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Fianna Fáil bounces back as second-biggest party, poll finds –
FIANNA FÁIL has bounced back to become the second-biggest party in the State for the first time in more than two years, according to the latest Irish Times/Ipsos MRBI poll.
Since its disastrous general election performance 18 months ago, Fianna Fáil has frequently found itself in fourth place in opinion polls behind Fine Gael, the Labour Party and Sinn Féin.
Fianna Fáil is now narrowly ahead of Sinn Féin and well ahead of Labour, having gained a substantial level of support over the course of 2012.
Fine Gael has dropped a point since the last Irish Times poll in May while Labour is up two.
Satisfaction with the Government is down six points while the satisfaction of all the main party leaders has dropped. Taoiseach Enda Kenny is the most popular party leader.
When people were asked who they would vote for if a general election were held tomorrow, the figures for party support – when undecided voters are excluded – compared with the last Irish Times poll were: Fine Gael, 31 per cent (down one point); Labour, 12 per cent (up two); Fianna Fáil, 21 per cent (up four points); Sinn Féin, 20 per cent (down four points); Green Party, 2 per cent (no change); and Independents/Others, 14 per cent (down one point).
The survey was undertaken on Monday and Tuesday of this week among a representative sample of 1,000 voters aged 18 and over, in face-to-face interviews at 100 sampling points in all constituencies.
The margin of error is plus or minus 3 per cent.
The core vote for the parties compared with the last Irish Times poll was: Fine Gael, 20 per cent (down three points); Labour, 8 per cent (no change); Fianna Fáil, 14 per cent (up two points); Sinn Féin, 14 per cent (down four points); Green Party, 1 per cent (no change); Independents/Others, 10 per cent (down one point); and undecided voters, 33 per cent (up five points).
The number of undecided voters at one-third of the electorate is very high, but it reflects the fact that the Government is just 18 months into its term and a general election is not regarded as likely for a long time.
The jump of four points in support by Fianna Fáil since the last poll at the end of May looks even more impressive when in the context of a seven-point increase since the first Irish Times poll of 2012, which was conducted in April.
Sinn Féin has slipped significantly since the last poll, which put it in second place to Fine Gael.
That poll was conducted near the end of the referendum on the fiscal treaty, and absence of the massive television and radio exposure it obtained due to broadcast rules for referendums has seen a decline in the party’s support.
There will be some relief in Labour that the steady decline in party support over the past two years has been halted with a modest increase of two points despite the negative publicity that surrounded the resignation of the party’s junior health minister Róisín Shortall.
Fine Gael has again slipped marginally, for the third poll in a row, but the party is still comfortably ahead of all other Dáil parties and not far off its general election performance.
The fact that there has been a marginal improvement in the combined support of the two Government parties may be some compensation for a serious decline of six points to 21 per cent in the Government’s satisfaction rating.
All of the party leaders in the Dáil have seen a decline in their satisfaction rating since June with the biggest loser being Sinn Féin leader Gerry Adams, who is down eight points.
The other party leaders in the Dáil have each dropped three points, with Mr Kenny the most popular party leader on the relatively low rating of 33 per cent.
Green Party leader Eamon Ryan has seen his rating improve by two points, but only to 12 per cent. His party, which remains stuck on 2 per cent, is still struggling to make an impact in the absence of Dáil representation.
Support for Independents and smaller parties has dropped by one point to 14 per cent.
via Fianna Fáil bounces back as second-biggest party, poll finds – The Irish Times – Thu, Oct 18, 2012.
via Fianna Fáil bounces back as second-biggest party, poll finds – The Irish Times – Thu, Oct 18, 2012.
Taoiseach Enda Kenny defends massive HSE budget overrun
TAOISEACH Enda Kenny has defended the €374m budget overrun in the health service by saying that reforming the “completely dysfunctional” system would take time.
He was quizzed in the Dail about the threat to frontline patient services, as the HSE tries to reduce its massive deficit by the end of the year.
Mr Kenny said the HSE was a completely dysfunctional organisation which had been formed in 2004 by squashing the former health boards together.
