How close are you to boiling point?

OPENROAD

DTrotter wrote: »

But no one had the sense to look ahead, last general election people voted FF in again because they thought the good times then were the product of FF and FF could keep it going. We don't elect people baed on skills or qualifications, what do we expect in return?

But you see FG had a real opportunity at the last election, and imo blew it in the leaders debate, also to be fair and I'm open to correction here none of the parties seemed to be warning us of impending doom regarding the Irish economy, yes not many saw the world recession coming but Irelands current plight is only partially down to this, our income intakes from the property boom were bound to come to an end sooner or later but it now appears we had no plan b, it appears we were not investing in the countrys infrastructure during the good times and we allowed ourselves to become uncompetitive, if you were a CEO of a foreign firm, why would you locate here, with high labour/energy costs and poor broadband. The worrying thing is it looks like the govt. may well see out its full term, I don't feel the opposition are taking full advantage of the mess we are in now, I also wish sometimes that our media were more like the UK's.

KnifeWRENCH

I've managed to keep fairly cool, but then again I'm halfway through college and really don't have any responsibilities apart from not failing exams.
I can't say that much against FF - they gave me a Government scholarship! I wouldn't vote for them now though, even though I may have considered it about a year ago.

If I can't find a job after college, I will probably emigrate. But my attitude will be "It's rather unfortunate I can't find work here, hopefully I'll get on ok abroad" rather than "ZOMG! DIS CUNTRY AND GUBBERMENT!! IT'Z A DISGRACE!!1!! MOGADISHU AND BAGHDAD R LYK A BILLION TIMES BETTER!!1!!"

I don't seem to have the fight da powah dream that most AHers do. I'd rather just wait for the next election than dream up some of sort of ridiculous coup. Oh well, guess that makes a dumb sheep then! :rolleyes:

tech77 wrote: »

You poor thing, you're nearly freezing.
(^the pedants will appreciate it anyway)

Kelvin scale?
High five! :pac:

OPENROAD

ScumLord wrote: »

That's because they'd only crash into each other. :pac:

You couldn't make it up, the praise the system has got yet we don't have a central station where you have access to both lines.

ScumLord

Knife-WREEENCH wrote: »

I've managed to keep fairly cool, but then again I'm halfway through college and really don't have any responsibilities apart from not failing exams.
I can't say that much against FF - they gave me a Government scholarship! I wouldn't vote for them now though, even though I may have considered it about a year ago.

If I can't find a job after college, I will probably emigrate. But my attitude will be "It's rather unfortunate I can't find work here, hopefully I'll get on ok abroad" rather than "ZOMG! DIS CUNTRY AND GUBBERMENT!! IT'Z A DISGRACE!!1!! MOGADISHU AND BAGHDAD R LYK A BILLION TIMES BETTER!!1!!"

I don't seem to have the fight da powah dream that most AHers do. I'd rather just wait for the next election than dream up some of sort of ridiculous coup. Oh well, guess that makes a dumb sheep then! :rolleyes:

:

You might will change your mind when you get out into the real world and realise how bad it is. Then you'll go baaaa Bastards! Like the rest of us.

KnifeWRENCH

ScumLord wrote: »

You might will change your mind when you get out into the real world and realise how bad it is. Then you'll go baaaa Bastards! Like the rest of us.

Meh, I might just stay in college until the recessions ends. The thought of having to live in the "real world" is rather terrifying when I've managed to avoid it for nearly 20 years.

Lollipops23

i'd be outta here if i could find a job to save up enough moola to do it:(

Champ

Its refreshing to see that i'm not the only one who think this is going to end very badly something akin to Ireland ending up like that Russian space station in Armageddon (1998).

When you realise just how much in the red Ireland is in the Bord Snip report doesn't come close to cutting it. With our proscatinating, ineffectual government (who still went on their long Summer break despite the dire circumstances Ireland is in) and the Trade Unions guaranteed to be very unreceptive to any cutbacks i.e. strike!... What cuts that do go through and don't be surprised if they get extremely watered down will be superfluous in the long run.

Yep time to abandon ship and relocate to a country:
-Which has a more efficent government and public sector (expenses proportionally to running the country i.e. not a country the size of Ireland who's leader gets paid more than the USA president)
-Zero to little trade union trouble (or at least reasonable ones that won't respond to "Look we're going bankrupt, may already be bankrupt so we need to make cuts" with "strike!")
-A proper justice system... just how many times can you defend so many criminals with 40+ previous convictions saying its not his fault as "He came from a disadvantaged background, fell in with the wrong people, is overcoming an alcohol problem, is misunderstood and generally wants to change"... He gets multiple concurrent, suspended sentences and a few days later stabs someone, beats someone near to death etc...Back to square one with the whole state has victimised the criminal sob story...

