Our Politicians dont want their expenses changed . . Will you strike on the streets ?

Drumpot

I just heard there that the head of the board setup to make recommendations of changes to T.D.'s salary's/expenses has quit because they say there is no political will to actually implement any changes that may cost our "protected" beasts in the Dail . .

People will strike for personal levys . .

In terms of saving money in the economy its a small point of course. But if we have a government, who people have little enough confidence in, telling us all to tighten our belts and give more to our economy, they need to lead by example. We need a government that serves the people, rather then a government that serves themselves when it suits. Because we dont demand it, we get the government we deserve . .

Will people strike for an obvious disgrace that is the over payment of those in politics ?

I doubt it . . . We may slag the French, but they dont take crap the likes we accept . .

RonMexico

I'm in if there is a march. There should be one. I'd also like to point out that the expenses crap applies to all parties across the board. Some of the current govt. expenses are a joke but what is even worse is the expenses of those who aren't even ministers. I am looking at certain FG polititians in particular.

Scootay

TD's miscellaneous expense allowance, which remains unvouched, will be reduced from €5,482 to a mere €5,000. Travel within their constituency, also unvouched, will drop from €2,745 to €2,500 for smaller 3 seaters and from €8,782 to €8,000 for larger constituencies. That is a saving of €1,264 per TD and they'll be forced to scrape by on their unvouched €13,000 on top of their meagre salary.

That, apparently, is the TD's showing real leadership in these tough times.

If there's a march you can count me in.

Drumpot

Excellent . . .


We should organise a "We want T.D.'s to be part of the Recession" march . .

hellboy99

Drumpot wrote: »

We may slag the French, but they dont take crap the likes we accept . .

They have the right idea and because the people here don't act the same, this is why the government can seem to do what they want and is half the reason we're in the mess we now find ourselves in.

Scootay wrote: »

If there's a march you can count me in.

+1

junkyard

It most certainly is time to march, the country needs to come to a stand still for a day because the shower supposed to be running the place have completely lost the run of themselves ( is Cowen really earning more money than Obama? This is just unbelieveable to be quite honest) If it was any other country they'd be dragged through the streets.

hellboy99

junkyard wrote: »

is Cowen really earning more money than Obama?

Someone should tell Obama this, he could come over here for the job as Taoiseach, I think my taxes would be better spent paying him a wage than Cowen

seancoistine

So many of them hold 'family seats'. The local organisations are kept low key and stuffed with their own supporters to prevent challengers emerging within the party, as this the the source of real danger for a TD.

This is'nt representative democracy, it's more like feudalism.

Over the last twenty five years they have increase their basic pay by about 50% compared with where it used to be compared with civil service pay scales. This was in order to attract better candidates 'mar dea'. What it did was make the job so valuable it had to be passed on within the family.

skelliser

its a family affair!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Families_in_the_Oireachtas

i cant post it here, its too long!
and yes brian cowen is paid more then obama, and sarkozy. oh and angela merkel and did i forget gordon brown

hellboy99

skelliser wrote: »

and yes brian cowen is paid more then obama, and sarkozy. oh and angela merkel and did i forget gordon brown

What a joke, can someone tell me why he is paid so much because I'm finding it hard to justify any sort of a wage he would get as leader at the moment

Amalgam

Would a 'General Strike' be more of a possibility?

To be honest, a march would 'do' nothing. Politicians seem to have a bad case of the Tiger vapours still.. nothing will be noticed unless it challenges them directly, or is a risk to their sedentary lifestyles.

Amalgam

Sadly, your typical working man can be disarmed politically, by an XBox 360 and a beer.. nothing else matters.

creeper1

I don't want to say this but to play devil's advocate in defence of politicians (someone needs to do it) they took a 10 % pay cut when the recession started biting.
ALSO
We have seen rises in living prices and and a tremendous boom in Ireland in the last fifteen years. Brian Cowen could point to that as reason for his salary being bigger than Obama's. Maybe they could also say you lads were begrudgers.

However I believe they do need to lead from the front and take a cut in expenses. They remind us that benefits in Ireland are very generous. Well let me respond to them that politician's salaries are very generous.

mikemac

junkyard wrote: »

It most certainly is time to march, the country needs to come to a stand still for a day because the shower supposed to be running the place have completely lost the run of themselves ( is Cowen really earning more money than Obama?

This expenses issue applies to all TDs, not just those in government. FG has some of the worst offenders, I saw some league table somewhere. But I'm not picking on one party, realy all parties have this issue
Though I'd say you know this already

Drumpot

I could of elaborated more but just wanted to get the general opinion . .

Firstly , Mr Devils advocate . . Yes T.D.'s took a token gesture paycut, but it didnt go far enough. 5% - 10% of somebody already overpaid means they are being brought nearer their fair salary. When somebody gets €167k in expenses, you know something is dodgy. Then you get the "Im entitled to it" pathetic weak excuses. Yep, if you constantly raise you salary's, constantly increase your expenses, using taxpayers money you are indeed entitled to it. In fact you are entitled to screw the taxpayer as much as you like, once there isnt any civil unrest .. .

In the scheme of things this expenses issue is small if we are talking about making savings to the exchequer. However I think the last thing you want in power at a time like this is a morally corrupt government (opposition parties and all).