He said that no-one had ever said it could be sorted out in 12 months.
“What’s happening now is the start of a generational reform in the health service in this country,” he said.
Mr Kenny was speaking after the HSE confirmed that its budget overrun at the end of last month stood at €374m.
At the end of August the figure was €329m.
And Tallaght Hospital in Dublin is seeking an overdraft of €12m.
Fianna Fáil leader Micheal Martin said the failure to achieve savings in the health budget had already led to further cutbacks such as one million hours of home help being “severed”.
“Are we facing similar cuts to acute hospitals? What are the implications of these overruns in terms of patient services?” he asked.
But Mr Kenny maintained that patients would still get effective treatment in hospitals, who were treating more people with fewer resources.
“When this is completed, you will have a health service that will deliver in terms of the people’s money being channelled for real effective health services for all our people,” he said.
via Taoiseach Enda Kenny defends massive HSE budget overrun – National News – Independent.ie.
via Taoiseach Enda Kenny defends massive HSE budget overrun – National News – Independent.ie.
Irish solution has been to make most vulnerable pay –
AT A conference in Dublin on Monday, an academic from Iceland, , showed a chart contrasting the impact of the crisis measures adopted by governments in Iceland and Ireland on real disposable earnings of couples by income deciles (that is the poorest tenth of earners, the next poorest tenth, through to the richest tenth).
It showed that the poorest tenth of earners in Iceland suffered a drop of 9 per cent, whereas in Ireland the drop was 26 per cent (the data for Ireland was for the period 2008-2009 and for Iceland 2008-2010).
For the second-poorest 10 per cent of earners, the drop in Ireland was 14 per cent, in Iceland, 9 per cent. For the second-richest tenth in Iceland the drop was 17 per cent, in Ireland it was just 2 per cent. But, the most revealing figure of all, for the richest 10 per cent in both countries, in Iceland the richest had a drop in earnings of 38 per cent, in Ireland the top 10 per cent showed an increase of 8 per cent.
Quite simply, the left-leaning Icelandic government chose to focus the impact of the adjustments necessitated by the crisis on the richest sectors of Icelandic society. In Ireland, the right-leaning government did the opposite (it was a Fianna Fáil-Green government during the relevant period but its prescriptions have been followed by the right-leaning Fine Gael-Labour Government).
As in Iceland, there were and are clear choices for an Irish government in dealing with the crisis: whether to focus the impact on the adjustments on those best able to bear the pain, ie the richest sectors of society, or to focus the impact on those least able to bear the pain, ie the poorest.
Perhaps the cruellest measure introduced here has been the universal social charge. Initially, everyone being paid €4,004 and above had to pay the charge. Amid a flurry of self-congratulation, the current Government increased the threshold to €10,036, but with a vicious sting retained in the tail.
Anyone getting even a single euro over €10,036 has to pay the charge on their entire income. But not just that, whereas a levy of 2 per cent applied on earnings up to €10,036, those between €10,036 and €16,016 were levied at 4 per cent and everything above that attracted a levy of 7 per cent.
In other words, people living on slightly over the minimum wage (€8.65 per hour) were catapulted into the highest levy bracket (€8.65 multiplied by 38 hours a week, multiplied by 48 weeks, equals €15,777.60).
Since the crisis broke in 2008, there have been reductions in child benefit; carer’s allowance; disability payment and blind pension; jobseeker’s benefit; jobseeker’s allowance for those aged 18-21 years; supplementary allowance for those aged 22-24; one-parent family payment; and earnings disregard (by €16.50 to a weekly amount of €130).
via Irish solution has been to make most vulnerable pay – The Irish Times – Wed, Oct 10, 2012.
via Irish solution has been to make most vulnerable pay – The Irish Times – Wed, Oct 10, 2012.
Circus animals safe in Sligo….as Fianna Fáil go missing
CIRCUS ANIMALS are safe coming to Sligo for the foreseeable future.
Hopefully, they have no hang-ups as some strong things were said about them this week.
