If I were leader of this country

Noddy Nangle

I wrote this in 2013


IF I WAS LEADER OF THIS COUNTRY THIS IS WHAT I WOULD DO

What has become of this country ? I am an ordinary working man with a wife, two children, a mortgage and childcare and I have had enough. To the fat cat politicians I am a nobody and I only seem to matter when the elections come around.

To me there is absolutely no difference between Fine Gael, Fianna Fáil and Labour. If Fianna Fáil said red then Fianna Gael would say blue. The only difference between these parties is that they had differing opinions over the treaty which was nearly one hundred years ago. I mean no disrespect but it is irrelevant to me in today's world. I would class all political parties in our country as dinosaurs. These parties are mostly led by middle aged men who have been in this game for donkeys years and who are too comfortable in their own lives to make a blind bit of difference to mine.

The time is ripe for those who have been hurt by this recession to take a stand. A new young party is needed to sort this country out. And before any of those older politicians say anything I would say to them that they had their chance and messed it up. I don't think a new young party could do any worse if they tried. It's the same old story where Fine Gael and Labour throw all the blame towards Fianna Fail, but remember Enda and Eamon that you were also sitting in the Dail during those boom years and I never heard you shouting from the roof tops about the impending recession. When Fianna Fail fuelled the boom it was you who were supposed to be our watchdogs and therefore you are as guilty as the Bertie's of this world.

As I said the time is now ripe for a new young political party to be formed. A party that can harness the intelligence and determination of our young people who are the future of this country. Young people who are not worried about how fat their pension is before they retire and who are willing to start a new era in this country where greed and brown envelopes become a thing of the past. Sometimes I think that it would have been better if everything had collapsed in 2008 and we became like a mini Argentina. If that had have happened then at least we could start to rebuild our country and all of the systems in it. At the moment we are living in the world of death by one thousand cuts and the politicians fail to realise that it is destroying our young people which in turn is keeping our economy down. Now is the time to knock the ivory tower that these politicians reside in and rebuild our own tower minus the fat cats.

The Government are too out of touch to realise that the middle income earners are coming to the end of their tether. We are expected to look after everything from paying for unemployment benefits to paying back the bond holders of Anglo Irish Bank. I predict that our country is not to far away from revolution as young middle income earners cannot take any more cuts from this state and are now just working to keep their families from being on the breadline. What was once a great country is now destroyed and a cloud of depression hangs over us. As I said before I am an ordinary man and I am not a politician but if I were leader of this country then below are just a few of the things that I would do to try and turn this country around. The time has come to get rid of all the middle aged politicians and civil servants in this country who have destroyed the future for us and our children. I don't care what contracts they have but just get rid of them for they have systematically destroyed our future and the biggest joke of all is that most of them are still running the show until it is time for them to retire and then be given a big fat pension.




POLITICAL REFORM

1)I would abolish the Seanad.

2) I would abolish the number of sitting TDs by 50%

3) I would leave the politicians salary as it is but I would abolish all expenses for TDs with the exception of maybe supplying them with a phone. If a TD is on a committee etc then he will not get one cent extra because it should be seen as part of his job as TD. I would also buy a hotel in Dublin where if politicians or public sector are overnighting in Dublin then they can stay in this hotel with room and board for the duration of their stay instead of claiming expenses. Also if a TD needs to use an office in his constituency then he would have the right to be assigned an office in his local county council which will therefore abolish the need for him to claim expenses. If he needs an assistant then the council can transfer one of its staff to assist him on a full or part time basis.
4) I would abolish the Dail bar as our TDs are there to work not to drink.
5) I would ensure that the electoral system is reformed and if a TD is elected then his job is to focus on the running of the country and not local matters. I would abolish clinics and give this role to councillors who would take on the role of dealing with all matters from constituents. As I said before a TDs job should be to look at the strategic matters of the country. Once elected they should focus on the problems of the state only and not worry about turning up at a local constituents funeral or the opening of a local hairdressers.
6) I would also set a maximum pension for retired politicians at €50,000. Anything over this is taxed at 99%. I do not accept that there is no way that these pensions can be taken off of politicians. I would also broaden this €50,000 ceiling to all of the public sector. If people want to have a massive pension then let them top up with a private pension. This pension ceiling would be implemented to ensure that all current politicians and public sector workers would have their pensions reduced once it is introduced.
7) I would abolish all unnecessary quangos immediately. I would just keep the core quangos that are of benefit to the country going forward. Even at that if the remaining quangos have to be slimmed down to make them more efficient then so be it.
8) I would create a new department which would centralise the buying power of the state. The only way to save money is to centralise not fragment. This department would buy all non specialised product for the state for everyone from county councils to government departments. That way we could be ensured that we are getting value for money.
9) I would cut Dail holidays to 8 weeks over the year.
10) I would abolish having to print all government documents bilingually. It is an option that we can't afford.
11) I would restructure and merge county councils and I would also look at staff requirements. In the boom times councils were inundated with planning permissions etc but that is not the case in 2013, so do we need the same amount of planners etc ? I don't think so.

