Fighter jets for the Air Corps?

What I'm saying is our Tax take as a % of GDP is a more accurate measure of how wealthy the state's economy really is. Our GDP is mostly fictional.

Just to highlight the numbers we are talking about, though admittedly from Wiki:

I would really like to hear how measures like GNI stripping out Multinationals are still so wrong and in actual fact we have an economy the size of something like Cyprus or any of the Baltics with vastly smaller populations and active economic workers? Hell smaller than Luxembourg (another well known creative tax nation).

But it is fictional.

Delpple Computers, Googlebook, or intelsoft have a brass plate here because they have facilities here.

However while they declare their trading income here, they return no tax here. We include their gazillions in profit in our GDP even though we have very little to show for their presence here, apart of course from the contribution their staff provide to the local economy. They tell us they pay tax at their Company HQ, in Silicon Valley, but who is to know really. Their staff get paid from a shell company that creates nothing, but exists only to pay wages. Because it creates nothing, it pays no income tax. It claims back the loss as a tax credit. It costs the state money. Its only outgoing is paying staff. We charge then just 13.5% on the capital taxes they declare.

John Murphy from Ballytown, only an hour from Dublin, employs a staff of 4 making timber pallets. He returns income tax on whatever profit his company makes here, as well as paying his staff wages. All his suppliers are local, his vehicles are sourced locally, he rents his premises from an Irish based landlord. He contributes more % of his company earnings to the irish economy than the Multinationals. We charge him 40% Income tax on his profits because he is a sole trader.

We include the sales of both examples in calculating GDP, but the state only benefits from the activities of the smaller business, in monetary terms.

Do you get it yet?

As I get you are too stubborn to try and see the point I am trying to make by using a facetious analogy.

Our Tax take says otherwise.

€87bn in 2020, (Iceland was 7.3bn)

Per capita, Ireland pays €15k in tax while poor Iceland pays €20k.

So we are either paying too little tax, or we aren't as wealthy a state as we pretend to be.

Round these parts we have an area the locals called Sausage hill, for the same reason. 2 new cars in the driveway, but only sausages in the fridge. Outwardly wealthy, without substance.

Why then is the average household struggling to pay the bills?

Why is the Health system in shambles?

Why are there so many people homeless?

Why is so little spent on public infrastructure, defence and security?

a) They aren't, not compared to other households in Europe. House sales are buoyant, car sales are up significantly, not just on 2022 but also on pre-Covid 2019. Retail sales are up 7.5% on 2022, not just in price, but in volume. Outbound travel is exploding. We have full employment and a lower percentage of welfare dependent households than most any of our EU counterparts.

b) Mismanagement, mismanagement, mismanagement. But specifically a failure to plan for an increasing population, not a funding issue.

c) 12,000 homeless for a population of 5.2 million is not untypical. Doesn't mean its right, but the Irish housing market suffered a massive yo-yo shock from 2007 to date, and we effectively lost a decade. See population issue above. We require a massive planning overhaul to provide for the reasonable and sustainable development of this State out to 2100 and beyond.

d) See b)

I don't agree about all public infrastructure, but some things have been better provided for than others.

In the case of defence, we all know why. No threats, no votes, no need.

But I agree with your general point, Ireland is a very rich Country, it is the lack of proper project management in the public sector and the indulgence of certain lobbies and vested interests that make it very inefficient.

Will the italians throw in a few helicopters as part of the deal?

It would be an easy and cheapish win for the government to say M346 now solves our air policing problem once they dont tell the public what speed it can do. Air Station Finner camp here we come.

Amusingly, the youtube ad that came up when I clicked on the link, was for Pizza.

But no, the 346 does not satisfy our capability gap, it is too slow and lacks the range to police the EEZ and close to intercept civil aviation jets.

The video itself says it, when Hawks were used as short-range air policing aircraft, it was only in support to the Mach 2.2 Tornado F3.

Agree, we need to abandon the notion of using LiFT or similar to fulfil our air policing need. The training of pilots can be farmed out to one of the large EU training schools, 1 of which coincidentally is run by Leonardo. Theres also the UK option via Lockheed/MFTS and plenty of other options available for fast jet training. Ireland buying a pool of LiFT/Advanced Trainers to service the relatively small numbers of pilots we would have? Is a waste of resources IMO. For advanced flight training there is immediate economy of scale available if we outsource that.

The difference there being the 1.6 with gold wheels and a WRX sticker did the job , effectively and probably more efficently than a genuine sti - it was going to get the lad to work on monday morning and drive around the town with the stereo blasting at the weekend - with less chance of blowing the turbo or needing an expensive tech to tune it - cos it was never going to actually be raced ..

However if the state wants air-policing that wont really cut it, it may not need an f35 or a rafalle but it would need something more than an m346 , fine if thats a step in the programme, but it seems a bit unnecessary

Seems a good fit. Malaysia recently bought 18 of the highest specced block 20 version for 919,000 million USD.

https://www.channelnewsasia.com/asia/malaysia-fighter-jets-south-korea-defence-fa-50-3525046

For about the 17th time on this thread.

FA-50, Trainer!

M346, Trainer!

L159, Trainer!

Likelihood of a Jet trainer being purchased over a front-line fighter aircraft.