FF/FG/Green Government - Part 3 - Threadbanned User List in OP

Red Silurian

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119669963#Comment_119669963

Minor enough costs for the exchequer on the pension/health insurance reliefs. The govt could even sell it as a benefit to having pension/health insurance

blanch152

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119670019#Comment_119670019

Those are not the only tax reliefs, just used as an example.

Red Silurian

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119670156#Comment_119670156

I accept that but they're probably the biggest 2 tax reliefs, my point is that they'd be a minimal cost to the exchequer even counting all the tax reliefs

blanch152

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119670173#Comment_119670173

https://www.revenue.ie/en/corporate/documents/statistics/tax-expenditures/costs-tax-expenditures.pdf

There are quite a lot of tax reliefs costing quite a bit.

nigeldaniel

Well, i am looking forward to the budget and of course, the assortment of posters that will come on here to denounce the government says its all terrible and wrong!

CruelSummer

Why can’t Paschal stay as minister for Finance and Míchéal stay on as Taoiseach…it’s better for Ireland if Paschal so head off the eurogroup and thus has the trust of the markets.

jmcc

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119671145#Comment_119671145

Snouts in the trough. The agreement between FF/FG/Greens was that FF would have the taoiseach position for the first part of the term and FG the second.Also some of the ministries would be rotated. Martin is rumoured to want the Foreign Affairs post as a retirement gig.

Regards...jmcc

US3

Great budget for those who can't and those who won't work.

US3

10% levy on cement blocks and cement. Brilliant. Making it more expensive to build a home to cover for companys that used shoddy product in Donegal.

0ph0rce0

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119671421#Comment_119671421

They were going to have to pay out something down the line but thought that was a joke alright given the state of housing.

I know they aren't really the biggest costs of building but surely a developer building houses now will just increase their asking price making houses more expensive? How does that help people get on the ladder?

We love a good levy.

Red Silurian

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119671145#Comment_119671145

Paschal might stay on as finance minister as ministers are chosen by the Taoiseach. We are assuming that FF will get the finance ministry when FG take over as Taoiseach but that is no guarantee. In fact the only guarantee we have is that Micheal Martin will step down and the leader of FG (presumably Leo Varadkar) will take his place in December

Important to note also that Paschal Donnoghue being president of the Eurogroup hasn't made any major changes to my day-to-day life so keeping him on just to keep the presidency could do more harm than good

Red Silurian

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119671313#Comment_119671313

12% corporate tax rate also kept for the big boys

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119671421#Comment_119671421

How would you raise the money to cover the redress scheme? Or would you say there shouldn't be any redress?

Podge_irl

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119671298#Comment_119671298

Two parties with essentially equal positioning sharing the two most important government positions is not snouts in the bloody trough. It is an utterly obvious and simple solution.

Podge_irl

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119671496#Comment_119671496

Important to note also that Paschal Donnoghue being president of the Eurogroup hasn't made any major changes to my day-to-day life so keeping him on just to keep the presidency could do more harm than good

I have no strong feelings on the Eurogroup presidency issue, but I suspect the reality is that none of us would really know whether he had any impact or not. If those with understanding of how it works say it is actually beneficial or important I'm happy enough to take them at their word.

Red Silurian

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119671539#Comment_119671539

That's true, and likewise we shouldn't fool ourselves into thinking a FF or Green minister for finance would be any better or worse than him.

But we shouldn't bump him in there purely because of his presidency either

Podge_irl

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119671568#Comment_119671568

I think the point is that a different finance minister would likely lose the presidency as it is up for renewal presently.

The role is also not interchangeable. I think there are people in FF or even the Greens who could do it as well, but we shouldn't go so far as to suggest it doesn't matter who is there.

Red Silurian

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119671888#Comment_119671888

I really don't see that as a problem.

And if you do it means you don't have trust in the eurogroup to do what's best for the European Union. Which is what they should be doing regardless of what country has the presidency

Podge_irl

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119671899#Comment_119671899

Soft power and influence is a thing, whether it should be or not. Who has the presidency of the EU shouldn't matter in theory, but it absolutely does. The degree of impact is however debatable.

Cluedo Monopoly

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119671421#Comment_119671421

Hardly?? Did they do that?

I presume they kept repeating the "4 billion on housing plan" while missing all targets and little detail in the plan.

Did they implement a vacant property tax?? They talked about it...

deirdremf

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119671568#Comment_119671568

True, but I find it unlikely that FF will allow FG to have the two most powerful positions in government.

Then again, with MM in charge of FF anything is possible.

Loafing Oaf

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119671298#Comment_119671298

Martin is rumoured to want the Foreign Affairs post as a retirement gig.

