that this scheme is not much better than the scam that was worked on Garret Fitzgerald's coalition in the 80s by AIB, when they got him to saddle the taxpayer with the losses of an insurance subsidiary after selling him a cock and bull story about depositors losing their savings etc. That's a bill that we, the taxpayers, are still paying nearly 30 years later, but you don't hear anyone in government or the banks agonising about that, do you? Once they dump NAMA on us we'll never hear another word about it, but we'll be paying through the nose for it for the rest of our lives.
Tuesday, August 18, 2009
Let the People Pick Candidates
The word on the street is that the Green Party is looking to get out of this coalition with 'all deliberate speed'. The only problem is picking an issue that will resonate with the public and prevent the kind of meltdown in a general election that we saw in June's local elections.
With all humility, perhaps the Irish Taxpayer could suggest a topic that is worthy of collapsing a coalition if ignored: electoral reform.
The upcoming review of the Programme for Government between Fianna Fail, the remnants of the PDs and the Green Party, offers a golden opportunity to create far-reaching reform in our dismally inadequate political institutions, especially the way 'we' choose candidates for election.
As most people are aware, the vast majority of candidates in Irish elections are chosen behind closed doors by a tiny, self-interested cabal of party officials. These, inevitably, are the kind of small-town, small-minded cliques who seize control of local party cumainns as a means of controlling the decisions of county councils (especially lucrative planning decisions) and operate completely in their own interest. The only criteria they use in selecting candidates are whether they will obey the wishes of those who put them up for election and whether they are related to previously "safe" party members, officials, or office-holders. Needless to say, talented, independent 'outsiders' need not apply.
The truly appalling levels of corruption and mediocrity such a set-up perpetuates in Irish politics are too obvious to rehearse here. Nevertheless, the consequences are now too serious to ignore, with a scale of economic collapse that was thought to be unthinkable, caused largely by the gross incompetence and complacency of TDs and councillors who failed spectacularly to hold banks, regulators, the Government, and its numberless quangos, to account.
However, there is hope. As part of the Programme for Government negotiations the Green Party looks set to demand a form of 'primary' election as one of the concessions for staying in government. This would be very similar to the American system which achieves such prominence at the time of presidential elections; New Hampshire being the most familiar.
If Fianna Fail agree (unlikely, considering they used panels of salaried party employees to choose their last set of candidates) then Irish voters could at last be free to choose the candidates as well as those who are finally elected.
Such a move would allow the brightest and the best a chance to appeal directly to party members and take control out of the hands of the local party grandees, who use candidates as tools to achieve their own ends.
Maybe the recent support for primaries in the UK might help to swing the pendulum away from the control freaks who have caused havoc in the Irish economy and help a genuine democracy to flower in this much-abused country. And if you don't agree we are lacking in democracy, ask yourself why it is that only 2,000 Green Party members have the freedom to bring down Fianna Fail, NAMA, and the best-laid plans of the banks? Why not you as well?
With all humility, perhaps the Irish Taxpayer could suggest a topic that is worthy of collapsing a coalition if ignored: electoral reform.
The upcoming review of the Programme for Government between Fianna Fail, the remnants of the PDs and the Green Party, offers a golden opportunity to create far-reaching reform in our dismally inadequate political institutions, especially the way 'we' choose candidates for election.
As most people are aware, the vast majority of candidates in Irish elections are chosen behind closed doors by a tiny, self-interested cabal of party officials. These, inevitably, are the kind of small-town, small-minded cliques who seize control of local party cumainns as a means of controlling the decisions of county councils (especially lucrative planning decisions) and operate completely in their own interest. The only criteria they use in selecting candidates are whether they will obey the wishes of those who put them up for election and whether they are related to previously "safe" party members, officials, or office-holders. Needless to say, talented, independent 'outsiders' need not apply.
The truly appalling levels of corruption and mediocrity such a set-up perpetuates in Irish politics are too obvious to rehearse here. Nevertheless, the consequences are now too serious to ignore, with a scale of economic collapse that was thought to be unthinkable, caused largely by the gross incompetence and complacency of TDs and councillors who failed spectacularly to hold banks, regulators, the Government, and its numberless quangos, to account.
However, there is hope. As part of the Programme for Government negotiations the Green Party looks set to demand a form of 'primary' election as one of the concessions for staying in government. This would be very similar to the American system which achieves such prominence at the time of presidential elections; New Hampshire being the most familiar.
If Fianna Fail agree (unlikely, considering they used panels of salaried party employees to choose their last set of candidates) then Irish voters could at last be free to choose the candidates as well as those who are finally elected.
