FF/FG/Green Government - Part 3

US3

Marc Mac Sharry has rejoined what he called an "undemocratic totalitarian regime". Read his resignation letter from last year and it is truly baffling how he has rejoined the same party.

Cluedo Monopoly

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119709027#Comment_119709027

The move was proposed by Barry Cowen. Both dislike Martin.

jmcc

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119712812#Comment_119712812

Could be trouble ahead for Martin.

Regards...jmcc

blanch152

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119713709#Comment_119713709

I think someone predicted there would be trouble ahead for Martin when McSharry was kicked out. Now the prediction is that there is trouble ahead when he comes back in. Lanigan's Ball was always trouble.

Cluedo Monopoly

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119713717#Comment_119713717

You are missing the point. When the knives are out, the more knives the better. Hence one of the ringleaders bringing back in another anti-Martin TD. Let's see what happens after transition. It's a party divided.

votecounts

https://twitter.com/CapersColly/status/1578444022195986434

Disgraceful attention seeking tweet from one of the dumbest Ministers this country has ever had.

Cluedo Monopoly

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119715367#Comment_119715367

Madigan makes a fool of herself on a continual basis. You would think a trained solicitor would have more sense. Crass.

votecounts

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119716753#Comment_119716753

The worst of it is reading the tweets coming from the Unionist Community who all seem genuinely sorry for the Donegal Community, you know showing some actual humanity. But Madigan does not seem able to do this, you'd wonder how she got her law degree. I hope her constituents have read her tweet and throw her out and Leo should sack her as well beforehand.

jmcc

Looks like FF backbenchers are getting worried about their seats. Wonder how Donohoe will handle this?

https://www.irishexaminer.com/news/politics/arid-40981439.html

Regards...jmcc

Cluedo Monopoly

Students walk out in protest at accommodation crisis (rte.ie)

Students at third level colleges across the country have walked out of lectures and tutorials this morning in protest at the accommodation and cost-of-living crises.

Pointing to an expected shortage of 20,000 student beds by 2024, the union has criticised the Government for not capping student rents and said Budget 2023 showed no commitment to solving the shortage.

There are still countless students who cannot source accommodation, who are making whole day commutes to attend college and are living in hostels, they said, adding that a number of students have been forced to defer their courses because of financial pressures.

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Look students, FFG have certainly ruined the housing/rental market but please don't defer your courses because we need you earning soon to pay the astronomincal national debt and future pension liabilities (esp for FFG ministers past and present). Landlords like Troy need your parents money too or they will 'leave the market'. By the way, don't get sick.

jmcc

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119738638#Comment_119738638

That's a serious problem for FFG in that it will be losing younger demographics who have the capability (Student Unions) to organise a bloc vote.

Regards...jmcc

Cluedo Monopoly

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119738914#Comment_119738914

And their parent's votes. And it won't be fixed anytime soon. I expect them to miss all the housing plan targets.

astrofool

I think I said this would happen with the Greens a few weeks ago when another poster was wishcasting an election be ause of LNG storage.

Eamon Ryan said Ireland needs storage as an extra security layer and a review is under way to come up with real solutions that will give the country greater security in a way that is in the public interest and will not breach climate targets.

https://www.rte.ie/news/ireland/2022/1013/1328903-ireland-energy/

Cluedo Monopoly

'80 hours a week' - Why doctors are leaving Ireland (rte.ie)

'80 hours a week' - Why junior doctors are leaving Ireland for Australia.

He told Prime Time that he has not worked anything longer than a 37-hour week since arriving there.

It’s a stark contrast to his last job in Ireland, which saw him working between 65 and 80 hours a week. Though it’s a situation familiar to many junior doctors, it ultimately brought Dr Donovan to a breaking point.

"I ended up working, essentially, 19 calendar days in a row, which got me feeling particularly low. I was just really upset. It was just horrific," he said.

This year, 442 Irish doctors applied for an Australian working visa. It’s a number that’s higher than at any point over the last 12 years, a number that’s been rising steadily since 2019.

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This government is preparing us well to utterly fail. What a legacy.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119741527#Comment_119741527

I could never understand junior doctors working such ridiculous hours. Same goes for nurses 13 hour days. There’s no way they can give the same level of care after the regulation 8 hours.

Cluedo Monopoly

I heard on the radio this morning that consultants feel the 'winter plan' is a complete fantasy.

Many months before new consultants in place - HSE (rte.ie)

The President of the Irish Hospital Consultants' Association said very few of the 608 new staff that will be hired as part of the Health Service Executive's Winter Plan will be consultants.

