Well stone the crows! The Irish Government has actually started acting like they're running the place! That's if you believe they will do as they say and stick to their plan to cut public sector wages by 7%.
Nevertheless, this is a good sign. For two years now, the Cowen regime has been catatonic while the economy plunged to historic lows, despite the exasperated goading of most of the press and, indeed, our European partners.
It now seems the major problem was Fianna Fail's coalition difficulties with the leftist Greens, combined with the sensitivities in getting the Lisbon Treaty passed the second time around.
However, the public sector unions are gearing up for the mother of a fight in order to protect their superior position in comparison to the rest of the Irish workforce. So be it, say the vast majority of us. But clearly they believe Fianna Fail is on the point of collapse, and with the possible exception of the Finance Minister, haven't the stomach for a fight that has no upside for them.
Obviously, the very survival of the Republic as an autonomous economy is of little interest to the politicians or the vested interests. That is unfortunate. But, to paraphrase George W Bush, if this sucka goes down, they all go down with it. That is probably why our 'leaders' will fall into line with the little people in the end, and go along with the long-postponed austerity measures our crisis demands. Although it's probably going to be a very rocky and miserable time in the interval, as all the people who can wreck the economy will be tempted to do as much damage as they can in a sort of 'primal scream' against the loss of money and more importantly, status.
Let's get on with this Budget and in the meantime pray that someone in the government has the backbone to do the right thing, no matter what the intimidation may entail.
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
Momentum Builds for Reform
I guess one is basically "conflicted" as the yanks put it, when you agree entirely with the sentiments of a political leader but deplore their motives. That's exactly the way irishtaxpayer feels about the latest weird pronouncements of Enda Kenny, the esteemed leader of the post-fascist Blueshirts we grace with the title 'official opposition'.
With a conversion worthy of Saul on the road to Damascus, Kenny revealed to a pig-sick collection of party worthies that he wanted to abolish Seanad Eireann.
Most of the fat-cat bloodsuckers in the audience that night must have been choking on their foie gras, as the Seanad, or waiting room for failures as the rest of us know it, is a key part of the system that props up the worst people in politics and delivers them back to us at every election.
Kenny is either being extremely brave to take on the vested interest that is Fine Gael, or else he has truly taken leave of his senses after the shock of being made to look like an uberwimp by Eamon Gilmore during the dispatch of John O'Donoghue.
But the truth, of course, is that Enda Kenny is now as much of a slave to his PR people as Brian Cowen is to his civil servants and the unions. Which explains the desperate attempt to suddenly surf the zeitgeist by leaping onto the bandwagon before it finally disappears over the hill.
The only bright spot in this sorry affair is the reference by Kenny to a list system as part of his proposed new broom. Although he probably sees this as just a new way to use patronage, it could be a brilliant way of bringing real talent into the stagnant pool of the Oireachtas. God knows, even one outsider from the world of business or science would increase the general IQ level in the Dail by a factor of ten!
The last great hope of reformers - the Greens - sold out to FF in the Programme for Government when they kicked reform into the long grass by settling for an electoral commission, whose final report can be safely ignored until the election is out of the way.
At least with FG now making such a bold grab for the people's vote, it will be next to impossible for any of the parties to bury reform from now on. Nevertheless, poor Enda has probably bought his ticket out of the party leadership with his talk of abolishing one of the carriages on the gravy train. The lazy good-for-nothings in his party will see to that.
The bottom line is that this movement for reform of our political institutions is too important to be left to self-interested politicians. They are cowering in their bunkers hoping we will go away. It's up to us to keep the pressure on until we have a system that is fit for purpose.
With a conversion worthy of Saul on the road to Damascus, Kenny revealed to a pig-sick collection of party worthies that he wanted to abolish Seanad Eireann.
Most of the fat-cat bloodsuckers in the audience that night must have been choking on their foie gras, as the Seanad, or waiting room for failures as the rest of us know it, is a key part of the system that props up the worst people in politics and delivers them back to us at every election.