Such a move would allow the brightest and the best a chance to appeal directly to party members and take control out of the hands of the local party grandees, who use candidates as tools to achieve their own ends.
Maybe the recent support for primaries in the UK might help to swing the pendulum away from the control freaks who have caused havoc in the Irish economy and help a genuine democracy to flower in this much-abused country. And if you don't agree we are lacking in democracy, ask yourself why it is that only 2,000 Green Party members have the freedom to bring down Fianna Fail, NAMA, and the best-laid plans of the banks? Why not you as well?
Monday, August 17, 2009
Politicians Silent on Cost of Asylum
At a time when the country is €20 billion in the red, with the IMF expected to parachute in at any minute, one could be forgiven for thinking that our noble government would be trying to ensure Irish money was being spent on Irish people - but no - not according to Justice Minister Dermot Ahern.
Ahern revealed, no, had dragged out of him, the information that "Ireland" has spent €44.2m in the first six months of the year on accommodating 6,879 asylum seekers. However, the total spend by the Government on asylum seeker accommodation between 2005 and 2008 was €337.6m, he confirmed.
So, the taxpayer is getting close to supplying €400m just to provide accommodation for a relatively small group of people who, by virtue of their claim of asylum, are admitting that they had no right to be in this country in the first place; arrived here by unauthorised, or unknown means, and, in the case of Nigerians, are automatically in contravention of the terms of the Dublin Treaty (negotiated and signed at great trouble and expense to this country) which determined that an illegal immigrant must claim asylum in the first European country they arrive in. As our esteemed Ceann Comhairle and former Justice Minister, John O'Donoghue has said, "the only way a Nigerian could arrive directly in Ireland is if he came here by balloon." And as we all know, Deputy O'Donoghue is a great man for saving the taxpayer's money whenever he can.
Surely it doesn't matter whether you are a great believer in asylum or disagree with the entire concept: the central issue has to be the unspoken, but clearly long-standing agreement between all the parties in the Dáil not to discuss asylum in public and to avoid any questioning of the staggering sums of money being spent on people who have succeeded in illegal immigration.
If we are to have a successful representative democracy in Ireland, then there can be no issue that is considered too sensitive to be out of bounds for discussion in parliament. That is the reason we have 'parliamentary privilege', where a TD can raise and discuss any issue without fear of libel actions or arrest. The danger of this vow of silence from our spineless politicians is that we now have the situation that was the touchpaper for the American Revolution - "taxation without representation".
If the government is going to tamely hand over €400m that has been compulsorily taken from us - on pain of imprisonment - to people who, on the evidence so far, are mostly making bogus claims to asylum, then I sure as hell want to see vigorous debates in the Oireachtas on this issue. Don't you?
Ahern revealed, no, had dragged out of him, the information that "Ireland" has spent €44.2m in the first six months of the year on accommodating 6,879 asylum seekers. However, the total spend by the Government on asylum seeker accommodation between 2005 and 2008 was €337.6m, he confirmed.
So, the taxpayer is getting close to supplying €400m just to provide accommodation for a relatively small group of people who, by virtue of their claim of asylum, are admitting that they had no right to be in this country in the first place; arrived here by unauthorised, or unknown means, and, in the case of Nigerians, are automatically in contravention of the terms of the Dublin Treaty (negotiated and signed at great trouble and expense to this country) which determined that an illegal immigrant must claim asylum in the first European country they arrive in. As our esteemed Ceann Comhairle and former Justice Minister, John O'Donoghue has said, "the only way a Nigerian could arrive directly in Ireland is if he came here by balloon." And as we all know, Deputy O'Donoghue is a great man for saving the taxpayer's money whenever he can.
Surely it doesn't matter whether you are a great believer in asylum or disagree with the entire concept: the central issue has to be the unspoken, but clearly long-standing agreement between all the parties in the Dáil not to discuss asylum in public and to avoid any questioning of the staggering sums of money being spent on people who have succeeded in illegal immigration.
If we are to have a successful representative democracy in Ireland, then there can be no issue that is considered too sensitive to be out of bounds for discussion in parliament. That is the reason we have 'parliamentary privilege', where a TD can raise and discuss any issue without fear of libel actions or arrest. The danger of this vow of silence from our spineless politicians is that we now have the situation that was the touchpaper for the American Revolution - "taxation without representation".
If the government is going to tamely hand over €400m that has been compulsorily taken from us - on pain of imprisonment - to people who, on the evidence so far, are mostly making bogus claims to asylum, then I sure as hell want to see vigorous debates in the Oireachtas on this issue. Don't you?
