New Year's Resolutions for the Irish Government?

Permabear

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ednwireland

well i hate to say this but the finances were built on a house of cards the country will never rake in that amount of expenditure in the forseeable future ergo a huge reduction in the public sectors bloated admin (unfortunately putting that many people on the dole will have 2 effects up public spending and extend any recession)
this gov. has not yet realised that the revenues arent coming back they were a one off paid for by people borrowing. they need a 30- 40% cut in all ministerial and high end civil service wages. probably a cut in the number of ministers andd junior ministers this is no time for pandering to your back benches. a cull of middle management, you are gioing to have to micromanage all gov agencies such as fas to ensure value for money. its going to be really hard work and i dont think anyone has the talent or the cahoonas to do it.
when old brian lenihan says we are living beyond our means, we need to bring back competitiveness, reduce our standard of living, his first problem is no one will do anything (me included) until you lead by example and thats the one thing this gov. will never do. mainly cos they wont get re-elected.

just what i've seen working in large companies i've worked in over 20 years when times get hard.

what i forsee: a cull in front-line staff and large paycuts for low end civil service staff, an increase in middle mangement to administer those cuts. an overall increase in the public sector spend, no change in ministers poss a junior minister appointed to oversee. no change in the attitude of management of state agencies and boards to feathering their own nests

god it makes me depressed

spadder

This government is stumbling from crisis to crisis, every positive action the UK take to ease the recession, we do the opposite. It’s the banks and the developers who are calling the shots, not the government.

As for the Greens, they will be busy working on their light bulb strategy, free bicycles, and taking it in the a$$ from FF

jmayo

donegalfella wrote: »

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If really is unbelievable that no one either in government nor in dept. of finance appears to have seen this coming.
What type of muppets are these people ?
Did they build their economic models on the fact that were going to continue building 80,000 plus houses per year ? It appears they did.
Did they believe that we would always have large VAT intake from housing related spending (be it directly in house purchase or in ancilliary supplies like furniture etc), large capital gains intake from housing and big stamp duty intake.

Call some of us pessimists, but there were people oin these forums a few years ago stating that the proeprty bubble would burst sooner or later, that the economy was getting too dependent on construciton and that public spending was getting too high.
So if some of us eejits/whingers could see that, what the **** were the great financial gurus of the dept of finance and finance minister of the time (Cowen) doing, that they didn't at least contenance some kind of fall back position ?

Previously we were the best example of how not to implement infrastructure projects. Now we are the best example of how to bury your heads in the sand, spend like a mad adolescent eejit with Daddy's credit card and make no plans for the future.

Perhaps they should heed the words of their former glorious leader, the one that helped create this fine mess, and go off and do the decent thing like Japanese failed leaders used to do.

They are a complete waste of space and a waste of valuable oxygen (would really help our carbon balance as well)
mucking fuppets the lot of them :mad:

nhughes100

They quite simply need a "Tallaght strategy" for the economic recovery of the country. It needs cross party support and commitment from all sides. The government don't seem to have any direction for getting us out of this mess.

Let me give you a glimpse of the Taoiseach's schedule over the past few days and for the weekend.

In Mullingar last week - Open the new wines direct store and officially open FF councillor Robert Troy's new office.

This weekend also in Mullingar to unveil the Joe Dolan statue on Saturday. Really inspires you that he's working flat out for the country doesn't it?

NewDubliner

ednwireland wrote: »

what i forsee: a cull in front-line staff and large paycuts for low end civil service staff, an increase in middle mangement to administer those cuts.

Closure of 'make-work' civil service offices in small non-viable locations. Consolidation of civil service jobs in major cities where economies of scale can be achieved.

Húrin

Feck the government, I hope the economy collapses completely. Then Fianna Fail will never again get re-elected.

NewDubliner

Húrin wrote: »

Feck the government, I hope the economy collapses completely. Then Fianna Fail will never again get re-elected.

When communism collapsed, where do you think the former communists went? They came back as 'socialists'.