Whiskey Devil

Champ wrote: »

Its refreshing to see that i'm not the only one who think this is going to end very badly something akin to Ireland ending up like that Russian space station in Armageddon (1998).

When you realise just how much in the red Ireland is in the Bord Snip report doesn't come close to cutting it. With our proscatinating, ineffectual government (who still went on their long Summer break despite the dire circumstances Ireland is in) and the Trade Unions guaranteed to be very unreceptive to any cutbacks i.e. strike!... What cuts that do go through and don't be surprised if they get extremely watered down will be superfluous in the long run.

Yep time to abandon ship and relocate to a country:
-Which has a more efficent government and public sector (expenses proportionally to running the country i.e. not a country the size of Ireland who's leader gets paid more than the USA president)
-Zero to little trade union trouble (or at least reasonable ones that won't respond to "Look we're going bankrupt, may already be bankrupt so we need to make cuts" with "strike!")
-A proper justice system... just how many times can you defend so many criminals with 40+ previous convictions saying its not his fault as "He came from a disadvantaged background, fell in with the wrong people, is overcoming an alcohol problem, is misunderstood and generally wants to change"... He gets multiple concurrent, suspended sentences and a few days later stabs someone, beats someone near to death etc...Back to square one with the whole state has victimised the criminal sob story...

Brian Cowen does not earn more than Barack Obama, but he IS the 4th highest paid politician in the world!

This is the the top 5..

1. Lee Hsien Loong – Singapore

Salary in dollars – $2.47 million

Salary in local currency – S$3.76 million

2. Donald Tsang Yum-Kuen – Hong Kong

Salary in dollars – $516,000

Salary in local currency – HK$4 million

3. Barack Obama – United States

Salary in dollars – $400,000

4. Brian Cowen – Ireland

Salary in dollars – $341,000

Salary in local currency – €257,000

5. Nicolas Sarkozy – France

Salary in dollars – $318,000

Salary in local currency – €240,000

994

Yeah, get angry and whinge in the pub and online, but never do the tiniest thing to improve anything.

994

Knife-WREEENCH wrote: »

I can't say that much against FF - they gave me a Government scholarship!

No, they didn't. Taxpayers and the dept. of Education and Science did.

orourkeda

F*ck the recession. Let's all get sh*tfaced.

galwayrush

orourkeda wrote: »

F*ck the recession. Let's all get sh*tfaced.

Can't afford to anymore.:(

orourkeda

When Barack Obama and Brian Cowen leave office who will have the greater earning power. Whether Mr Obama's tenure as president is a success or failure is irrelevant. He will be offered many high powered and highly paid posts purely on the basis that he served a stint as the worlds most influential political leader. While each of the respective leaders salary is an issue it isnt all that important. Shouldnt we focus on their performance in the role

KnifeWRENCH

994 wrote: »

No, they didn't. Taxpayers and the dept. of Education and Science did.

Well I hardly expected Mary Hanafin to give me money out of her own pocket now, did I? :rolleyes:

My point was that FF introduced that particular scheme 2 years ago and I was damn glad to be one of the first people to benefit from it.

goldenbrown

from a week in west kerry, beach, mountains, beach, mountains, fairly far from boiling point....:)

the_dark_side

we have produced a generation of children who believe they are entitled to the same rights as adults, but are not ready to accept grown-up responsibilities... the same can be said of Ireland as a country.

Whether we like it or not, we have been suffering from spoilt brat syndrome. Never satisfied, self centred, tantrum throwing and lazy. And now that the party is over, the spolit brat's mother goes cap in hand, to the Middle East, in order to try to secure more funding for the spoilt brat... even though it will give little or nothing in return.

If you continue to hand material goods to a spoilt child, they are never satisfied, and they never value what they own, only thinking of what they can gain.

I cant help thinking of the couple that were featured on a recession documentary on RTE. She worked for Microsoft and he worked in Intel... she quit her job to set up an estate agency dealing in property in Bulgaria. They got married in Slane Castle!!!! A hugely expensive wedding... glitz and glamour to beat the band... she now drives over to the dole office in her 06 silver Merc once a week to collect €210 a week, the company having folded.