Above are some of the things that need to be done just to restore some faith in those that govern our country. At the end of the day we need people who are in it to make a difference and not just to line their own pockets. I know it might be hard to believe but by making the conditions less attractive then you are ensuring that the principled man might try to get elected rather than the greed merchants.





BANKS/MORTGAGES

1) Throw as much resources as possible at investigating the bankers/politicians quickly. I would then put them on trial and jail the guilty ones for a substantial amount of time. It is very important this is done as at the moment it sickens the ordinary man to see these guys playing golf whilst he is being hit with wave after wave of cuts. No stone must be left unturned to jail those who helped create the country's downfall.
2) The mortgage crisis is killing the younger generation. To sort it out I suggest that all of those who are in a family home and are in negative equity should be helped. I suggest that all houses are valued and that all negative equity is taken away from the house and the owners are only left with a mortgage which is the same as the value of the house. The negative equity can be added to Nama's big balloon of debt. I would also make the caveat that if the house was sold within the next ten years then NAMA would be entitled to reclaim money if it was sold at higher than the market price. If this happens then it would take the shackles from those who are bound to negative equity for the foreseeable future and it would allow them to live and spend once again. But it is important to remember that this proposal would only help out those with a family home and not those with second homes. I know that this is a contentious issue but many of the young people did not benefit from the boom to the same extent as older people. The wealth divide in the country is wrong as the older people have most of the wealth whereas the younger people have most of the debt. If this continues then our economy will never recover.


SOCIAL WELFARE

1) Those people who are on the dole for over five years and have failed to get any work should have their dole cut to €50 per week or else to claim their full entitlements they should be put to work for the state for 30 hours per week. If they fail to do this with then their dole should be kept at €50.
2) Single Mothers allowance should be part funded by absentee fathers. If they do not pay maintenance then this money should be deducted from their wages/social welfare payment so as to help rear their children. A ceiling should also be put on the amount of money a woman on single mothers allowance can claim. Her entitlements should be stepped down for every extra child that she has until the ceiling is hit.
3) Every child under 18 should be entitled to free visits to the doctor and also free dentistry. This should be subject to some sort of a means test so that the well off don't receive it but the rules should not disallow an ordinary working family from availing of it. From what I can see you either have to be very well off or very poor to avail of good medical care through either the aid of money or a medical card. Those in between who work everyday are the one who can barely afford a doctor. I also think that it is a scandal that doctors can charge such exorbitant costs for GP visits in this day and age. These people are supposed to care for our health, so why is it necessary for hard pressed families to make a choice between bringing themselves or their children to the doctor or putting food on the table ?
4) I believe that all non nationals who enter this country should have to work for any benefits that they receive in this country. If they have been in employment and are claiming stamps then that is fair enough but other than that if they are looking for dole or social housing etc then they must work 37.5 hours for the state so as to claim their benefits.
5) I also believe that all childcare should be tax deductible from a family's income. The state should also impose a ceiling rate for childcare based on what area of the country you are in. I also believe that we have facilities such as school etc which are not used all of the time and could double as crèches. We also have plenty of unemployed people who could be trained to work in these crèches in order to claim full unemployment assistance. This would allow hard pressed families to access public childcare instead of paying some of the exorbitant rates that are being charged by crèches.


If we keep quiet and take the pain then the politicians will keep on cutting. I would implore the young people of this country who have a vested interest in Ireland's future to not take it anymore. It might make it tougher in the beginning bit in the long run it will lead to a brighter future for us all.

johnnyskeleton

Mod note:

Hi OP, this forum does not allow blog posts. If you want to start a discussion on a specific politicial issue, feel free, but big wide ranging essays are not really suitable.