Sunday, August 16, 2009
ESB Elite Holding Us Back
Inevitably when you're a taxpayer, your blood will be close to boiling when considering the manifold ways in which government can blow your cash. However, a neverending concentration on this painful subject would rapidly become a self-defeating rant.
If I haven't made it clear so far, this blog is not about attacking taxation per se, but the unacceptable waste of our money by an unelected bureaucracy who spend hundreds of millions as they see fit without any reference to the wishes of the people.
No doubt there are those who will say we elect a government which is given our permission to spend our money in accordance with the party platform put forward during a general election. That would be nice if it were true. But how many people can say that 'government' spending bears the slightest relation to the promises made by political parties at elections?
The truth is that the 'permanent' government of the civil service makes all the decisions on departmental spending, and the politicians who become ministers (with the benefit of their previous life experience as teachers, social workers, solicitors and publicans) quickly come to the conclusion that confining their activities to opening community centres, attending funerals of people they don't know, and playing golf, will be their wisest course of action.
The consequences of this dereliction of duty by our elected representatives is now clear to see. However, the fall-out goes beyond the current fiscal catastrophe.
Ireland is internationally acknowledged to be superbly positioned to exploit alternative energy. Already there are pilot programmes in place on the west coast testing the capacity of 'wave' energy - which we have in abundance - to be fed into the national grid, and the visionaries connected with these trials have ploughed lots of their own money into it, such is their belief.
But there is a problem. The total dominance of the ESB ( despite token efforts by successive ministers to free-up the grid) is acting as a massive brake on the alternative sector. Recent proposals by the Spirit of Ireland consortium to use natural seawater reservoirs as storage for wind energy - releasing pumped water during calm periods to turn turbines - has been completely ignored by the powers that be, despite answering the main complaint of the Energy Regulator that wind power is inherently unreliable.
There has to be a strong suspicion that the administrative establishment in this country is crushing any idea that didn't originate with them or their favoured acolytes. Perhaps the evidence lies in the fate of the 3.5% pay rise that was postponed for the public service last year due to the massive public deficit. Suffice it to say, the ESB employees were duly paid the rise, when nurses, et al, had to do without. The Government didn't even attempt to explain this blatant capitulation to the small group of massively overpaid and underworked union members who hold the ESB, and Irish energy policy, completely in their power.
The Irish taxpayer is only too glad to hand over a big part of his paypacket to fund projects that would have a long-term benefit for this country. That clearly includes alternative energy, which has the potential to be an important export-earner for all of us when, as expected, Europe's reliance on oil and Russian gas has to come to an end. But such visionary projects will earn us nothing if they are strangled at birth by the old administrative elite, who are happy to use our money to featherbed themselves and their pals while being careful to link politicians' pay and expenses to their own, to ensure a meeting of minds at the very top. If we want a future as an independent country, this has to be stopped.
If I haven't made it clear so far, this blog is not about attacking taxation per se, but the unacceptable waste of our money by an unelected bureaucracy who spend hundreds of millions as they see fit without any reference to the wishes of the people.
No doubt there are those who will say we elect a government which is given our permission to spend our money in accordance with the party platform put forward during a general election. That would be nice if it were true. But how many people can say that 'government' spending bears the slightest relation to the promises made by political parties at elections?
The truth is that the 'permanent' government of the civil service makes all the decisions on departmental spending, and the politicians who become ministers (with the benefit of their previous life experience as teachers, social workers, solicitors and publicans) quickly come to the conclusion that confining their activities to opening community centres, attending funerals of people they don't know, and playing golf, will be their wisest course of action.
The consequences of this dereliction of duty by our elected representatives is now clear to see. However, the fall-out goes beyond the current fiscal catastrophe.
Ireland is internationally acknowledged to be superbly positioned to exploit alternative energy. Already there are pilot programmes in place on the west coast testing the capacity of 'wave' energy - which we have in abundance - to be fed into the national grid, and the visionaries connected with these trials have ploughed lots of their own money into it, such is their belief.
But there is a problem. The total dominance of the ESB ( despite token efforts by successive ministers to free-up the grid) is acting as a massive brake on the alternative sector. Recent proposals by the Spirit of Ireland consortium to use natural seawater reservoirs as storage for wind energy - releasing pumped water during calm periods to turn turbines - has been completely ignored by the powers that be, despite answering the main complaint of the Energy Regulator that wind power is inherently unreliable.
There has to be a strong suspicion that the administrative establishment in this country is crushing any idea that didn't originate with them or their favoured acolytes. Perhaps the evidence lies in the fate of the 3.5% pay rise that was postponed for the public service last year due to the massive public deficit. Suffice it to say, the ESB employees were duly paid the rise, when nurses, et al, had to do without. The Government didn't even attempt to explain this blatant capitulation to the small group of massively overpaid and underworked union members who hold the ESB, and Irish energy policy, completely in their power.
