We are in a national crisis, where is our government?

hmmm

Sounds like everyone who is supposed to be running this country is sitting around in their committees waiting for some other committee to ring them and ask them to do something on behalf of another committee. The Emergency Committee is waiting to be invited to help local authorities, the army can't do anything without being invited also, Willie O'Dea is waiting for someone to phone him before he can act, Gormley can't do anything unless he is reqested etc etc

We need just one person in Government with a bit of dynamism to bash all these heads together and give the country some hope that the people haven't been abandoned.

nice_guy80

a dictator perhaps?? I know just the man

lostexpectation

ff other most senior transport spokesperson Frank Fahey as chairman of transport committee no word from him it seems

anonymous_joe

DDigital wrote: »

Have I stumbled upon disgust with Dempsey? I hope so. He should be dragged back off holidays to face the music. In fact he should resign for not coming back to his post in a time of need. Gormleys statement was a true treflection of this Governments lopsided makeup of tossers and wannebe tossers.

Dragged back?

Hmmm.

I think he's a fcuktard for staying outside the country during our biggest transport crisis in my living memory.

But he's no different to his UKish or Dutch equivalent, or myriad others. No-one really anticipated it being quite this bad.

And blaming him won't make the ice melt.

Sponge Bob

But he is enjoying himself and refuses to come back. More of his holiday snaps here

spadder

You ungrateful gits!
Brave Minister Dempsey was inspired by the heroic tales of Tom Crean and Ernest Shackleton.

He left us to get help! He and his Garda driver braved the ungritted N3 and M50 to get to the airport. ( he couldn’t use the air corp chopper because it was foggy)

He knew it would be dangerous in the Carribean sun this time of year, but he decided for the sake of the country, it had to be done.

He will return to rescue us from this God forsaken Island.

Spiritoftheseventies

One paper has in Malta another in Portugal. an email he sent to a colleague he sent the problem wasn't his. In other words its down to someone else. Now turns out that applying Sodium Chloride is best way to treat roads as it stops ice from forming. Thats according to an expert on Morning Ireland.

OldJay

I watched a news piece when a reporter told us all that the main roads (think it was in Carlow) were better before the night's freeze but the council still neglected the smaller back-roads. #
When discussing how other countries deal with snow, a woman said that in Scandinavia they would have all roads done, cleared and gritted both main, secondary and back-roads. This is absolutely UNTRUE, whether intentionally or not.
In Norway and Sweden (I'll speak from experience here), country roads are generally NOT cleared by snowploughs or even gritted. People have to contend with them themselves. The reason that they are driveable is because the cars have the correct tires to tackle snowbound conditions. Studded tires or in some countries chained tires that they buy themselves (here in Ireland, people would probably want them for nothing, provided by the taxpayer) are what gets people through it.

RedPlanet

jmayo wrote: »

What about sections of footpath around junctions that happens not to be directly outside anyones property because there is green area which is actually owned by council ?

I suppose you only here to moan since you are not advocating any proposal.
Do you honestly believe that the very scenarios you describe are unique to Ireland, and patchwork layout of private/public land just doesn't exist in other western countries?

Also, do you think it reasonable to expect a local council to do all the snow removal of every single footpath every time it snows?

Let us simply borrow lessons from other countries that experience, what maybe 30 snowfalls per year. By creating a simple resonsbility on the landowner/tenant we can create a small industry for our ambitious unemployed.

Angry Troll

pithater1 wrote: »

[...]w is where our government have been thoughout all this? In particular, where are Ministers Dempsey and Gormley, [...]

i heard a few theories on the radio just this morning, including malta, portugal and florida...not where they should be in the current situation anyway...

freewheeler

Probably be best for us all if he stayed(wherever) he is...and maybe bring some of the other muppets with him? Rumours abound that they have a cardboard cut-out of him in his office and it seems to be performing his role as well as he ever did...and for far less cost :rolleyes:

mike65

spadder wrote: »

You ungrateful gits!
Brave Minister Dempsey was inspired by the heroic tales of Tom Crean and Ernest Shackleton.

He left us to get help! He and his Garda driver braved the ungritted N3 and M50 to get to the airport. ( he couldn’t use the air corp chopper because it was foggy)

He knew it would be dangerous in the Carribean sun this time of year, but he decided for the sake of the country, it had to be done.

He will return to rescue us from this God forsaken Island.

Did you email Pat Kenny with that gem by any chance?

Alun

RedPlanet wrote: »

Also, do you think it reasonable to expect a local council to do all the snow removal of every single footpath every time it snows?

Let us simply borrow lessons from other countries that experience, what maybe 30 snowfalls per year. By creating a simple resonsbility on the landowner/tenant we can create a small industry for our ambitious unemployed.

+1000

In Germany you're obliged to keep the footpath outside your property clear in the case of snow/ice, and if you don't, and someone slips and hurts themselves, you'll get sued. That's a mighty powerful incentive. When I lived there, the landlord for our building contracted out snow removal to a company that did it for us, and we paid for it through our charges, but the principle is the same. Most single householders just do it themselves.

nwordjim

lazy bastards, get out and grit my streets!

Seth Brundle

Sponge Bob wrote: »

His wife is a bit of a looker

nwordjim

Cowen could gain some brownie points by firing him in a very public manner.

If there was an emergency at work while I was on holidays, and I didn't come back or at least get someone to sort you can bet I wouldn't have a job when I got back.

mike65

You'd have thought the gubberment might have seen a speedy comprehensive response to this as being a way of getting back in our good books, but no they can't even spot a decent PR opportunity.

old boy

nwordjim wrote: »

Cowen could gain some brownie points by firing him in a very public manner.