Kenny is either being extremely brave to take on the vested interest that is Fine Gael, or else he has truly taken leave of his senses after the shock of being made to look like an uberwimp by Eamon Gilmore during the dispatch of John O'Donoghue.
But the truth, of course, is that Enda Kenny is now as much of a slave to his PR people as Brian Cowen is to his civil servants and the unions. Which explains the desperate attempt to suddenly surf the zeitgeist by leaping onto the bandwagon before it finally disappears over the hill.
The only bright spot in this sorry affair is the reference by Kenny to a list system as part of his proposed new broom. Although he probably sees this as just a new way to use patronage, it could be a brilliant way of bringing real talent into the stagnant pool of the Oireachtas. God knows, even one outsider from the world of business or science would increase the general IQ level in the Dail by a factor of ten!
The last great hope of reformers - the Greens - sold out to FF in the Programme for Government when they kicked reform into the long grass by settling for an electoral commission, whose final report can be safely ignored until the election is out of the way.
At least with FG now making such a bold grab for the people's vote, it will be next to impossible for any of the parties to bury reform from now on. Nevertheless, poor Enda has probably bought his ticket out of the party leadership with his talk of abolishing one of the carriages on the gravy train. The lazy good-for-nothings in his party will see to that.
The bottom line is that this movement for reform of our political institutions is too important to be left to self-interested politicians. They are cowering in their bunkers hoping we will go away. It's up to us to keep the pressure on until we have a system that is fit for purpose.
Saturday, October 17, 2009
Mortgages and Moral Hazard
Jumping on the NAMA bandwagon has clearly robbed Fine Gael of any critical faculties they may still have had, if their latest wheeze is anything to go by. Oblivious as always to the State's finances, the leaders of the opposition have tabled a raft of amendments to the Government's NAMA bill, which is fair enough, as it can't be made any worse by changes. However, taking the populist path has led the party into the murky world of moral hazard, in their call for a "bailout for homeowners".
Demanding protection from foreclosure for the buy-to-let brigade, who stuffed their boots while the going was good in their ambition to be the new landlord class, might be popular with Fine Gael's core constituency, but it does nothing for the stability of society: if anyone cares about that anymore?
It's clear that the only people who are in 'negative equity' are those who are desperate to offload property, especially those who bought within the last three years. Why are they so anxious to sell? Because they are being hit by the double whammy of expensive repayments to the banks and the new 'second home' levy of €200 per house or room, which is bad news for all the greedy young landlord types who were so sure all the bills would be covered by their tenants.
We never get a mention in the press or parliament, but there are tens of thousand of us who resisted the temptation to be multiple homeowners living off students and shopworkers. We were sneered at by all those 'go-getters' who were buying like there was no tomorrow, but we took the disdain and refused to get rich on credit. Little thanks we are getting now.
As usual, those of us who practised the forgotten virtue of prudence are now in the firing line for bailing out the greedy FG and FF types who ransacked the banks for what they could get, in order to 'flip' houses and apartments for vast sums of money. Now we are being invited to shed bitter tears and provide billions of euros to save these people from the results of their own greed. What makes it even more galling is that Fine Gael are throwing the kitchen sink at Fianna Fail and the Greens for the alleged bailout of developers, while the only solution they can come up with is to add a few more billion to the cost of NAMA by extending the scheme to their own voters, ie, buy-to-let speculators.
With such egregious economic illiteracy on display in the Dail, it is truly a miracle that the international markets are still willing to lend us that €500 million we need every week to keep the public sector in Bulgarian apartments and 4x4s.
Indeed, the only result of making the taxpayer carry the repayments for this lot would be the total freezing of the property market, ensuring the failure of NAMA and locking-in the negative equity that is still only a paper loss due to the moribund housing market.
Well done, Lucinda Creighton et al,. Another fine mess you are trying to get us into.
Demanding protection from foreclosure for the buy-to-let brigade, who stuffed their boots while the going was good in their ambition to be the new landlord class, might be popular with Fine Gael's core constituency, but it does nothing for the stability of society: if anyone cares about that anymore?