The real problem is that people have been too busy to keep an eye on their politicians and ask hard, intelligent questions about what their money was being spent on.

dresden8

jmayo wrote: »

Call some of us pessimists, but there were people oin these forums a few years ago stating that the proeprty bubble would burst sooner or later, that the economy was getting too dependent on construciton and that public spending was getting too high.

Indeed there were, but there were the usual muppets on saying "Ireland is different, the fundamentals are sound, anyone who talks about a recession should go off and hang themselves."

The same muppets are still out there saying only Cowan has the experience to see us through this, we should cull the public service, it's all their fault.

We truly have gotten the government we voted for. Except me, I never voted for the fuckers, so it's everybody else's fault.

Kevster

I think that college fees should definately be reintroduced, and we should also refocus investment into agriculture which would, in the long term, boost our exports even more. Irish produce is valued abroad, after all, is it not? (... ...quietly taking the recent pork problem out of the equation ).

The problem that the government faces is that wherever it cuts money from, the people have learned that if they gather in enough numbers and make enough calls to Joe Duffy (and do a bit of marching to Kildare street), that the government will revert their decision. It's sad, but this financial crisis is not the government's fault, but it'll be the reason why they'll lose the next election. The same goes for labour in the UK.

marcsignal

Húrin wrote: »

Feck the government, I hope the economy collapses completely. Then Fianna Fail will never again get re-elected.

for once we agree Húrin, unfortunately if FF are voted out on a vote of no confidence, or whatever, the next gang are going to be tainted with the task of cleaning up their mess, which has been the life story of FF since the beginning...

'whatever your having yourself' politics

jmayo

Kevster wrote: »

I think that college fees should definately be reintroduced, and we should also refocus investment into agriculture which would, in the long term, boost our exports even more. Irish produce is valued abroad, after all, is it not? (... ...quietly taking the recent pork problem out of the equation ).

The problem that the government faces is that wherever it cuts money from, the people have learned that if they gather in enough numbers and make enough calls to Joe Duffy (and do a bit of marching to Kildare street), that the government will revert their decision. It's sad, but this financial crisis is not the government's fault, but it'll be the reason why they'll lose the next election. The same goes for labour in the UK.

Of course it is not the government's fault, it is American subprime is it not :rolleyes:
Let me guess you vote for FF.

Our unemployment rates are rising drastically, why ?
Might it have something to do with fact that we had 280,000 odd people employed in constructiuon industry ?
Who's fault is that, the tooth fairy maybe ?

We were too relient on a form of industry that brought nothing sustainable to the Irish economy.
Building houses and retail space is feck all good at bringing in foreign earnings (earnings not loans), you know the type of earnings that normal exports be they products or services usual bring in.

Our construction industry was doomed, and anyone bar a muppet with their head up their ar** or in the sand knew it.
We could not sustain building 90,000 homes per year and the high multiplesof average salary that prices had become.
The slow down had started before the "credit crunch" hit.

Yet the government, and the current taoiseach, as finance minister based his huge increases in public spending on an industry fueled by cheap credit provided by lax lenders and eejits willing to sign up for 40 odd years of huge debt to buy into the dream of the property ladder.

Yeah sure the whole mess has nothing to do with Cowen and the government.
Yet the whole great economy had something to with them.

quad_red

ednwireland wrote: »

when old brian lenihan says we are living beyond our means, we need to bring back competitiveness, reduce our standard of living, his first problem is no one will do anything (me included) until you lead by example and thats the one thing this gov. will never do. mainly cos they wont get re-elected.

Hits the nail right on the head. The complete cowardice and hypocrisy being thrown out by the world's highest paid politicians is evidence enough of the rot that has taken hold at the top. What we need are strong dedicated leaders with an eye on the long game.

What we have at the moment is out of their depth pay-off merchants who would treat the very mention of them sacrificing anything as outrageous.

ednwireland wrote: »

what i forsee: a cull in front-line staff and large paycuts for low end civil service staff, an increase in middle mangement to administer those cuts. an overall increase in the public sector spend, no change in ministers poss a junior minister appointed to oversee. no change in the attitude of management of state agencies and boards to feathering their own nests

god it makes me depressed

Sadly, that's the most likely scenario, isn't it?