Biggins

Whiskey Devil wrote: »

Brian Cowen does not earn more than Barack Obama, but he IS the 4th highest paid politician in the world!

...

3. Barack Obama – United States
Salary in dollars – $400,000

4. Brian Cowen – Ireland
Salary in dollars – $341,000

Brian Cowen last year as per Dept of finance records:

Taoiseach: €240,042
Personal Unvouched Expenses claimed for: €41,000
Total: €281,042 or $400,409.65

However Jackie Healy-Rea can beat that!!!
Last year:
Basic Salary - €106,581
Personal Secretary Allowance (He don't have one! He uses the Dail secretaries) - €40,090
Independent Allowance - €41,152
Committee Vice-Chair - €10,241
Walk Around Money Per Week (ALL TD's get this) €234.00 x 52 - €12168
Unvouched Expences - €89,705

Total: €299,937.00 or $422,925.83
...and he refused to take a 10% pay cut.
His exact words were: "I took no paycut because our expenses are being cut, our phones are being cut, our over-nights are being cut and our travel is being cut. I feel I have had enough cuts already!"

galwayrush

Despite being busy ,I have not been able to pay myself any money for the last 3 weeks because some of my clients couldn't pay me for my work.:( I am severely pissed off, because i'm self employed, i can't draw social welfare.

orourkeda

It's fair to say that we only get the politicians we deserve. Either Irish people are stupid or they love a good stroke and a good stroker. Why else could we allow claims like this without kicking up a stink

Rosser

I fairly boil when the vested interests start griping. We're in sh1t and the fastest way out is to take the medicine (all of it) then when the patient is in recovery we can worry about ousting the government

Whiskey Devil

Biggins wrote: »

Brian Cowen last year as per Dept of finance records:

Taoiseach: €240,042
Personal Unvouched Expenses claimed for: €41,000
Total: €281,042 or $400,409.65

However Jackie Healy-Rea can beat that!!!
Last year:
Basic Salary - €106,581
Personal Secretary Allowance (He don't have one! He uses the Dail secretaries) - €40,090
Independent Allowance - €41,152
Committee Vice-Chair - €10,241
Walk Around Money Per Week (ALL TD's get this) €234.00 x 52 - €12168
Unvouched Expences - €89,705

Total: €299,937.00 or $422,925.83
...and he refused to take a 10% pay cut.
His exact words were: "I took no paycut because our expenses are being cut, our phones are being cut, our over-nights are being cut and our travel is being cut. I feel I have had enough cuts already!"

Obama hardly pays his own way. I'm not defending Brian Cowen but all things taken into consideration (cost of living in Ireland compared to the US) his earnings are not on par with Obama's.

As for Jackie Healy-Rae, what else would you expect from a farmer? Scumbag.
:mad:

All Dáil members salaries should be halved for the forseeable future. Fookin' criminals!!

highgiant1985

I've no pref in politics before i post this but sorry can someone verify this is correct? Also where have people got these figures from?

That Jackie Healy claimed (i cant remember year was it last yr?) of
Personal Secretary Allowance (He don't have one! He uses the Dail secretaries) - €40,090? but that he doesnt have a personal secretary

To be honest I'm not well up in all the details but If the above is true I'm surprised more hasn't been made of this. To me this would seem similiar to the contraversy over in England where MPs were claiming allowances they shouldn't have.

From my understanding of the above he claimed a Personal Secretary Allowance of over 40,000 the purpose of which is I would have assumed is to pay for a Personal Secretary to work for him. But you say he doesn't have one? Surely then he shouldn't be claiming the allowance? I'd question what the money was spent on instead?

Whiskey Devil

highgiant1985 wrote: »

I've no pref in politics before i post this but sorry can someone verify this is correct? Also where have people got these figures from?

That Jackie Healy claimed (i cant remember year was it last yr?) of
Personal Secretary Allowance (He don't have one! He uses the Dail secretaries) - €40,090? but that he doesnt have a personal secretary

To be honest I'm not well up in all the details but If the above is true I'm surprised more hasn't been made of this. To me this would seem similiar to the contraversy over in England where MPs were claiming allowances they shouldn't have.

From my understanding of the above he claimed a Personal Secretary Allowance of over 40,000 the purpose of which is I would have assumed is to pay for a Personal Secretary to work for him. But you say he doesn't have one? Surely then he shouldn't be claiming the allowance? I'd question what the money was spent on instead?