It's clear that the only people who are in 'negative equity' are those who are desperate to offload property, especially those who bought within the last three years. Why are they so anxious to sell? Because they are being hit by the double whammy of expensive repayments to the banks and the new 'second home' levy of €200 per house or room, which is bad news for all the greedy young landlord types who were so sure all the bills would be covered by their tenants.
We never get a mention in the press or parliament, but there are tens of thousand of us who resisted the temptation to be multiple homeowners living off students and shopworkers. We were sneered at by all those 'go-getters' who were buying like there was no tomorrow, but we took the disdain and refused to get rich on credit. Little thanks we are getting now.
As usual, those of us who practised the forgotten virtue of prudence are now in the firing line for bailing out the greedy FG and FF types who ransacked the banks for what they could get, in order to 'flip' houses and apartments for vast sums of money. Now we are being invited to shed bitter tears and provide billions of euros to save these people from the results of their own greed. What makes it even more galling is that Fine Gael are throwing the kitchen sink at Fianna Fail and the Greens for the alleged bailout of developers, while the only solution they can come up with is to add a few more billion to the cost of NAMA by extending the scheme to their own voters, ie, buy-to-let speculators.
With such egregious economic illiteracy on display in the Dail, it is truly a miracle that the international markets are still willing to lend us that €500 million we need every week to keep the public sector in Bulgarian apartments and 4x4s.
Indeed, the only result of making the taxpayer carry the repayments for this lot would be the total freezing of the property market, ensuring the failure of NAMA and locking-in the negative equity that is still only a paper loss due to the moribund housing market.
Well done, Lucinda Creighton et al,. Another fine mess you are trying to get us into.
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
Sacred Cows
So now that the Government has got over the Lisbon vote and the Green Party conference on NAMA, it has only the budget hurdle to jump in order to live out the year. This should be a cinch, what with all the softening-up that has been done since the credit crunch hit and our solvency went down the tubes. However, the renewed talk from Government Buildings of 'social partnership' and programmes of recovery, shows Cowen and Co' running for the comfort blanket again.
We can take it for granted that if Cowen, Coughlan and the rest of the fainthearts in Fianna Fail get their wish and SIPTU et al are calling the shots, there will be no more talk of radical public sector reform and pay cuts. Instead, all the talk will be of new taxes and charges to protect the 'vulnerable' and 'workers'.
Apart from topedoing any chance we had of finding our own way out of fiscal disaster (instead of having it dictated from Frankfurt or Geneva), it will also mean a long overdue examination of massive benefit spending by the authorities will never take place, once again shortchanging the taxpayer who funds the whole thing. This is a pity, because some of the inconsistencies are now so obvious the Government could justly be accused of organised theft.
I know it's not popular to talk about it, but the issue of single-parent allowance falls into this category. It now costs over €1 billion a year to pay this benefit - about 50% of what we pay in child allowance to every young family in the State. That figure alone is staggering. However, it beggars belief that every one of the people drawing this allowance could not survive without it, and yet that is the argument that our authorities are happy to stand over. That is simply not acceptable, yet our political and administrative elites accept it without question.
That genuine radical, Margaret Thatcher, faced a similar paybill when she came to power in 1979, but instead of wringing her hands and ignoring a political hot potato, like her predecessors in No.10 and our own 'leaders', she just refused to put-up with an obvious misapplication of public money. Being a woman, she wasn't afraid to say the truth - that a big percentage of single mothers were actually living with the fathers of their children, but were allowing the taxpayer to subsidise their living arrangements instead of getting the father to pay for his own child. Her answer? To set up the Chid Support Agency, whose mission was to track down these "deadbeat dads" as the Americans call them, and get them to take responsibility for their own actions. The PC brigade howled, but it worked.
How many questions have been asked in the Dail about progress in making the missing fathers of single-parent children support them? What action has been taken by the Department of Social and Family Affairs to put the burden of raising a family back where it belongs - ie, the parents? The answer? In both cases, none!