Dumbo and Nelly even managed to achieve the rare feat of splitting Sligo Borough Council three ways in a vote at its October meeting last night (Monday).
Fianna Fáil went walkabout before the vote, with neither of its two councillors, Rosaleen O’Grady and Jude Devins, present for the debate.
Cllr Arthur Gibbons wanted the Council to prevent any of its land being used when the circus comes to town.
However, Cllr Matt Lyons put in a stormer to champion the cause of the circus.
And get this — and this is rare — Cllr Declan Bree sat on the fence!
Room To Exercise
Cllr Gibbons said there is cruelty to animals on circuses and in a civilised society that message needed to go out loud and clear.
He was proud to put down such a Motion as times have changed.
Elephants were taken away from their mothers at a very young age and animals didn’t even have room to exercise when travelling with circuses.
Cllr Matt Lyons said ”I’ve a lot of humanity in my body but I don’t agree with this.”
”I’ve been to circuses and don’t agree animals are abused or ill-treated.
”If this Motion is passed we won’t be able to fish, hunt or anything.” Circus animals were treated better than those on farms. Dogs had been left hanging from gates.
Cllr Chris MacManus: ”We are trying to set an example. I don’t think it’s right to keep wild animals for entertainment.”
Cllr Daniel McGarrigle said he came from an agricultural background. ”The next call will be to close zoos. If we go down this road where do we stop?
Cllr Marcella McGarry said she had listened to debates on radio. Two circus managers had invited people to come and check animal welfare and found nothing wrong.
Cllr Declan Bree said he didn’t have strong views either way if animals are treated subject to law.
Mayor David Cawley said he appreciated the sentiment in the Motion. But the Fairgreen was the only site affected and it didn’t have circuses anymore.
These were Irish businesses, he said, and subjected to regulation.
In reply, Cllr Gibbons said it was about sending out a message to ”stop this cruelty.”
The comparison with domestic and zoo animals was not fair, as those animals were born in that habitat, he said.
Other speakers included Cllr Veronica Cawley and Cllr Jim McGarry.
The vote to impose the ban on circuses using Borough Council property in Sligo resulted as follows:-
FOR (2)
Cllr Arthur Gibbons
Cllr Chris MacManus
AGAINST (5)
Cllr Matt Lyons
Cllr Marcella McGarry
Cllr Daniel McGarrigle
Mayor David Cawley
Cllr Veronica Cawley
ABSTAINED (2)
Cllr Delan Bree
CllrJim McGarry
ABSENT FROM VOTE (2)
Cllr Rosaleen O’Grady
Cllr Jude Devins
via Sligo Today News for Sligo County – Circus animals safe in Sligo….as Fianna Fáil go missing.
via Sligo Today News for Sligo County – Circus animals safe in Sligo….as Fianna Fáil go missing.
No fracking for 10 years says EU Energy Commissioner
EU Commissioner for Energy Gúnther Oettinger has informed Fianna Fáil Senator Paschal Mooney that no decisions should be taken on hydraulic fracturing or “fracking” for 10 years. He was responding to questions from Senator Mooney during a visit to Ireland last week.
Speaking at the Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Energy and Communications, Commissioner Gúnther Oettinger told Senator Mooney that he believed no decisions should be taken until the environmental impact of fracking was established and that could take between five and 10 years.
He also confirmed that he is already in discussions with scientists and technical experts, and is in discussions with the Polish Government where fracking has already commenced.
The Commissioner also revealed to Senator Mooney that the extraction of shale gas could be chemical free in a number of years and that he intended to visit the United States next spring to see at first-hand how shale gas is extracted.
“I welcome this recognition by EU Energy Commissioner of the sensitivities involved over this controversial process,” said Senator Mooney.
“The Commissioner is obviously aware of the adverse environmental impact of current practices associated with the extraction of shale gas. The Commissioner is proceeding cautiously before coming to any conclusions. I am delighted that the person charged with Energy Policy in the European Union is consulting widely with the scientific technical and political community as part of an on-going process. I am now confident that he will not rush into decisions that would harm the environment as a result of the fracking process,” the Leitrim Senator said.
