FF/FG/Green Government - part 2

FrancieBrady

Floppybits wrote: »

That doesn't sound like a FG TD. :DI remember my ex local FG TD made some nasty comments on a radio station during an election but when they got a back lash from the public they were running to the gardai to report death threats. Funnily enough this was never heard of again. Thankfully people in my election seen sense in the last election and gave them the boot.

My local ex FG TD glassed somebody because they didn't like the job my other current FG TD was doing.

golfball37

Floppybits wrote: »

Varadkar being investigated for failing to protect a whistle-blower.

https://www.irishexaminer.com/news/arid-40187652.html?type=amp&__twitter_impression=true

Reading that it would seem more on Flanagan. Leo referred him back to the min for Justice which sounds like the correct protocol from his point of view

Floppybits

golfball37 wrote: »

Reading that it would seem more on Flanagan. Leo referred him back to the min for Justice which sounds like the correct protocol from his point of view

I don't it seems to me that Flanagan wasn't interested in protecting the whistle-blower so then it fall to Varadkar to either protect the whistle blower himself or tell Flanagan to do so instead Varadkar just lobbed it back to Flanagan. So as far as I can see both failed.

Floppybits

golfball37 wrote: »

Reading that it would seem more on Flanagan. Leo referred him back to the min for Justice which sounds like the correct protocol from his point of view

An interview with the whistle blower here.

https://twitter.com/williamhboney1/status/1337007948250427392?s=09

Bannasidhe

Geuze wrote: »

Approx 5-8% of workers are on the min wage, mostly young people.

Increasing the min wage to Living Wage would have little impact on poverty, as most min wage workers live in non-poor households.

5-8% - well that sound okish (no it doesn't)

137 thousand - looking less ok now - and 274,000 on less than Living wage sure is not ok.

The CSO estimates that around 137,000 employees are earning the minimum wage or less. Previous studies suggest that up to twice as many people again may be earning more than the minimum wage but less than the living wage

https://www.socialjustice.ie/content/policy-issues/cso-releases-minimum-wage-data#:~:text=The%20CSO%20estimates%20that%20around,less%20than%20the%20living%20wage.

What does age have to do with it? Does a 20 year old eat less than a 50 year old? Is there a rent discount based on age?
Should young TDs get less due to being younger?

Do you know who the people working many of those minimum wage jobs actually are? They are the people we were all clapping for a few months ago - the frontline cleaners and care workers. The people who mind our children and mind our parents.
What does that say about us as a society?

Around 110k working people living in poverty - the people literally wiping the arses of our children and parents -but 96k basic for a back bench TD is justifiable as we are a high cost society? seriously? That doesn't strike you as a bit contradictory?

Are those 110k people just the unlucky minimum wage earners who don't happen to live in well off households?

James Brown

golfball37 wrote: »

Reading that it would seem more on Flanagan. Leo referred him back to the min for Justice which sounds like the correct protocol from his point of view

I'd agree however when he went to Varadkar, Flanagan was included in the complaint.

Bannasidhe

Deleted User wrote: »

Attention to detail. Using a mixed breed claiming it was a thoroughbred was a schoolchild error.

You don't agree it was a Trump style deception as Councillor McManus claims? At least according to a UK based pro-Greyhound industry website in an article written by an un-named author.

Councillor McManus commented ‘In a desperate attempt to mislead the Irish public, the Social Democrats leader Catherine Murphy and Holly Cairns posed outside the Dáil with ‘Potter’ as their ‘abandoned greyhound’. Social media posts by the dog’s owner (former Social Democrats employee) have revealed that the dog is a lurcher, and not a greyhound. The Social Democrats are seeking to destroy over 5,000 greyhound racing jobs on a whim. They have now been exposed engaging in a Trump style deception. They have stoked up a Twitter mob and haven’t done even the most basic research. Their motion to defund greyhound racing is littered with inaccuracies. The Social Democrats should apologise to greyhound owners across Ireland. To save further embarrassment, they should remove their Dáil motion and do some basic research into the racing industry

https://greyhoundstar.co.uk/trump-style-deception-irish-politicians/

Funny how 'that's a lurcher not a greyhound' and 'ignorant little girl' have been the best come backs the pro-racers have managed against Cairns' wall of facts - many of those fact coming from reports commissioned, and then suppressed, by the old Bord na gCon.

