General Election 2007 -- What's the most important issue for you?

For the uninitiated, I strongly suggest finding Netwhizkid's other posts. The Pol Pot economics and "if they're not white or Irish, kick 'em out" routine have been done to death on Politics. There was a time I argued, but quickly you realise that there is no point, he actually believes in killing all intellectuals and people wearing glasses and seizing property and assets, forcing everyone to work in communes - it's his dream of a great leap backwards.

Mossy Monk

nesf wrote:

Transport infrastructure improved outside of Dublin

that would be number 2 for me after the Health Service

outside Dublin a lot of the roads are a disgrace

Dustaz

Ill be voting for the party who legalises the hunting of After Hours posters.

New_Departure06

Unlike netwhizkid, I don't believe in stopping all immigration or deporting the Poles. But I would favour tighter controls. I would let the Poles stay but would refuse to extend the open borders rule to Romania and Bulgaria when they join (likely to be January 2007 in spite of EU Commission warnings as the Council of Ministers makes the final decision). Nothing fascist about that. The Smer party (the largest in Slovakia followed elections a few days ago) reportedly wants to imposed controls on these two countries. The Czechs have also shown reticience towards these countries on this issue too. Also considering that 8 EU states continue to impose controls on the 10 EU Accession states, I think that if controling access to the labour market is "fascist" then there must be rather a lot of 'fascists' around!

The Accession Treaties allow for a transition period so this would be in no way a contradiction of our legal obligations as EU members.

one-angry-dwarf

Stephen wrote:

Justice: Why is our system so retarded? It needs modernisation. Tougher sentences for repeat offenders rather than the stupid revolving door style prisons we have now. Get rid of the stupid wigs and robes while yer at it.

I completely agree. violent and dangerous crimes are getting waaay too lenient sentances for the most part. just go sit at your local courthouse and watch any of the hearings to see for yourself. some of the worst examples of this are driving related offences. In this modern age there is absolutley no excuse for drink driving, driving without insurance/a licence, dangerous driving etc.
IMO all of these ofences should automatically result in huge fines and driving bans. It should be far harder to get a licence and far easier to lose it. Peoples lives are being put at risk constantly becasue there are morons out there driving away after some crappy 6 month ban for drink driving. And while they're at it they're pushing insurance rates so far up it's pointless for somone my age (20) in my situation (impoverished student type) to even bother getting applying for a licence.
Why should someone who breaks the law be given another chance to get back on the road when, indirectly because of them, I've never even had one? The government are going out of their way to let repeat offenders back on the roads. even points on your licence get removed after a certain period of time. why?

End rant

Sleepy

Making me the benevolant dictator of this state.

Savman

netwhizkid yer gas but I'm gonna just ignore ye for the mo
kids :rolleyes:

Anyway,
Health Care: I'm not in favour of hurling more euros at it, however I think the correct term is "reform". It needs it. Jesus it needs it.

Housing: they can introduce a lot more purchasing schemes. Its not my fault I was 14 when house prices were respectable :rolleyes:, 10yrs on and the situation is dire

Motor Tax & VRT: I have to say if Irish people weren't so obsessed with '06 cars and keeping up appearances with the Jones next door then VRT wouldn't be an issue. I think yer all mad to pay 30% VRT just to drive the latest contraption from Europe.
To be fair, we have had the M1, M11 and a whole heap of other nice new roads which cant be cheap to build. It is different down outside Dublin though but we've a populist govt. so that's bound to be the case.

cant think of anything else at the mo...

netwhizkid

netwhizkid wrote:

I am 19 and have tried several places for work but have been told we are all full up or we only employ Eastern Europeans for those tasks now.

Dey Tuk R Jarbs!

AngryAnderson

netwhizkid wrote:

I am 19 and have tried several places for work but have been told we are all full up or we only employ Eastern Europeans for those tasks now.

Rrrright. And your solution is to kick them all out of the country so you can get a job? I have a better idea - get an education and, when you're skilled and employable, go and look for a job. Nobody is going to hire a bumbling, racist, xenophobic retard.