Bankrupt builder who owed €1bn back living in his former home
A TOP Irish developer who went bankrupt two years ago is living back in his former home in west Cork at weekends after his son-in-law bought back the property.
John Fleming looks set to become the first major Irish developer to make a dramatic recovery after writing off massive personal debts. His property empire collapsed in 2010 owing €1bn.
Mr Fleming, once one of Ireland’s top builders and a prominent supporter of Fianna Fail, led the way two years ago when he went bankrupt in Britain.
The one-time property baron was discharged from this bankruptcy last November after just a year. Under Irish law he would have had to wait up to 12 years.
An investigation by the Irish Independent has revealed that Mr Fleming now lives back in his former home in West Cork, when he is in Ireland after his son-in-law bought the house.
Mr Fleming has been seen regularly at his former home near Butlerstown in recent months. A son-in-law, John O’Brien, is thought to have bought the home back into the family by paying €250,000 for the house and six acres of land near Bandon.
Mr O’Brien is married to John Fleming’s daughter Linda.
According to a local property valuer, at the peak of the boom the property would have been worth over €600,000.
via Bankrupt builder who owed €1bn back living in his former home – National News – Independent.ie.
via Bankrupt builder who owed €1bn back living in his former home – National News – Independent.ie.
Pension bill for ex-office holders up 25% in 2011 – The Irish Times – Sat, Sep 29, 2012
THE BILL for pensions to former office holders jumped by more than 25 per cent last year, with former presidents, ministers, members of the judiciary and other senior office holders receiving a total of €15.22 million.
That compares with €12.1 million in 2010. The figure includes severance payments of €1.1 million to members of the Fianna Fáil/ Green coalition voted out of office last year.
Figures published last night on the Department of Finance website indicate that only 31 out of almost 200 office holders opted to forgo any portion of their pension. The €347,686 forgone amounts to just 2.3 per cent of the total sum paid in pensions and severance.
The highest pension paid last year was to former Progressive Democrats leader Michael McDowell. However, of the €173,700 he received, more than €142,000 related to backpayment for years in which he had been underpaid. That aside, two former comptroller and auditor generals – John Purcell and Laurie McDonnell – were the largest single beneficiaries, with pensions of €114,700.
Two former taoisigh, Bertie Ahern and Liam Cosgrave, surrendered a portion of their pensions while Brian Cowen, John Bruton and Albert Reynolds did not. Former president Mary Robinson opted to forgo €15,500 of her €139,500 entitlement.
The presidency remains the highest-paid office, with Mary McAleese receiving €280,300 and her successor Michael D Higgins €45,200 during the year, a total of €325,500. Both surrendered a portion of that salary last year.
The figures show the State’s judiciary was paid €27.35 million last year. The position of chief justice was paid €304,974. They also show the total paid in parliamentary leaders’ allowances fell last year to €7.2 million, from €8 million in 2010. Sinn Féin saw its leader’s allowance more than double to €933,876 from €335,425 the previous year. The allowance for Labour also rose while the figures for Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael fell.
via Pension bill for ex-office holders up 25% in 2011 – The Irish Times – Sat, Sep 29, 2012.
via Pension bill for ex-office holders up 25% in 2011 – The Irish Times – Sat, Sep 29, 2012.
The Lord of Nepotism Mattie McGrath
DOZENS of TDs and senators make use of family members as parliamentary and secretarial assistants, recently released files reveal. Thirty per cent of Oireachtas members, including government ministers and MEPs, have family members working for them. This is despite Fine Gael’s pre-election pledge to end cronyism.
South Tipperary Independent TD Mattie McGrath had the most family members working for him of all TDs. He employed two daughters, and a niece who shared parliamentary and secretarial assistant jobs along with another staff member.
McGrath said they were all “very well qualified” he added”, they work extremely hard . . . and in addition, they go above and beyond the call of duty at all time.
Surly it should be illegal to create public-sector jobs funded by Government money taken from taxpayers when there is no advertisement or systemized form of interviews.