You and I have had words over the greyhound industry before - perhaps in the interests of disclosure you should make your involvement clear and I will make my utter opposition to it clear.
And yes, I do know about the industry. My late father was involved. He also went coursing and drag racing.

smurgen

So ireland now has Europe's highest housing costs according to Eurostat. Highest cost and lower than average home ownership. And instead of tackling issues they'll bury their head in the sand.

https://m.independent.ie/irish-news/ireland-has-eus-highest-housing-cost-after-ten-years-of-surging-prices-39850377.html

schmoo2k

smurgen wrote: »

So ireland now has Europe's highest housing costs according to Eurostat. Highest cost and lower than average home ownership. And instead of tackling issues they'll bury their head in the sand.

https://m.independent.ie/irish-news/ireland-has-eus-highest-housing-cost-after-ten-years-of-surging-prices-39850377.html

"just shy of 69pc of the population of this country own their own home" - that is actually higher than what I would have guessed.

grayzer75

smurgen wrote: »

So ireland now has Europe's highest housing costs according to Eurostat. Highest cost and lower than average home ownership. And instead of tackling issues they'll bury their head in the sand.

https://m.independent.ie/irish-news/ireland-has-eus-highest-housing-cost-after-ten-years-of-surging-prices-39850377.html

Plenty of landlords sitting in the Dail would like nothing more than the status quo to continue. They're only happy when they're lining their pockets.

is_that_so

Here's Leo talking again about things - apparently regretting he didn't call an election at Easter. I would have thought there was a more obvious reason!

https://www.rte.ie/news/2020/1210/1183735-varadkar-politics-election/

McMurphy

is_that_so wrote: »

Here's Leo talking again about things - apparently regretting he didn't call an election at Easter. I would have thought there was a more obvious reason!

https://www.rte.ie/news/2020/1210/1183735-varadkar-politics-election/

I was under the impression he didn't have the luxury of deciding that himself due to not having the numbers to support the vote on Simon Harris.

FrancieBrady

is_that_so wrote: »

Here's Leo talking again about things - apparently regretting he didn't call an election at Easter. I would have thought there was a more obvious reason!

https://www.rte.ie/news/2020/1210/1183735-varadkar-politics-election/

The penny hasn't dropped with him - you get votes/support when you do your job. Which they did when there was a single job to be done. The reward they won for doing that is beginning to dissipate though.

UDAWINNER

https://twitter.com/LeoVaradkar/status/1337115096829583361


Can someone enlighten me what this fcucker or FG ever did for the north, only lick up to the unionists by wearing a poopy or campaign for the SDLP. Never heard a peep out of them about decommisioning loyalists weapons, they're ok, they only murder catholics. Leo the leak should stay off twitter

FrancieBrady

UDAWINNER wrote: »

they only murder catholics. Leo the leak should stay off twitter

Well he's managed to get Varadkar, The Burning of Cork, and The Black And Tans trending at one point this morning, and that was in general trends, not the 'trending for you' section.
Doing a great job, let him at it.

golfball37

Every time he opens his mouth SF get more support because of the oxygen he gives them.

smurgen

UDAWINNER wrote: »

https://twitter.com/LeoVaradkar/status/1337115096829583361


Can someone enlighten me what this fcucker or FG ever did for the north, only lick up to the unionists by wearing a poopy or campaign for the SDLP. Never heard a peep out of them about decommisioning loyalists weapons, they're ok, they only murder catholics. Leo the leak should stay off twitter

I hope he got rid of all of his michael collins portraits.

