Election called for Saturday 8 February

Riskymove

cherryghost wrote: »

Is there somewhere I can get a breakdown of parties manifestos?

Most parties have not yet published them

is_that_so

Riskymove wrote: »

Most parties have not yet published them

Yeah. Once they have "launched" all the parts they will be published on their websites. Could be at least the end of this week.

Geuze

Plumbthedepths wrote: »

Pay cuts restored, seriously public sector workers were contributing nowhere near required amounts for the pension given.
The pensions available up to 2013 were completely unsustainable for the taxpayer to fund. Defined benefit pensions are almost non existent in the private sector.

PS pension conts were 6.5%, now 6.5% + typically 10% PRD

Yes, it's true that much of the pay cuts have been restored.

This means that there hasn't been much or any pay increases in 11 years.

That is a fall in real wages.

Also, the new PS pension scheme is less generous.

amadangomor

Geuze wrote: »

PS pension conts were 6.5%, now 6.5% + typically 10% PRD

Yes, it's true that much of the pay cuts have been restored.

This means that there hasn't been much or any pay increases in 11 years.

That is a fall in real wages.

Also, the new PS pension scheme is less generous.

No doubt still unsustainable though. A party that came in and brave enough to take on the bad value for the taxpayer WRT the public sector would make hay in an election. No one seems to be brave enough though.

I pretty much started my adult life in 2006 when I was 20 years old. I've spent most of my adult life struggling to do well for myself thanks to Fianna Fails term in government, the mess that they made and the fallout that has lasted for years. I can't imagine why anyone would want them back.

Fine Gael are far from perfect. But they appear to be doing a solid, steady eddy type job.

They could have thrown money around in budget 2020 with a general election looming. But they didn't.

saabsaab

Where are the manifestos? You would think the major parties would have then ready to roll.

LeinsterDub

saabsaab wrote: »

Where are the manifestos? You would think the major parties would have then ready to roll.

If you put out a manifesto straight away you wouldn't get a week to fly kites

Dytalus

saabsaab wrote: »

Where are the manifestos? You would think the major parties would have then ready to roll.

Apparently Labour are announcing theirs today? Can't find a download or document release, but their formal launch is today. The Greens are releasing their on Saturday, and Sinn Féin on the 28th. Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael coming 'later this week'. URL="https://www.irishtimes.com/news/politics/election-2020-fine-gael-and-fianna-f%C3%A1il-set-to-reveal-spending-plans-worth-billions-1.4144769"]Source[/URL

Calhoun

Sir Oxman wrote: »

And LAbour - Howlin brought that in.

Labour were propped up in government all by themselves and had majority of heads in said government?

FG cannot distance themselves from blame no matter how it's cut.

Sir Oxman

Calhoun wrote: »

Labour were propped up in government all by themselves and had majority of heads in said government?

FG cannot distance themselves from blame no matter how it's cut.

I didn't say that.

Mad_maxx

JohnnyFlash wrote: »

It’s a bit of a non issue at the moment. There won’t be a state pension in 20 years time so it won’t matter a curse what age you set retirement for.

Yes but Willie o dea ( TD for lavishing goodies on pensioners) is around today and FG are forced to compete with his pork barrell politics

Anyone under fifty who sees this as important doesn't know the meaning of self interest

The pension age must increase or eventually we will loose control of our finances again down the road

Mad_maxx

Phoebas wrote: »

It's an issue alright.

The big question is will the electorate be bought off with their children's money.

When have we not been?

Phoebas

Calhoun wrote: »

Labour were propped up in government all by themselves and had majority of heads in said government?

FG cannot distance themselves from blame no matter how it's cut.

Let me try and get this straight.

At this moment in time, FG are the only major party who are actually taking the pension time bomb seriously and sticking with the long established plan to increase the state pension age. FF were on board but have changed their mind, SF don't want to increase it past 66 and Labour are actually going to reduce it !!!.

25 years ago, before there was any thought at all of increasing the state pension age, while implementing other reforms in the civil service, the then FG/LAB government brought in some measure that reduced civil service occupational pensions by the amount they got from the state pension. 25 years later, this becomes an anomaly that they benefit inadvertently from.

