Eamon Gilmore has once again come out and stated that he will not enter co-alition with Fianna Fáil after the next general election. He’s right to do so. No government that has caused such destruction to our economy should be afforded the support of other parties in 2012, it would be unjust.

However Eamon is not the first party leader to state that he wants Fianna Fáil out of office.

In the 1980s Dessie O’Malley’s establishment of the PDs originated from his dislike of Fianna Fáil, yet by 1989 Dessie was in coalition with them. The same occurred in 1992 when the Labour party doubled their seats in the Spring Tide on a rhetoric that was completely anti-Fianna Fáil. We know that Dick Spring became Tánaiste that same year. He bit the bullet and chose power over honour. And finally we all know what happened in 2007. To make up the numbers the Green Party accepted the reigns of power. Trevor Sergent gracefully resigned as leader of the party because he had made a promise that he would not enter co-alition with Fianna Fáil. At least he knew what he did was wrong.

While I have a passionate dislike for John “The Bull” O’Donoghue, he proved his worth two weeks ago when he spoke about Eamon Gilmore in relation to the Dog Breeding bill

If I may be excused the analogy, Deputy Gilmore reminds me of a gadfly around the tail of an old cow. He circles, one does not hear him, sometimes he might land but one does not see him land, but all the time one knows he is there and, in the final analysis, one will never quite know what he is up to, where he is going or how he will get there.

That appears to be a very popular stance to take in modern day Irish politics. It amounts to tut-tutism by the finest tut-tuter in the House and I am certain that a man who stands for nothing will fall for anything.

Fall for anything? Fall for Fianna Fáil maybe?

Gilmore can be as forceful as he likes but when his options are laid out after 2012 he’ll have two clear choices. Two-thirds of the cabinet seats with Fine Gael and the position of Tánaiste or half the seats and a rotating Taoiseach under Fianna Fáil. If history has shown anything, we know which option he’ll choose.

I’m sickened by a news story that has emerged about a family seeking public housing in Ashford, County Wicklow. A women and her four children were granted a house however they have been forcibly removed simply because the father and husband is a convicted sex offender. The father does not live with the family, it is only the wife and children. The family of five is now living with relatives in overcrowded conditions. What’s most startling about this situation is the support Labour councillors have given to the mob of residents that forced the family out.

When the residents learnt that the innocent family would be moving in, they immediately organised a protest up to Friday two weeks ago. The house was burnt down on Sunday night. One resident defended their actions.

We weren’t a mob. We decided to keep vigil. The protest finished on Friday morning, we were just keeping a vigil and making sure that nobody did move in

As far as I’m concerned somebody knows who burnt down the house and it’s likely to be one of the residents. I’ve no evidence to prove this but there’s no one else who would have had the motive! It’s also shocking that the residents were keeping a constant vigil and not one of them spotted and reported who entered the house to set it ablaze.

An 88-year-old disabled woman who lived next door has also been forced out of her specially adapted home because it is now in a dangerous condition.

If that fire had spread quickly enough the old lady could have been seriously injured or killed in the blaze. The risk of this happening is much higher than the risk of this man re-offending. He has been clean for 18 years and having been independently assessed he is now described as “low-risk”. There isn’t a non risk, he is as safe as possible! Also with residents on such high alert the man would hardly offend in that estate, especially as he is already the prime suspect by default. All this is besides the point. He won’t be living there!!!

The arsonist in this case is a greater threat to this community and I think the residents should focus their attention on finding this man instead of attacking an innocent family!

Councillor Conal Kavanagh and his Labour colleagues have lead the charge against this innocent family on a political level. They have supported the mob throughout and then Kavanagh put a motion down on the council not merely that sex offenders be removed entirely from the Co Wicklow housing list, but that anyone “they consorted with” should be taken off the list. Does this include his friends, his acquaintances, his postman???

I’d warm to the idea of denying the offenders public housing, but this is a step too far.

It’s really about time Labour stopped with their stupid populism. It’s getting out of hand and it’s starting to damage the lives of innocent people.

Link: 2007 results

2 Fianna Fáil
1 Fine Gael

Analysis

Cork North West is a large 3 seat constituency that is very rural and therefore difficult to canvass. First established in 1981 it has only ever returned TDs from Fianna Fáil or Fine Gael. Historically Fine Gael would always return 2 seats while Fianna Fáil only ever managed one. However since Bertie Ahern’s victory in the 1997 general election Fianna Fáil have retained 2 out of 3 seats here.

Since 1997 the Fianna Fáil vote has risen steadily. 46% in 1997, 50% in 2002 and 53% in 2007. However we know that since 2007 the Fianna Fáil vote has dropped significantly nationwide, hitting a low of 17% in recent times. While this drop is not proportional in every constituency it’s almost certain that a drop of around 10% has been seen in Cork North West. Even if Fianna Fáil can manage to get 45% of the vote in 2012 they won’t hold both seats.

Throughout the 80′s Fianna Fáil would always win around 45% of the vote but they would never win 2 seats. Even if Fine Gael had less of a vote, PD or Labour transfers always helped a second Fine Gael candidate win a seat.

With Fianna Fáil set to lose one seat it will be very interesting to see which TD loses out. Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Innovation Batt O’Keeffe is a TD here and in 2007 he received 2000 votes less than his constituency colleague Michael Moynihan. Batt decided to run here for the first time after boundary changes forced him out of Cork South Central. For a new candidate he did surprisingly well and he unseated the incumbent TD Donal Moynihan. I think now that he is settled in the constituency and the fact that he is a cabinet minister should help him catch up with Michael Moynihan and retain his seat.

As mentioned Cork North West has always been Fine Gael heartland and there’s no doubt in my mind that Fine Gael will win back a second seat here in 2012. Fine Gael polled 38% here in 2007 and opinion polls now put the party at roughly 5% higher nationwide. Much of this rise has been seen in rural areas as opposed to urban, therefore I estimate the Fine Gael vote to be somewhere around 45%, maybe even higher. Incumbent TD Michael Creed is sure to retain his seat and I’ve no doubt that Cllr Gerard Murphy will be chosen again to run alongside Creed. If Fine Gael doesn’t break 50% then Labour transfers will ensure 2 Fine Gael TDs.

Many would see this as a constituency for Labour to win a seat however I doubt this very much. Even during the Spring Tide of 1992 Bill Cashin only received 14% of the vote when 25% is the quota in a 3 seat constituency. Labour will probably run Martin Coughlan in 2012 however having only won 5% of the vote in 2007 he would need to at least quadruple his vote to be within any chance of a seat. This is unlikely to happen in such a rural constituency when most of Labour’s recent gains have been made in urban areas.

2012 Prediction

2 Fine Gael – Michael Creed and Gerard Murphy
1 Fianna Fáil – Batt O’Keefe

Upset Predictions

The only upset would be for Batt O’Keefe to lose his seat. Michael Moynihan has all day to canvass and leaflet drop the constituency while Batt is tied up in Dublin with his ministerial duties. If Moynihan can work like a Trojan to get his name out then maybe he has a chance but otherwise O’Keefe’s ministerial profile will help him retain his seat.

Link: 2007 results

2 Fianna Fáil
1 Fine Gael
1 Labour

Analysis

Cork North Central, like it’s neighbouring constituency of Cork East, will prove to be a tightly fought constituency in 2012. However, this will not be a case of opposition vs government candidates but rather a fight between Labour and Fine Gael for the forth and final seat.

Fianna Fáil has no hope of retaining its two seats in Cork North Central but it will probably hold one seat. In 2007 Billy Kelleher had a significant lead over his party colleague Noel O’Flynn. Kelleher served as Minister of State for Labour Affairs from 2007-2009 and he is now Minister of State for Trade and Commerce. This gives his profile a boost and I predict that on the day he will poll well and the elimination of O’Flynn will give him the transfers he needs to retain his seat. In the 2009 local elections Fianna Fáil’s vote was at 20%, just enough for one seat with strong internal transfers.

Fine Gael is certain to return Bernard Allen to the Dáil and it’s likely that Cllr Gerry Kelly will join him on the ticket in 2012. Both candidates are well positioned in the constituency with Allen based in the city and Kelly based in Blarney.

The problem for Fine Gael is that their vote has not moved significantly since 2007, it has remained around 27%-29%. A vote above 30% is required for 2 seats and it will require a lot of hard work on the ground to achieve this.

What may be of optimism to Fine Gael is that this constituency is to gain a large chunk of land from the Mallow electoral area. In this ward Fine Gael received 39% of the vote in 2009. A rough estimate including this area brings their total vote to almost 29% across the constituency in the 2009 local elections.

Labour’s Kathleen Lynch will certainly retain her seat in 2012 and I’ve no doubt that Cllr John Gilroy from Blarney will join her on the ticket under Labour’s 2 seat strategy. He topped the poll in his LEA with 1.20 of a quota and 4,538 first preference votes. Like Fine Gael, Labour is well placed with one candidate in the city (Lynch) and one in Blarney.

The question is which Blarney councillor will join their TDs in Leinster House: Gerry Kelly for Fine Gael or John Gilroy for Labour?

I think Fine Gael will take the last seat by a small margin.

Many would point to other left-wing parties in the constituency as being a source of Labour transfers. Sinn Féin, The Workers Party and the Socialist Party are all prominent in the city however it’s not completely true that they will transfer solely to Labour.

In 2007 Labour received 27% of transfers while Fine Gael received 25%. If Fine Gael can get 30%+ in 2012 and still be favourable for transfers then they will easily beat Labour.

2012 Prediction

2 Fine Gael – Bernard Allen and Gerry Kelly
1 Fianna Fáil – Billy Kelleher
1 Labour – Kathleen Lynch

Upset Predictions

1. Labour wins second seat: Gilmore continues to win over public support and a raft of new policy documents featuring public sector reform pushes away media criticism.

2. Fianna Fáil holds 2 seats: Taking the “tough decisions” and having “turned the corner” Fianna Fáil’s fortunes return after a leadership heave. Brian Cowen is replaced with Michael Martin from Cork. The extra profile for the county leads to a return of support.

3. Fianna Fáil loses both. 2 for Labour and Fine Gael: A double dip recession, further cuts, higher taxes and a surge in unemployment could send their vote lower and then this situation becomes a reality.

4. Left-Wing TD: In 2009, Sinn Féin, Socialists and The Workers Party had a combined vote of 17% the locals. With strong transfers Sinn Féin’s Cllr Jonathan O’Brien or The Socialist Party’s Cllr Mick Barry could take a seat.

Link: 2007 results

2 Fianna Fáil
1 Fine Gael
1 Labour

Analysis

Cork East will prove to be a pivotal constituency in the 2012 general election. The forth and final seat will be a contest between the three big parties and the winner will likely be the overall victor in the national election.

Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and Labour will each retain one seat in this constituency. Labour’s Sean Sherlock will keep his seat however it’s unclear who will be safe from Fine Gael or Fianna Fáil.

Since 1982 this constituency has returned both Michael Ahern and Ned O’Keeffe from Fianna Fáil. Their votes are often close together and in 2007 their votes were less than 300 votes apart. A flip of a coin would be a better judge on who loses out if Fianna Fáil’s vote stays as low as it is. Both TDs have no ministerial positions so it’ll be interesting to see who can win over local votes in the coming months. (They were both junior ministers before)

Fine Gael has two prominent politicians in the constituency: sitting TD and newly appointed front bench member David Stanton and former TD, future husband of Lucinda Creighton and current Senator Paul Bradford. In 1997 they both held seats and in 2002 and 2007 Paul Bradford received more 1st preference votes but David Stanton got the seat on transfers. Stanton’s new role as Defence spokesman increases his profile ever so slightly and this probably puts his support in line with Senator Bradford’s. Once again, too close to call.

As mentioned, the last seat will be tightly fought but I predict that Fine Gael will take the seat.

