Promises, promises

luckat

What promises would make you vote for the party offering them?

I'd certainly be attracted by the €1 flat-rate bus fare in Dublin.

The stamp duty for first time buyers thing just seems silly to me - if they're going to tackle stamp duty, let them tackle it overall, so people trading up from a dearish house to a dear one don't have to pay half the difference again in stamp duty, and so on.

Enda K's traditional-family promises - no legislating for abortion, lots of breaks for single-income families - give me the creeps. Not that I think single-income families should be discriminated against; I just don't like the whole vibe.

brianthebard

Supporting families that aren't well off? How horrible of him!

Giblet

I'm not too out of pocket with bus fares, it's not a big issue to pay 2 euro or whatever the average rate is nowadays so it's not a big selling point.

daveirl

This post has been deleted.

InFront

daveirl wrote:

This post has been deleted.

eh...

lots of breaks for single-income families - give me the creeps. Not that I think single-income families should be discriminated against; I just don't like the whole vibe.

The solutions to the health crisis backed up with a specific political contract are what would swing my vote towards the coalition, as well as their tough stance on law and order.

I also have real problems with trusting someone with a multi-billion euro economy who I wouldn't trust with €30k

Aedh Baclamh

Mandatory one year conscription
Zero tolerance when it comes to drinking and driving
Preservation and protection of national hertigage sites
More physical education in schools (two hours per week is embarrassing)
Death penalty

And so on...

wow sierra

Supporting Single income families is what the OP complained about - not Low income families. Theres a big difference - I think the problem with supporting single income families is that it suggests women should be in the home not the workforce.

Thats the scary vibe - and one I do occasionally get from some people who are in favour of tax breaks for singe income families.

marie_85

I'd be very wary of any promises made on stamp duty by the present government. They've had ten years to make up their mind on stamp duty. Dangling it in front of us now as an election promise is a bit ridiculous. Why didn't they just get rid of it last December if they were truly committed to it.

brianthebard

Aedh Baclamh wrote:

Mandatory one year conscription
Zero tolerance when it comes to drinking and driving
Preservation and protection of national hertigage sites
More physical education in schools (two hours per week is embarrassing)
Death penalty

And so on...

Is conscription in the manifesto?

Aedh Baclamh

Should be.

aidan_walsh

Aedh Baclamh wrote:

Should be.

Why?

brianthebard

Aedh Baclamh wrote:

Should be.

Doesn't really answer the question...

Aedh Baclamh

Um, because I'd like to see it here?

That's just a wild guess though.

Oirthir

Aedh Baclamh wrote:

Death penalty

The lack of a Death Penalty is enshrined in the Bunreacht, so you can't change that without a referendum and it was approved by 62% vs 37% 6 years ago, so can't see it as a runner.

Oirthir

Aedh Baclamh wrote:

Um, because I'd like to see it here?

That's just a wild guess though.

So, have you any good reasons to justify the idea or is it just a whim?

Aedh Baclamh

Just something I'd like to see in this country personally. I'm sure others would to but just wouldn't say it to people. See I don't believe in rehabilitation or any of that lark, so this seems like the best thing to me. Unless you've got something better?

nesf

Substantial mental health and long term illness reform. At the moment we fall through the cracks and don't have much support, though this is a symptom of a broader structural problem in the health service so if (substantial) reforms were proposed for the health service were tabled I'd have interest in it. Though, and I've said it before, I'd prefer to see a Tallaght strategy type approach to it, some very hard decisions need to be made if we're going to break up the vested interests involved and political points scoring going on in the background won't help matters.

luapenak

Aedh Baclamh wrote:

Mandatory one year conscription
Zero tolerance when it comes to drinking and driving
Preservation and protection of national hertigage sites
More physical education in schools (two hours per week is embarrassing)
Death penalty

And so on...

i pressume you are ripping the piss when it comes to the first and last points. but if not why would you like conscription? what benefit does that have to the country as a whole?