Professor Robert Landers said even if more were to be hired it would be winter 2024 before they would be "on the ground" as it takes over 500 days to recruit a consultant in the current framework.

Speaking on the same programme, he said it is "alarming" that there are 900 posts unfilled currently and that Ireland only has 40% of the EU average number of consultants.

Prof Landers said it is estimated that by 2030, Ireland will need an additional 5,000 acute hospital beds and that similar to the number of consultants in the system, the number of acute hospital beds is running at just under 40% of the EU average.

"Until such time as the country and the Government face up to that fact and employ a lot more consultants and put in a lot more hospital beds, we will continue every winter to have this conversation about capacity, about delays, then about overcrowding."

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But the nurse-to-bed ratio....?

Cluedo Monopoly

I watched the debate on the health service from last Monday and it was clear that the experts and doctors are exasperated by all the spoof Donnelly (FF) comes out with. They particularly slammed Slaintecare which they all agreed would never ever happen - they all said the government are paying lip service to it. Roisin Shortall (SD) was superb at cutting through the BS.

BonnieSituation

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119741527#Comment_119741527

Sure, aren't the young doctors just heading to Australia on a jolly. That was what we were told on here the last time there was criticism of the state of our doctors' and nurses' workload.

blanch152

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119750865#Comment_119750865

Wasn't Slaintecare originally a SD idea?

blanch152

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119742320#Comment_119742320

I see the Gardai want to keep their 12-hour COVID rosters.

CarProblem

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119755697#Comment_119755697

Can't imagine not implementing it was however, seeing the SDs have never been in government

BonnieSituation

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119756808#Comment_119756808

I'm sure Blanch meant it was a "Róisín Shortall" idea...

Cluedo Monopoly

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119755697#Comment_119755697

You are feigning ignorance?

Sláintecare is an initiative aimed at abolishing Ireland's two-tier health system and fixing some of the underlying flaws in our health system (lower costs, better outcomes, reduced waiting lists/times etc). The idea came about following the 2016 GE, with all Oireachtas parties supporting the much needed reform. The specifics are in the Sláintecare report published in 2017 by the Oireachtas Committee on the Future of Healthcare. Róisin Shortall chaired the committee which included 13 other TDs from all the political parties.

The FG Government responded by publishing the Sláintecare Implementation Strategy in 2018 outlining the actions to be taken in the first 3 years. The Department of Health has overall responsibility for Sláintecare, but the day-to-day implementation belongs to Sláintecare Programme Implementation Office.

In late 2021 the executive director Laura Magahy and chair Professor Tom Keane separately announced their decisions to step down from their respective roles. Shortly afterwards Professor Anthony O'Connor also confirmed his resignation.

Prof Keane attributed his decision to his unhappiness over how the programme was being delivered - "Sadly, I have come to conclude that the requirements for implementing this unprecedented programme for change are seriously lacking." Prof O'Connor predicted the initiative is "doomed to fail" in his resignation letter.

To sum up, Roisin Shortall (SD) is absolutely right when she says your FFG government is failing to support Slaintecare. Hence the slow progress. She would know.

You're welcome.

CarProblem

This is simply unfathomable - I see you have state confiscation of private assets now Father?

https://twitter.com/SeanDefoe/status/1582103694807482369

CarProblem

Worst posting again

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xhYJS80MgYA&ab_channel=01101010charles

jmcc

See that Martin had to correct the Dail record:

https://www.independent.ie/irish-news/politics/taoiseach-micheal-martin-corrects-dail-record-on-his-sinn-fein-comments-last-week-42076508.html

The accompanying image in the link above is funny. It looks like he has been given FF's latest poll figures. :)

Regards...jmcc

Cluedo Monopoly

Well done Norma Foley on providing a date for the Junior Cert results....end of November!! They are usually out in September.

And more protests around the school transport disaster. Superb planning.

What a department.

Worst government ever.

jmcc

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119761735#Comment_119761735

First term Teacher/TD made a minister by another Teacher/TD. Worked out well, hasn't it? Think that 28% of the Oireachtas were teachers of some description a few years ago. Guess that would be an FF- grade for her tenure as minister.

Regards...jmcc

BonnieSituation

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119761735#Comment_119761735

It was like she was only told about it today. "We must find out why this is happening"

She's a shambles of a minister.

Cluedo Monopoly

Poor divil cannot get back into FF

TD 'upset, offended' after 'issue' halts party return (rte.ie)

MacSharry 'upset and offended' after 'issue' halts parliamentary party return

"Some colleagues have informed me that they assumed that, such was the cryptic and serious nature of the Chief Whip's comments, that I was being subjected to a criminal investigation," the letter stated.