Cattle.

Biggins

highgiant1985 wrote: »

I've no pref in politics before i post this but sorry can someone verify this is correct? Also where have people got these figures from?

That Jackie Healy claimed (i cant remember year was it last yr?) of
Personal Secretary Allowance (He don't have one! He uses the Dail secretaries) - €40,090? but that he doesnt have a personal secretary

To be honest I'm not well up in all the details but If the above is true I'm surprised more hasn't been made of this. To me this would seem similiar to the controversy over in England where MPs were claiming allowances they shouldn't have.

From my understanding of the above he claimed a Personal Secretary Allowance of over 40,000 the purpose of which is I would have assumed is to pay for a Personal Secretary to work for him. But you say he doesn't have one? Surely then he shouldn't be claiming the allowance? I'd question what the money was spent on instead?

Thats a good question to ask about.
Questions from the opposition about expenses, etc are not asked for a simple reason I suspect. They too are looking out for themselves.
Asking in the Dail for others to explain "Expenses" would be opening an issue that would come back to slap them in the face. They have their "expenses" too which they might not want look at too closely!

As for Rae...
I keep up on their wages, etc each year.
Here is a brief clip close to hand from a paper that covered some of those willing to take any cut and some of their money, expenses.



O' and if FF want to keep Rae sweet and in their pocket, they are not likely to go poking around what he does with his money either.
As long as he keeps voting with the Gov' they seem to be happy!

Also remember that ALL TD's are entitled to a TD state pension for EVERY 4 years they are in government (as well as a further rise in it for departments they've worked in, etc).
For example Harney is a TD 25 years approx. Divide that by 4 and add up the state TD pensions she will get at the appropriate age. Some have reached that age already.
Then there is "Double-jobbing"... its goes on and on...

carlybabe1

This government is the worst we've ever had since Charlie Capone. The rest of the country is struglling to keep these donkeys and their friends in the life to which they have become accustomed, on the sweat of the working classes back. All the while they are slicing budgets on the most vulnerable, they are shoring themselves up and they themselves are not giving up a penny regardless of the crap about voluntary pay cuts, people should google when that comes into effect.

The head guy for an board snip for example got paid 1000 per week on top of his lecturers salary, also paid for by fathead cowen.

Its enough to make a person sick. :mad:

And another thing, although we do pay a high rate of social welfare, before we go cutting it in half, we should look at the level of poverty in other countries that have a miniscule welfare system. I'd much prefer to save money by cutting fatheads wages and expenses than have a system where the poor classes cant get medical treatment because they cant afford it.

I wonder if I was to propose a rally against the government and their proposed snip-fest how many boards members would join me, or is it all just mouth and trousers, while we slink away to a corner, bend over to take it up the ass and come back for more with a smile on our faces. Christ I hate this country at th moment :mad:

Biggins

carlybabe1 wrote: »

..I wonder if I was to propose a rally against the government and their proposed snip-fest how many boards members would join me...

Just let me know where, when or if you need help getting organised! Seriously.
If you don't think I'm serious, here is my site: www.unitedpeople.ie
I've started advertising in papers already!

---

The Perks Of Government

Our present glorious leader is paid €70,000 more than the head of the Labour party in England. Add to that a near €40,000 extra he gets in perks, it adds up to quite a wage.

The taxpayer is now forking out nearly €100,000 in unvouched expenses for TDs every day they attend the Dail.

Unlike practically every other worker in the State, the elected representatives do not have to provide receipts proving they spent the money. And the majority of backbench TDs receive allowances on top of their basic pay for service as chairs, vice-chairs or whips on one of the 20 Oireachtas committees. This means that the average expenses claimed by TD during the first 10 months of 2008 amounted to €39,905 each -- €6,000 more than the average industrial wage. On top of this, the country's 60 senators claimed almost €3m between January and November last year. The generous agreement which allows them to claim lavish expenses is unsurprisingly set by the Oireachtas which they run. Mileage, overnight allowances and office costs are all payable unvouched.

Just for showing up, TDs who live within 15 miles of Leinster House are entitled to €61.33 in travel and subsistence. Those who live 16 miles and further away are given €139.67 for overnight expenses. Each TD is also provided with €40,090 to employ an office secretary, although recent Freedom of Information requests have shown that many hire family members.