Floppybits

Is it just me or have FG been lashing out since the back lash to their ill thought out and ill fated RIC/Black and Tans commemoration way back at the start of the year? It just seems to me that since they got such a backlash from the people of the country to this commemoration it seems that well if we can have this one then no one can have one. There just seems to be something of a spoilt child having a tantrum about Fine Gael at the moment and that any sort of criticism of the party, their decisions in government or the behavior of their TD's is met with an over the top all out assault on anyone who dares to criticise them. Do they think this sort of tactic is going to garner them more support? I look at Fine Gael now and I think there is not a hope in hell that I could give them any sort of vote in an election.

Or is it that since FG got into power back in 2011 they really haven't had any real opposition in that time and now that FF are merely an after thought and SF are on the rise that there is proper opposition and questions are being asked of them and they because they have had a almost free run of it for the last 9 or so years that they can't handle the fact that now their decisions and behavior in government are being questioned?

Nobotty

Lest we forget
FG are still up almost twice that of SF since the Feb 20 general election
Thats despite foot in mouth after foot in mouth by the current administration and relentless pressure from the Opposition
No point sugar coating this

Cluedo Monopoly

McMurphy wrote: »

I was under the impression he didn't have the luxury of deciding that himself due to not having the numbers to support the vote on Simon Harris.

Correct. Bailey essentially brought down the government in February. They handled Swinggate very badly and it backfired. She was refusing to vote in the Harris confidence vote.

James Brown

golfball37 wrote: »

Every time he opens his mouth SF get more support because of the oxygen he gives them.

I'm not so sure. He's making an arse of himself and his party. An adult needs to take his smart(arse) phone off him.
People are tired of it. Best thing SF can do is leave him to it. His statements have become ramblings.

smurgen

Another fine mess unearthed this morning it seems. This reminds me of the leaving certificate fiasco traced back to the company being ran out of the house in Toronto.

"The HSE paid €14.1m to an Irish company for ventilators from China which were never used due to "issues with the quality".

In March, the HSE recruited an Irish-based events management company, Roqu Media International Limited.

It is unclear what background Roqu, a company with a track record in festival management in the Middle East, had in the procurement of medical products.

Roqu, owned by Westmeath native Mr Quirke and first incorporated in 2017, had no Irish trading history previous to the HSE deal per its 2018 accounts.

Mr Quirke, a 41-year-old former IDA executive who describes himself as the president and CEO of Roqu Group, is also the firm’s sole employee, while the company’s headquarters is based in an apartment complex in Dublin"

https://www.irishexaminer.com/news/arid-40189284.html

Floppybits

smurgen wrote: »

Another fine mess unearthed this morning it seems. This reminds me of the leaving certificate fiasco traced back to the company being ran out of the house in Toronto.

"The HSE paid €14.1m to an Irish company for ventilators from China which were never used due to "issues with the quality".

In March, the HSE recruited an Irish-based events management company, Roqu Media International Limited.

It is unclear what background Roqu, a company with a track record in festival management in the Middle East, had in the procurement of medical products.

Roqu, owned by Westmeath native Mr Quirke and first incorporated in 2017, had no Irish trading history previous to the HSE deal per its 2018 accounts.

Mr Quirke, a 41-year-old former IDA executive who describes himself as the president and CEO of Roqu Group, is also the firm’s sole employee, while the company’s headquarters is based in an apartment complex in Dublin"

https://www.irishexaminer.com/news/arid-40189284.html

So far the HSE have bought defective PPE gear, defective hand sanitiser and now defective ventilators. Looks like the procurement section just went and grabbed what they could for what ever price and everything to bought was just crap.

Cluedo Monopoly

smurgen wrote: »

Another fine mess unearthed this morning it seems. This reminds me of the leaving certificate fiasco traced back to the company being ran out of the house in Toronto.

"The HSE paid €14.1m to an Irish company for ventilators from China which were never used due to "issues with the quality".

In March, the HSE recruited an Irish-based events management company, Roqu Media International Limited.

It is unclear what background Roqu, a company with a track record in festival management in the Middle East, had in the procurement of medical products.

Roqu, owned by Westmeath native Mr Quirke and first incorporated in 2017, had no Irish trading history previous to the HSE deal per its 2018 accounts.