The Irish taxpayer is only too glad to hand over a big part of his paypacket to fund projects that would have a long-term benefit for this country. That clearly includes alternative energy, which has the potential to be an important export-earner for all of us when, as expected, Europe's reliance on oil and Russian gas has to come to an end. But such visionary projects will earn us nothing if they are strangled at birth by the old administrative elite, who are happy to use our money to featherbed themselves and their pals while being careful to link politicians' pay and expenses to their own, to ensure a meeting of minds at the very top. If we want a future as an independent country, this has to be stopped.
Tuesday, August 11, 2009
Courts Cosh Carroll
Apologies to Chief Justice Murray and the Supreme Court. In an earlier blog I (and many others) impugned his independence from political pressure in the ongoing Liam Carroll case, expecting that he and his learned friends would cobble together some dirty little decision that would let the banks, Zoe Developments, the Government, and NAMA, off the hook.
Instead, the Court agreed with the admirably independent Mr. Justice Kelly in the commercial court and found the case presented by Carroll et al to be the barrel of tosh that everyone else knew it to be: leaving the Irish banks and Brian Cowen sucking on the cold air of reality that the rest of us have been breathing for the past year.
As the world and his mother knows by now, the Cowen regime hates reality with a grim passion, which is why they have gone to the limits of fiendish complexity to crush the taxpayer with NAMA. This will leave us picking up the tab for the Developer feeding frenzy for the next quarter of a century - just when Cowen, Coughlan and the rest of the Dail, will be enjoying their holiday homes in the South of France, all paid for by the most inflated salaries and pensions in the western world.
Perhaps now that the Courts have blown the whistle on the giant crap game that the banks and the politicians have been running, we can finally have the so-called fire sale that RTE and the Irish Times have been simpering about for so long, ensuring that the market value of this collapsed property bubble is finally established.
This would be a good thing, as only those who were profiting from the bubble will have anything to lose in the process. Instead, people who have a use for the property will be able to get it at a price that they are willing to pay, and will start doing something productive with sites and buildings that, under NAMA, would just be rotting away for years. This is our best chance of clearing the debris of the crash and perhaps even putting some life back into the flatlining construction sector (meaning real, hardworking builders, not the office-boy developers) and letting the market find its own level. If the banks can't cope with that, then tough. New banks will take their place.
All we need now is a Minister for Finance who's willing to admit he was wrong. Is that you Mr. Lenihan?
Instead, the Court agreed with the admirably independent Mr. Justice Kelly in the commercial court and found the case presented by Carroll et al to be the barrel of tosh that everyone else knew it to be: leaving the Irish banks and Brian Cowen sucking on the cold air of reality that the rest of us have been breathing for the past year.
As the world and his mother knows by now, the Cowen regime hates reality with a grim passion, which is why they have gone to the limits of fiendish complexity to crush the taxpayer with NAMA. This will leave us picking up the tab for the Developer feeding frenzy for the next quarter of a century - just when Cowen, Coughlan and the rest of the Dail, will be enjoying their holiday homes in the South of France, all paid for by the most inflated salaries and pensions in the western world.
Perhaps now that the Courts have blown the whistle on the giant crap game that the banks and the politicians have been running, we can finally have the so-called fire sale that RTE and the Irish Times have been simpering about for so long, ensuring that the market value of this collapsed property bubble is finally established.
This would be a good thing, as only those who were profiting from the bubble will have anything to lose in the process. Instead, people who have a use for the property will be able to get it at a price that they are willing to pay, and will start doing something productive with sites and buildings that, under NAMA, would just be rotting away for years. This is our best chance of clearing the debris of the crash and perhaps even putting some life back into the flatlining construction sector (meaning real, hardworking builders, not the office-boy developers) and letting the market find its own level. If the banks can't cope with that, then tough. New banks will take their place.
All we need now is a Minister for Finance who's willing to admit he was wrong. Is that you Mr. Lenihan?