If you're of questionable morals, which you seem to be, then feel free to sue the person who refused you the job because they only hire Eastern Europeans... because that's discrimination. Although I do suspect you're full of shiznit. :rolleyes: ...or a troll.

GoldieBear

Affordable housing for every ones as house prices are way too high for the average consumer. wouldn't like to be renting for ever.

Health Service.

Victor

Responsibility and progress.

Sam Vimes

netwhizkid wrote:

3) Stopping all forms of Immigration into Ireland, our country is being swamped by all sorts.

throw the jew down the well, eh?
and what would you say if america and australia and all the other countires that irish people emigrated to kicked them all back to ireland in much the same way you're suggesting? must be at least ten million at this stage? would that make it better?
ireland has a huge labour shortage and we need those people. and if you read the thread on AH about poles, you'll see that almost no one has a bad word to say about them

netwhizkid wrote:

4) Direct Fibre to the home, we need broadband :- Nationalise Eircom

we do need broadband but i think you're placing far too much faith in our govt. they'll just fcuk it up like they do everything else

netwhizkid wrote:

5) End VRT, Cut Fuel taxes and reduce Motor Taxation, end all road tolls.

one sort of good point but it would dramatically reduce the govt coffers and they'd have to get the money from somewhere. although some people on boards believe dropping tax causes tax intake to increase

netwhizkid wrote:

7) Increase taxes for those earning over €60,000+ to 60% eliminate lower earners from the Tax bracket, cut VAT and use profits from Nationalised Industry to run the country.

i think this is quite a good idea but a lot of economists wouldn't agree (usually people who would be in the higher tax bracket in my opinion)

netwhizkid wrote:

Curtail Diplomatic Relations with the USA as long as George W. Bush is in office, Cut all Diplomatic relation with Israel and refuse to recognise it. Recognise the Hamas Led Palestinian Authority.

unfortunately america is the richest country in the world and so cutting ties would only hurt us. tony blair realises this. do you honestly think he likes or agrees with that retard in the white house? he follows bush so that he can stay on america's good side

netwhizkid wrote:

8) Greater links with Great Britain, force a United Ireland.

absolutely not. we don't live in the north and as such have no right to force them to do anything

netwhizkid wrote:

9) Ban the Fianna Fail and Progressive Democrats Party, try them for corruption and re-introduce Captial Punishment and make it applicable in cases of corruption. Repatriate 120,000 Polish home to Poland.

emmm..

netwhizkid wrote:

10) Reform the Irish Constitution banning free market politics and gradually phasing out Capitalism.

to bring in what exactly?

i'm not sure where your policies are. you seem to be left wing in that you want to get rid of capitalism but at the same time you want to force a united ireland and bring back capital punishment which i think are right wing principles. which are you?

Sam Vimes

Deleted User wrote:

he actually believes in killing all intellectuals and people wearing glasses and seizing property and assets, forcing everyone to work in communes - it's his dream of a great leap backwards.

do you mean he wants to kill all smart people?

if so then he either wants to kill himself or is completely invalidating his point by saying he's stupid

Commander Vimes

Commander Vimes wrote:

do you mean he wants to kill all smart people?

if so then he either wants to kill himself or is completely invalidating his point by saying he's stupid

I don't think his position bears too much analysis. After all, he's thinks he's radically left wing yet he hates poor foreigners!

Sam Vimes

Deleted User wrote:

I don't think his position bears too much analysis. After all, he's thinks he's radically left wing yet he hates poor foreigners!

yeah, that's what's confusing me

Supercell

Affordable housing that actually IS implemented the way its intended right NOW - why on earth are builders allowed to pay of the local council instead of actually providing the house?

Scrap VRT.

Carb

Savman wrote:

Motor Tax & VRT: I have to say if Irish people weren't so obsessed with '06 cars and keeping up appearances with the Jones next door then VRT wouldn't be an issue. I think yer all mad to pay 30% VRT just to drive the latest contraption from Europe.
To be fair, we have had the M1, M11 and a whole heap of other nice new roads which cant be cheap to build. It is different down outside Dublin though but we've a populist govt. so that's bound to be the case.