If there was an emergency at work while I was on holidays, and I didn't come back or at least get someone to sort you can bet I wouldn't have a job when I got back.

but you are not a f. failure or a snot minister, so you cannot be sacked.

spadder

mike65 wrote: »

Did you email Pat Kenny with that gem by any chance?

Guilty

Angry Troll

Alun wrote: »

+1000

In Germany you're obliged to keep the footpath outside your property clear in the case of snow/ice, and if you don't, and someone slips and hurts themselves, you'll get sued. That's a mighty powerful incentive. When I lived there, the landlord for our building contracted out snow removal to a company that did it for us, and we paid for it through our charges, but the principle is the same. Most single householders just do it themselves.

yep, works just fine in germany (called “räum- und streupflicht”)...of course, shovelling snow very early every morning before going to work or school can be a tad unpleasant (used to do it for years back home), but as alun said, you can always hire someone else to do it for you…if people clear the footpaths outside their own houses and the city and state take care of all other public roads and spaces, all is under control…maybe the law should be changed accordingly…

and as for running out of grit as seems to be the case here in ireland right now: grit and salt are not very expensive and do not get rotten so can be stored in huge quantities for any such “emergency” or "national crisis" (just using the words in the current context makes me cringe), even for many years and decades…it is indeed, as a dublin taxi driver put it just this morning, a ****ing disgrace…

wes

This is pretty sad state of affair, that the government can't get there state of affairs. Having the bloody transport minister off on holidays, in the midst of all the failures to sort out the roads etc, is seriously bad form.

Sponge Bob

kbannon wrote: »

His wife is a bit of a looker

He just woke up, what is he doing to the poor woman back there???

jmayo

RedPlanet wrote: »

I suppose you only here to moan since you are not advocating any proposal.
Do you honestly believe that the very scenarios you describe are unique to Ireland, and patchwork layout of private/public land just doesn't exist in other western countries?

Also, do you think it reasonable to expect a local council to do all the snow removal of every single footpath every time it snows?

Let us simply borrow lessons from other countries that experience, what maybe 30 snowfalls per year. By creating a simple resonsbility on the landowner/tenant we can create a small industry for our ambitious unemployed.

Listen I have no problem clearing outside my property, but public areas are not being cleared and you can make all the comparison you like with other countries, you probably won't find one of the major entrances to a comparatively large town iced over and maybe getting gritted every few days.
I suppose you would claim that farmers should clear the main roads along their fields and that way someone clears the N routes and even M routes :rolleyes:

AS for proposals why haven't councils taken up offers from farmers and farming contractors ?
Is it because we have a high level of lawsuits or is because the councils have shag all money ?

Angry Troll

just like that www.youtube.com/watch?v=xdLCHj9FO2Q ...real winter, real snow, no problem...

spadder

Angry Troll wrote: »

just like that www.youtube.com/watch?v=xdLCHj9FO2Q ...real winter, real snow, no problem...

with a real government

jmayo

Sponge Bob wrote: »

Not really, a state Merc is a rear wheel drive car and behaves abominably on ice, especially if carrying Dempsey and his golf clubs to the airport for a badly winter golf outing with his Meath property developer mates. He only had two weeks holiday before he went off abroad.

Yes but his usual AgustaWestland AW139 doesn't have that problem, although the pilots do need to worry about blades icing up.

spadder wrote: »

You ungrateful gits!
Brave Minister Dempsey was inspired by the heroic tales of Tom Crean and Ernest Shackleton.

He left us to get help! He and his Garda driver braved the ungritted N3 and M50 to get to the airport. ( he couldn’t use the air corp chopper because it was foggy)

He knew it would be dangerous in the Carribean sun this time of year, but he decided for the sake of the country, it had to be done.

He will return to rescue us from this God forsaken Island.

Please stop comparing that Meath gombeen to two fine Irish men who displayed untold staimina, unselfish bravery and born leadership.
Don't even mention them in the same sentence as you sully the memory of those fine men.

Nobody could ever say that anyone in ff has the leadership qualities or the ability to keep people together when facing impossible situations and all looks hopeless as Ernest Shackelton did.
And not one of them is fit to lick the snow off the boots of Tom Crean.

Sponge Bob

My my that took a lot out of poor Noel, back chillaxing again

fluke

when that first message had Chaos Reigns in it I thought of the fox in Antichrist.

Maybe he's disemboweled so...

MisterAnarchy

wes wrote: »

This is pretty sad state of affair, that the government can't get there state of affairs. Having the bloody transport minister off on holidays, in the midst of all the failures to sort out the roads etc, is seriously bad form.

What did you expect ?
This govt are the most useless bunch of imbeciles that ever held power.
Their incompetence and general disregard for common sense is unfathomable.
Nero played the fiddle while Rome burned but these morons have taken it to a new level altogether.

Sponge Bob

MisterAnarchy wrote: »

This govt are the most useless bunch of imbeciles that ever held power.

That is rather unfair, Cowen sent a high powered delemagation of government hacks off to collect Noel from his hollyers in de Jet, from the left we have Frank Fahey , Willie O Dea and a rather angry looking Seán Power who was dragged out of a vintners meeting in Kildare at short notice.

They arrived poolside and Noel said:

"Jump in dere lads the water is lovely but mind ye don't scald yeer bo.......oh um OOPS "



They will be back at their desks by monday, probably. Best throw the gel cushions in the freezer for monday morning and everybody leave the ministers office early to beat the rush hour, what