So now you know why this tiny state is shelling out a billion euros on a totally preventable problem, and why the soon-to-be-reconvened social partnership will be raising taxes to pay for it. Because nobody in power in Ireland gives a damn about you, the taxpayer, and even if you've never had a child, you must pay in place of the man who did. Is that fair? Brian Cowen, Eamon Gilmore and Enda Kenny think it is.
We can take it for granted that if Cowen, Coughlan and the rest of the fainthearts in Fianna Fail get their wish and SIPTU et al are calling the shots, there will be no more talk of radical public sector reform and pay cuts. Instead, all the talk will be of new taxes and charges to protect the 'vulnerable' and 'workers'.
Apart from topedoing any chance we had of finding our own way out of fiscal disaster (instead of having it dictated from Frankfurt or Geneva), it will also mean a long overdue examination of massive benefit spending by the authorities will never take place, once again shortchanging the taxpayer who funds the whole thing. This is a pity, because some of the inconsistencies are now so obvious the Government could justly be accused of organised theft.
I know it's not popular to talk about it, but the issue of single-parent allowance falls into this category. It now costs over €1 billion a year to pay this benefit - about 50% of what we pay in child allowance to every young family in the State. That figure alone is staggering. However, it beggars belief that every one of the people drawing this allowance could not survive without it, and yet that is the argument that our authorities are happy to stand over. That is simply not acceptable, yet our political and administrative elites accept it without question.
That genuine radical, Margaret Thatcher, faced a similar paybill when she came to power in 1979, but instead of wringing her hands and ignoring a political hot potato, like her predecessors in No.10 and our own 'leaders', she just refused to put-up with an obvious misapplication of public money. Being a woman, she wasn't afraid to say the truth - that a big percentage of single mothers were actually living with the fathers of their children, but were allowing the taxpayer to subsidise their living arrangements instead of getting the father to pay for his own child. Her answer? To set up the Chid Support Agency, whose mission was to track down these "deadbeat dads" as the Americans call them, and get them to take responsibility for their own actions. The PC brigade howled, but it worked.
How many questions have been asked in the Dail about progress in making the missing fathers of single-parent children support them? What action has been taken by the Department of Social and Family Affairs to put the burden of raising a family back where it belongs - ie, the parents? The answer? In both cases, none!
So now you know why this tiny state is shelling out a billion euros on a totally preventable problem, and why the soon-to-be-reconvened social partnership will be raising taxes to pay for it. Because nobody in power in Ireland gives a damn about you, the taxpayer, and even if you've never had a child, you must pay in place of the man who did. Is that fair? Brian Cowen, Eamon Gilmore and Enda Kenny think it is.
Saturday, October 10, 2009
Greenwash
Just back from the Green Party Special Convention on the Programme for Government, held at the RDS Concert Hall today. I must say, it was deeply disappointing.
The standard of contributions to the debate was reasonably high, with most of the delegates very aware of the issues, especially NAMA. But when the printed copies of the PFG were handed out, I quickly turned to the page on electoral reform, hoping the Greens would have used this once-in-a-lifetime leverage on Fianna Fail to secure real change in our deeply flawed political system. But it was not to be.
Instead of immediate changes to the numbers in the Dail, the voting system, even the continued existence of the Seanad; all of which were achievable in these negotiations, all we got was a promise of an electoral commission to "examine" the issues and report back within 12 months.
This was the one, and perhaps only time, when genuine change could have been wrought to our hidebound and corrupting political system. But the Greens bottled it, opting instead for vague, nitpicking promises on education and corporate donations, which won't make a blind bit of difference to how we are governed and can be easily ignored by any incoming FG/Labour coalition in the event of an election.
We had a chance to remake Ireland as the democratic republic of the people its founders dreamt of. Instead, pedantry and narrow-minded horse trading were the order of the day, from politicians who have made a career out of backscratching. Needless to say, the poor old taxpayer was completely ignored, as none of these spending plans were costed.