Farmers See Sense
I was reading today's Farming Independent (as you do) and saw hopeful signs of sense beginning to dawn among the sons of the soil - at least in Joe Barry's contribution in the 'Rural Living' section - where, while bemoaning the loss of REPS, he had the following to say:
"It is easy to point the finger of blame at the mismanagement of the Government finances in recent years. Criticism is easy and, while deserved, it gets us nowhere. Opposition politicians, and especially the members and leader of the Labour party, are strident in their criticism of government but are silent when it comes to making useful suggestions as to how we get ourselves out of this mess. Few will acknowledge the urgent need for huge cuts in social welfare, health and education expenditure. Even fewer will suggest the sale of the Government jet, the reduction in the number of TDs and county councillors, the closure of the Senate, the necessary cuts in child benefits and the essential need to face down the public sector unions. Can you imagine any politician suggesting the sensible idea that healthy, able-bodied people on the dole should give something in return, such as providing community service each week? Or questioning the wisdom of having welfare payments that are double those in Britain. So easier targets are identified initially and REPS was one of these despite its obvious financial and environmental benefits." (Joe Barry, Irish Independent, 11/8/09)
Of course, everything he says is blindingly obvious to everyone but the Government, members of the Dáil, and the public sector unions. But this is where I find Joe Barry's outrage, and by extension that of the farming lobby, to be a bit hard to stomach. Barry and his fellow farmers were only too happy to participate in the fraud on the public that was the social partnership process. As part of that process, they were only too happy to wave through the benchmarking fiasco - which no government minister has yet denied was an embezzling of money from the private sector to buy off the public sector unions. And the farmers were only too happy to hold the Irish environment to ransom until they were effectively bribed with European and Irish taxpayers' money to do what any decent person would have done as a matter of course, i.e. stop polluting the Irish countryside.
So come on Joe Barry, turn that forensic eye away from the faults of others and towards you and your fellow farmers' many failings. Perhaps then the Irish taxpayer may be more inclined to accept your help in the battle to save our money from wasters.
"It is easy to point the finger of blame at the mismanagement of the Government finances in recent years. Criticism is easy and, while deserved, it gets us nowhere. Opposition politicians, and especially the members and leader of the Labour party, are strident in their criticism of government but are silent when it comes to making useful suggestions as to how we get ourselves out of this mess. Few will acknowledge the urgent need for huge cuts in social welfare, health and education expenditure. Even fewer will suggest the sale of the Government jet, the reduction in the number of TDs and county councillors, the closure of the Senate, the necessary cuts in child benefits and the essential need to face down the public sector unions. Can you imagine any politician suggesting the sensible idea that healthy, able-bodied people on the dole should give something in return, such as providing community service each week? Or questioning the wisdom of having welfare payments that are double those in Britain. So easier targets are identified initially and REPS was one of these despite its obvious financial and environmental benefits." (Joe Barry, Irish Independent, 11/8/09)
Of course, everything he says is blindingly obvious to everyone but the Government, members of the Dáil, and the public sector unions. But this is where I find Joe Barry's outrage, and by extension that of the farming lobby, to be a bit hard to stomach. Barry and his fellow farmers were only too happy to participate in the fraud on the public that was the social partnership process. As part of that process, they were only too happy to wave through the benchmarking fiasco - which no government minister has yet denied was an embezzling of money from the private sector to buy off the public sector unions. And the farmers were only too happy to hold the Irish environment to ransom until they were effectively bribed with European and Irish taxpayers' money to do what any decent person would have done as a matter of course, i.e. stop polluting the Irish countryside.
So come on Joe Barry, turn that forensic eye away from the faults of others and towards you and your fellow farmers' many failings. Perhaps then the Irish taxpayer may be more inclined to accept your help in the battle to save our money from wasters.
Friday, August 7, 2009
Free Riders
There seems to be a certain muted outrage from the people about the twin scandals of politicians ripping us off, despite their world-beating salaries, and those on the opposite end of the scale who are basically having a laugh at our expense by abusing the social welfare system.
The fingers in each case are being pointed, respectively, at John O'Donoghue, and the Harte family in Co. Clare: each of them being shameless 'free riders' on the taxpayer and each of them being totally untroubled by the apparatus of the Irish State in their jollies.
It is easy to blame Deputy O'Donoghue and the Happy Hartes for their panhandling at our expense, and of course both parties would be seeing the inside of a prison cell in any other part of the world. But the real culprits are the 'officials' in government, who see themselves as being on a god-given mission to milk the taxpayer for every penny they can get, so that it can be doled out the to the bone idle in accordance with their cod socialist/Irish Times worldview. And, of course, the ever useless Cowen/Coughlan duopoly stands back and lets them get on with it.
It's a funny old world.
The fingers in each case are being pointed, respectively, at John O'Donoghue, and the Harte family in Co. Clare: each of them being shameless 'free riders' on the taxpayer and each of them being totally untroubled by the apparatus of the Irish State in their jollies.