Looking at the 2009 local elections it shows Fianna Fáil at 20%, Labour at 15% and Fine Gael at 33%. Fianna Fáil’s vote is always below it’s national average in this constituency so Fianna Fáil would have to recover to 40%+ nationwide for 2 seats to ever be imaginable here.

Many would see this as a place for Labour to gain a seat however I dismiss this prediction. Labour has a young TD to take home one seat but he has no clear running mate to win widespread support and Labour needs to break past 30% nationwide for this to happen.

Fine Gael is better placed with two candidates who have a presence in the constituency for over 15 years.

2012 Prediction

2 Fine Gael – David Stanton and Paul Bradford
1 Fianna Fáil – Michael Ahern or Ned O’Keeffe
1 Labour – Sean Sherlock

Upset Predictions

1. Labour wins second seat: Gilmore continues to win over public support and a raft of new policy documents featuring public sector reform pushes away media criticism. Labour also brings in a celebrity running mate.

2. Fianna Fáil holds 2 seats: Taking the “tough decisions” and having “turned the corner” Fianna Fáil’s fortunes return after a leadership heave. Brian Cowen is replaced with Michael Martin from Cork. The extra profile for the county leads to a return of support.

3. Fianna Fáil loses both. 2 for Labour and Fine Gael: A double dip recession, further cuts, higher taxes and a surge in unemployment could send their vote lower and then this situation becomes a reality. In Midleton the Fianna Fáil vote dropped to 15% last year. If the same drop occurs across the constituency then anything’s possible.

Sean Barrett – Foreign Affairs: It’s very welcome to see Barrett’s return to the frontbench. He served as minister for Defence during the Rainbow co-alition in the 1990s and he had originally announced his retirement in 2002. Having returned to his seat in Dun Laoghaire for the 2007 elections he has been very active in the party of late. He comes across very well and I was impressed at his performance on The Week in Politics last Sunday.

Richard Bruton – Enterprise, Jobs & Economic Planning (including public service reform): Fine Gael can’t win an election without Richard Bruton and it’s great to see his continuation in an economic portfolio. I feel this position is not a demotion for Richard but merely a move sideways. Richard was Minister for Enterprise and Employment during the Rainbow co-alition so he is very suited for this position. I’m also pleased he’s in a role that includes public service reform. It’s rumoured that Bruton produced an excellent proposal called “Smart State” before the leadership heave that included radical reforms of government departments and agencies such as the HSE. I hope his hard work continues.

Simon Coveney – Transport: In his previous role as energy, communications and natural resources spokesman Simon did some excellent work. Producing the NewERA plan he tied all the aspects of his role into one and he deserves great credit for developing this policy almost all on his own. If he can bring the same enthusiasm and energy into the area of transport then we should see some fantastic policy ideas over the coming months and years. It was wise of Kenny not to give him the chop as was rumoured over the past few days.

Michael Noonan – Finance: Noonan has the greatest ministerial service of any Fine Gael TD so he is very suited for the position as finance spokesman. During the Garret Fitzgerald government he served as Minister for Justice and as Minister for Industry and Commerce after a reshuffle. He then served as Minister for Health during the Rainbow co-alition. After Fianna Fáil regained power he took the opposition role of Finance. At every budget his speech was always well received and Noonan has always been regarded for his use of wit and humour. Even though he has been out of the front bench for 8 years I believe he is ready for a return to spotlight politics and he should prove to be a tough opponent of Brian Lenihan.

James Reilly – Deputy Leader & Health & Children: Dr Reilly was very vocal in his support for Enda Kenny during the leadership challenge and his loyalty has been rewarded with the Deputy Leader role. James is only in politics since 2007 so it’ll be interesting to see how he manages as the party’s number 2. I think Phil Hogan has more experience for the role and it was expected that he would get the job, however a need to maintain a large Fine Gael presence in Dublin was the main reason for giving Reilly the position. Reilly continues to be a superb health spokesman and I’ve no doubt he’ll make an excellent Minister too.

Alan Shatter – Justice & Law Reform: While my other local TD Olivia Mitchell has been left out of the frontbench it’s good to see Alan Shatter’s promotion to the role of Justice. Shatter has worked very hard in his role as spokesperson for children and throughout his past 25 years as a legislator and as a TD for Dublin South. I’ve no doubt that he’ll continue to scrutinise government policy and provide alternatives.

Leo Varadkar – Communications, Energy & Natural Resources: This is the appointment that I’m disappointed with. As I’ve mentioned the policies for this portfolio are outlined in NewERA and this leaves little work for Leo to do. Of course he’ll have a fun time sticking it to the Green Minister Eamon Ryan, however Kenny has missed an opportunity to give Leo a position where real policy reforms are yet to be developed. I would have much preferred Leo to be given the role as education spokesman. With respect to Fergus O’Dowd, who is an excellent politician, he is twice the age that Leo is and although he was previously a teacher himself, Leo would be much more in touch with the education system today.

However besides this appointment Kenny has unveiled a solid frontbench. The task now is to put the past to bed and to continue the pressure on the government over the next two years.

Here is the rest of the Frontbench:

• Enda Kenny – Leader
• Catherine Byrne – Older Citizens
• Deirdre Clune – Innovation & Research
• Jimmy Deenihan – Tourism, Culture & Sport
• Andrew Doyle – Agriculture, Fisheries & Food
• Frank Feighan – Community, Equality & Gaeltacht Affairs
• Charlie Flanagan – Children
• Phil Hogan – Environment, Heritage & Local Government
• Paul Kehoe – Chief Whip (with responsibility for political reform)
• Fergus O’Dowd – Education & Skills
• John Perry – Small Business
• Michael Ring – Social Protection
• David Stanton – Defence

Link: 2007 results

2 Fianna Fáil
2 Fine Gael

Analysis

Clare is one of Ireland’s oldest constituencies, established for the 2nd Dáil in 1921. Until 1959 it was the constituency of Eamon De Valera and former president Patrick Hillary was a TDs here also. During the Spring Tide of 1992 this constituency caused a huge surprise by electing Ireland’s first Muslim TD Moosajee Bhamjee from Labour. He was elected with the slogan “You’ve had all the cowboys, now try an Indian”.

Bhamjee achieved this with a 11.46% vote for Labour and with a large chunk of transfers from Fine Gael who only held one seat out of four seats in 1992. Bhamjee didn’t run in 1997 and the Labour vote dropped to 3%, proving that the vote was primarily a personal one. Labour won 3% in 2002 and then their vote dropped to 1.5% in 2007. Eamon GIlmore’s leadership of the party only helped them achieve 4% of votes in the 2009 local elections although it must be noted that Labour only ran in half of the county’s LEAs. Therefore I estimate their vote at around 8% when you consider their recent rise in popularity.

An optimistic Labour man will tell you that 11% is achievable again and that they can win a seat with this vote. I believe that they won’t. Even if they go above 10% they won’t have enough transfers and many of their recent candidates have been unknown people. It’s only possible if they bring in a high profile candidate such as former independent TD James Breen. Breen is described as “left-wing” and he is still a councillor for Ennis West achieving 1.5 of a quota in 2009. He narrowly missed out at retaining his seat in 2007, losing to a second Fine Gael seat. If Labour can recruit him they have a seat, otherwise no.

Fine Gael polled 35% in 2007, winning 2 seats and in 2009 they polled 34% in the local elections making them the largest party on the county council for the first time in history. Fine Gael is certain to retain both it seats in 2012.

Fianna Fáil has always been strong in Clare. In 1997 they won 3/4 seats and in 2002 and 2007 their vote always ran above their national average. In 2009 they polled 35% and with Tony Killeen being the new Minister for Defence Fianna Fáil should also retain their two seats in 2012.

2012 Prediction

2 Fianna Fáil – Timmy Dooley and Tony Killeen
2 Fine Gael – Pat Breen and Joe Carey

Upset Prediction

As mentioned above, either Labour or an independent has a shot at one of the Fianna Fáil seats.

Link: 2007 results

1 Ceann Comhairle
2 Fianna Fáil
1 Sinn Féin
1 Fine Gael

Analysis

Cavan-Monaghan was established in 1977 and being a border constituency it has often voted republican. Fianna Fáil has often returned 3/5 seats and in 1981 the hunger striker Kieran Doherty was elected as an independent with the Anti H-Block group. In 1997 Sinn Féin’s Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin was elected on the first count and he cruised into the first seat in 2002 and 2007. I have no doubt that he will bring home one seat for Sinn Féin in 2012.

As mentioned this is a strong constituency for Fianna Fáil and they have always polled well, sometimes breaking the 50% barrier. In 2007 they polled 37% which was below their national average and they won 2 seats: Brendan Smith, Agriculture Minister from Cavan and Margaret Conlon newly elected TD from county Monaghan.

Cavan-Monaghan was a 4 seat constituency in 2007 because of the Ceann Comhairle Rory O’Hanlon, father of the well known comedian Ardal O’Hanlon, best known for his role as Father Dougal McGuire in Father Ted.

Cavan-Monaghan will be fought as a 5 seater in 2012 and therefore I predict that Fianna Fáil will hold both thier seats. The party polled 29% in Monaghan and 35% in Cavan in the local elections in 2009 and although their vote has dropped significantly nationwide, they are well placed to scrape in with their incumbents here.

Fine Gael is almost certain to take two seats here in 2012 due to the opening up of a 5th seat plus the rise in Fine Gael’s vote. The incumbent TD Seymour Crawford will retain his seat and he will likely bring in Senator Joe O’Reilly who narrowly missed out on the last seat in 2007.

Even during the Spring Tide of 1992 Labour did not gain a seat here and I don’t believe any Gilmore Gale will help them either. A lack of party infrastructure and not one single councillor in any of the two counties means that they will only serve as transfers to Fine Gael.

2012 Prediction

2 Fianna Fáil – Brendan Smith and Margaret Conlon
2 Fine Gael – Seymour Crawford and Joe O’Reilly
1 Sinn Féin – Caoimhghin O Caolain

Upset Prediction

Looking at the 2009 local elections, Fine Gael polled an impressive 45.64% in Cavan and 29.85% in Monaghan. This puts them at roughly 38% across the constituency. If they can boost their vote in Monaghan into the 40% range, like Cavan, then they are in the running for a 3rd seat. As mentioned, the Labour candidate will almost certainly be eliminated and this will provide a large chunk of transfers that I believe will go almost exclusively to Fine Gael.

It’s also less likely, but possible, that the elimination of a 3rd Fine Gael candidate could provide the sufficient transfers to help a Labour candidate over the line. Of course, it all depends on who they run. Labour won’t get anywhere without a strong team of canvassers and a high profile candidate across both counties.

This upset will only happen if Fianna Fáil’s vote drops further below 30% and if one of the two incumbents has a significantly higher vote than the other. In 2007 Brendan Smith polled over 50% higher than Margaret Conlon so it’s possible although it must be noted that Fianna Fáil’s vote has dropped the most in Cavan therefore I see both TDs votes being closer together in 2012.

Link: 2007 results

3 Fianna Fáil
1 Green Party
1 Fine Gael

Analysis

This 5 seat constituency is a Fianna Fáil stronghold. 47% of the vote gave them three safe seats in 2007 with two TDs elected on the first count. Since the establishment of the constituency in 1948 Fianna Fáil’s vote has never dropped below 40% and it is often in the high 40’s or even over 50%, as was seen in 2002, giving them 3 out of 4 seats when the Ceann Comhairle Seamus Pattison was automatically elected to the first seat. It’s for these reasons that Fianna Fáil will probably return 2 seats to Carlow-Kilkenny in 2012.

The Green Party will not retain their seat here next time. Mary White only received 8% of the vote last time with transfers helping her over the line. The Green Party, like Fianna Fáil will be starved of transfers next time and this will ensure the loss of Mary White’s seat. The most recent opinion polls have the Greens at 2% nationwide.

