FF/FG/Green Next Government

efanton

namloc1980 wrote: »

Solving Housing and Health is virtually impossible. There's always going to be some high profile issue in those areas no matter how much progress is made. Absolute poisoned chalices.

The only way the Health Service is this country is ever going to be fixed is to totally reorganise the HSE or completely disband it altogether. Far to many managers and administration and not enough people or money spent on the frontline.

To do that though you have to take on the civil service and their unions, and you would want to be absolutely certain that you government is strong enough to be able to do that. This government would collapse in a matter of months if they tried it.

KyussB

Professor Moriarty wrote: »

The agreement is meaningless. We are economically screwed for years. Austerity won't be a choice as there won't be money to spend. It's about lashing yourself to the mast and hoping the ship doesn't go down.

Of course there's money to spend, it's not a limited resource we have to dig up out of the ground, it's being churned out in massive quantities by the ECB, at negative interest rates - and is readily available indirectly through issuing government bonds.

That source of money is never drying up, as long as there's a recession - because the ECB will be forced by economic conditions to continue that.

MrMusician18

Shefwedfan wrote: »

Limerick to Cork on a train is circa 1.40min


Limerick to Cork based on travelling now on the road is 1.36 mins. I would expect a lot more in rish hour



So you are taking the same amount of time. So yes Limerick to Cork does have a train line.

So is it over subscribed?

You know that isn't a fair comparison. You cant compare one door-to-door journey time with one that isn't and consider them equivalent. You'd need to factor in an additional half hour each side of the train journey minimum unless you lived in Cork station and worked in Limerick station.

efanton

antimatterx wrote: »

Any word on Bruton?

you'll have to wait, she's still finishing her sentence:D

James Brown

This is it wrote: »

You have a low threshold for humor.

Anyway. Not overjoyed with MM in the hot seat, I believe Leo did a good job and look forward to seeing him back there soon. There are obvious things that need fixing in the country and I hope all parties, government and opposition can work to sort out the likes of housing and health, amongst others.

Not having a go, how can you think FG or Leo did a good job considering the housing situation how they made it worse? They just kicked health down the road, which also got worse.

Skylinehead

ExMachina1000 wrote: »

What do you mean what has that got to do with anything?

Ministerial positions @7% of the vote.

Labour shouldn't have been there either. Although we all know how that turned out. Hoping for similar

That's how coalitions work.

is_that_so

LawBoy2018 wrote: »

Calleary - Chief whip?? I'd say he's sickened.

Lines him up for the big FF chair, I guess! He'll get something better when they swap over in 2 1/2 years.

AndrewJRenko

ExMachina1000 wrote: »

If only everyone would cycle 30 km a day each way to work. Hundreds of thousands of bicycles on a brand new track running parallel to an empty Motorway

That kind of distance is fairly achievable with an eBike btw. Why do we subsidise eCars at €5k a pop, but the maximum subsidy on an eBike is €400 tax relief via the BTW scheme.

KyussB

Professor Moriarty wrote: »

So, with Brexit looming, a probable resurgence in a pandemic, a climate crisis just around the corner and the worst global recession since WW2, we should borrow 6.5 billion to build 100,000 houses. Okay.

You never heard of Keyne's? When a country has multiple economic body blows like that - that is exactly when the government needs to spend huge amounts of money, to reflate the economy...It's standard macroeconomics.

LawBoy2018

Harris - Higher education & education

Humphreys - Social protection & rural affairs

namloc1980

Shefwedfan wrote: »

Limerick to Cork on a train is circa 1.40min


Limerick to Cork based on travelling now on the road is 1.36 mins. I would expect a lot more in rish hour



So you are taking the same amount of time. So yes Limerick to Cork does have a train line.

So is it over subscribed?

Sorry now but you're talking nonsense. There are 8 connections from Cork to Limerick on a daily basis. 2 of the 8 are under 2 hours and the other 6 have an average time of 2hr45m. Total average of the 8 is 2hr27m. Substantially slower than the road. A road which completely unsuitable and very dangerous in places.

You have to switch in Limerick Junction and wait for on average over 1hr. 2 daily trains have a wait of about 15 minutes. The other 6 are well over an hour. Not very attractive now is it?

An Ciarraioch

LawBoy2018 wrote: »

Harris - Higher education & education

Humphreys - Social protection

So, like Finance, we now have FF and FG ministers effectively covering the one area.

BonnieSituation

Shefwedfan wrote: »

I have driven it, I have driven nearly every road in Ireland if not them all.

I have yet to get an answer on the limerick to cork train line?

Seriously?

You're bringing up our shambolic railway "system" as a solution for a shambolic road between the 4th and 5th biggest cities in Ireland?

is_that_so

Bowie wrote: »

Not having a go, how can you think FG or Leo did a good job considering the housing situation how they made it worse? They just kicked health down the road, which also got worse.

As has happened since we first had a health minister! Big focus in the short term will on what Paul Reid can do with the HSE. Without a full revamp there they might as keep kicking that can.

James Brown

LawBoy2018 wrote: »

Harris - Higher education & education

Humphreys - Social protection

Harris who dropped out himself? I would have thought himself, murphy and Flanagan would have been slipped out the back door.

AndrewJRenko

LawBoy2018 wrote: »

Humphreys - Social protection & rural affairs

So what happens to Ringer's Dept Rural and Community Development?

Hard to see Rural fitting in with DEASP - where will the Community side go?

efanton

Shefwedfan wrote: »

Limerick to Cork on a train is circa 1.40min


Limerick to Cork based on travelling now on the road is 1.36 mins. I would expect a lot more in rish hour



So you are taking the same amount of time. So yes Limerick to Cork does have a train line.