I would like to see someone back nuclear energy

luckat

Aedh, ok, we can get together a nutting squad to do you if you're ever convicted of anything serious, since them's your principles.

I wasn't actually talking about what people would *like* to see promised. I was talking about the promises that have been made.

The €1 bus far would revolutionise public transport - not just because it would make more people take buses, but also because it would make people take more buses.

I have an annual pass - cheap to get through work on a tax deal - and since I've had it I've hopped on and off buses, working out when it's quicker to hop from one bus onto another that'll cross town faster. Makes a huge difference to how efficiently the bus service serves me.

Chakar

I would like to see someone back nuclear energy

I happen to be in favour of nuclear energy. People should look at the case for nuclear energy as it stands. At the moment there is a dominance of a Cold War mentality as regards to nuclear energy. While I don't think that we will adopt nuclear energy, I would like to see the government lifting their policy on not accepting energy from the UK that has been generated by nuclear fission. It's a ridiculous policy mainly there because of Sellafield however Sellafield is a nuclear reprocessing facility not a power station.

Giblet

I don't think so, I doubt there is many people NOT getting buses due to bus fare prices.

marie_85

Exactly. The price of bus fares means nothing if there isn't a fast and efficient bus service to where you want to go. I live out in Dublin 15 and when I used to work in the city centre, it'd take me the best part of two hours in the morning to get into work and even longer getting home. During the summer I wouldn't get the train due to overcrowding and an unfortunate fainting incident one morning. Before cutting bus fares, increase the number of routes and increase the number of services on these routes. Regarding the trains, electrify the train line out to Maynooth to a DART style service which would be faster, would allow more carriages on the train and would then allow a more frequent service. I'd quite happily pay the existing fares if that was the case.

nesf

marie_85 wrote:

Exactly. The price of bus fares means nothing if there isn't a fast and efficient bus service to where you want to go.

Exactly, and this will only come as part of a broader approach to transport. The train situation has been improving (Cork - Dublin times have fallen and the increased frequency of trains has improved capacity immensely) and some projects are rolling ahead and some new lines are being opened but we're still a long way from an excellent service. The Luas was a great pilot project (imho) and we should look at putting light rail into most of our cities though routing tracks is going to be an issue (there was a silly proposal to fill in one of the channels in Cork city to run it down for instance and the very fact that it was proposed gives you an idea of the problems in routing these thing).

But you are correct, reducing fares for a substandard service isn't really going to solve the problems of having a substandard service in the first place.

cm2000

InFront wrote:

eh...


The solutions to the health crisis backed up with a specific political contract are what would swing my vote towards the coalition, as well as their tough stance on law and order.

I also have real problems with trusting someone with a multi-billion euro economy who I wouldn't trust with €30k

Do you really think Bertie is in politics for his own private gain?
he's an accountant and would most likely be earning more if he went down that route but he didn't. can people also realise that he is the man who has cleared up so much of the corruption in this country providing us billions in revenue buoyancy

brianthebard

He earns over a million a year as Taoiseach, he'd have to be a damn good accountant to get that much after tax.

cm2000

brianthebard wrote:

He earns over a million a year as Taoiseach, he'd have to be a damn good accountant to get that much after tax.

in 2006 he earned €228,924 which many senior accountants wages dwarf. where do you get those figures?

gilroyb

Not even Charlie made a million a year Brian. Bertie's on around €250,000 a year as Taoiseach.

marie_85

Don't forget all the other perks he gets as Taoiseach, and I'm not talking about backhanders or briefcases full of money. €250k a year is a pretty good salary, what's the average accountant on?

cm2000

my point is that i really don't think anyone can honestly argue that Bertie is in politics so that he could pursue personal wealth

Heinrich

cm2000 wrote:

my point is that i really don't think anyone can honestly argue that Bertie is in politics so that he could pursue personal wealth

Indeed?

CJH was also an accountant so what was his motive for being in politics?

gandalf

OK get back on topic, there are plenty of threads about the Velcro ones finances!!