It is easy to blame Deputy O'Donoghue and the Happy Hartes for their panhandling at our expense, and of course both parties would be seeing the inside of a prison cell in any other part of the world. But the real culprits are the 'officials' in government, who see themselves as being on a god-given mission to milk the taxpayer for every penny they can get, so that it can be doled out the to the bone idle in accordance with their cod socialist/Irish Times worldview. And, of course, the ever useless Cowen/Coughlan duopoly stands back and lets them get on with it.
It's a funny old world.
Tuesday, August 4, 2009
Cosseted Carroll
Surprise, surprise. Liam Carroll's appeal to the Supreme Court against the decision of the Commercial Court not to entertain his application for protection against his creditors in ACCBank, looks to be paying off. Today they decided to grant him protection until next Tuesday, when his case will be heard in full. With Chief Justice John Murray saying he thought Carroll had a reasonable case to make.
Does anyone doubt that the full weight of the establishment is being brought to bear on the judiciary to play ball with their flavour of the month: NAMA? If not, that in itself would be amazing, seeing as we are constantly being told by our betters in government that there is no other option to save the economy from disaster.
Since the publication of the Heads of the Bill for NAMA, there has been a rising tide of concern from ordinary taxpayers about the horrifying implications of paying off delinquent developers' loans with a valuation system that can only be described as pure fantasy.
The government's determination to bail out the banks by lumbering the taxpayer with the biggest (and most worthless) property portfolio in the world is bad enough. But now that very same taxpayer is getting his head around the prospect of being forced to buy €90 billion worth of bad debt on the basis of some unknown valuer's best guess of what it will be worth five or 10 years from now, when the next property price bubble will be underway.
If an individual and not the Irish State was acting this way, he would be rapidly committed to the nearest institution for the terminally bewildered!
The truth is, we can't afford NAMA. It is as simple and terrifying as that. Added to that is the fact that we are already supporting the banks to the tune of €400 billion, in the shape of the guarantee that Brian Lenihan extended to them last September when they were all on the brink of going bust because of the run on Anglo Irish Bank. Oh! not forgetting that we have already nationalised their losses as well.
So, NAMA is just one favour too far for the banks and developers on the part of us taxpayers. The trouble is, is anyone listening to us? What do you think?
Does anyone doubt that the full weight of the establishment is being brought to bear on the judiciary to play ball with their flavour of the month: NAMA? If not, that in itself would be amazing, seeing as we are constantly being told by our betters in government that there is no other option to save the economy from disaster.
Since the publication of the Heads of the Bill for NAMA, there has been a rising tide of concern from ordinary taxpayers about the horrifying implications of paying off delinquent developers' loans with a valuation system that can only be described as pure fantasy.
The government's determination to bail out the banks by lumbering the taxpayer with the biggest (and most worthless) property portfolio in the world is bad enough. But now that very same taxpayer is getting his head around the prospect of being forced to buy €90 billion worth of bad debt on the basis of some unknown valuer's best guess of what it will be worth five or 10 years from now, when the next property price bubble will be underway.
If an individual and not the Irish State was acting this way, he would be rapidly committed to the nearest institution for the terminally bewildered!
The truth is, we can't afford NAMA. It is as simple and terrifying as that. Added to that is the fact that we are already supporting the banks to the tune of €400 billion, in the shape of the guarantee that Brian Lenihan extended to them last September when they were all on the brink of going bust because of the run on Anglo Irish Bank. Oh! not forgetting that we have already nationalised their losses as well.
So, NAMA is just one favour too far for the banks and developers on the part of us taxpayers. The trouble is, is anyone listening to us? What do you think?
Monday, August 3, 2009
Commission on Taxation - Best Excuse Ever?
So the much-vaunted Commission on Taxation is due to report any day - notice how the date is left vague, just like the An Bord Snip Nua report? I guess they want to tease us a little bit longer about the taxes that are going to descend on us like the seven plagues of Egypt.
But that is just the point. We at Irish Taxpayer (through our excellent contacts in the Green Party) happen to know for a fact that the Commission's report is considered by the Cabinet to be the real show in town. Colm McCarthy's report isn't even at the races as far as they are concerned.
Now, this may come as somewhat of a surprise to all you honest souls out there who were under the impression that Mr. McCarthy and his friends had gone to all that trouble in order to shave a few billion off the massive €20 billion deficit we are running this year, but you don't know the mindset that drives this government and, indeed, the opposition parties as well.
As far as they are concerned, the commitments made to the unions in the 'social partnership' process are non-negotiable: meaning they don't want industrial armageddon to break out in the public sector at the prospect of cuts and lay-offs.
This can only mean making up the massive shortfall by hiking up taxes across the board, despite all protestations to the contrary. Which is why the Commission's report, which was supposed to be about "modernising", "streamlining", "updating" the tax system, will instead be all about clever new ways of ripping-off the taxpayer again.