Commander Vimes wrote:

one sort of good point but it would dramatically reduce the govt coffers and they'd have to get the money from somewhere. although some people on boards believe dropping tax causes tax intake to increase

If nobody bought new cars, there wouldn't be second hand cars. Also VRT feeds down into second hand car prices, so don't think you're getting away with VRT by buying second hand. All your doing is refunding the original purchaser some of the VRT they paid.

Road tax and fuel excise cover what is spent on the roads easily, so VRT doesn't get used on the roads. The revenue from VRT, is just another income stream for the government thats used to pay for health, teachers, gardai and all other public services. There is no reason in the world why the motorist should pay an additional amount to fund services that everybody uses. If they need the money from somewhere, they should increase income tax to compensate and stop hiding behind this myth of low taxation. That way, everybody pays their fair share. I also believe road tax should be incorporated into excise duty, so that way your been taxed based on your usage, rather than ownership.

Tha Gopher

netwhizkid wrote:

1) Keeping Fianna Fail and the Pd's out of Government.


3) Stopping all forms of Immigration into Ireland, our country is being swamped by all sorts.

5) End VRT, Cut Fuel taxes and reduce Motor Taxation, end all road tolls.

6) End privatisation, Re-Nationalise formally privatised companies and successful private ones like Kerry Group, use their profits to fund more infrastructure, High Speed rail linking all our cities and a national non-tolled motorway network.

7) Increase taxes for those earning over €60,000+ to 60% eliminate lower earners from the Tax bracket, cut VAT and use profits from Nationalised Industry to run the country. Curtail Diplomatic Relations with the USA as long as George W. Bush is in office, Cut all Diplomatic relation with Israel and refuse to recognise it. Recognise the Hamas Led Palestinian Authority.

9) Ban the Fianna Fail and Progressive Democrats Party, try them for corruption and re-introduce Captial Punishment and make it applicable in cases of corruption. Repatriate 120,000 Polish home to Poland.

I hate racists like you who think immigration is out of control. I have a job, you dont. Too bad. Your a racist.



Sorry, just gettin into Hobbes mode there While mass deportations isnt what Im thinking of, fact is that Ireland being one of the only EU states to allow uncrotrolled migration from the new EU was just a classic Bertieism. I have a job thank god, but when i was looking last year I know how hard it is seeing places with a seemingly No Dogs No Irish policy

Trode

i'm not sure where your policies are. you seem to be left wing in that you want to get rid of capitalism but at the same time you want to force a united ireland and bring back capital punishment which i think are right wing principles. which are you?

I don't think his position bears too much analysis. After all, he's thinks he's radically left wing yet he hates poor foreigners!

Okay, while that guy's obviously off his game, and I don't want to pick on the two quoted above, one thing that annoys me in these kind of discussions is the notion that you're either 'Left Wing' or 'Right Wing', and if you're in either camp then you believe/support everything typically associated with them. Not every issue can be divided into how liberals should see it and how conservatives should see it, and most people don't fit into comfortable stereotypes of how these groups feel about everything anyway. It's entirely possible for someone with anti-capitalist leanings to oppose immigration, just as its possible for,say, someone who supports gay rights to oppose drug legalisation.
It's a vague, useless distinction that just gives people on both sides of a debate an easy out from arguing points("You oppose/support removal of religion from schools? You must be a right/left wing nutjob who just wants to drown all the brown people/force all women to have abortions! I have no further need of your inane drivel!"). Again, I'm not accusing anyone of these kind of remarks, just saying we all need to be careful we're not falling into a 'us vs them' mentality in debates of this nature.

Trode

Trode wrote:

just saying we all need to be careful we're not falling into a 'us vs them' mentality in debates of this nature.

Trode likes Netwhizkid.

It's them v us...;)

Trode

Deleted User wrote:

Trode likes Netwhizkid.

It's them v us...;)

I'd dispute that, but this is the Politics forum and I can't be arsed trawling the net for links to reputable sources giving accurate statistics and reports of my dislike/mild fear of Netwhizkid.

Idbatterim

1. Transport, 2. housing and then 3. crime

dathi1

Crime: Just back from NewYork would like to see the Guliani effect here.
Immigration: Illegal and a visa system similar to the US and Oz. 1.6 billion on so called assylum seekers in the last 3 years
Economy. More deregulation and no European involvement in our tax affairs.

dathi1

dathi1 wrote:

Crime: Just back from NewYork would like to see the Guliani effect here.