Some people would argue that we need hard decisions made immediatley and that this is a distraction, but I believe this is vital. Like many, I question the ability of this government to get us out of this predicament (I also question opposition parties abilities). I want to believe that they will get us out but the way they constantly paste over the pink elephant that is their own remuneration is simply making them look like morally bankrupt spongers.

We are all being asked to take pay cuts, commit to a hugely important financial body that could take decades to payoff and follow this government down whatever road they take us. But there is no sacrifice on the politicians behalf. I think there should be more paycuts in the public sector, but I dont believe they should have to take any if all government expenses arent SIGNIFICANTLY reduced.

I believe myself to be generally pragmatic about things. While I dont like the populous phrase "bailing out the banks/builders" (because many using it dont understand the necessity of this action) its small but significant incidents like T.D.s expenses that worry me that our government is still focused on what they can get from their country as opposed to what they can give to their country . .

norrie rugger

creeper1 wrote: »

We have seen rises in living prices and and a tremendous boom in Ireland in the last fifteen years. Brian Cowen could point to that as reason for his salary being bigger than Obama's. Maybe they could also say you lads were begrudgers.

We have all had increases, in cost of living. That is why so many people can no longer afford a house. A 10% pay cut to a politician on Minimum €80,000 (PLUS expenses) is nothing compared to a 10% pay cut to someone on €25,000/€30,000.
Also there are thousands of people who have been docked 100% of their pay. I don't see any politicians being made redundant

merlynthewizard

I posted this on another thread but it nearly made me crash......

This was just discussed on newstalk by Eddie Hobbs

The developers avoided stamp duty by using "power of attorney" - and this scam was actually LEGALISED by the government. Solicitors were involved in the scam.

And all legalised by Brian Cowen.

This is one of the biggest scandals in the history of the state.

Hundreds of millions and perhaps billions lost to the state in revenue because of tax avoidance and a loophole which Cowen first missed and then legalised.

And the lost revenue will now have to be made up with new taxes including a property tax.

Time to hit the streets lads.

thms.kelly

yes we should take to the streets in protest, we have been more than patriotic so far with all our sacrifices, but when it is time for our friends in the dail to make a token sacrifice, they are left wanting

AMIIAM

thms.kelly wrote: »

yes we should take to the streets in protest, we have been more than patriotic so far with all our sacrifices, but when it is time for our friends in the dail to make a token sacrifice, they are left wanting

In my opinion, protest marches to begin with is needed. Reform in Government is BADLY needed. We should demand they take a 50% pay cut. (They would still be overpaid)! Then clear out the bankers who put us in this terrible mess through their corruption and GREED. What other country on this planet would actually TOLERATE failed bankers who having caused the problem in the first instance, then have the audacity to then lecture the Govt on how to clear up THEIR mess! HEADS have got to ROLL! Parisian style would be most appropriate!:D:D:D

chris85

I am in too... im serious that one should happen now and would be there in a heartbeat.

One TD recently had to go from one terminal to the other in Heathrow for connecting flight. Instead of the free terminal transfer he used a hired driver to get between terminals. he hired the car and driver from a friends company in london for a price of over €1000 as far as i know.

If he was in a rush to catch a plane I wouldnt have minded a taxi between terminals which may have costed £10 or something but its ridiculus

erictheviking

Too many keyboard warriors in Ireland methinks! Why would anyone go and confront a politician for creaming exorbitant pay & expenses from the taxpayer or have a go at a greedy property developer or banker. Its far easier to blame it all on a roadsweeper or low level public servant.
The keyboard nerds....OOPS! I mean warriors can then go and vote Fianna Fail in all over again....and the cycle continues...

mel123

well someone has to start the strike, so can we not do it here??
we have to all stick together, and NOT pay these ridiculous charges. we have taken two cuts in taxes on our wages recently, that was enough, the government got us into this mess, its unfair to pass anything else onto the 'ordinary' joe soap. its up to us now not to take a stand.

Boskowski

seancoistine wrote: »

Over the last twenty five years they have increase their basic pay by about 50% compared with where it used to be compared with civil service pay scales. This was in order to attract better candidates 'mar dea'. What it did was make the job so valuable it had to be passed on within the family.

But to be fair there is two sides to the story. There is the family affair thing, alright, but these people still need to find enough donkeys to vote for them. Which apparently is not a problem...

bamboozle

i saw from the published expenses for the north county dublin region, 2 FF TD's claimed expense of about 95k, whereas Trevor Sargent claimed expenses of 19k

either way, much as i can see the merits of a strike, an email or letter to all the TD's, councellors, senetors in your constitutiency detailing your disgust at the level of pay & compensation in Dail Eireann...and then encourange everyone you know to do likewise.

i did so last year after hearing the obscene payoff our disgraced & highly incompetent former Financial Regulator recieved (his pension is greater than that of Ben Bernanke, head of the US Federal Reserve), the funny thing was i received a reply from 7 out of 10 folk i had emailed. the 3 who never bothered replying were all FF.

Pedro K

Well the fact still stands that something definatley needs to be done.

If there is a march, protest, strike (even though I'm out of work now) I'll be there.

If we were in any other country in europe our government would've been long chased out of town with pitchforks!