I get it - you don't like FG, but ffs, it takes some contortion to make FG the irresponsible ones in all of this.

James Brown

Deleted User wrote: »

I pretty much started my adult life in 2006 when I was 20 years old. I've spent most of my adult life struggling to do well for myself thanks to Fianna Fails term in government, the mess that they made and the fallout that has lasted for years. I can't imagine why anyone would want them back.

Fine Gael are far from perfect. But they appear to be doing a solid, steady eddy type job.

They could have thrown money around in budget 2020 with a general election looming. But they didn't.

Yet FG thought they were stable enough to partner with.

Record numbers of homeless children.
Housing crisis
Health crisis.
All worsening year on year. Steady eddy indeed.

They do throw money around. Just because we're not seeing it in our pockets doesn't mean it's not being thrown.

Mad_maxx

Matt Barrett wrote: »

Record numbers of homeless children.
Housing crisis
Health crisis.
All worsening year on year. Steady eddy indeed.

They do throw money around. Just because we're not seeing it in our pockets doesn't mean it's not being thrown.

A huge minority of the homeless shouldn't even be in the country

ChikiChiki

Mad_maxx wrote: »

A huge minority of the homeless shouldn't even be in the country

A huge minority?

So you mean very few of the homeless shouldn't be in the country?

Pudsy33

Mad_maxx wrote: »

A huge minority of the homeless shouldn't even be in the country

Ah the mask always slips.

lawrencesummers

Call me a cynic but the only thing left to be decided by this election is the unnecessary convoluted term that FFG use to describe their new coalition agreement because recycling the “confidence & supply agreement” will just be a bit to much of the same and people don’t like those optics.

Can I suggest:
The Coadunation accord.
Economic provision accord.
Social, environmental and economic accommodation (get some green Related nonsense in the title)


Or
Fiscal strategy accord.

Or two checks of the same ass.

James Brown

Mad_maxx wrote: »

A huge minority of the homeless shouldn't even be in the country

If I had my way we'd have less homeless, but I think by different means :rolleyes:

ThunbergsAreGo

Matt Barrett wrote: »

Yet FG thought they were stable enough to partner with.

Record numbers of homeless children.
Housing crisis
Health crisis.
All worsening year on year. Steady eddy indeed.

They do throw money around. Just because we're not seeing it in our pockets doesn't mean it's not being thrown.

When is there not a health crisis?

EmmetSpiceland

https://twitter.com/gavreilly/status/1219538283367190529?s=20

Has this been posted already? Can’t get over the sheer arrogance of that internal “memo”.

I, personally, would have thought that the state broadcaster, and others, were never, outwardly, “against” FG but here they are saying that they are. And with “curled lips” no less.

Smacks of being totally out of “touch”, if you ask me. Honestly, I will not be impressed if they blow this one and hand back the reigns to those “cowboys” in FF.

Plumbthedepths

EmmetSpiceland wrote: »

https://twitter.com/gavreilly/status/1219538283367190529?s=20

Has this been posted already? Can’t get over the sheer arrogance of that internal “memo”.

I, personally, would have thought that the state broadcaster, and others, were never, outwardly, “against” FG but here they are saying that they are. And with “curled lips” no less.

Smacks of being totally out of “touch”, if you ask me. Honestly, I will not be impressed if they blow this one and hand back the reigns to those “cowboys” in FF.

Arrogance always gets FG in the end. It's instinctive, can't be helped.

Calhoun

Phoebas wrote: »

Let me try and get this straight.

At this moment in time, FG are the only major party who are actually taking the pension time bomb seriously and sticking with the long established plan to increase the state pension age. FF were on board but have changed their mind, SF don't want to increase it past 66 and Labour are actually going to reduce it !!!.

25 years ago, before there was any thought at all of increasing the state pension age, while implementing other reforms in the civil service, the then FG/LAB government brought in some measure that reduced civil service occupational pensions by the amount they got from the state pension. 25 years later, this becomes an anomaly that they benefit inadvertently from.

