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

Pre-2011 was still a FF/FG govmt. Also creating an economic environment whereby people bought homes they could never afford is not exactly the opposite of a housing crisis. Where we are now though is a housing crisis, of such severity that it's a source of shame internationally, and

- a govmt housing policy optimised for overseas investors with some trimmings for Irish insiders (see all those An Bord Pleanala 'best practices')

- a govmt immigration policy optimized to attract all and sundry

- a govmt Ukraine support policy optimized to impress EU/NATO 

- a govmt communications policy that labels poor people racists (at least they're no longer all dole cheats!)

- govmt politicians not feeling any need to declare their own property assets

Of course they are mouthing off about introducing new schemes to accelerate, facilitate, alleviate, etc. but it takes a special kind of naivety to continue believing that Varadkar and O'Gorman are fighting the good fight

€105k base salary + €50k expenses (which can be used for things like a personal car) + €40k ministerial salary once they're in the job long enough. Plus the fact its a job with a very high social cachet, plus the fact it attracts people who're idealistic or people who're power hungry who aren't necessarily in it for the money.

Its much harder work than most people think absolutely. But theres never going to be a shortage of candidates given the above.

The FFG TDs have shown time and time again that they claim every last cent across a broad range of expenses. Dara Murphy (FG) showed how it could be done without even doing his job or attending the Dail. They promised reform there too, yeah right. Bertie is still claiming 70,000 a year on "secretarial assistance" expenses!

TD's expenses are unvouched and are very frequently abused, so the expense allowance acts as effectively part of their salary. They frequently claim travel expenses to attend work on days they haven't even attended work. Its nothing remotely comparable to being reimbursed for mileage driven and studiously accounted for, or having to submit receipts for every meal, in a private sector job.

https://www.joe.ie/politics/dara-murphy-resigns-seat-dail-eireann-expenses-scandal-688422 - Fine Gael TD Dara Murphy has resigned his seat in Dáil Éireann. The Cork North Central TD had been at the centre of an expenses scandal after it emerged that he had been claiming his full expenses allowance despite being mostly absent from Dáil Éireann over the last two years.

https://extra.ie/2022/07/31/news/politics/43-tds-claimed-more-than-e50k-each - "43 TDs claimed more than €50k each in unvouched expenses"

https://www.independent.ie/irish-news/politics/tds-can-net-full-whack-of-travel-expenses-even-if-they-miss-a-raft-of-actual-dail-sittings-41515135.html - "TDs are able to claim the maximum level of travel and accommodation expenses for attending Leinster House, despite missing a large number of days when the Dáil is actually sitting."

etc

If I tried to claim yearly travel expenses of €25k for a 21km commute (like say Katherine Zappone), including expenses for days I didn't actually attend work, I would very quickly not be employed. As would anyone else in the private sector with an expense account. Again, theres absolutely no comparison to private sector expense accounts in the real world with this system.

Its not "some people" either, the abuse of the expenses system in Leinster House is endemic. There was only one TD out of 160 who claimed expenses of less than 10,000euro in 2021: https://www.independent.ie/irish-news/revealed-how-much-in-expenses-your-local-td-claimed-in-2021-42086320.html

Excusing corruption because "the numbers we are talking about here are not particularly crazy" is terrible reasoning. "ah sure its only a few euros here or there" is what got us Charlie Haughey and Bertie Ahern and decades of pervasive political corruption.

"The idea that anyone above that is abusing it is farcical" is highly naive given the large number of TD's who've been avarous enough to manage to fall foul of even the current system's very, very limited oversight.

There is absolutely no justification for having an unvouched expense system to the tunes of tens of thousands of euros, per year, for every TD. If they have valid expenses they would have no problem providing receipts for them.

Again - try suggesting to a private sector employer that you have €50k of expenses in a calendar year, but you can't provide receipts for any of this, and see how far you'd get. You'd be laughed out of a job.

Interesting poll.

A couple of things to note. Green Party with a chance of holding all their seats in Dublin with an 8% share.

SF doing significantly worse among women - Mairia Cahill's book later this year will add to that problem.

51% among the 18-24-year olds who tend not to vote means the SF total is exaggerated and is in the nature of a protest vote, so volatile.

Current government likely to be close to a majority on those figures, maybe need some more secure deals with independents.

Michael OLeary, yeah, the common man approach, I wonder which race meeting he's at today?

Things are getting desperate all right, when the perpetual complainers have to latch on to Michael O'Leary to support their non-stop rants about the government.

Thing is, Ryan doesn't care about the airline industry, he would cheer if Ryanair went bust, as carbon emissions would go down. O'Leary is no more than an irritating fly to him.

That's a very silly post. Read it back to yourself.

So it's fine that our main airport is continually disrupted while Ryan prepares a memo?

Have you been drinking? He is the transport minister. Your beloved Fine Gael politicians have a less idiotic view.

Time to ‘ground’ illegal drone operators following three days of disruption at Dublin Airport – Doherty - Fine Gael

'Take action or resign' — Michael O'Leary vents fury over drone disruption at Dublin Airport (irishexaminer.com)

Fine Gael senator and former Social Protection Minister Regina Doherty has also criticised the response.

Ms Doherty, a Fine Gael representative for Fingal, said: “Last night, flights were grounded at Dublin Airport for the sixth time in eight weeks after yet another drone operator threatened our airspace and public safety.

“My question is: what have Minister Ryan and the Daa done about the need to take down drones, and drone operators, over the last few years?

Sure maybe it’s a Green Party supporting nutter launching these attacks on the airport.

Ah stop. I am not engaging in your silly argument. Ryan will do what he's told soon enough.

Yeah I'm sure the 4000 homeless Irish children in the country tonight will be delighted to hear the government is pumping up a savings account instead of building houses. Very prudent.