An analysis of expense claims for the first 10 months of last year shows that TDs claimed a whopping €6.5m, when the Dail sat for just 68 days. That works out at €95,588 for every day the Dail was in session. On top of this, allowances received for chairing Oireachtas committees are pensionable. Other bonuses include office equipment and stationery, a free parking space in Leinster House and free postage of 21,000 envelopes a year.

Government Ministers are also entitled to "walking around money". The €240-a-week extra is paid to reimburse them for money spent acting as a Minister. The special tax-free expense was not reduced when Ministers agreed to a 10pc pay cut in the October budget. And that is before you factor in overseas travel.

Last year, it was revealed how in just eight month, TDs and senators (excluding the Taoiseach and Government ministers), spent over half a million euro on overseas travel. Some 115 of the public representatives bagged junkets to destinations including Australia, Washington, India, Egypt, Mexico and even Kazakhstan.

Pensions

Thirty-six current politicians from across the political spectrum are pocketing €700,000 a year worth of ministerial pensions -- on top of inflated salaries and massive expenses.

None of them have reached retirement age!

Among the biggest beneficiaries is former Bertie Ahearn who has a pension of over €160,000 on top of his salary. Other 'pensioners' include the leader of Fianna Gael Enda Kenny, who draws a yearly pension of €15,000, and his deputy, Richard Bruton who gets €14,041. But when Senator Brady raised the matter at Brain Cowen's economic briefing for Fianna Fail TDs recently he says he got "the silent treatment".

Other individuals in receipt of large State pensions include the multi-millionaire businessman and 'God's Banker' Peter Sutherland, who is chairman of BP, one of the world's largest multi-nationals. He collects a yearly pension of €50,000 as a former Attorney General -- as does wealthy Senior council Harry Whelehan.

---

News report on the VERY few that took a cut due to "stephen":
http://www.independent.ie/national-news/budget-2009/news/only-12-tds-are-now-making-pay-sacrifice-1700769.html

galwayrush

highgiant1985 wrote: »

That Jackie Healy claimed (i cant remember year was it last yr?) of
Personal Secretary Allowance (He don't have one! He uses the Dail secretaries) - €40,090? but that he doesnt have a personal secretary

Isn't that a matter for the fraud squad? probably an offense that carries a good stretch in prison.:(

carlybabe1

Cool, name the day, cause seriously somethin needs to be done....
I couldn't read your whole post cause it was boilin my piss, they must be laughin their fat heads off at the idea and stupidity of us lower classes, sure we're to dumb and unmotivated to get off our arses and do anything about it :mad:

carlybabe1

galwayrush wrote: »

Isn't that a matter for the fraud squad? probably an offense that carries a good stretch in prison.:(

Yes, the fraud squad.....then we'll have another multi-billion tribunal that will push us further into debt, last for years, and nobody will be any the wiser of the outcome....

galwayrush

carlybabe1 wrote: »

Yes, the fraud squad.....then we'll have another multi-billion tribunal that will push us further into debt, last for years, and nobody will be any the wiser of the outcome....

No need for any tribunals if the fraud squad were let do their job.:(

Whiskey Devil

Have there been any anti-Government protests in this country 'cos I haven't heard of any. That just about sums up this country. :pac:


What would be the point anyway, it's not like we've got an alternative.

highgiant1985

carlybabe1 wrote: »

Yes, the fraud squad.....then we'll have another multi-billion tribunal that will push us further into debt, last for years, and nobody will be any the wiser of the outcome....

sorry again lack on knowledge my part - who/what are the fraud squad?

Biggins

Whiskey Devil wrote: »

Have there been any anti-Government protests in this country 'cos I haven't heard of any. That just about sums up this country. :pac:

What would be the point anyway, it's not like we've got an alternative.

Depressingly true.
Its about time one was created or an already existing quiet one should in the next 3 months, should go for it getting the publics attention.

goldenbrown

did the mccarthey report not suggest closing the expensive senate...read my lips....it has no function.....

also ...no public employee should ever be paid more than 200k for next 10 years

KTRIC

I'm oiling up a pistol in preparation for monday morning in the office :cool:

Biggins

KTRIC wrote: »

I'm oiling up a pistol in preparation for monday morning in the office :cool:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_Don%27t_Like_Mondays_%28song%29

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Going_postal

galwayrush

goldenbrown wrote: »

did the mccarthey report not suggest closing the expensive senate...read my lips....it has no function.....

also ...no public employee should ever be paid more than 200k for next 10 years

Hmm, strange one that, might i dare suggest that there were guidelines drawn up by the politicians first:rolleyes:

carlybabe1

galwayrush wrote: »

No need for any tribunals if the fraud squad were let do their job.:(

How very true, however, the back scratching must continue lest they are all investigated and discovered to be crooked
:eek: facepalm

Whiskey Devil wrote: »

Have there been any anti-Government protests in this country 'cos I haven't heard of any. That just about sums up this country. :pac:


What would be the point anyway, it's not like we've got an alternative.