The Sligo-Leitrim TD strongly believes the motion to readmit him to the Parliamentary Party should have proceeded as had been agreed the previous week.

He said that he assumes the "issue" referred to at the meeting was a complaint arising from comments made in a "private WhatsApp group".

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Murky stuff from big mouth anti-vax McSharry. He resigned FF so he could vote against Crony Coveney. Big Jim was backing him today on Claire Byrne for a trumphant return. Perhaps with Bertie? All is not well. Good.

Cluedo Monopoly

Big Jim O'Callaghan actually had quite a few cuts at FG on the radio this morning. He essentially blamed them for the housing crisis by reminding everyone they were in power for 10 years before the housing 'plan' was produced by a FF minister.

I can see FF TDs changing the rhetoric and making waves when Leo takes over. They will be on an election footing from that point and will try hard to prove they are somehow different to FG. It wont work.

BonnieSituation

It better not. But seeing as the electorate gave them an opportunity last time out, I wouldn't trust them again.

Cluedo Monopoly

Coalition competition heats up at halfway point (rte.ie)

Fine Gael has said it will develop its own policies on housing and, according to Mr Varadkar, will examine "what solutions we could bring forward to speed up Housing for All" – a policy being steered by the Fianna Fáil housing minister.

After Fine Gael TDs held a meeting last week to discuss housing policies, the response in Fianna Fáil - where there is a belief that they are picking up the pieces from where Fine Gael left off - was best summed up by Jim O’Callaghan, who observed: "I would be very interested to see what ideas Fine Gael come up with after 12 years in Government."

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It seems FG have been holding back on FF and have all the answers on their housing disaster.

xxxxxxl

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119781388#Comment_119781388

So how many policies have we had now over the years ? 30 or something stupid.

jmcc

IT has an Ipsos poll today. FG up 4% and FF up 1% with SF down 1%. The problem is that the last poll was in July so it is not possible to accurately attribute the changes to the Budget but the IT is puffing up FF/FG as usual. Labour was down 1% and that's a loss of 25% of its support since July. ;) The Margin of Error was 2.8%. Ipsos is generally a good pollster and it uses face to face polling. B&A also uses face to face polling. The other pollsters use online/phone polling and that does not favour FF's older supporters so FF always under-performs in online/phone polling. What is interesting is SF's stable support level since the GE.

https://www.irishtimes.com/politics/2022/10/27/irish-timesipsos-poll-support-for-coalition-parties-and-leaders-rebounds/

Regards...jmcc

Wanderer78

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119799576#Comment_119799576

with the likelihood of an oncoming financial crisis, id say this will swing widely in the new year

jmcc

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119799663#Comment_119799663

Already some very worrying trends are happening in the .COM gTLD. The .COM is to the US what the .IE is to Ireland. While the US has the .us as its country code TLD, most of US registrations are in the .COM and the .COM has been struggling for the last year. When an economy is doing well, more domain names are registered and more websites are developed. The .COM and some other TLDs have been losing registrations and developed websites. That's a bad indication. There's normally a downturn in new registrations between April and September but this year has been exceptional in that the rebound that starts in September hasn't appeared yet. The official data is published by ICANN with a three month delay so it is only those of us with access to the zone files (the lists of domain names and their nameservers) that are watching this play out each day. Some people have been trying to attribute the decline in .COM to the price rises in registration fees but this is not supported by the trends. There is an economic realignment in progress and if it is happening in the US market, it will spread. Ireland has more .IE domain names registered than .COM or other TLD registrations so the Irish economy may not be impacted by some of these trends. The economics are worrying because indicators of an economic downturn show up in the domain name market first with increasing numbers of deleted domain names and abandonment of websites.

Regards...jmcc

Wanderer78

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119799768#Comment_119799768

thats very interesting, never thought of that sector at all, in regards potential pre market crash indication, global credit/debt markets are looking truly deadly, and with rising rates, i suspect 23 is gonna become vey scary very quickly, get ready!

https://mobile.twitter.com/oconnellhugh/status/1585590080013467648

Carrying on like children,time to pull the plug on this farce of a dail.

You wouldn't be allowed carryon like this in your job,don't accept it off your rulers either

Bishop of hope

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119801380#Comment_119801380

Sure it would be easy if all you had to do was pull a plug everytime you weren't happy with something.

There're decisions to be made on an ongoing basis I'm afraid and the Dail is all that has the power to unplug itself, not the rantings of a political hack.

I'd agree that this govt has been a mix of bad with only occaisonal good, but it's been democratically mandated for by the electorate, now all we can do is wait till they, or at least some of them, decide that enough is enough.

blanch152

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119801380#Comment_119801380

I think you are right about carrying on like children but surely SF's childish budget ideas are for the relevant thread?