From 1961-2002 Labour had a seat in this constituency and their recent boost in the polls means that they will secure at least one seat in 2012. The locals in 2009 showed their support in both counties at around 18%, more than enough for a seat. 16.6% is the quota in a 5 seat constituency.

Fine Gael made a mess of their campaign here in 2007. With a vote of 30% they failed to elect 2 TDs even though they only needed an extra 3% in transfers. As a result of bad management the young Senator John Paul Phelan lost out to Mary White of the Greens. However, recent opinion polls have Fine Gael polling at 33% nationwide therefore 2 seats will be very manageable in 2012.

2012 Prediction

2 Fianna Fáil – John McGuinness and Bobby Aylward
2 Fine Gael – Big Phil Hogan and John Paul Phelan
1 Labour – Whoever they choose will get a seat.

Upset Prediction

The local elections showed Fine Gael polling at 39% which is above their national poll. If Fine Gael can break into the 40%+ range then they have a shot at a third seat. However, this depends on a further drop in Fianna Fáil support and a split of their vote on election day. It would also require transfers from many other opposition parties.

It’s also possible for Labour to take a second seat. In 1992, during the Spring Tide, Seamus Pattison received 1.48 of a quota with no running mate to transfer too. 2 seats for Labour or 3 seats for Fine Gael is not impossible.

Firstly, it has to be said that I have no opinion whatsoever on Stag Hunting. This is a practice enjoyed by rural people, and not by a suburban man like myself. It’s for rural people and rural TDs to comment on rural issues. Therefore, it annoys me that a city man like John Gormley would seek to interfere with an issue he has little experience in, whether you are in favour or against the bill. Also it pains me that at a time when our people are in such economic distress that the Minister would seek to tend to our animals instead of our people. It’s clear where the Green Party’s priorities lie.

Today during the second stage Dáil debate on the Wildlife (Amendment) Bill 2010, numerous Fianna Fáil TDs spoke out against the ministers proposals. Their reasons centred on the effect to their local economies and there was much defence of animal welfare along with concerns about rural life. The following FF TDs spoke against the bill:

Mary Wallace – Meath East
Mattie McGrath – Tipperary South
Johnny Brady – Meath West
Thomas Byrne – Meath East
Sean Power – Kildare South

Fine Gael TD James Bannon said that he would regard the TDs as hypocrites if they didn’t vote against the legislation next Tuesday. I couldn’t agree more.

However, we all know that they will vote in favour of the bill because that’s what Fianna Fáil TDs do. They’ll speak up for their constituency but ultimately they’ll vote against their people. It’s the FF way of trying to please everyone at the same time. If you stand for everything then you stand for nothing!

Labour may have a strong uppercut with knockout one-liners and visible anger in the Dáil, led by Eamon Gilmore, however do they have a plan to save the country?

Both parties’ websites have policy pages. Labour’s is their “Our ideas and Policies” page while Fine Gael has a “recent policy catalogue” on its site. I have drawn from both these pages to compare the two parties.

Public Sector

Let’s first jump back to last year’s budget and to the thorny issue of public sector pay. Labour is well known as a political wing for the trade union movement and thus their pre-budget proposal was lacking in specific detail. Both Fine Gael and Labour committed to the government’s reduction of €1.3bn in the public sector pay bill however Labour only gave an aspiration to achieve this reduction through negotiations.

Fine Gael, on the other hand, came out with an extensive and detailed alternative budget that gave detailed breakdowns of where the money would come from. This specified that the €1.3bn would be made by a direct cut in pay to those earning above €30,000 in the public sector. There was no aspiration or hope for the future, just hard figures that spelled out the reality. Fine Gael even went above the €1.3bn suggested and proposed a further €500m reduction in the public sector pay bill through redundancies in the HSE, CIE and through the closing down of wasteful quangos.

Next, we come to the Croke Park deal, a sweet guarantee that ensures not a single pay cut or forced redundancy in the public sector unless there is a further deterioration in the economy. Seems pretty fair to me and that’s why Fine Gael has come out in favour of the proposal. We haven’t engaged in a massive campaign to promote the deal, or to influence union members. We’ve simply stated our position on the matter, a position the public are entitled to know.

However Labour have ducked and dodged this issue right from the beginning. They will not state any position on the deal and if we are to take their members view we can see that two motions were passed at this year’s party conference calling for the restoration of the budget pay cuts and an abolition of the pension levy! That’s the only position I’ve seen from Labour on this issue and so I am led to conclude that this is their policy position on the matter.

Banking

Labour and Fine Gael have roughly the same view on this issue, the establishment of a state run investment bank. This is the good bank option, as opposed to the government’s bad bank, NAMA. Fine Gael announced this policy first and then Labour followed suit months later with an almost identical proposal.

The main difference between the two parties is that Labour favours an ideologically lead nationalisation of the banks. This would be catastrophic for the banks because ultimately a bank belongs free in the marketplace. It’s almost like releasing an animal back into the wild where it belongs, with all the other animals. Keeping a bank nationalised is like keeping an animal in captivity.

Stimulus

Labour has no known policy for a stimulus package for the economy while Fine Gael has a plan to create over 100,000 jobs in the energy, communications and water sectors. It’s called NewERA and it’s a costed and well thought out plan to improve our infrastructure and create employment in the process. Sadly, once again Labour fails to even produce a plan on this, let alone to include specifics costings of their plan.

Health

I have to give Labour some credit in this area. They were the first party to endorse the principal of universal healthcare back in 2001. Fine Gael has since come around to the concept and has adopted a different model based on the Dutch system. The fundamental difference here again is specifics. The Fine Gael proposal has plenty of detail and they’ve even created a dedicated website to explain their policy and what it will provide to the public. Labour continues to only support the principal and it seems they simply want a full bureaucratic public healthcare system that has plagued our system and other health systems in the UK, France and elsewhere in Europe.

The Dutch model means that everyone has private health coverage, it has ended hospital waiting lists and the Fine Gael plan proposes FREE GP care for all, while keeping healthcare spending at its present levels. This can be done by cutting out all the managerial waste in the HSE and by employing competition between insurance companies. Fine Gael sees the benefit of the free market while Labour still remains in its backward mode of socialism and state control.

Education

Education is a huge priority for Fine Gael. Following the budget in December, Education Spokesman Brian Hayes organised large demonstrations against the removal of special needs teachers from a school in Tallaght. This school had 2/3 of its staff removed, in what can only be described as a heartless budget.

As well as protecting the vulnerable in our education system Fine Gael has two key proposals in the third level sector. The first is the re-introduction of third level fees. Our principal is that no student should pay at the door but instead pay after they have completed college. This would be a student loan system similar to many other countries across Europe and in the US. It’s fair to the students and it provides much needed funds to colleges and universities and this will maintain a high standard of facilities and service into the future.

Sadly the Labour party won’t budge on this issue. They aspire to a completely free third level sector, something that is neither practical nor affordable. Since free third level access was introduced in the 1990s it has only served to give higher income families an easy ride while it has not lead to a higher participation rate among lower income families. With Fine Gael’s proposal, supports can be given to those who need it, while those who can pay, pay.

Fine Gael has also recognised the economic benefits of overseas students coming to study in Irish universities. Simple measures that are outlined in their policy document would lead to tens of thousands of more students coming here each year.

Labour also has a policy document called “Priorities in Education”. Again, it’s another document that is purely aspirational and it doesn’t take any regard to our huge deficit and national debt. It even calls for an increase in education spending and to make our spending on education higher than European norms! We just don’t have the money to do that. I agree with Labour’s views on the separation of Church and school however otherwise it’s a completely useless document.

Half of the document is “Labour’s school for the 21st Century”. Firstly this school isn’t theirs, it’s designed by an architecture firm and it’s nothing new! My school in Knocklyon, built in 2000 and other schools like Malahide Community School have almost identical designs. Labour thinks it’s looking to the future, but it’s actually a decade behind! This cross section is almost identical to my school.

Could you say that anyone in Fine Gael showed weakness? I think not.

First I come to Richard Bruton. He’s probably the hardest to defend. He was flawed in the way he approached the confidence motion and the timing was awful. On the week of Brian Cowen’s confidence motion Bruton decides to declare civil war within the Fine Gael party. I accept Dennis Naughten’s reasoning that there’s never a bad time to make a right decision but there could have been a better time to make the move.

However, even then, Richard showed strength by standing up to his leader. Many within the party are fond of Enda and rightly so. He has brought unity to the party and electoral success, however in the wider public perception Kenny is not fit to lead the country. This has been made clear in both opinion polls and in discussions on the doorsteps and on internet forums over the past few years.

Many approaches have been taken to Kenny’s public appearance but to no avail. The general public still see him as weak, wooden and a bit of a bog-man superculchie (a view only found in urban areas, I might add). Bruton tapped into this public mood and he acted on it. We always complain that governments don’t listen to the people and that they don’t do what the people want, even though they are elected to do so. Bruton showed true political leadership this week by going with the public view as opposed to the party view.

Next we must judge the Fine Gael frontbench and those who backed Bruton. Again, they stood up to an unpopular leader and went with the public mood and that must be admired. This was a clear show of strength and it proves that Kenny had chosen a frontbench who knew how to serve the public interest and the public’s view.

Many now question the future of these “rebels” or “dissidents” however I feel that just because they voted “no confidence” in Enda, doesn’t automatically mean that they don’t have confidence in him. I know it’s hard to digest but it’s really quite simple. They think that Kenny is great but they just feel that Bruton is a little bit better.

Finally we must judge Enda and thankfully this is one area where the media has found consensus and where it has finally portrayed Kenny in a positive light. Everyone agrees that Kenny was decisive, he showed charisma during the debate and he came out champion at the end. Through the whole heave he showed strength and this is all the more reason why people should view him as a strong future Taoiseach. Sadly I believe that his negative perception will not ever be changed but we must work together as a party to make the most amount of gains at the next general election under his leadership.

It’s my belief that the divisions in the party are small and that this heave only shed a public light on existing divisions between members of the parliamentary party. It’s important that Kenny welcomes back most, if not all of the “rebels” and that he shows a united front to the electorate.

There’s two years until the next general election and that’s plenty of time to rebuild with everyone looking stronger already.

Much of the debate now focuses on how to deal with Anglo. Let it go to the wall or prop it up. It’s argued that letting it fail now would cost more to the taxpayer. “It’s too big to fail”.

This is a worthy discussion, however we need a bit of perspective here. Why are we bailing it out in the first place???

The government is gaining praise internationally because it is making the “tough decisions”. Bullshit!!

Maybe if Fianna Fáil and the PDs hadn’t let this happen in the first place, we wouldn’t have to bail them out.

People within banking have been saying since 2004 that the system was rotten. Easy credit allowed billions to be lent out with little chance of that money being returned.

Even in 2007 Michael Somers, then head of the National Treasury Management Agency (NTMA), told an Oireachtas committee that Anglo was in trouble, so he was reluctant to deposit money with it.

Somers was one of the brightest people working in government yet nobody would listen to him. Fianna Fáil didn’t have the balls to stop the madness before it was too late. And of course, 2007 was an election year!!

So, maybe FF have it right this time, maybe bailing out Anglo is our only option. BUT, who gave us this option in the first place? Who sent us down this one way street?? Fianna Fáil, and don’t you forget it!

While this is a victory in my view, it’s still not enough, and the law must be changed to allow alcohol to be sold on Good Friday like any other day in the year. Why has the government chosen to enforce a Christian practice on its citizens?

I would accept the statement that Ireland is a Catholic country. Well over 80% of the population identifies with this, and including Protestants, we have a population that is over 90% Christian.

However, Christians have free will, and if they are devout in their religion then they will not go to the pub anyway! Closing pubs on Friday will only lead to a loss of business from non-Christians, and it affects more casual Christians who would choose to drink on Good Friday.