Thats so defeatist, thats exactly why they think they can pull this **** and get away with it... its the lower classes who are struggling, loosing their jobs and their homes while fat cat bankers who miss-managed our pensions are being shored up by our tax dollars, all while still enjoying huge fcuking pensions???? I mean COME ON PEOPLE

goldenbrown wrote: »

did the mccarthey report not suggest closing the expensive senate...read my lips....it has no function.....

also ...no public employee should ever be paid more than 200k for next 10 years

Yes I'd second that suggestion..... we need action

Clarehobo

My cunning plan is...
Walk into Leinster house while they're all on holidays and take over - a totally peaceful coup d'état. No murder needed! Who's with me?
Fidel Castro managed to free his country with a handful of men and they even fought against and survived the mighty US of A's brilliant campaigns.

They expect everyone else to bear the brunt of the cuts while they get on their government jet and leave the country.
The cuts suggested aren't quarter enough. Stop paying politicians altogether. Give them an IOU that they can cash in when all this is sorted.
If this were a private company and they had performance related pay, well they'd never be paid anything more than their basic wage.

I don't get why the trade unions, etc... can't organise a protest day.
Everyone have a sit in outside Leinster house.
Not about the proposed cuts, but about what we are not cutting(Politicians wages).
About who we are not prosecuting despite dishonest practises(Anglo Irish anybody???).
About employers capitalising on this situation by getting employees to take a paycut so they can increase their bottom line and still giving their directors massive bonuses(including my company grrrr....).
About paying Miriam O'Callaghan to dress like a Christmas tree on telly and talk to idiots(Anyone see the Irish female writers segment a few weeks ago where Amanda Brunker wore the a "dress" that no one should ever try to sit down in)
About the dole queue getting longer.
About paying whole families of skangers, who have never contributed PRSI, getting the dole, a free house and being paid to reproduce when people who are working to keep a house under their arse will no longer be able to afford to have children because they will exceed the means test.

I am going to stick this country out for another while. I'm on for any real world protest(no petitions!). But if we can't even manage a poxy protest...
I don't know how much longer I can sit around bitching about how this country is run and not do anything about it!

OPENROAD

Biggins wrote: »

Thats a good question to ask about.
Questions from the opposition about expenses, etc are not asked for a simple reason I suspect. They too are looking out for themselves.
Asking in the Dail for others to explain "Expenses" would be opening an issue that would come back to slap them in the face. They have their "expenses" too which they might not want look at too closely!

As for Rae...
I keep up on their wages, etc each year.
Here is a brief clip close to hand from a paper that covered some of those willing to take any cut and some of their money, expenses.



O' and if FF want to keep Rae sweet and in their pocket, they are not likely to go poking around what he does with his money either.
As long as he keeps voting with the Gov' they seem to be happy!

Also remember that ALL TD's are entitled to a TD state pension for EVERY 4 years they are in government (as well as a further rise in it for departments they've worked in, etc).
For example Harney is a TD 25 years approx. Divide that by 4 and add up the state TD pensions she will get at the appropriate age. Some have reached that age already.
Then there is "Double-jobbing"... its goes on and on...

Why haven't the media made an issue out of expenses?

Biggins

OPENROAD wrote: »

Why haven't the media made an issue out of expenses?

Good blommin' question!

galwayrush

Biggins wrote: »

Good blommin' question!

My Uncle wrote some letters to the main newspapers regarding the expenses , none of them were ever printed.:rolleyes:

kumate_champ07

ScumLord wrote: »

I have friends that will turn off the news or bin the paper in disgust at the state of this country, roads and hospitals or talk of bankers and politicians because it just makes them to angry. Everyones pissed, lots of people are out of work thanks to the narrow mindedness of the people in charge of this country and our money. I've heard many people say if this was any other country there'd be riots in the streets and calls for blood but we've stayed the course even though some high ups rub our noses in the dirt by making everyone take pay cuts bar them selfs.