Varadkar was 100% correct in drawing the parallel between Truss/Kwasi and SF. You let naive idiots like them run the country and look what happens.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119803039#Comment_119803039

Mate,they are carrying on like children,you wouldn't be allowed carry on like,it in your job....don't accept it of those who position emselves as ruling over you

If they unwilling to do their job,in a competent, professional manner,they shouldn't be in it,time for whole lot to go to the country

blanch152

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119803755#Comment_119803755

The agenda is clear. The minute that a pointed jibe at Pearse "Kwasi" Doherty hits home hard, the moral behaviour police are out in force decrying childish behaviour. Where were they when the childish no-confidence motions were being discussed?

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119804300#Comment_119804300

Also feel the qualbbles they got into healyraes was childish,also feel the pricking around exposing Simon Harris as leaking was childish,felt the repeated undermining and laughing at Micheal Martin was extremely unprofessional and said so at the time

You may have missed this,due to not falling inside the domain of your monomania🙂

Everyone says it,the dail is a joke the discourse it's Been allowed descend into....no other parliament in a normal country carries on like this.....we as a country deserve so much better

Cluedo Monopoly

The FFG legacy and decades of failure are laid bare here...

'Failing our children' - warning over teacher shortage

Principals warn of 'devastating' impact of teacher shortage

Primary school principals in Dublin city say the chronic shortage of teachers in the capital is having a "devastating" impact on vulnerable children including those with special educational needs.

All of these school leaders, as well as others who have spoken to RTÉ News, say the main causes of the crisis are the acute shortage of accommodation in the capital and its cost, coupled with the prohibitive cost of transport.

"Do they stay in Dublin and make peace with the fact that they will never be able to afford a mortgage, that they will struggle to find rented accommodation ... They are going to Dubai, Australia and Canada, and I don't blame them."

AlmightyCushion

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119804667#Comment_119804667

The parliament in the UK is far, far worse. That place makes a playground look mature and dignified. Saying that, I do agree. Some of this stuff doesn't help and just sows division and make people more entrenched.

CaptainTeebs

On the "why never vote for FG thread" somebody put up a list of FG reps involved in scandals, mainly of the entitlement or spoofing expenses variety.

It made me think- there has seldom to never been an Irish politician exposed in the media for involvement in topics most beloved of the British red tops, scandals which British MP's seem to get caught up in on a very repetitive basis.

• drug use (cocaine primarily)
• extra marital affairs, usually with staffers, occasionally with a fellow representative
• prostitutes
• rent boys
• getting a bit handsy while under the influence
• strange sex (whipping, bondage, all that)
• orgies
• allegations of child sex abuse

In the last four years alone I can think of proven allegations or at least accusations against British MP's for all of the above aside from the BDSM one (but I may be overlooking it).

The only scandal I can recall verging on any of the above was Emmet Stagg being caught in his car in Phoenix Park 30 odd years ago.

Do our media have a dont ask dont tell policy on it, or are our politicians simply as boring as they come across (obviously I'm not equating a lack of child sex abuse to constitute being boring before anybody starts)

Cluedo Monopoly

@jmcc They are talking about new polls on the Brendan O'Connor show. They suggest that FG voters are people that own their own houses, have lots of savings after Covid and don't have any fears around the higher cost of living. The demographics are probably 45+

jmcc

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119811482#Comment_119811482

Wouldn't trust anything O'Connor says without independent verification. The problem for FFG is that all the movements are within the Margin of Error. The FG supporters are different to FG voters because a lot of votes in a GE are actually non-party supporters who vote a particular way. The demographics in the RedC polls and all polls have a higher MoE because they are slicing and dicing even smaller numbers from a small survey. What is very interesting is the stability of the RedC polls in that there has been no movement outside the MoE for the last 4 RedC polls. FG gaining 3% could be due to the Budget but FF losing 1% is going to worry FFers as they may consider that FF is on the way to being the new Labour party and getting absolutely hammered in the next GE.

RedC is a strange poll. It doesn't use a random sample like other polls. It uses a panel of 40K voters that it thinks represents the electorate. That is a much smaller number than the electorate so some panelists will be in more than one survey through a year. That gives it some aspects of a tracking poll where the same people are surveyed continually. FF would have been hoping for a boost from the Budget but it hasn't happened. That could cause trouble for Martin but he only has a few weeks left. Being cynical, the Budget bought some popularity for FG but not FF.

Regards...jmcc

votecounts

https://twitter.com/caulmick/status/1586608147552243712

What sort of sick govt puts women with a terminal disease through a court case, barely humane behavior