It’s time we moved away from church control in this country, and away from laws that restrict an Irish persons right to have a drink. The most recent licensing laws stop the sale of alcohol at 10pm in supermarkets and off-licences! Great, so I’m just going to buy my drink before then, and drink it anyway. It’s unacceptable that the government has attacked liberty and freedom in this way. I don’t see myself buying cans after 10 o’clock, but if I did I should have the right to do so.

If I was in government I would remove this law, and I would allow all pubs nationwide to open on Good Friday, and on any other day they like!

A passport is a human right of any citizen.

It proves nationality, but more importantly it’s the means by which we travel in and out of this island. Without a passport you cannot go on holidays, you cannot make business trips and you can’t even emigrate to find work.

450,000 people in this country are out of work. It’s bad enough that they’ve lost their jobs, and it’s even worse because there are no jobs for them here. Now, to compound the problem, the unemployed must queue for a passport overnight, and they may not even get one because of the selfish actions of those who still have a job!

The CPSU’s industrial action on the passport office in Molesworth Street is not hitting the government in any way. It is only attacking the people that they claim to protect, the “ordinary working people”.

It is now reported that over 50,000 passport applications remain unprocessed in the system. The industrial action is primarily to blame for this, but it is not the only cause of the problem.

There are only three machines in the country that make passports! What’s more startling to learn is that two of those machines are now broken! However, let’s assume that a passport machine only works an eight hour day, like the average unionised worker. Surely, when there is a threefold reduction in the number of machines available then we can simply increase by three fold the productivity of the machine.

What I’m simply saying is, have the passport machine running 24/7 to clear the backlog, it’s that simple. However, we need workers to operate the machine and God forbid that any public servant should work “unsociable hours”.

People have lost thousands of Euro because they’ve missed their flights, and we must ask the question whether the government or the unions are liable to pay compensation. Today, Fine Gael TD Alan Shatter called for the CPSU to pay for any compensation claims. I assume by his comments that the Department of Foreign Affairs might have successful compensation claims to deal with. I hope the unions pay the full cost of other actions!

This crisis also raises the question, should we privatise passport production?

I’d be firmly in favour of this proposal. Private firms cut out the waste that is a cancer on our public services. They would run the passport office efficiently and they would get passports to citizens with minimal waiting times. Obviously, there is the risk that the private firm would use this facility for malicious purposes however if the government provides the same oversight as it does the passport office presently then there is no risk.

Either we privatise the system or we just face the same crisis the next time the unions don’t get what they want. We are citizens of Ireland and a passport is our right. Don’t let a vested interest take control of your life, and don’t let them hold you for random!

I arrived Friday evening and the conference began with a Young Fine Gael gathering in one of the smaller conference rooms. President of YFG Barry Walsh spoke about the great success the party has had over this past year and he pointed out how Fine Gael is the only party with the right policies to lead the next government.

He dismissed the other youth parties such as ógra Fianna Fáil, ógra Sinn Féin, and Labour Youth who he described as “champagne socialists”. I couldn’t agree more and the crowds laughter and applause shows that they agreed too. However Enda Kenny who was now present did not laugh. He knows that he will probably have Eamon Gilmore as his Tánaiste in the next government and I think he would prefer if we did’t tarnish our fellow opposition, even if it’s tempting to do so.

Enda Kenny then addressed the gathering and he spoke forcefully and passionately on issues like Youth Unemployment, education, emigration and the wider economy. I have to say that Kenny gives much better speeches to smaller groups than he does to a large hall with TV cameras. He’s also better off the cuff than with a pre-written speech.

The next morning I was seated front row in the main hall for the discussion on jobs and the economy. “Getting Ireland back to work” was the main slogan and theme of the conference.

Seeing all our TDs and Senators who work on economic issues on the one stage really made me realise how skilled a team we have.

Simon Coveney began proceedings with a speech on his NewERA document, a plan to create over 100,000 jobs by investing in energy, water and broadband infrastructure.

Eddie Hobbs then echoed the need for this investment when he highlighted our aging energy transport network. He said that it’s like having only two parallel motorways and the rest of the routes are bicycle tracks! He also spoke about peak oil and how investing in renewable energy is crucial, now more than ever.

Later on, we heard from my own local TD Olivia Mitchell, spokesperson on arts, sports and tourism. Or should I say “Tourism, Culture and Sport”.  She slated the government’s €10 travel tax and how it is reducing tourism into places like Killarney. She called on the airlines to restore dropped routes if Fine Gael abolished the tax in government.

Finally there was a warm reception to Richard Bruton, our finance spokesman. He made it perfectly clear that we would not support the re-capitalisation of Anglo Irish bank and that the zombie bank should be closed down in an orderly fashion. Taxpayers money should not be thrown into a black hole, he said.

After lunch we made sure we had good seats for the political reform discussion. Phil Hogan gave a taster of the “New Politics” document and then members of the audience could make comments.

Many speakers objected to the abolition of the Seanad and it was good to see a fellow YFGer raise the lowering of the voting age to 16. Sadly this does not feature in the document but it is something I’ll be fighting to change within the party.

Next, I went to a small conference room where the competitiveness of our economy was being discussed. Transport was a key feature of the talk, which called for the privatisation of some bus services, particularly in Dublin. I warmly welcome this as long as a regular and well routed network is maintained in the capital.

The conference went into pause mode in the early evening, due to the rugby match, but at 7pm the loss to Scotland was the last thing on people’s minds. Before the presidential speech, many of our elected representatives led the buildup. Mairead McGuinness MEP hosted the evening, and she provided much humour and entertainment for the delegates. Leo Varadkar, Michael Ring and James Reilly all spoke passionately too.

Leo highlighted the key differences between us and the government, Michael Ring sang the praises of Enda Kenny, and James Reilly gave an emotional endorsement of our health policy and how it will radically transform our health service into a system we can be proud of.

Finally, at 8:30 Enda Kenny entered the room for his presidential address. As mentioned previously, he is not good in front of a television camera and he’s even worse with a prewritten speech, especially if that speech is badly written! As members, we know many of the policy positions so for me his speech was quite boring. However, I would have expected something more lively from him and to be honest I found the buildup more exciting. It was an anti-climax for me.

But, I was impressed by one line. He made it quite clear that any doctor who has not opened all their letters from GPs will not be paid, and that any hospital department that is also not up-to-date, will not be paid either. This makes perfect sense to me, and it is just another area where Fine Gael shows responsibility and common sense.

The plans make at least five fundamental changes to our political system and the idea is to make all the changes on the same day in what has been dubbed as “super referendum”.

The first problem I foresee with this plan is that so many changes are made in one vote. The First Lisbon Treaty referendum proved that the Irish electorate, when unsure, will reject something that they do not fully understand. Any one of these proposals could become a sticking point for public opposition, and any such referendum could easily be lost even when the rest of the proposals are worthy of acceptance.

The first, and most radical change proposed is the abolition of the Seanad. In principle, I agree with this proposal. Many Scandinavian countries have no difficulty with one parliament, in fact many countries with one parliament are more advanced than us. However, the abolition of one chamber needs to be met with a significant reforms in the other. This is where I feel the Fine Gael plan is lacking.

It is welcome to see the introduction of a list system to elect TDs, however, it seems that only 12 to 15 TDs will be elected this way. Also, if the political parties themselves are deciding on who is on their list then there is no benefit to democracy. Only party hacks, who a loyal enough to the system will be chosen. We need an open list system with more TDs elected this way to make a better change.

I welcome the proposal to reduce the term of the presidency from 7 to 5 years. While this will see a presidential election race more often, savings will be made by running this election alongside the European and local elections. It makes sense, but I feel that we are missing an opportunity to reform the office of the President. We spend millions every year on having a president, yet he/she has limited power and is, in effect, subservient to the government of the day. Either we move to a presidential system similar to the United States and France, or we abolish the office altogether.

Finally, it is good to see the rejection from the plan, of a proposal to introduce gender quotas. The measure was defeated at Fine Gael’s parliamentary party meeting last week. Dublin South East TD, Lucinda Creighton spoke forcefully against the proposal and I agree with her comments. Gender quotas would undermine existing female TDs, who have fought hard for their positions and it would provide an easy route for unsuitable women to enter the Dáil.

The Fine Gael national conference is this weekend and it is likely that the full policy document will be released by then.

The Gardaí arrested two men shortly after the incident. These men are aged 21 and 31. We need to ask ourselves who is leading the charge against these shops. Is it angry vigilante citizens who cannot wait for the government to legislate? Or, is it rival drug dealers?

While much anger has been expressed about the establishment of these shops, I do not believe that ordinary citizens are taking the law into their own hands. People claim that these shops are having a negative impact on their lives and their towns, however it has hit no one else harder than ordinary Joe Druggy. He has been hit with a larger recession than anyone else in this country. Recessions are generally a time when countries experience a rise in drug use and drug related offences. In Ireland, the rise in head shops has taken business away from violent drug dealers.

Drug dealers are frustrated, so they are now retaliating by destroying head shops and making people unemployed in the process.

In my previous post Off with the Heads!?! I highlight the positive aspects of head shops. I argued that drug dealers would lose customers and I have now been proven correct. If drug dealers and criminal gangs could compete with head shops then they would have no reason to risk arrest and prosecution by attacking them!

Keeping these shops open keeps the drug dealers out of business!!!

To be fair, it must be said that Sargent showed honesty and integrity in his resignation. When the news broke of his wrongdoing he immediately knew that the game was up. By the same evening he had left his post as a junior minister and this reflected well on his character. In sharp contrast Willie O’Dea had to be dragged kicking and screaming from office. Only after Fine Gale tabled a motion of no confidence in him and after Dan Boyle withdrew his support via twitter did the Minister decide to resign.

Now, Willie O’Dea is whining and complaining about his fall from office in the media. In numerous interviews he has talked about how he is a victim of the political process? The simple reality is, Willie O’Dea is only a victim of his own actions. He was the one who slandered a political opponent, he was the one who lied to the High Court and he was the one who misled the Dáil on this matter.

I have no sympathy for him and the people of Limerick shouldn’t have either. Irish Politics is renowned for local favours where high profile ministers will bring investment to their constituencies. In 2007, nearly 20,000 people voted for Willie O’Dea but what good has he done to deserve so many votes? Gangland crime is still a pandemic in the city and job losses from places like Dell have made the city an unemployment blakspot.

As far as I’m concerned, Willie O’Dea is an embarrassment to politics in this country. He is nothing but an arrogant and tactless parasite who I am glad to see exterminated. However, Willie O’Dea is still a TD and it is very likely that he will contest the next general election.

Why is it, that a minister can act this way, resign, and then continue to represent the people as a TD? The simple fact is, that the government needs their support in Dáil votes, otherwise the government will fall. In order to keep itself in power the government will accept any low standard of ethics even if it means accepting support from two TDs who are accused of committing crimes.

When George Lee announced his decision to run in Dublin South last year, it was the push that got me involved with politics and with Fine Gael. I was so excited to meet him and I was privileged to help in his campaign. I believed his rhetoric about telling his grandkids that he did something when the country was on its knees. I also believed him when he said he’d run again at the next general election!

But the thing that pisses me off the most is that I trusted him. I trusted him so much that I canvassed relentlessly for him. Last summer I devoted two full weeks of my time to his campaign and I sacrificed much of my summer time for this.

I was even there when they counted his votes in the RDS, all 27,768 of them. No other TD in Dáil Eireann has ever received such a large number of votes. We always say that our TDs don’t have the support of the people, George Lee was the exception. He had our full support but he let us down. He couldn’t stand the heat so he got out of the kitchen.

But f**k him I say.

Now he can tell his kids that politics was too tough and that he left after only 9 months!

I ask anyone to point to a national opposition politician who can have a large impact after only 9 months. Many TDs have to wait 9 years until they are given a frontbench position. Enda Kenny waited 9 Dáil terms and went through 9 general elections before he was elected party leader in 2002. Politics is a slow game for life.

It really shows that George Lee had no patience and would not even settle with a frontbench position!