Ah, you mean liberalise abortion like NY did in the 1970s, and then 20 years later you see a downturn in crime as kids that WOULD have been involved in crime simply were not around?*

* 'Freakonomics' explanation of the Giuliani effect.

democrates

Direct Democracy.
If we had a vote on local and national issues we could address every other problem properly instead of hoping representatives do their job for five years.

First issue is the Health Service. My mother died in January after being put on a 4 month waiting list for treatment the previous september. Obviously we didn't wait but there was the A&E trolley abomination to go through a few times and sent from billy to bob. Her last few months and that's what she had to go through. I'm f**king outraged every time I remember her lying there in pain, with drunks and druggies beligerating about the place, not knowing what the staff were going to be able to do for her because the service was let get into crisis.

Zero vote for ff/pd dogs.

Supercell

Deleted User wrote:

Ah, you mean liberalise abortion like NY did in the 1970s, and then 20 years later you see a downturn in crime as kids that WOULD have been involved in crime simply were not around?*

* 'Freakonomics' explanation of the Giuliani effect.

In fairness if thats true and it is indeed food for thought, then whats wrong there ?
Less scummers on the streets, I really have no problem with that.

spooiirt!!

netwhizkid wrote:

2) We have the worst health care system in Europe, this needs to be improved massively..

Could someone with knowledge of Irish Health care please explain this statment? Whats wrong with the irish system? I was under the impression that the poor can apply for a medical card and thus get free healthcare... Are medical cards given out too sparingly?

Supercell

spooiirt!! wrote:

Could someone with knowledge of Irish Health care please explain this statment? Whats wrong with the irish system? I was under the impression that the poor can apply for a medical card and thus get free healthcare... Are medical cards given out too sparingly?

NWK - is an extremist, nuff said..see the search function, NWK isn't someone to be taken seriously..unless he runs for gov't..then we all should worry (and emigrate if he's elected!!).

Diaspora

That is presuming a very broad constituency of poor whilst the Irish system only accomodates the very poor when it comes to free medical care.

In the UK, Germany France etc there is a universal right to free medical care save payment of a modest token fee.

The main reason why the health centre is considered a joke by OECD standards is the length of time it takes to be seen at a hospital not to mention the probability of being given a trolly vs a bed if you need to be admitted as an in patient.

On the issue of medical cards the way that the doctor only cards was botched is symptomatic of the way the system is run. The reality is that despite throwing €bns at the problem no minister under this 9 year government has ever gotten on top of the portfolio.

I expect come the next election to see Bertie talking about how much has been put into the health system in monetary terms from personal experience a close friend contracted TB earlier this year in Ireland please don't try to say that the billions poured into the health system delivered value when third world diseases are rampant in Dublin

SeanW

netwhizkid wrote:

Keeping Fianna Fail and the Pd's out of Government.

That is the only part of your post that I agree with.

I'd like to add: transport, I'd like to see prioritisation of public transport and biofuels policy. It's a sad day when George W. Bush is more of a "Green" than Bertie.

Fix: the health system. Crime. Education. All three are a sick national joke, and part of the reason I WON'T be voting for that shower in the next election.

Resuscitate: McDowell's "Cafe Bars" idea: it was originally killed by FF backbenchers who (surprise-surprise) all own bars and threatened a backbench revolt. Public-interest be damned.

Being really fanciful, I'd like to see a politician promising cannibis legalisation (I believe this is rightly an individual choice) and Atomic Electricity (which is now finding welcome mats all over the world in the least expected places). They'd have my vote in a second!

Being realistic though I think the current coalition will retain power, because even though the problems mentioned above had started getting out of control on Bertie's watch at the 2002 election, FF won that because there was a huge "feel good" factor going around.

Now, most of the SSIAs are going to mature just the month before the 2007 elections. How convenient. The SSIAs were a stupid waste of money, but were commissioned explicitly for this purpose.

What's worse, it doesn't look like FG/Lab have done much to show themselves as a viable alternative - they need to get out there.