What we needed to see today were the fruits of vision. What we got was a shopping list any county councillor would have been proud of.
The standard of contributions to the debate was reasonably high, with most of the delegates very aware of the issues, especially NAMA. But when the printed copies of the PFG were handed out, I quickly turned to the page on electoral reform, hoping the Greens would have used this once-in-a-lifetime leverage on Fianna Fail to secure real change in our deeply flawed political system. But it was not to be.
Instead of immediate changes to the numbers in the Dail, the voting system, even the continued existence of the Seanad; all of which were achievable in these negotiations, all we got was a promise of an electoral commission to "examine" the issues and report back within 12 months.
This was the one, and perhaps only time, when genuine change could have been wrought to our hidebound and corrupting political system. But the Greens bottled it, opting instead for vague, nitpicking promises on education and corporate donations, which won't make a blind bit of difference to how we are governed and can be easily ignored by any incoming FG/Labour coalition in the event of an election.
We had a chance to remake Ireland as the democratic republic of the people its founders dreamt of. Instead, pedantry and narrow-minded horse trading were the order of the day, from politicians who have made a career out of backscratching. Needless to say, the poor old taxpayer was completely ignored, as none of these spending plans were costed.
What we needed to see today were the fruits of vision. What we got was a shopping list any county councillor would have been proud of.
Friday, October 9, 2009
The Truth Will Out
You've got to admit there is some comfort to be had from the knowledge that at least one government body isn't afraid to tell it like it is. I'm referring of course to the ESRI, who have not only had the balls to tell the public sector that they've been outpacing the private sector in pay since the 1990s, but also robustly defended their methodology in the face of much huffing and puffing from David Begg and Jack O'Connor, the ICTU oligarchs.
When the unions and the PC brigade rubbished the ESRI findings of a 25% pay gap everyone thought the economists would just back down and stop rocking the boat. But fair dues to them, they have come right back tonight and said that -using a different methodology - the difference is actually 26%.
How embarrassing for Blair Horan, boss of the Civil Service Union and chief apologist for rampant overspending, who made great play of the 'flawed' methodology used by the ESRI in their first report. He obviously never expected academics of integrity to take up the gauntlet he had thrown at their feet in order to show him up for the self-serving sophist he is, while, at the same time, vindicating their own reputations and the empirical truth of their findings.
I suppose such sloppy and unsustainable attacks by the union bosses on facts they don't agree with is all of a piece with their call for national strike action to forestall budget cuts that don't even exist yet and, knowing Cowen, may never exist.
But it's too late to be blaming the public sector unions for taking on the elected government, when it has been a succession of Irish Governments that handed them this overwhelming power and privilege over many decades of spineless surrender to the vested interests.
The only ray of light in this situation appears to be Finance Minister Brian Lenihan, who, for all his faults, seems to be aware of the awful vista facing the country if the traditional climbdown is performed once again in the face of union intimidation.
However, in this respect, he is truly a 'general without troops', as Fianna Fail are desperately waving the white flag behind his back while Fine Gael eagerly await their chance to drop their trousers and take a shafting from the oligarchs while the rest of us go down the tubes still crying out for "leadership".
It seems the only chance we have is for the Greens to have forced Fianna Fail to embrace electoral reform, including a reduction in TDs. This is the only way to force them and us to return some decent people to the Dail and may also explain why Fine Gael are so anxious for an election - they can see the writing on the wall and know that a reduction in seats will leave their ignoramus set out in the cold, which is why they suddenly want an election under the old rules.
Roll on the Budget, and lets hope the Cabinet live up to the rumours and get drunk enough to have the Dutch Courage to actually take a decision.
When the unions and the PC brigade rubbished the ESRI findings of a 25% pay gap everyone thought the economists would just back down and stop rocking the boat. But fair dues to them, they have come right back tonight and said that -using a different methodology - the difference is actually 26%.