According to this if Martin takes Foreign Affairs that would be a clear sign he intends to quit FF leadership before the next GE

https://www.thejournal.ie/micheal-martin-leadership-5865471-Sep2022/

presumably because

The job would require him to be out of the country a lot, which would give backbenchers ample opportunity to formulate a heave against the leader and get a successor primed and ready. 

US3

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119671568#Comment_119671568

The quarry's should repay 100% of the costs. There owned by one of the richest companys in Ireland and are still making massive profits today. Why should I pay for some private quarry's fcukup when I go to build my house .

jmcc

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119674135#Comment_119674135

FF backbenchers may be worried about this because it is exactly the thing that the useless Gilmore did with Labour and in 2016, Labour only returned 7 TDs. Martin is a partitionist and having him in Foreign Affairs at such a sensitive time for the North (the run up to the Border Poll) would be highly damaging for Ireland. That propsal by Barry Cowen that FF take ownership of the Border Poll issue before SF did showed a political awareness of FF's situation far beyond that of Martin's.

The number of seats that FF got in 2016 was a natural rebound from 2011 and due, in part, to the floating vote that had voted Labour in 2011 shifting. The problem for FF was that Martin wasted it and nearly destroyed the distinct FF identity with the Confidence and Supply agreement with FG. The 2020 GE should have seen FF return more than 50 TDs but Martin's incompetence and obsession with SF damaged FF and lost seats for FF. At the FF think-in, Brian Coady (Kilkenny Hurling team manager) spoke about rebuilding FF's identity. The problem, as has been demonstrated by opinion polls, is that the electorate has begun to think of FF and FG as the same party. There is a clique around Martin that is much too FG than FF and this is damaging FF. Martin's judgement about Robert Troy didn't help the perception that the only thing in which Martin is interested is Martin. FG has a similar problem with Varadkar.

McGrath's smackdown of Varadkar over Donohoe maintaining Finance was interesting. Someone so inherently spineless as Martin wold never have done this. Even the Indo, a very pro-FG newspaper noticed.McGrath seems to have been expecting to get Finance in the reshuffle. The whole agreement for government deal is vey much a snounts in the trough situation with FFers and FGers hoping to get promotions after the reshuffle. Both sides have to keep their backbenchers happy and not wake Eamon Ryan. If FF backbenchers get upset with a lack of promotions, then Martin could be removed and, at worst, these backbenchers may not vote for Varadkar as taoiseach, On current FFG numbers, that would leave Varadkar dependent on non-FFG votes and could even bring down the government. With a real FF leader, these things would be less likely to arise. The best thing that FF could do would be to have McGrath replace Martin before December. The FF Ard Fheis at the weekend would be an opportunity for a vote of confidence in Martin's leadership. Little more than the future of FF as a major party is at stake. If FF does not get rid of Martin, then it might as well merge with FG.

Regards...jmcc

jmcc

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119671534#Comment_119671534

FF is the senior party in the coalition. FG was beaten into third place in the last GE by SF. Only the extremely naive would think that is not a case of snouts in the trough. Even the sainted Greens pulled a similar thing with ministries so that their TDs could get ministerial salaries and pensions. Perhaps I am being too cynical about these politicians and they have the best interests of the people at heart. The question is which people?

Regards...jmcc

jmcc

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119669701#Comment_119669701

This is a thread about the FFG government. The Border Poll is a big issue as is the eventual Reunification of Ireland. Norman Tebbit was even quoted in the Irish News on the subject and he seems to disagree with you on the future of NI. The government needs to be planning for these things now. Anything else is just incompetence. You don't condone government incompetence, do you?

Regards...jmcc

markodaly

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119674420#Comment_119674420

Still blabbing on about a border poll, less than 24 hours after the budget.

LOL.

blanch152

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119675563#Comment_119675563

It is mind-boggling. When you are relying on Norman Tebbit to support your misinterpretation of the NI Census outcome, you really are struggling.

A border poll remains decades away, we need to forget about it, and get on with planning for more important challenges like reducing emissions by 2030 etc.

https://twitter.com/tdofclass/status/1575541031172739072?s=46&t=5T7uWZlY20AS2IUKhpdt4w

Well somebody’s looking happy 😂

astrofool

It is interesting on the government thread that one poster continually pushes what is a big issue for the opposition, with a lot of wish-casting, but not really for the government of the day.

Particularly in the wake of the budget.

No government will commit to anything around a border poll until it starts looking likely to happen as doing so would commit their policies needlessly.

And it is unlikely to happen, it would be lost today and be gone for a generation (and I would be in favour of reunification), there is no Brexit facing Ireland that would cause a re-vote to fall back on once lost.

Cluedo Monopoly

FF Ard Fheis today. Poor timing I feel but it will be interesting to see what's said as FF and MM prepare to hand the reins to Leo and the gang. Leo the leak has undermined many of the FF ministers since 2020 so I imagine there will be tensions.