Just how close are you to giving up on this country? What else would it take for the Irish to turn nasty and oust the government? Would it ever happen in this country?

I reckon we'll toe the line indefinitely if the worst does happen most will just abandon this country and move on, it's tradition after all. I've pretty much given up on this current regime I have no faith in the government or the people to be honest.

so what country you thinking about moving to? perhaps youd like to move over the pond to the most privacy invading government in the world, and thats a fact. cctv everywhere with software to track car regs and keep them in databases.

Champ

Clarehobo wrote:

I don't get why the trade unions, etc... can't organise a protest day.
Everyone have a sit in outside Leinster house.
Not about the proposed cuts, but about what we are not cutting(Politicians wages)

Ha, you won't get protests persay... What you will get is strikes galore on nearly anything related to cutting back the public sector bill for any reason that can be thought of... I'm sure we'll hear about the politicians wages eventually amongst "We didn't cause this / It's not our fault!", "The good fight!", "Time to stand up to the greedy rich!", "The public sector has already taken a cut with the pension levy, stop trying to make us scape goats!" *glances at the destroyed, burnt out corpse that was the private sector*...

Try to explain to the unions that NONE of this actually matters since we as a country are flat out completely BROKE and you'll be wondering whether your speaking some alien language or something.

So when the government finally comes back from its holidays (during which time things would have proceeded to disintegrate unabated) the Bord Snip cutbacks and any others needed to help save the country will likely remain gridlocked due to the ICTU political weight. So even after the Bord Snip fanfare we'll hardly be better off... cause nothing has changed in the government... indecisive, proscatinating....They will probably take months to actual decide what to do with the Bord Snip report.:rolleyes:

Alright for you people in the private sector here's my idea of what we can do. Form some type of offical organisation with the express purpose of saving the country? Since there is a greater number of us it should have some very strong political muscle.
The charter would include:
-Government reform
Streamline the government body, reform wages to make it proportional to running a country this size, make all expenses transparent to the public.
-Make the cutbacks necessary to save the country from bankruptcy
No surprise this will be the toughest part for a variety of reasons. Expect to heavily clash with the ICTU here. Still better than leaving the government and ICTU to their own devices.
-Return Ireland to a competitive state
Self explanatory. Again ICTU clashes are probably inevitable here.

kumate_champ07

funnily enough i watched 'falling down' today.

In All Fairness

OPENROAD wrote: »

Why haven't the media made an issue out of expenses?

I would doubt very much that RTE are in any position to throw stones when it comes to expenses if their salaries and the huge loss they made last year are anything to go by. As to the newspapers prob the same thing. Also if you were cynical you would say dem newspaper magnates sure do like their tax-breaks.

As to the xpenses,they just highlight the issue that the government is not the problem,it's the whole of leinster house and their inner circle of privilege. "Walking around money" is more than the weekly social welfare.

ScumLord

But what can be done? They're well experienced at ignoring large marches. I doubt it would have any impact on them at all.

galwayrush

ScumLord wrote: »

But what can be done? They're well experienced at ignoring large marches. I doubt it would have any impact on them at all.

Regarding politicans, we have to make sure the smug bastards don't get re elected next time.

tech77

Knife-WREEENCH wrote: »

Kelvin scale?
High five! :pac:

Whah?
Boiling point on the Kelvin scale is 373, isn't it.

No.
Basically, the OP asked how far away from boiling point are you?
That poster said 99.9 degrees.
So he's either 0.1 or 199.9 degrees.
I figured he was 0.1 (close to freezing) because keyboards usually start to melt at 199.9.
Hence the freezing comment.

highgiant1985

In All Fairness wrote: »

I would doubt very much that RTE are in any position to throw stones when it comes to expenses if their salaries and the huge loss they made last year are anything to go by. As to the newspapers prob the same thing. Also if you were cynical you would say dem newspaper magnates sure do like their tax-breaks.

As to the xpenses,they just highlight the issue that the government is not the problem,it's the whole of leinster house and their inner circle of privilege. "Walking around money" is more than the weekly social welfare.

Is there any one this would be worth emailing to? In the hope they might actually follow it up even if the chance is remote.

Seriously if its as I understand it then this is just as serious as the scandal in England and we should be doing just as big a deal. I'd be interested in knowing if any others had collected allowances should as the personnel Secetary allowance when they dont even have one.