He says that his reasons are his lack of influence in party policy. Which areas of policy though?? He hasn’t specified one area in which he has had disagreement. I think we’d all like to know what the real problems were! Policies have to have a wide support from the parliamentary party. I think he just couldn’t have things his own way! I know that he’s a man to speak his mind but I was truly shocked when I heard the news today.

I can’t believe the news today
Oh, I can’t close my eyes and make it go away
How long, how long must we sing this song?

Factual evidence and statistics should properly rank these schools and they should be made available to everyone.

Feeder Schools list?

Up to now all Secondary Schools have been measured based on the % of students that the school in question sends to third level education. There are so many flaws with this system and even though my own school made the top ten list this year, it’s still an unfair way of measuring performance of teachers and pupils.

In school (A), all the students go to third level but they’ve all received no more than 300 points and they go to do level 6 courses. School (B) has bright and intelligent students however a large group of lads go abroad to find work and another group of girls take a year off for “self discovery”. The rest of its students all score over 400 points and they go to third level.

You would assume that in any case School (B) would have a higher rank due to its higher achieving students. Instead School (A) tops the league with 100% and School (B) sits at 80%.

This system is fundamentally flawed

It’s also flawed when it’s measured by the % of students going on to “University”. Under the Universities Act 1997 only the following 7 institutions are recognised as a university

• Dublin City University
• University College Cork
• University College Dublin
• National University of Ireland, Galway
• National University of Ireland, Maynooth
• University of Limerick
• Trinity College, Dublin

It’s amazing that a law has enshrined a select few colleges as better than any Institute of Technology or any other college.

The Sunday Times today released their list of feeder schools and it ranks the schools by the % of students in “University”. My school, which was in the top ten based on third level is ranked 137th due to this manipulation of figures. What a stupid system!!

The ST didn’t even get my schools figures right. As I said, we made the Irish Times top ten with 100% going to third level. However the ST says that we only sent 95% of our students. It seems to have left out any students who went abroad, further than the British Isles.

I don’t care where graduates go, it’s still 3rd level education!!

What we need is to measure schools by the average number of points the students get. That would make much more sense. It has its flaws too, but it’s a much better system than what we have at present.

What we shouldn’t do is measure by socio-economic background as this recent list tried to do. High School Rathgar came out on top when they took into account the number of Immigrants in the locality, the unemployment rate and the rate of previous participation in third level education.

Immigrants?? What have they to do with this???????

I know people from Knocklyon who go there and they travel 20 minutes by bus. Measuring the locality of the school tells you nothing when students come from all over the city.

If parents didn’t go to third level then it’s not the case that their kids won’t either! Both my parents have little or no 3rd level education, yet my Dad is a successful manager and my Mom is a fantastic house wife, and she runs music classes part time.

Also I need to point out that my school is much better than most, and it’s a public school. Looks like all you posh South Dubliners spent your money on status rather than on education!!

The Celtic Tiger saw a splurge in easy money. If you wanted a loan, you got it! For a car, boat, house, or TV, it was a free for all. Now the banks are out of cash and everything we bought is worth nothing!

The principal of credit is an admirable one. It allows people to get what they want and pay for it later.

However it does not come without a price. Interest is usually applied on a loan but there can be greater consequences.

For some weird reason Shakespeare knows our world better than we do! He saw these consequences quite clearly and many of his great plays detail them.

In 3rd year we studied The Merchant of Venice. This entire play revolves around a loan. The Jew, Shylock, seeks his revenge over Antonio by causing him to default on his loan. Today in Ireland you get sent to jail for this (in the most extreme of cases), but in those days you were removed of a pound of flesh!

Shylock is like a relentless bank that will stop at nothing to get its money back. At least in those days you knew the forfeit of the loan. During the Celtic Tiger the bank told you nothing and the government said that prosperity would last forever!

Even in Hamlet, which I now study in 5th year, the writing is on the wall that loans are to be avoided at all costs.

Neither a borrower nor a lender be;
For loan oft loses both itself and friend,
And borrowing dulls the edge of husbandry.

It ruins marriage, you lose friends, and most importantly you can lose everything you own!!!

This crisis has been the wake up call us Irish need.  China, who’s population save a large % of their income, is much better placed to deal with recessions like these. Thankfully some of us are taking the message seriously.

40% of adults are now debt free

This good news story shows that Irish people are beginning to save, but for how long?

If we see a boom again will personal spending rocket and will the loan cycle begin again?

It needs to be stopped and people need to realise that living within their means is the best way to live.

This means that we will say goodbye to the old Dublin Postcode system. It’s something that all of us know and it will be missed in many ways.

D4, a slang term born out of the Celtic Tiger will be no more. I should take this time to note however that the area of Dublin 4 doesn’t even begin to cover the area that would be considered “posh” in South Dublin. I don’t know why this area caught on as being more posh than anywhere else. My own area of D16 is casually termed D4 squared

Another custom this new postcode system will end is the class warfare style reference to the even and odd numbered Dublin Postcodes. The Northside has odd numbers while the Southside holds the even numbers. This led to certain connotations to certain postcodes.

No focking way I’m going into Dublin 15 roysh!!

A New European style Postcode system will end all this and it will make deliveries to our doors much easier. Let’s see someone try and slag off D1467 . I can’t be certain that’s what the new codes will look like but I imagine it will be similar to other countries.

In France they have a simple 5 digit number code like the US zip codes (e.g 90210), while in the UK it is a 6 or 7 character combination of numbers and letters. In Belgium it is only 4 digits and this is probably because they are a small county. I would envisage a similar situation here.

We may see more spam through our doorsteps as businesses have an easy way to address our houses however I don’t mind. I actually enjoy when pizza coupons and menus come through the door!!

What has Fianna Fáil done in the past few weeks to deserve 4% of the electorate swinging their way?

Well………nothing!

Unless you’re an alcoholic or a buyer of a new ’10 car you’ve no reason to change your vote to Fianna Fáil. And I doubt those two groups make up 4% of the electorate!

If anything there should be a drop in support for Fianna Fáil. They imposed a budget which hit the lowest paid in the public service and those on social welfare. Surely there were some votes to be lost from those two groups. Many of those votes were lost from previous budgets but this budget hit families by reducing child benefit and by imposing a carbon levy on fuels. This has impacted everyone and everyone is worse off because of the budget.

If people feel that they escaped the worse in budget ’10 then they are misinformed. The fact is that, there never should have been a savage budget like budget ’10 because if Fianna Fáil weren’t in power then this economic mess never would have occurred in the first place!!

People are being led to believe that they have to play their part and considering there’s a €22bn deficit that’s a fair message to send out. However, who created the €22bn hole?!?!?!?! Fianna F***ing Fáil that’s who!

The electorate in this country suffers from memory loss. We don’t remember the bad things that our politicians do and we’ve been led like sheep to the slaughter by FF governments who bought votes by excessive budgets like budget ’07, 6 months before polling day.

The voters of Ireland need to take a good hard look at Fianna Fáil and realise that they are not the best option on offer. I’m not going to do a Fine Gael plug here. I don’t need to! Even Labour would run a better government than Fianna Fáil!

They sell legal highs such as blow and Mephedrone which are all milder forms of drugs like cocaine and hash. The sensations are said to be less, however in some cases they have a long lasting effect which has drawn casual users to these shops.

Public Anger, expressed as usual through Joe Duffy has moved the majority of the country against the shops however we can’t simply view these shops as bad things, we have to look at the positives.

Jobs! Head shops provide employment and its simple as that. If one shop is opening every week then there’s one person coming off the dole queues every day (assuming that there’s an average of 7 working in the shop).

The next positive is that it removes business from the drug gangs and dealers. With countless gangland murders this month alone, it’s well known that the money that buys the guns is the money that we the people bought drugs with. If these people move from dealers to head shops then they remove the awkwardness of the dealer, they get it for cheaper and they still get the high they were looking for.

Sure, the dealers will still have their loyal business from addicts who buy heroin, but it’s the casual users with money who are keeping the drug gangs going. If we look beneath the surface, head shops can be a solution to gangland crime!

They also have a wider benefit to the economy. If the government were to regulate these shops properly then large VAT receipts could be gained and the legal highs could be liable to levies and tariffs, similar to tobacco and alcohol.

This government regulation must address other aspects before these shops can be welcomed though.

Firstly, they must ban all under 18s from entry to these shops.

Secondly, they must have similar regulations to sex shops. Advertising must be controlled to avoid attracting younger persons and to discourage further people taking up these drugs.

Thirdly we must see proper product control and traceability. We need to know, like any product where it came from and whether it’s safe or not!

If these measures can be met I don’t see why we can’t keep these shops open.

They show that our tax take has collapsed in the past two years. While this has eased off we still need to raise more in tax to help bridge the €22bn deficit.

Next week’s budget is going to comprise mainly of a carbon tax and a few other taxes to make €1bn. This is part of the €4bn savings proposed in the budget. While the carbon tax is a positive measure, albeit disruptive, it should not be the only tax change we make in this budget.

The first thing I’d plan to do is radically reduce the VAT rate. It’s currently at 21.5%, why not send it down to 11.5%? This would mean an immediate 10% drop in the price of all goods and it would instantly boost consumer spending. This would also lead to job creation and retention in the retail sector. Now, I know that the take the government gets could suffer however I feel it should be looked at. Either way something needs to be done about cross border shopping to the UK and I think this is the first place we should look. 10% might be too much to cut it by but we should definitely bring the rate below 20%.

The second measure would be to introduce a 3rd band of income tax. In principal, I’m not in favour of hunting the rich for cash because it does harm investment. However, there needs to be a perception of fairness and I think a 50% Income Tax rate for those earning over €100k would not do much harm. The fact is that taxing the rich only squeezes a few extra cent from them but it’s a sure move to make everyone else happy. Irish people seem to want to take everything from the wealthy and successful.

However, also from early morning there were traffic jams on the roads leading to border towns like Newry and Enniskillen. Coincidence? I think not. There are private sector workers who had to take the day off to mind their kids who had no school to go to. However it’s likely that at least half of the shoppers were public servants who caused the 7 mile queue into Newry Town Centre this morning.

It’s a PR disaster for the Unions. General Secretary of IMPACT Peter McLoone dismissed this as “nonsense” on both TV3 and RTÉ. He said that public servants turned out in their “tens of thousands” to picket government departments and buildings. That’s great, but what were the other 200,000 public servants doing if only a few tens of thousands of them were out?

Also last night Dublin City saw huge volumes of people in its clubs and bars. One taxi driver commented that it was like a Friday or Saturday night with three times the fares for a Monday. The same taxi-man overheard a conversation between some of his public sector passengers. “They better hold the next strike on a Friday so we get a 3 day weekend”!

Oh poor cash strapped public servants. The world’s smallest violin playing the world’s saddest song just for you!

I passed my closed school today only to find one person on the picket, our Caretaker. Sure, some of the teachers were at the mass protest at the department of education but it seriously shows a lack of solidarity when he’s the only one there. He’d be the lowest paid of the staff of the school and so I sympathise with him. He was out in the cold while other teachers stayed in and corrected homework.

People on the dole should be furious about this. They’ve lost their Christmas Bonus and they are set to lose more from their support after next month’s budget. For many the loss of the bonus has meant that many will forgo buying presents this year with the cash going to repay bills or mortgages. They look at public servants who have the day off and who have the cash to spend up north or in packed shopping centres like Dundrum and they cringe.

This strike really has been a disaster. Sure the government saved a few bob from not paying the workers but it won’t be near the €70m that is borrowed everyday to pay for public services.

Next Thursday we have the same thing again. I can’t wait. I bet the queue to Newry will be 10 miles this time ?

Story Here
Just look at this fella. Smug as hell, just waiting to take your money from you. So why give it to him?

He’s the presenter of Play TV, TV3′s late night game show. It comes on after midnight and it costs €1.50 to ring in, whether you get through or not.