Parliamentary assistants enjoy a starting salary of €41,000 while secretarial assistants have an income of € 23,000.
Mattie own list of National policy priorities, ironically include, – Full accountability and transparency to underpin spending of taxes and money.
All one can say is nice one Mattie to float the family onboard the coat tails of the gravy train. Even so, then again, folks, bear in mind his background. The Man is former Fianna Fáil and well versed in the art of stroke pulling and double standards.
Was not his resignation from Fianna Fáil not just apiece of political cynicism to save his seat?
Hypocrisy and nepotism are alive, well, and thriving in the secure hands of Master McGrath a monolith of ignorance and bizarre rurality. He has delivered zero on his election promises, but he will plead from his bucolic mouth those from the establishment were out to do him down. He will conveniently forget to concede that his own feet continue to live and walk the well-trodden path of the elected system.
The stench of animal faeces surrounds the verbal the uttering’s of our Mr. McGrath but there again a Gombeen man is he.
Enda Kenny says Health Minister James Reilly has no conflict of interest – RTÉ News
Mr Kenny said Mr Reilly had given an account of his personal interests to the Dáil, and he rejected Sinn Féin‘s Mary Lou McDonald’s suggestions of a conflict of interest.
Ms McDonald claimed that Mr Reilly clearly had a direct conflict of interest, because he has investments in private medicine and nursing homes at a time when public beds were being closed.
She described as a farce the addition by Mr Reilly of extra proposed sites for primary care centres.
Ms McDonald asked whether or not junior health minister Roisin Shortall was aware of the additional criteria, including competition, cited by the Taoiseach.
Mr Kenny insisted that extra proposed sites were added to put pressure on the medical profession to co-operate.
Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin criticised the addition of extra primary care sites, including two in the minister’s own constituency, saying that Ms Shortall “plays by the rules, but Minister Reilly doesn’t”.
via Enda Kenny says Health Minister James Reilly has no conflict of interest – RTÉ News.
via Enda Kenny says Health Minister James Reilly has no conflict of interest – RTÉ News.
James Reilly
They’re calling him Reilly: Ace of Lies.
This week’s motion of no confidence in the Minister for Health is the only credible response to the reality of what is happening under James Reilly. Before the election he personally led a deeply cynical campaign on health. He promised that he and Fine Gael would make sure that no one lost any services and a whole new set of free services would be provided.
After running a briefing campaign to protect his budget he announced that he had enough money to fully deliver his service commitments.
We never believed this and have been relentless during this year in questioning him about services and budgets. He repeatedly assured us and the Dáil that everything was fine under his personal management. He repeated like a mantra that frontline services were being protected.
This was untrue and health services are now being subject to a round of mean-spirited emergency cuts which Minister Reilly was denying while already implementing them.
Before the full force of his management has had its impact, waiting lists are rising, services are being closed and there is a deep sense of despair in the sector.
There is no precedent for a situation where the Taoiseach praises a minister for being brave in reversing cuts while the Minister is still claiming that the cuts never existed.
Passing News Bites
Special Needs Assistant
Every time the government says ‘we need to pay the unsecured bondholders; A’ Special Needs Assistant dies inside.
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New Movie channel
Pat Rabbitte gives ok to new Irish movie channel. He is confident material supplied by FAS will he included.
Blank TVs
Three hundred thousand homes to face blank TVs as switchover to the digital system looms.
Solution- bring back Terry Wogans blankety blank.
Cycle Path
Leo Varadkar estimates this will bring in €15m per annum to local business.
Funding not yet allocated, no route yet decided. How can, Mr. Varadkar, know how much money will be generated from a project that is still in its infancy and may well not even happen?
Mr. Varadkar is currently considering grants for kite flying.
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The Fianna Fail Think In
Top of the agenda was the search for brains – this proved to be a fruitless exercise.
The Leader Mr. Martin said his party would oppose the proposed Government property tax. Now Micheál rattle the old brain cells if you can find them and youwill recall your lot proposed this very same tax two years ago.
Perhaps just maybe we are seeing the death throes of this shambolic lot.
misebogland 