So is it over subscribed?

Stick to talking about something that you know about. If there is such a thing.

There is no commuter service from Limerick to Cork.

You could get a train from Limerick to Limerick junction and often be waiting 20 minute or more for the connection to Cork

The vast majority of people who commute to Limerick or Cork come from towns and villages that are not on or near that train line.

As stated earlier the only two stations between Limerick and Cork wold be Charleville and Mallow, and a lot of the existing trains do not even stop at Charleville.

Add to that that there simply would not be the capacity on the existing services. Usually almost all of the seats are already take taken before the trains get to Charleville, and Irish Rail will not sell tickets unless there are seats available.

If you want a rail commuter service between Cork and Limerick you would have to build a new rail line.

is_that_so

LawBoy2018 wrote: »

Harris - Higher education & education

Humphreys - Social protection & rural affairs

I actually think the two of them could do well there. DoE is slower moving always and perhaps less stress. Wonder how the DoE will cope with Simon buzzing amongst them?!

antimatterx

efanton wrote: »

you'll have to wait, she's still finishing her sentence:D

I said Bruton not Burton.

MrMusician18

efanton wrote: »

The only way the Health Service is this country is ever going to be fixed is to totally reorganise the HSE or completely disband it altogether. Far to many managers and administration and not enough people or money spent on the frontline.

To do that though you have to take on the civil service and their unions, and you would want to be absolutely certain that you government is strong enough to be able to do that. This government would collapse in a matter of months if they tried it.

This is said as some sort of trueism around here "the bloat in the HSE is in Administration - thats where all the money is going". It isn't. The money is going in payments to frontline staff generally. Irish doctors and nurses are quite well paid compared to their peers in the UK for example.In order to expand the number of frontline staff for the same budget, doctors and nurses would need to accept a reduction in base wage and overtime payments. This will not ever be allowed to happen by their unions.

At the height of government largess up to 2008, there were some nurses lifting close €100k per year due to the amount of overtime payments they were getting.

Bannasidhe

Shefwedfan wrote: »

If I look I see between 2 hours and 1 hour 45 on Monday......

Instead of building a road and investing in more trains etc that could be reduced.

How much does it cost to buy/maintain a car? how much is mileage causing depreciation?

I'm a big believer in trains. I love trains. I used to commute from Sheffield to London before the lines were privatised - on both ends was, at the time, an efficient and affordable bus network to get me home/work.
In Sydney I could drive to the local train station, park all day for free in a large covered multistory car park and take the train into central Sydney for a few dollars.
I tried taking the train from Mallow to Cork. Completely unworkable. Had to drive to get to Mallow train station - too far to walk and the roads were a nightmare with no footpaths - no parking, so faster and easier to just drive to Cork. And cheaper.

Train journey times from Cork to Limerick vary as well, not to mention the occasional unexpected all change at Mallow.

Cork - Cobh is an example of how it should be done. Regular trains that link up (most of the time ) with a bus, but even then last train is at 9 pm.

Jizique

KyussB wrote: »

You never heard of Keyne's? When a country has multiple economic body blows like that - that is exactly when the government needs to spend huge amounts of money, to reflate the economy...It's standard macroeconomics.

6.5bn for 100k houses? Are they being built in some Bulgarian backwater?

efanton

antimatterx wrote: »

I said Bruton not Burton.

oops, my mistake.

Shefwedfan

efanton wrote: »

Stick to talking about something that you know about. If there is such a thing.

There is no commuter service from Limerick to Cork.

You could get a train from Limerick to Limerick junction and often be waiting 20 minute or more for the connection to Cork

The vast majority of people who commute to Limerick or Cork come from towns and villages that are not on or near that train line.

As stated earlier the only two stations between Limerick and Cork wold be Charleville and Mallow, and a lot of the existing trains do not even stop at Charleville.

Add to that that there simply would not be the capacity on the existing services. Usually almost all of the seats are already take taken before the trains get to Charleville, and Irish Rail will not sell tickets unless there are seats available.

If you want a rail commuter service between Cork and Limerick you would have to build a new rail line.

I think the one word you mentioned which is relevant is “existing”

Investing in the train will provide a better and more green transport option. As mentioned the numbers are less than 1% of the population so building a new motorway is a waste. A new train system can be used by tourist etc so a better investment

Shefwedfan

Jizique wrote: »

6.5bn for 100k houses? Are they being built in some Bulgarian backwater?

It wasn’t, they forgot to mention 50,000 of those houses where already been built by FG government

LawBoy2018

Pippa Hackett - Super junior minister in agriculture with responsibility for land use + biodiversity! Random

Shefwedfan

AndrewJRenko wrote: »

That kind of distance is fairly achievable with an eBike btw. Why do we subsidise eCars at €5k a pop, but the maximum subsidy on an eBike is €400 tax relief via the BTW scheme.

I expect that to increase as Greens said they want to upgrade the current BTW scheme

Itssoeasy

Cork south central now has the Taoiseach, minister for foreign affairs, and public expenditure which are three big cabinet positions while cork north central has mike Barry and a token ring road. Brilliant. Ffs.

LawBoy2018

Hildegard Naughton - FG super junior

Itssoeasy

LawBoy2018 wrote: »

Pippa Hackett - Super junior minister in agriculture with responsibility for land use + biodiversity! Random

Two points. Firstly who's pippa Hackett ? And second what mess of a junior ministry is that ? How much will that cost to put on letters ?