The games are mind puzzles and sometimes the answer is clear or it isn’t. Either way it draws hundreds to ring in and fight for the measly four-figure prizes. However only a handful ever get to answer the questions.

When you ring in you are told simply to try again and the call ends, all for €1.50. Rip-off? Yes, but it’s still your own fault if you’re stupid enough to ring in again!

People have a right to complain but they were the ones who dialled the number. If you actually think that you will win something from these shows then you deserve to have your money taken from you in the first place.

St. Colmcilles Community School has always prided itself on a high level of punctuality and attendance. Our tight rules in this area reflects the school’s belief that every minute spent in school is precious and that time spent out of school puts in jeopardy the academic prospects of its students.

The teachers unions that represent the staff of this school will soon ballot their members on industrial action ahead of December’s budget. The proposals will allow their members to go on strike if rates of pay are reduced or if there are compulsory redundancies imposed on their members.

I am urging all teachers to vote against strike action.

A strike would only serve to damage the education of the students of this school. Pupils studying for either the Junior or Leaving Certificate would miss out on vital information and this could affect their performance in the state examinations next June. Ultimately it would be the fault and responsibility of teachers if a 6th year student were to be five or ten points short of their desired college course. I know that parents, students and especially teachers don’t want this situation to arise.

The proposed cuts in the budget are going to be tough for many of you and coming from a family where income is down over 20% I can sympathise greatly with your situations. However the response to cuts should not be to cut days out of the school year or to cut other engagements like parent teacher meetings. It is the height of hypocrisy.

Teachers have a battle to fight with the government and it seems that the unions want to fight it in the hallways of our schools instead of at the gates of Leinster House. I condemn this completely and I will not stand for the students of this country being held for ransom.

I hope many of you will put the needs of your students before the desires of your union when you cast your ballot,

Thank You

David Higgins

The differences that lie between FF and The Greens makes me think about the likelihood of a Fine Gael/Labour co-alition. The is the right-left alternative that is likely after the next General Election however these two parties are just as incompatible as the present co-alition.

Labour will not budge on public sector cuts while Fine Gael’s Leo Varadkar has made it clear that cuts have to be made in wages of public servants.

There is also a lack of consensus on the banks too. Fine Gael has its “Good Bank” plan while Labour wants temporary nationalisation of the banks. Now maybe the establishment of NAMA will end this issue but it’s still likely to be a contentious issue around a FG/Lab cabinet table.

Many will point to the present co-alition and say that it works to have two fundamentally different parties in government however the two situations are not the same. FF has 76 TD’s while the Greens only have 6. They hold the balance of power but their influence is restrained by those numbers. My fear is that disagreements in a FG/Lab
co-alition would bring down the government within a matter of weeks.

FG will get over 70 seats next General Election and Labour could get anything up to 30 based on current opinion polls. This puts Labour in a much better bargaining position than the Greens currently have with Fianna Fáil.

So, what is the ideal co-alition? Well, Fine Gael/Fianna Fáil actually! Not only would this see an end to civil-war politics in this country but it would eventually see the fall of the Fianna Fáil party I believe. The small party in government always gets screwed. We saw it with the PDs, we’re about to see it with the Greens and after going into bed with FF and FG in the 90′s, Labour’s Spring Tide was reduced to a mere wave in 1997.

A FG/FF co-alition would highlight the fact that FF is not needed. After one term, if the economy is back on track FG would get most of the praise at the expense of FF. Likewise such a co-alition would expose the left in Ireland and it would lead to the Labour party becoming the main opposition part in Ireland. I think it’s time we had a proper left-right divide in this country instead of the on-off centre right switching game between FG and FF.

Let’s unite the right and expose the populist, no cuts approach taken by Labour, Sinn Féin, The Socialists and other non-pragmatic left parties.

I believe the upcoming budget will eat further into the FF core vote and it could push their opinion polls standing down to under 15%. If this were to be replicated in a general election then FF could find itself with only 25 or so seats, less than what Labour will get, soaring FF to third place in the parties race. They’ve held first place since the foundation of the state. This fall in support could go FG’s way to push it over the 83 seats required for an overall majority however I’m doubtful about whether that will materialise. Labour’s unwavering support for maintaining wages will go down well with the electorate and if they can continue to play populism in their favour then many of the FF seats could swing their way.

So, in the next General Election FG could find themselves just shy of the 83. Labour with well over 30 seats and FF somewhere in the 20s. Independents could support FG but the likes of Maureen O’Sullivan, Finian McGrath and Michael Lowry would not be jumping to support a FG government characterised by cuts unless there were financial injections to their respective constituencies, something this country cannot afford!

Anyway, there won’t be another chance to topple this government until after the budget. We’ll have to wait until then to see how public opinion swings during what will be the coldest winter of discontent this country has ever known.

Today SIPTU, the countries largest union said that it was seeking a 3.5% pay rise for health service workers that they are owed after the 2008 benchmarking. They have threatened industrial action should the government refuse to bow down and kiss their feet!

James Larkin once said

“Comrades – We are living in momentous times.”

There isn’t a quote more appropriate to describe what we face in this country. €400 million leaks from this country every week and this is before €54 billion is spent on NAMA.

It’s clear from these figures that extra money has to be raised to fill that gap in either the form of increased taxation or cuts in public spending. The former has been ruled out by Brian when he said:

“Read my lips, No tax hikes”

So, cuts it is then.

The bulk of these will have to come from the public sector wages and pensions. They are in secure jobs vs. the near half a million unemployed from the private sector, they have secure pensions vs. a loss in the value of pensions for many private sector workers and they are paid significantly more that their public sector counterparts. The pension levy has reduced this wage gap however it still stands at around 10%, or in the case of lower paid workers there’s a difference of over 15%.

It is for these reasons that there has to be a reduction in public sector wages instead of a ridiculous 3.5% rise.

The country can’t afford it and even if we could it would be an insult to the thousands of private sector workers who are struggling through this crisis too.

SIPTU should wake up and smell the coffee. Their threat of industrial action would not only severely damage the economy, were it to be acted upon, but it would also put at risk the lives of thousands of patients in the health service who would fall victim to such action.

So wait, in protest of cuts they cut something else???

I’m not going to make a huge deal about this because parent teacher meetings are a relatively insignificant part of second level education. It’s simply a chance to meet your child’s teachers in every subject once a year and get feedback first hand on their progress in the junior and leaving certificates. Personally it’s convenient for my parents to meet my teachers and I think it’s important that parents know who’s teaching their children.

However the underlying problem with this is the strength of the unions. They continue to flex their muscles in the run up to the budget, completely opposed to pay cuts and even seeking pay rises in the health service. Cuts need to happen and the unions will destroy this country if they’re allowed have their way.

This year the ASTI celebrates its 100th year in existence. A century of Service they say. Maybe it has been a service up to now but for how long?

This controversy follows her appearance at the Mahon Tribunal in 2006 where she defended the €32,500 she received from property developers in the area.

Only tax evaders above €30k have their names published and Cllr. Devitt’s crime was as high to have her listed. It’s deplorable that this councillor is a member of Fine Gael and it is a tarnish on our image of being the party of no corruption. We still retain this title in comparison to Fianna Fáil but that is not enough.

Fine Gael will sooner or later become the largest party in Ireland and power cannot go to our heads like it has to Fianna Fáil. We must continue to be a clean party that does not allow anyone who evades tax in the party and we must set an example to other parties.

That is why I’m calling for the immediate dismissal of Cllr. Anne Devitt from the Fine Gael party.

The two most prominent political polls in Ireland are the Irish Times/TNS MRBI polls and the RedC/Sunday Business Post Poll. Both are always cited as being proof of one political parties support or they are dismissed as a “snapshot in time” by the government. In some respects both sides are right however it’s clear after the most recent polls from these outlets that either one is wrong or they’re both wrong!

One says Fianna Fáil are on 17% the other says 24% and both polls were released within a week of each other.

Both will claim that they are representative of all 43 constituencies however RedC’s poll of FF on 24% leads me to believe that they just got lazy and decided to hold the poll in Offaly.

To take an average of these polls you’ll find FF on 21%. Also taking the average Green Party vote gives you 4%. This is 25% still in support of government parties yet only 15% still claim to support the government.

Are 1 in 10 of irish voters retarded?

YES!

While the party is set to become the largest party in Ireland, surpassing Fianna Fáil’s number of Dáil seats for the first time it’d be a miracle to get more than 83 seats in the 166 seater Dáil. Fine Gael currently have 51 seats.

Fine Gael will get its largest number of seats ever, and Fianna Fáil its lowest. Under normal circumstances this statement would imply a FG majority however there is one group of politicians that will see the largest rise in support in the next general election: the left.

Labour, People Before Profit, The Socialist Party and Sinn Féin will all be out in force next election and they’re all due to take Dáil seats. Labour could get around 30 seats, up from 20, PBP will get at least one seat, maybe 2. The socialist party should get two seats, and Sinn Féin is looking to get 7-10 seats, up from 4. Altogether left-wing parties will get around 40+ seats in the next Dáil based on current polls.

However should Fine Gael actually get over 83 seats then this must go hand in hand with a Labour or Sinn Féin increase. This would probably put the left vote anywhere up to 50 seats.

Independents could get up to 10 seats however a more realistic approach says they’ll get around 5.

So let’s say that Fine Gael get a safe 85 seats in the next election. Add that to the 55 seats mentioned above and you have 140 of the seats filled. Only 26 seats left for Fianna Fáil?

On 17% of the vote FF statistically have 28 seats however it’s certain that they’ll get more. Fianna Fáil is the party of power and it won’t be giving up that title too easily. They always get more seats than their % vote suggests. If we look at the 2002 general election we see that FF got 41% of the vote. Multiply this by 1.66 (dail seats equation) and you get roughly 69 seats. However in 2002 Fianna Fáil got 81 seats!

So, it’s fair to say that unless there is another erosion in the seemingly endless ‘core’ FF vote then we won’t see them on less than 35 seats or so.

At present there is scope for a FG minority government however who would support them? PBP, socialists and Sinn Féin are all radicals so that’s 10 votes immediately out of consideration. This only leaves independents and many of them would come under serious fire for supporting more cuts that FG will have to make in government. This is unworkable for them even if there would be a financial benefit for his or her constituency (The Jackie Healey-Rae method).

So until such time as support is there for Fine Gael, themselves and Labour better get used to each other and maybe try and find consensus on issues such as banking.

One upside of the presumed co-alition is that it will be the first co-alition to exceed 100 seats. This is well above the 83 requirement and it will, in 5 consecutive years set another record.

Fine Gael’s second term in a row

Already into my first week of 5th year I’ve been astounded at the irrelevance of everything I’ve done so far in Irish. Our first piece of work was the poem “Jack”. The poem is set in the west of Ireland and it describes a farmer’s son who is described as a “strapping young lad” (This is, of course a translation).

The first problem with the Irish course is the poetry section. I believe that poetry is best left to English class, firstly because Irish poetry is inferior to English language poetry and crucially because I believe poetry is not a constructive device in learning a second language.

A fair amount of the time in class has been spent outlining the historic setting of the poem and the emotions involved. How has this anything to do with learning the language??? Because of this I feel like I’m in a History lesson about the famine times and the west of Ireland. History of Irish is a section of the leaving cert course. I accept that these are important topics however they have no place in what is supposed to be a language class.

I also have a problem with the words used such as “strapping young lad”. When am I ever going to use this phrase in either English or Irish? Other words like nostalgic came up too and again I don’t see the reason to learn these words.

The only time in life I see myself using Irish is in politics. Should I manage to make it to be a TD I’ll still make up the majority of Oireachtas members who can’t speak Irish fluently. George Lee, during his recent election campaign commented on the extent of his Irish abilities: “Níl much Gaeilge agam”. Also even if I do become fluent in Irish I will never use the phrase “strapping young lad” in a speech!