How embarrassing for Blair Horan, boss of the Civil Service Union and chief apologist for rampant overspending, who made great play of the 'flawed' methodology used by the ESRI in their first report. He obviously never expected academics of integrity to take up the gauntlet he had thrown at their feet in order to show him up for the self-serving sophist he is, while, at the same time, vindicating their own reputations and the empirical truth of their findings.
I suppose such sloppy and unsustainable attacks by the union bosses on facts they don't agree with is all of a piece with their call for national strike action to forestall budget cuts that don't even exist yet and, knowing Cowen, may never exist.
But it's too late to be blaming the public sector unions for taking on the elected government, when it has been a succession of Irish Governments that handed them this overwhelming power and privilege over many decades of spineless surrender to the vested interests.
The only ray of light in this situation appears to be Finance Minister Brian Lenihan, who, for all his faults, seems to be aware of the awful vista facing the country if the traditional climbdown is performed once again in the face of union intimidation.
However, in this respect, he is truly a 'general without troops', as Fianna Fail are desperately waving the white flag behind his back while Fine Gael eagerly await their chance to drop their trousers and take a shafting from the oligarchs while the rest of us go down the tubes still crying out for "leadership".
It seems the only chance we have is for the Greens to have forced Fianna Fail to embrace electoral reform, including a reduction in TDs. This is the only way to force them and us to return some decent people to the Dail and may also explain why Fine Gael are so anxious for an election - they can see the writing on the wall and know that a reduction in seats will leave their ignoramus set out in the cold, which is why they suddenly want an election under the old rules.
Roll on the Budget, and lets hope the Cabinet live up to the rumours and get drunk enough to have the Dutch Courage to actually take a decision.
Wednesday, October 7, 2009
O'Donoghue - A Good Start?
So that fat cheating bastard John O'Donoghue has left. Big deal! One down, 165 to go.
The fact that a barefaced freeloader like O'Donoghue has been made to relinquish a 200k job for his old 100k job isn't a matter for rejoicing. Instead, the tortuous evasions of his Dail colleagues before letting Gilmore get rid of him is the real story in this saga.
Once again Enda Kenny was about as effective as the proverbial organiser of the piss-up in the brewery. His increasingly desperate attempts to make hay out of O'Donoghue while simultaneously propping him up, came a right cropper when Gilmore saw his chance to be the leader of the opposition and took it.
It's great that Kenny and Fine Gael were caught redhanded in their duplicity, but I've noticed that the press and TV don't seem too interested in finding out why the largest party in the Dail tried their best to kill the O'Donoghue scandal, before it blew up in their faces.
Just like Fianna Fail (who usually take the media flak for their crimes) Fine Gael too, are up to their necks in all the corruption crap as well. Enda (longest-serving TD in the Dail) has presided over this culture without a squeak, while sermonising on everyone else's faults.
This is fact: on Enda's own front bench, sitting there holier-than-thou, is a man who put in expenses for mileage for a four month period in 2004 that were actually travelled by his parliamentary assistant in his own beat-up, 10-year-old Nissan Micra while the said TD was lying on his back doing nothing. Was his assistant offered any petrol money for doing all his clinics for him? What do you think? The money was pocketed by the same person who howls across the floor in moral outrage at all those bad boys in Fianna Fail!
So now Brian Lenihan has been stung into promising "reform" of the expenses system. This is the same man who last week promised a Commission to "examine" irrational rates of pay at the top levels of public sector organisations. Another report commissioned, another attempt to buy time until public anger cools and events are forgotten, and then it will just be another costly report gathering dust on a shelf.
Here's a suggestion for Brian and the Department of Finance - How about doing the work we pay you for and writing your own reports? Or even better, how about making a decision once in a blue moon instead of outsourcing it to Price-Waterhouse-Deloitte-Uncle Tom Cobley etc.?
If Lenihan is serious about reform he needs to stop fiddling around with pay rates and severance packages etc, and just take a bloody axe to every quango and semi-state body in this ripped-off land. That's how you claw back four billion smackaroos in double quick time, or don't they teach that down the Four Courts?