I get it - you don't like FG, but ffs, it takes some contortion to make FG the irresponsible ones in all of this.

Let me try and get this straight.

At this moment in time FG are only really providing lip service to the pension time bomb and are looking to do the bare minimum to look as if they are doing something. A key indicator of this is by allowing for public servants to retire early on a supplementary pension while private sector workers just get cut-off and have to go on the dole.

If they really wanted to address the pension crisis they would apply measures equally and they would make sure that the pension calculation in the public sector was not a defined one in line with inflation.

I get it - you really like FG, but ffs please don't misrepresent my anger that private sector workers are forced to retire at 65 and go on the dole while public sector workers get supplementary pension paid from as early as 63.

Snow Garden

EmmetSpiceland wrote: »

https://twitter.com/gavreilly/status/1219538283367190529?s=20

Has this been posted already? Can’t get over the sheer arrogance of that internal “memo”.

I, personally, would have thought that the state broadcaster, and others, were never, outwardly, “against” FG but here they are saying that they are. And with “curled lips” no less.

Smacks of being totally out of “touch”, if you ask me. Honestly, I will not be impressed if they blow this one and hand back the reigns to those “cowboys” in FF.

Wow!

That FG branch in Dun Laoghaire is full of nutters!

That's a bit incendiary. Nobody is in control of this party.

Phoebas

Matt Barrett wrote: »

Yet FG thought they were stable enough to partner with.

Record numbers of homeless children.
Housing crisis
Health crisis.
All worsening year on year. Steady eddy indeed.

They do throw money around. Just because we're not seeing it in our pockets doesn't mean it's not being thrown.

I think when he says 'steady eddy' he means stuff like this

We're at a record high now - new home completions for 2019 at 21.5k are at at decade high.
https://www.rte.ie/news/business/2020/0121/1109790-goodbody-home-figures/

They still need to be a lot higher, but the trajectory is clear.

Calhoun

EmmetSpiceland wrote: »

https://twitter.com/gavreilly/status/1219538283367190529?s=20

Has this been posted already? Can’t get over the sheer arrogance of that internal “memo”.

I, personally, would have thought that the state broadcaster, and others, were never, outwardly, “against” FG but here they are saying that they are. And with “curled lips” no less.

Smacks of being totally out of “touch”, if you ask me. Honestly, I will not be impressed if they blow this one and hand back the reigns to those “cowboys” in FF.

Scandalous the poor victims in FG, they have done so much for Ireland.

Guess what I did today? had a meeting with our local primary, trying to get our ASD daughter removed voluntarily of course as they don't have the balls to expel her.

She is actually one the many vulnerable they are letting down, the local area has three primary schools and only one of them has a unit we could send her to.

LeinsterDub

Phoebas wrote: »

I think when he says 'steady eddy' he means stuff like this


We're at a record high now - new home completions for 2019 at 21.5k are at at decade high.
https://www.rte.ie/news/business/2020/0121/1109790-goodbody-home-figures/

They still need to be a lot higher, but the trajectory is clear.

Central Bank rules means they are still unaffordable to most. Of course FG has no issue pumping 1 billion per year into HAP ensuring houses remain an investment rather than a home

Phoebas

LeinsterDub wrote: »

Central Bank rules means they are still unaffordable to most. Of course FG has no issue pumping 1 billion per year into HAP ensuring houses remain an investment rather than a home

The only thing that will solve affordability is more supply.

The Central Bank rules are there to prevent another credit fuelled bubble, followed by another crash. Hopefully even FF have learned that lesson.

blanch152

Phoebas wrote: »

I think when he says 'steady eddy' he means stuff like this


We're at a record high now - new home completions for 2019 at 21.5k are at at decade high.
https://www.rte.ie/news/business/2020/0121/1109790-goodbody-home-figures/

They still need to be a lot higher, but the trajectory is clear.

Don't be introducing facts into a debate about how bad FG are, nobody wants to hear them, in case they have to reconsider the mantra of how bad FG are.

saabsaab

I'd wonder that the FG plan is that they don't care to win this one just let FF and others back for the upcoming recession?