This, of course, is close to madness during the worst recession for 70 years. Brian Lenihan has already admitted that his rise in VAT last October was a total disaster and completely counter-productive. You only have to walk down any high street to see the evidence of that, with empty store fronts everywhere. However, the political/civil service elite are nothing if not slow learners, and all the smoke signals point to another smash and grab raid on your wallets to fill the yawning gap in revenue that their incompetence caused in the first place.
After his April budget (shoring up the damage from the last one) Brian Lenihan returned from receiving instructions from his bosses in Brussels to gleefully report their amazement at how much punishment the Irish people were absorbing without a murmur. If so much tax had been imposed in France, he was reportedly told, "there would have been rioting in the streets".
Mr Lenihan, and his invisible master, Mr Cowen, should be wary of taking the taxpayer's patience for granted. Nobody wants to see rioting on the streets, á la France, but they should remember that the only area where consent is not allowed to the people is in the taxation of their income. If you resist being relieved of your legally earned money, you will eventually find yourself in jail. This is the reason we have every right to expect a wise and prudent use of our taxable income by our elected representatives and their servants.
Our leaders must remember, we were not put on this earth to be their personal ATM machines. That also applies to all those who are still enjoying lavish salaries at our expense. The Irish taxpayer is no longer the only interest group in Ireland that has no voice. We will see to that.
But that is just the point. We at Irish Taxpayer (through our excellent contacts in the Green Party) happen to know for a fact that the Commission's report is considered by the Cabinet to be the real show in town. Colm McCarthy's report isn't even at the races as far as they are concerned.
Now, this may come as somewhat of a surprise to all you honest souls out there who were under the impression that Mr. McCarthy and his friends had gone to all that trouble in order to shave a few billion off the massive €20 billion deficit we are running this year, but you don't know the mindset that drives this government and, indeed, the opposition parties as well.
As far as they are concerned, the commitments made to the unions in the 'social partnership' process are non-negotiable: meaning they don't want industrial armageddon to break out in the public sector at the prospect of cuts and lay-offs.
This can only mean making up the massive shortfall by hiking up taxes across the board, despite all protestations to the contrary. Which is why the Commission's report, which was supposed to be about "modernising", "streamlining", "updating" the tax system, will instead be all about clever new ways of ripping-off the taxpayer again.
This, of course, is close to madness during the worst recession for 70 years. Brian Lenihan has already admitted that his rise in VAT last October was a total disaster and completely counter-productive. You only have to walk down any high street to see the evidence of that, with empty store fronts everywhere. However, the political/civil service elite are nothing if not slow learners, and all the smoke signals point to another smash and grab raid on your wallets to fill the yawning gap in revenue that their incompetence caused in the first place.
After his April budget (shoring up the damage from the last one) Brian Lenihan returned from receiving instructions from his bosses in Brussels to gleefully report their amazement at how much punishment the Irish people were absorbing without a murmur. If so much tax had been imposed in France, he was reportedly told, "there would have been rioting in the streets".
Mr Lenihan, and his invisible master, Mr Cowen, should be wary of taking the taxpayer's patience for granted. Nobody wants to see rioting on the streets, á la France, but they should remember that the only area where consent is not allowed to the people is in the taxation of their income. If you resist being relieved of your legally earned money, you will eventually find yourself in jail. This is the reason we have every right to expect a wise and prudent use of our taxable income by our elected representatives and their servants.
Our leaders must remember, we were not put on this earth to be their personal ATM machines. That also applies to all those who are still enjoying lavish salaries at our expense. The Irish taxpayer is no longer the only interest group in Ireland that has no voice. We will see to that.
Sunday, August 2, 2009
Voting Reform Will Save Us Money
It's a moot point how much of our present fiscal catastrophe is down to bankers, developers, or cocaine-addled New York investment brokers. However, one thing is sure, the present gang of incompetents cluttering up the seats in Dáil Eireann didn't have the faintest idea what was happening in the run-up to the property crash here and are still completely in the dark about what they should do to dig us out of it.
Any parliament that contains 166 members should, you would think, be able to spot the dangers of a credit-fuelled, greed-driven, free-for-all in the property market and take steps to prevent the worst effects of its inevitable crash. But not this lot. And now, through NAMA, it is once again, you guessed it, the Irish Taxpayer who is the first port of call for the politicians who are looking for someone to carry the financial can for their monumental ineptitude.