Mr Quirke, a 41-year-old former IDA executive who describes himself as the president and CEO of Roqu Group, is also the firm’s sole employee, while the company’s headquarters is based in an apartment complex in Dublin"

https://www.irishexaminer.com/news/arid-40189284.html

I don't get it - Covidien make 20+% of the world's ventilators here in Ireland. I believe Covidien are now owned by Medtronic who have a huge presence here. Why would the HSE be buying dodgy ventilators from China. This needs to be investigated. And I don't think our stock of ventilators was the problems - it was beds and suitably trained nurses. Both Leo and Harris were Health ministers, were they asleep at the wheel again??

James Brown

smurgen wrote: »

Another fine mess unearthed this morning it seems. This reminds me of the leaving certificate fiasco traced back to the company being ran out of the house in Toronto.

"The HSE paid €14.1m to an Irish company for ventilators from China which were never used due to "issues with the quality".

In March, the HSE recruited an Irish-based events management company, Roqu Media International Limited.

It is unclear what background Roqu, a company with a track record in festival management in the Middle East, had in the procurement of medical products.

Roqu, owned by Westmeath native Mr Quirke and first incorporated in 2017, had no Irish trading history previous to the HSE deal per its 2018 accounts.

Mr Quirke, a 41-year-old former IDA executive who describes himself as the president and CEO of Roqu Group, is also the firm’s sole employee, while the company’s headquarters is based in an apartment complex in Dublin"

https://www.irishexaminer.com/news/arid-40189284.html

Smells like 'looking after our own'.
This is like the old crony building contracts the state use to engage in were you give a pal a massive contract for a cut, all he has is a P.O. box somewhere and once he gets the money he hires someone else to actually do the work at a cheaper rate.

smurgen

Cluedo Monopoly wrote: »

I don't get it - Covidien make 20+% of the world's ventilators here in Ireland. I believe Covidien are now owned by Medtronic who have a huge presence here. Why would the HSE be buying dodgy ventilators from China. This needs to be investigated. And I don't think our stock of ventilators was the problems - it was beds and suitably trained nurses. Both Leo and Harris were Health ministers, were they asleep at the wheel again??

Needs investigating alright.How does an entertainment company with no track record secure a tender for specialist medical devices? It's mad that such misuse of taxpayer funds could happen under the watch of a party with such a focus on taxpayer money.

https://twitter.com/FineGael/status/1326274488921690112?s=19

FrancieBrady

Bowie wrote: »

Smells like 'looking after our own'.
This is like the old crony building contracts the state use to engage in were you give a pal a massive contract for a cut, all he has is a P.O. box somewhere and once he gets the money he hires someone else to actually do the work at a cheaper rate.

Quite an entrepreneur this chap if you google him. How does one get into a position like that? He should write a book on it.

Nobotty

Cluedo Monopoly wrote: »

I don't get it - Covidien make 20+% of the world's ventilators here in Ireland. I believe Covidien are now owned by Medtronic who have a huge presence here. Why would the HSE be buying dodgy ventilators from China. This needs to be investigated. And I don't think our stock of ventilators was the problems - it was beds and suitably trained nurses. Both Leo and Harris were Health ministers, were they asleep at the wheel again??

Something similar went on across the water with a middle man sourcing ppe early in the pandemic
They made millions
Its incompetence
I don't know anything about dodgy ventilators but I do know that Ireland can't nationalise a private American company making them here
They have to source them on the open market
So really the fact 20% of them in the world might be made here is beside the point

smurgen

Nobotty wrote: »

Something similar went on across the water with a middle man sourcing ppe early in the pandemic
They made millions
Its incompetence
I don't know anything about dodgy ventilators but I do know that Ireland can't nationalise a private American company making them here
They have to source them on the open market
So really the fact 20% of them in the world might be made here is beside the point

That doesn't explain how a one man company specializing in events planning in the middle east operating out of a residential apartment won a state contract for specialist medical devices.

Nobotty

smurgen wrote: »

That doesn't explain how a one man company specializing in events planning in the middle east operating out of a residential apartment won a state contract for specialist medical devices.

I think the normal tender process was suspended for covid to speed things up
But a newspaper FoI request would provide detail if there's a story there