So O'Donoghue has stopped fouling the Speakers Chair of the most spineless, venal parliament outside darkest Africa, but his rotten carcass is still stinking-up the Dail and his corrupt hand can still be found in our pockets. But don't ever make the mistake of thinking that the other Gombeen men on the far side of the aisle will be any better. Sorry for the rant. But I suspect I'm not alone.
The fact that a barefaced freeloader like O'Donoghue has been made to relinquish a 200k job for his old 100k job isn't a matter for rejoicing. Instead, the tortuous evasions of his Dail colleagues before letting Gilmore get rid of him is the real story in this saga.
Once again Enda Kenny was about as effective as the proverbial organiser of the piss-up in the brewery. His increasingly desperate attempts to make hay out of O'Donoghue while simultaneously propping him up, came a right cropper when Gilmore saw his chance to be the leader of the opposition and took it.
It's great that Kenny and Fine Gael were caught redhanded in their duplicity, but I've noticed that the press and TV don't seem too interested in finding out why the largest party in the Dail tried their best to kill the O'Donoghue scandal, before it blew up in their faces.
Just like Fianna Fail (who usually take the media flak for their crimes) Fine Gael too, are up to their necks in all the corruption crap as well. Enda (longest-serving TD in the Dail) has presided over this culture without a squeak, while sermonising on everyone else's faults.
This is fact: on Enda's own front bench, sitting there holier-than-thou, is a man who put in expenses for mileage for a four month period in 2004 that were actually travelled by his parliamentary assistant in his own beat-up, 10-year-old Nissan Micra while the said TD was lying on his back doing nothing. Was his assistant offered any petrol money for doing all his clinics for him? What do you think? The money was pocketed by the same person who howls across the floor in moral outrage at all those bad boys in Fianna Fail!
So now Brian Lenihan has been stung into promising "reform" of the expenses system. This is the same man who last week promised a Commission to "examine" irrational rates of pay at the top levels of public sector organisations. Another report commissioned, another attempt to buy time until public anger cools and events are forgotten, and then it will just be another costly report gathering dust on a shelf.
Here's a suggestion for Brian and the Department of Finance - How about doing the work we pay you for and writing your own reports? Or even better, how about making a decision once in a blue moon instead of outsourcing it to Price-Waterhouse-Deloitte-Uncle Tom Cobley etc.?
If Lenihan is serious about reform he needs to stop fiddling around with pay rates and severance packages etc, and just take a bloody axe to every quango and semi-state body in this ripped-off land. That's how you claw back four billion smackaroos in double quick time, or don't they teach that down the Four Courts?
So O'Donoghue has stopped fouling the Speakers Chair of the most spineless, venal parliament outside darkest Africa, but his rotten carcass is still stinking-up the Dail and his corrupt hand can still be found in our pockets. But don't ever make the mistake of thinking that the other Gombeen men on the far side of the aisle will be any better. Sorry for the rant. But I suspect I'm not alone.
Sunday, October 4, 2009
Suggestions for Sanity
Much mystification in Government and Opposition about the tax receipts plunging still deeper into the toilet. No wonder we all voted for Lisbon when our own leaders are getting us nowhere. But this time I think Cowen, Gilmore and Kenny actually did "get it" when the people acted rationally and voted for continued support from the European Central Bank. When our financial institutions are bankrupt of money and our politicians are bankrupt of ideas, we have to take what we can get and be thankful for it. But enough about what is wrong with our political establishment. Now we need to ask why.
Rahm Emanuel, Obama's chief of staff, famously said: "Never waste a good crisis." So in that can-do spirit here are some suggestions that are now on the people's radar thanks to the incompetence demonstrated by the clique that pull the levers in Ireland.