So why is it that our national legislators are generally agreed to be plumbing the depths of mediocrity? Why are our TDs no better than lobby fodder, when they should be leading debate and keeping a close eye on the government? Perhaps we should be taking a look at our crazy form of democracy - proportional representation by the single transferable vote (PRSTV) which, by insisting on multi-seat constituencies, encourages blatant vote-buying and auction politics, as well as a total disinterest by our TDs in national issues in favour of 'minding' the constituency, by promising ever more council houses, medical cards, and eternal dole payments for the favoured groups of captive voters (all at the taxpayers' expense, by the way).
However, no one can blame the public for getting what they can out of these chancers, especially as they are never given a chance to vote for someone who cares about the country, is qualified to judge the issues and has the backbone to stand up for the truth against the get-rich-quick merchants who bankroll the big parties. This is because the local party branches of Fianna Fail and Fine Gael (made up of a tiny number of party hacks) are the ones who choose who runs in the general and local elections. So the first the voter knows about a candidate is when they see their face up on a tree or a lamp-post. It's a bit late at that stage to figure out if they know anything about international finance, or would be good in a crisis!
It might, just might, be better to listen to the political thinkers (like Danny Finkelstein in the UK) who believe the only way to get good people elected is to sidestep the petty jealousies of the local party branches by bringing in a 'primary' system of nominating candidates for election, just like the USA.
This is the system that worked so well in overturning the 'dead cert' election of Hilary Clinton in favour of the virtually unknown Barack Obama. It is also pure democracy, compared to the interview panels, stuffed with party staffers, that chose many of Fianna Fail's candidates in 2007 and in the local elections last June.
Perhaps this is the only way we are going to finally get some people with the brains and integrity to avoid running us into a wall in future, and to save the Irish Taxpayer having to pick up a €90 billion tab (and counting) for the negligence of our freeloading politicians who were, as usual, asleep at the wheel.
Any parliament that contains 166 members should, you would think, be able to spot the dangers of a credit-fuelled, greed-driven, free-for-all in the property market and take steps to prevent the worst effects of its inevitable crash. But not this lot. And now, through NAMA, it is once again, you guessed it, the Irish Taxpayer who is the first port of call for the politicians who are looking for someone to carry the financial can for their monumental ineptitude.
So why is it that our national legislators are generally agreed to be plumbing the depths of mediocrity? Why are our TDs no better than lobby fodder, when they should be leading debate and keeping a close eye on the government? Perhaps we should be taking a look at our crazy form of democracy - proportional representation by the single transferable vote (PRSTV) which, by insisting on multi-seat constituencies, encourages blatant vote-buying and auction politics, as well as a total disinterest by our TDs in national issues in favour of 'minding' the constituency, by promising ever more council houses, medical cards, and eternal dole payments for the favoured groups of captive voters (all at the taxpayers' expense, by the way).
However, no one can blame the public for getting what they can out of these chancers, especially as they are never given a chance to vote for someone who cares about the country, is qualified to judge the issues and has the backbone to stand up for the truth against the get-rich-quick merchants who bankroll the big parties. This is because the local party branches of Fianna Fail and Fine Gael (made up of a tiny number of party hacks) are the ones who choose who runs in the general and local elections. So the first the voter knows about a candidate is when they see their face up on a tree or a lamp-post. It's a bit late at that stage to figure out if they know anything about international finance, or would be good in a crisis!
It might, just might, be better to listen to the political thinkers (like Danny Finkelstein in the UK) who believe the only way to get good people elected is to sidestep the petty jealousies of the local party branches by bringing in a 'primary' system of nominating candidates for election, just like the USA.
This is the system that worked so well in overturning the 'dead cert' election of Hilary Clinton in favour of the virtually unknown Barack Obama. It is also pure democracy, compared to the interview panels, stuffed with party staffers, that chose many of Fianna Fail's candidates in 2007 and in the local elections last June.
Perhaps this is the only way we are going to finally get some people with the brains and integrity to avoid running us into a wall in future, and to save the Irish Taxpayer having to pick up a €90 billion tab (and counting) for the negligence of our freeloading politicians who were, as usual, asleep at the wheel.
Saturday, August 1, 2009
'Bull' Blows Our Dosh!
So our beloved Ceann Comhairle, John 'Bull' O'Donoghue, blew over €120,000 of our hard-earned on junkets for himself and the mrs while he was Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism (there's a contradiction in terms). Bad enough in itself, but this is just the stuff he was shameless enough to claim for. Turns out he and all the other freeloaders in the Dáil are getting tons more stuff on "unvouched" expenses, and none of them see anything wrong with that. And in the final irony, the Brazen Bull is the boy in charge of the Houses of the Oireachtas commission, whose job it is to "reform" the expenses jamboree to keep us poor slobs happy. Beyond belief!
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