The Irish course is too culturally focused and it has abandoned the core objectives of any language: speaking. I welcome the recent decision to increase the % of marks going towards your oral exam however from what I hear even the questions in the oral are unusual and removed from an everyday normal conversation.

If Irish is to become an attractive subject for students it needs to focus on teaching students the basic grammer of the language and it needs to focus on teaching relevant words used in modern life. Until this happens, Irish for me anyway, will remain a boring and irrelevant subject.

The High Court is to hear the case of a Co Tipperary farmer who is seeking to block the second referendum on the Lisbon Treaty, due to be held on October 2nd.

John Gerard Burke claims the Lisbon vote of the 12 June 2008 should be declared as passed and that the proposed second vote be declared an act in breach of the constitution.

It’s clear that some people don’t see the difference between Lisbon 1 and Lisbon 2.

We have legal guarantees now. They’ve secured our commissioner, clarified our positions on abortion and neutrality and it’s made it clear that Lisbon has no influence on our tax laws.

I can understand that the text of the treaty is not altered however the guarantees will be considered under any further legal interpretation of the treaty and so we find ourselves with a very different referendum than the last time.

The economic landscape has also changed fundamentally and it’s clear that we need Lisbon to retain favourability for Foreign Direct Investment and to remain eligible for economic support by the EU.

Lisbon 2 is hugely different to Lisbon 1 so I think this case will be wrapped up fairly quickly.

The Kerry South TD has been embroiled in an expenses controversy for the best part of this summer over his waste of taxpayers money during his time as Minister for Arts, Sports and Tourism. Such personal costs included over €400 to pay for a 3 minute limo ride across the runway at Heathrow Airport in London. A free shuttle bus is offered at the airport.

All in all freedom of information requests have shown that Mr. O’Donoghue wasted tens of thousands of taxpayers money in the space of a few years.

Since the Ceann Comhairle is an independent position in the Dáil the Taoiseach can’t fire him (not that Biffo has the balls for that anyway) so he can only be removed by a vote of no confidence. Brian Cowen can’t even publicly criticize him.

It’s clear that the Ceann Comhairle’s position is untenable however if he wins the vote then it will only waste more precious Dáil time and the blame for this will fall at the opposition. Earlier in the year the debate for the motion of no confidence against the government replaced the time scheduled to debate the Ryan Report into child abuse. Support groups of the victims planned a protest outside the Dáil on that day only to find a different debate taking place.

When there is a tie in a Dáil vote, the CC has the casting vote. The government’s majority is slowly dwindling and it could happen that John O’Donoghue will play a much larger role in politics than he currently does. The opposition do not want important debates such as the NAMA legislation to be decided by a man who has no credibility.

However there won’t be a tied vote anyway because the government still has a majority, for now.

An overcrowded class is defined as 30+ for a general class and 24+ for a practical class such as Music, Art or Woodwork.

The union has denied that classes would be left unattended saying that this would be “unprofessional and irresponsible” however their guidelines do essentially leave classes without a teacher.

Should a class be overcrowded the teacher must escort the pupils to a “safe place” (I thought all schools were safe?) where they can be supervised by a principal or deputy principal.

So what happens then? Does the teacher go back to the staff room and sip a cup of tea while the principal minds the class? Principals or Deputy Principals have a tough enough job running an entire school without having to deal with individual classes, that’s the job of frontline teachers.

The TUI has warned that it may take disciplinary action against teachers who disobey the instruction.

Then the green corner, Fianna Fáil. Fine Gael have a heavy-weight out, surely the government will send either a minister, a junior minister or a Green Party TD to debate. No, all they gave us was Frank Fahey! He quite incorrectly described George Lee’s proposals as “11th hour” when all the proposals were made by Fine Gael before George Lee was even a politician, earlier this year. Also considering Fahey is deep in investor circles means he’s not exactly the most appropriate person to debate the NAMA legislation. See here for more information on his conflicts of interest in property and investments.

The most worrying part of this discussion was when Frank Fahey was asked about the property market. He was asked whether the market would rebound. His response was most worrying. “It has already started……”!

Also equally disturbing and alarming was his attitude to spending a suggested 30 billion euro of taxpayers money.
“It’s not. It is ECB money which will be borrowed at one and a half per cent”.

What planet is this guy from?

The Galway West TD was one of the many unknown TD’s we saw this week out to debate NAMA. Where’s the Taoiseach, where’s Brian Lenihan? To be fair the Minister for Finance did make an appearance mid-week to respond to Fine Gael’s bank proposals however it’s clear by the inaction of the rest of the cabinet that NAMA isn’t up for discussion, that it’s a done deal.

It’s not, and the protests scheduled for September 12th and 19th will prove that the public don’t see it as a done deal.

Yesterday Ireland’s largest ISP Eircom announced that they would start blocking the website The Pirate Bay from September.

Pirate Bay, the file sharing site is to be restricted on Eircom only and UPC (my faster and more reliable ISP) is defiantly opposing attempts by Music organizations to restrict the site on its network.

In a statement UPC said that there was no obligation on them under Irish law to restrict access to any website and that they would fight in court to protect their position. UPC and BT are due before the courts soon to adopt a 3 strikes rule on peer 2 peer downloads.

This move by Eircom surprises me as The Pirate Bay is due to become a legitimate content site in the coming weeks. I understand that this may not go ahead however what if it does, will Eircom lift its ban?

Also what about other sites.

Mininova is another prominent file-sharing site and to only ban The Pirate Bay would just move users to alternate sites such as this one. Thousands of torrent tracker sites exist and if one is shut down or blocked, another one will just take its place.

Then there’s the general file sites. Places such as Rapidshare and Megaupload are used for illegal file-sharing however more than half of its use is for legitimate and legal files such as free software and documents. Sites like these would be used regularly by businesses and law abiding citizens. Will these sites be blocked too???

And then there’s YouTube! The world’s largest video sharing site also contains millions of songs. Whether in music video format or just the song with a slideshow or album cover the selection is just as wide as on Pirate Bay or Limewire. Simple websites and desktop software can take the YouTube video, extract the audio and then convert it to MP3 format. This is just as effective, if a little more complex however it just shows that file-sharing is unstoppable and to challenge it is a waste of time.

Will the ban on Pirate Bay stop illegal file-sharing? NO!

The Libyan man jailed for the 1988 Lockerbie bombing has been granted release on compassionate grounds.

Abdel Basset al-Megrahi, who has terminal prostate cancer, will now return to Libya, despite pressure from the US government to keep him in prison. He has served just eight years of a minimum 27-year sentence.

270 people died when Pan Am flight 103 came down over the Scottish town of Lockerbie in 1988.

The decision was announced at lunch time by Scotland’s Justice Secretary, Kenny MacAskill MSP. Under the devolution of powers to the Scottish Parliament he had the final decision on the matter. I was very impressed with his words.

It is terminal, final and irrevocable. He is going to die.

“In Scotland, we are a people who pride ourselves on our humanity.

“It is viewed as a defining characteristic of Scotland and the Scottish people.

“The perpetration of an atrocity and outrage cannot and should not be a basis for losing sight of who we are, the values we seek to uphold, and the faith and beliefs by which we seek to live.

“Mr Al Megrahi did not show his victims any comfort or compassion. They were not allowed to return to the bosom of their families to see out their lives, let alone their dying days. No compassion was shown by him to them.

“But that alone is not a reason for us to deny compassion to him and his family in his final days.

“Our justice system demands that judgment be imposed but compassion be available.

“Our beliefs dictate that justice be served, but mercy be shown.

“Compassion and mercy are about upholding the beliefs that we seek to live by, remaining true to our values as a people. No matter the severity of the provocation or the atrocity perpetrated.

“For these reasons – and these reasons alone – it is my decision that Mr Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed Al Megrahi, convicted in 2001 for the Lockerbie bombing, now terminally ill with prostate cancer, be released on compassionate grounds and allowed to return to Libya to die.”

I agree with this justification of his release and it couldn’t be put any better. It would be cruel to deny this man compassion and we’d be as sinful as him in doing so. Mr MacAskill’s words are very touching and when he says that Scotland prides itself on humanity I’d like to think of Ireland in the same light.

Former Irish Senator Gordon Wilson was a man who will always be remembered for his compassion. His daughter, Marie Wilson, was killed along with 11 others in the 1987 Enniskillen Remembrance Day Bombing by the Provisional IRA.

He came to national and international prominence with an emotional television interview he gave to the BBC the same evening in which he described his last conversation with his daughter, a nurse, as they both lay buried in rubble. He expressed forgiveness to his daughter’s killers and pleaded with Loyalists not to take revenge for her death.

I welcome the fact that Mr. Al-Megrahi has been shown compassion as he only has around a month to live and his health has deteriorated significantly in recent days. No one disagrees with dignity in death however when it comes to prisoners the tables always seem to turn in the wrong direction. Mr. Al-Megrahi is currently on a plane back to Libya.

The American dream is quite simple. It’s only complete if you own a house. Renting is inferior and there’s no greater feeling than paying off your last mortgage payment in your 50s. The Kids have moved out and you and your spouse can enjoy retirement in peace with no financial worries.

The Celtic Tiger born Irish dream was quite similar. It also required that you own a house and renting was a frowned upon immigrant activity. Funny how things had changed from the days where up to 10 Irish guys would rent out flats in London during the 1980s.

As a result of this ‘own a house binge’, people paid huge prices for houses they couldn’t afford. They took out 40-year mortgages that they will be paying back long after they’re retired. Now most of these properties have devalued and many people find themselves in negative equity.

Today it was announced by property site daft.ie that rent prices nationwide have dropped by 15-20%. The highest drop was in Dublin of 20%. This compared with a fix rate mortgage is a huge saving and compared with a tracker or flexible rate it is still a substantial difference.

During the Celtic Tiger rents were high due to the lack of demand however it surprises me that people didn’t do so in order to avoid dangerous mortgages. People knew the property market was going to the wall yet people still threw fuel on the fire. It would have made perfect sense to rent in the past 5 years as all indications were that the prices would eventually go down.

Agencies like the Financial Regulator not only failed in “Regulating” the banks but their personal finance ads made famous by the quote “I don’t know what a tracker mortgage is” failed in advising consumers about the impending implosion of the property market.

This drop in rents is good news for consumers and a welcomed bad news for landlords who made millions on rents during the celtic tiger. The drop is due to greater competition and an increased demand for renting. It’s also good for those wishing to find accommodation for college and for those getting their first house or apartment.

However it a slap in the face for those conned in the so called prosperity of the past few years.

Earlier this year I switched from UPC to Sky. This change saw me going from a dodgy standard definition box to a High Definition box with dual record and series link. This along with way more channels cost me little more than what UPC were charging me for their poxy service.

However since UPC took over NTL and Chorus, things have improved substantially. They were voted ISP of the year 2008 for their fast and reliable broadband service and I kept this service along with their cheap phone line, I only dropped UPC TV. They have up to 20Mb of speed and the 10Mb I have is plenty.

Now they’ve launched their new product, Digital+ HD.

For €7.50 a month you get 8 HD channels and a HD digital box. Compared to SKY+ HD this is no comparison however it is a cheap and convenient way for UPC customers to make the jump to HD.

SKY+ HD is €15 monthly and it provides up to 33 channels (twice as much for four times the channels). The catch, however with this is that it depends what channels you already have to get the HD equivalent. For example, the 9 Sky Movies HD channels are not available unless you already have them in standard definition first. The same goes for the 3 Sky Sports HD channels. Another thing to note is that 2 of Sky’s HD channels are Box Office screens and 2 more (BBC HD and ITV HD) are only available through the “Other Channels” Menu. This means that they are not recordable and also both those channels are rarely broadcasting, especially ITV. Channel 4 HD is not available in Ireland, also the newly launched ESPN HD is subscription only, however UPC also now carry this.