First, the radical reduction in the membership of the Dáil that we all want, must be matched by a huge cut in salary and expenses, including the introduction of 'clocking-in' to verify attendance. There can be no more claims of 'entitlement' from politicians simply because they have been elected. Lenihan is on the right track with his intention to benchmark the pay of politicians and civil servants to the European norm, instead of using made-up numbers and false comparisons with the private sector to fleece the taxpayer. Oh, and watch out for the Oireachtas "committee-hopping" at which Pat Rabbitte is such an expert. It entails moving around from one committee meeting to another, staying just a few minutes at each one. Why? Because they get paid €100 for each committee they attend. Sweet!
Secondly, instead of simply abolishing the Seanad, it should be used as a means of co-opting non-political talent into the policy process, much in the way recommended by several business leaders earlier this year when the Government's incompetence threatened to drag us all down. It might, perhaps, have been useful to be able to include someone like former Goldman Sachs boss Peter Sutherland in the Government when we were trying to persuade the international financial markets that Ireland was not about to go the same way as Iceland last winter. He was willing enough, but there was no constitutional way to do it.
Thirdly, there is now a crying need for a third force in Irish politics - something to challenge the populist consensus that means this country no longer has a functioning democracy, now that Fianna Fail, Fine Gael and Labour share the majority of their party programmes in common. The united front of the parties on the Lisbon Treaty was a rare glimpse behind the usual pantomime to the reality of Irish politics, ie, a social partnership oligarchy, ensuring the only competition between the parties is on which of them can spend the most taxpayer's money.
Lastly, and perhaps most importantly, we have to force our ministers to be responsible for any waste of our money. This means making them legally liable for every spending decision they make, including lavish payoffs to fat-cat failures like Rody Molloy of Fás. If people like Mary Coughlan and Martin Cullen thought they would end up in the Four Courts explaining their largesse to some hotshot senior counsel, they might think twice before lashing out our money to cronies like it was going out of fashion.
That's enough to be going on with. Any other suggestions will be gratefully received.
Rahm Emanuel, Obama's chief of staff, famously said: "Never waste a good crisis." So in that can-do spirit here are some suggestions that are now on the people's radar thanks to the incompetence demonstrated by the clique that pull the levers in Ireland.
First, the radical reduction in the membership of the Dáil that we all want, must be matched by a huge cut in salary and expenses, including the introduction of 'clocking-in' to verify attendance. There can be no more claims of 'entitlement' from politicians simply because they have been elected. Lenihan is on the right track with his intention to benchmark the pay of politicians and civil servants to the European norm, instead of using made-up numbers and false comparisons with the private sector to fleece the taxpayer. Oh, and watch out for the Oireachtas "committee-hopping" at which Pat Rabbitte is such an expert. It entails moving around from one committee meeting to another, staying just a few minutes at each one. Why? Because they get paid €100 for each committee they attend. Sweet!
Secondly, instead of simply abolishing the Seanad, it should be used as a means of co-opting non-political talent into the policy process, much in the way recommended by several business leaders earlier this year when the Government's incompetence threatened to drag us all down. It might, perhaps, have been useful to be able to include someone like former Goldman Sachs boss Peter Sutherland in the Government when we were trying to persuade the international financial markets that Ireland was not about to go the same way as Iceland last winter. He was willing enough, but there was no constitutional way to do it.
Thirdly, there is now a crying need for a third force in Irish politics - something to challenge the populist consensus that means this country no longer has a functioning democracy, now that Fianna Fail, Fine Gael and Labour share the majority of their party programmes in common. The united front of the parties on the Lisbon Treaty was a rare glimpse behind the usual pantomime to the reality of Irish politics, ie, a social partnership oligarchy, ensuring the only competition between the parties is on which of them can spend the most taxpayer's money.
Lastly, and perhaps most importantly, we have to force our ministers to be responsible for any waste of our money. This means making them legally liable for every spending decision they make, including lavish payoffs to fat-cat failures like Rody Molloy of Fás. If people like Mary Coughlan and Martin Cullen thought they would end up in the Four Courts explaining their largesse to some hotshot senior counsel, they might think twice before lashing out our money to cronies like it was going out of fashion.
That's enough to be going on with. Any other suggestions will be gratefully received.
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