Trim all this fat away and you only get 16 channels for your €15. Therefore UPC works out – Half the channels, for half the cost. Also if you currently have their DVR box for €5 a month then it’s only an extra €2.50. Even the box is better than Sky’s (on paper that is, they’re usually quite buggy and slow). The box has the same hard drive space as Sky does however this one has the whole disk for personal recordings. Sky’s box has half the space reserved for its anytime service.

Altogether this promises to be a competitive service in these recessionary times. The low cost of this box with no upfront fee (except for installation) is a huge incentive for people who want HD but who also can’t find the cash after paying all the government levy’s. The uptake for this should be high and it may even have the potential to draw customers away from Sky to avail or UPC’s triple play offers.

I actually can’t believe how easy this was to make. I did it within an hour.

I went to Google and found the image of this Dun Laoghaire College ID. I copied it to my photo-editing software for Mac, GIMP and got to work.

The image was easy. I just found a simple background and put myself in front of it to take a photo with my built in webcam. I cropped it and then pasted it over the existing image.

Next was the text. Starting with the bottom it originally read “Sept 1999 – August 2000. 2009 was simple to achieve as all I had to do was paste the 9 from the Date of Birth on top of the last 0. However 2008 was a problem. The number 8 looks quite amateurish as I had to manually shape an 8, it wasn’t easy. However with a pre-made 8 it was no bother to just change the date of birth from 79 to 89. This now reads that I am 19 going on 20 which most people agree I look!

Finally but most tricky was the Name. Erasing the existing name was easy but I had to use the title text to replicate my name. The letters D-A-I-H-G-N are all found in the title text however V and S were not. For the V I turned the A upside down and erased the middle of the A. Then for the S, I took the S from Sept and coloured it blue, kind of.

A paper print out of this should get me a student ticket at the cinema tonight. I’m going to see Inglorious Basterds with Jack and Niall.

I’m looking forward to RTÉ’s new schedule more than any other channel this year (after Sky 1 that is). It promises a fresh new set of programs that reflect the times we are now living in. This means an emphasis on current affairs, politics and economics. It’s not everybody’s cup of tea but it’s what everybody’s suddenly interested in now.

As Pat Kenny said as he left the Late Late Show:

“Politics is the new rock and roll” ”.

This season sees The Late Late Show change hands for the second time in it’s 47 year existence, with the young Ryan Tuberty taking the reins of RTÉ’s flagship show. Like all previous series current affairs will take the centre stage and the two previous presenters held debates very well. However this time things are different. Tuberty’s brother Garret unsuccessfully ran for Dublin City Council this year under the Fianna Fáil name (It was a very small logo on his poster but I managed to read it).

I have reservations about a FFer having the minds of the nation at his grasp every Friday Night however we’ll have to judge him as the show proceeds. However don’t be surprised if the opposition are being shushed to let the Minister explain his position!

Pat Kenny, of course has moved on and this season he has his own show to replace the second longest running show on RTÉ, Questions and Answers. This was by far my favourite show on RTÉ these past few years so Pat has a lot to live up to here. His new show The Frontline will be on our screens every Monday night.

While politics is mainly a boring topic Ardal O’Hanlon appears to have stepped in to provide a satirical look at political life. His new show Val Falvey T.D. sees the former Father Ted star play a newly elected TD in a brand new six-part series. And who would know better than Ardal, his father is a TD of course. Rory O’Hanlon of Fianna Fáil is a TD for Cavan-Monaghan and he served as Ceann Comhairle from 2002-2007. Like Tuberty I fear a FF bias coming on however Ardal has shown restraint in the past and I hope we’ll see it here too. His previous show for RTÉ “So You Want To Be Taoiseach” was a great success.

And the political satire doesn’t end there. Following in the footsteps “The Panel” which has been renewed for a new season, is a similar untitled show to air at 10 o’clock mid-week. It’s quoted as “A brand new topical comedy show, which looks back on the events of the week.”  Also in the comedy genre is a new show by Jason Byrne. It’s a six-part panel show called The Byrne Ultimatum. He has me caught with the funny title, but whether the show will be funny is another thing.

Moving onto RTÉ factual now in which I see some more promising programs.

• Addicted To Money: David McWilliams surveys the wreckage of the global economy.
• If Lynch had Invaded: How Jack Lynch dealt with the crisis of August 1969
• Charlie Bird’s American Year: Behind the scenes with RTÉ Washington Correspondent Charlie Bird through an extraordinary year in American and Global Politics.
• The Way We Worked: A six-part series looking at changes experienced in work practices in Ireland

The Final highlight for me comes from RTÉ Young Peoples (Very innovative name I might add). “The Guitar” is where 16 of Ireland’s most electric young guitarists compete to win Fender’s extraordinary Rory Gallagher Tribute Stratocaster guitar. My friend Shane McDonnell is in this competition so I wish him well in that.

All in all this looks like a fine list of shows from a station that is gripping with falls in advertising revenue and with the economic crisis as a whole.

Former Minister for Women’s Affairs and former Fine Gael Dublin South TD Nuala Fennell has died, she was 74. Nuala did great work for women’s rights during the Fitzgerald government during the 80′s and she represented Dublin South well. It’s sad to see one of my former TD’s pass away. May she Rest in Peace.

I’ve a better solution to the cost of uniforms. Do away with uniforms altogether!

This would put hundreds of euro back into the pockets of families so they can reinvest the money into the important costs of education. Tutoring, books, grinds and stationary.

Frank Flannery must be feeling like a complete idiot right now.

This photo taken during the week shows Kerry North TD, Martin Ferris collecting the two men convicted for the murder of Garda Jerry McCabe as they were released from Castlerea prison.

The Sinn Féin TD, once believed to be a member of the IRA Army Council has been condemned for his actions and I strongly condemn it as well.

Jerry McCabe was an innocent Guard who didn’t even have time to draw his own gun as he was struck down by 14 bullets in 1996. He was protecting an An Post van with another detective on June 6th when a jeep rammed their car forcing them to stop. The men from the van then riddled him an his parter with bullets killing him instantly and seriously injuring his partner.

Sinn Féin has consistently campaigned for the release of these thugs under the Good Friday Agreement and this week Pearse  McCauley and Kevin Walsh walked free into the arms of Martin Ferris.

It’s clear form this that Sinn Féin are still a party of violence and a party of the IRA. This collusion is surely the nail in the coffin of the short lived FG/SF co-alition rumour. Not under any circumstances will Fine Gael do business with Sinn Féin in national government and if such a deal comes to pass after the next general election I will have no problem in canceling my membership with the party.

I would love to know the attitude that the Guards have towards Martin Ferris in Kerry. Garda McCabe was from the county and if I were a Guard I would have no problem in ignoring the TD should he even come in need of the Guards.

I call on the people of North Kerry to burn down his house and see how the Guards react. Let the man realise that he needs the Guards and that his support of killers is not acceptable.

I am a lifelong hater of Fianna Fáil and its policies however I now have a new most hated party, Sinn Féin.

Today the government launched it’s legislation to set up NAMA – the national asset management agency.

This was met by many sound-bites from the opposition and the most of these were seen on the RTÉ 6.1 News. Arthur Morgan of Sinn Féin and Rurai Quinn of Labour both gave their reactions. They were negative and they highlighted the risks involved to the taxpayer. They also, however, drew attention to their own beliefs. They both want to nationalize the banks. Both were vocal on this however Richard Bruton failed to outline the Fine Gael plans.

Instead he gave another opposition style bashing of the government while providing no alternative. Even though we do have an alternative.

It’s very simple. The government wants a bad bank, we want a good bank. Richard Bruton himself wrote our policy document on it, yet he didn’t mention it tonight and it is rarely mentioned by anyone else in Fine Gael either. It must be publicized that we do have policies and we do have a plan for this country.

I think Richard Bruton should be the party leader however he needs to be more vocal on how we would do things. This goes for everyone Fine Gael member in the Oireachtas.

I believe that if Kenny steps down then the front bench would be an unstoppable team of Bruton as taoiseach and George Lee as the Finance Minister. We could even achieve an overall majority in the Dáil. Kenny is the only thing standing in the way.

Today Bank Of Ireland workers went on strike over pay. They are claiming for performance related pay promised to them before the financial crisis. The Bank says that it can’t afford this due to the recession and the fact that the country is experiencing deflation. For once the Bank is right!

Many workers will see this as a stand against the big bankers who were reckless however remember that everyone has recapitalised BOI and so if a pay rise is given that would be our money.

There is absolutely no scope for pay rises in any sector, especially in the financial sector which is the highest paid section of the private sector.

Deflation means that there is scope for everyone in the country to take around 5% pay cut.

However many people are indifferent when they are told that prices are dropping.

Oh well lots of things have gone up

If we’re experiencing 3% deflation then we’re experiencing 3% deflation, no ifs or buts! Some things have gone up but more things have gone down and it has resulted in savings for the consumer. Therefore anyone who wants a pay rise is greedy (read my post on electricians for more).

I think all those who begrudge bankers should take comfort in that the majority of bankers are feeling the pain that many presume they deserve.

Ok, maybe I’m making a meal out of nothing but this is just another example of government incompetence.

Today Taoiseach Brian Cowen is opening a new stretch of the M6 between Athlone and Ballinasloe. All the speed limit signs on the new dual carriageway currently display 100km/h however in 36 days the road will be designated a motorway with a 120km/h speed limit. To allow this, all the signs must be replaced!

Thankfully a large protest at the event ensured it wasn’t the usual cosy cutting of tape affair.

One thing that I had found astonishing was the use of signage for the National Development plan. Everywhere you go across the country there are signs like the one above for projects that were finished a long time ago, under the 2000-2006 project.

Many of these signs are also very inappropriately placed. One I saw recently was a huge sign for the national broadband scheme. It was on the main street of a rural town. There is no central place for broadband and you definetly couldn’t see any work happening so it really was a pointless sign. Nobody passing through cares that you have broadband and the local residents surely don’t need to be reminded.

There are huge political implications from these signs. The centre text reads “Funded by the Irish Government”. These signs are Fianna Fáil posters in disguise!

There’s even one of these signs in my school grounds. It refers to our school’s extension. Again like the above sign it only quotes the EU and the government as funders. In my school we fundraised tirelessly to raise the money needed however no government sign is acknowledging this!

Another sign that I feel is redundant are the Special Olympics 2003 signs. These dot the countryside in every town that hosted athletes from different countries. These signs were great at the time and the idea for each town to house a country was a very successful exercise. It’s the only decentralisation plan that the government has to its credit. However these signs are now confusing to tourists and to the younger population who don’t know about the event 6 years ago.

All these useless signs should be sent to the scrap heap and they should be made to better use elsewhere.

By the evening news nearly 300 jobs had been shed at Intel, Ireland’s largest multinational. Previous redundancies were to be mandatory however a drop in demand for their services has been blamed for this mandatory cut of posts.

300 jobs created, 300 jobs lost all in one day.

I find it hard to believe that Intel has seen a drop in sales. On this same day Apple has announced another record profit!

The American tech giant shipped 2.5 million Macs in its 3rd quarter and they all contain Intel chips.

5 million Iphones and 10 million iPods also helped Apple see it’s best non holiday quarter in history. Apple really is a company that knows how to ride out the recession.

It makes me wonder whether Apple will lower its prices anytime soon. I forked out €1200 for this MacBook that I’m writing on and their phone would set me back half of that!

I bought my laptop during the boom however I can’t even envisage myself getting a new iPod in these times and there are many other people who are even more strapped for cash. How then does Apple produce an $8 billion profit?

The answer, I don’t know!

Today a second Sinn Féin councillor resigned for the party. This time it was Louise Minihan who was elected as a Sinn Féin candidate for Ballyfermot/Drimnagh ward on Dublin City Council. This follows Christy Burke who left shortly after the local elections citing a lack of support from the party as his reasons. This was huge as Burke was until then Sinn Féin’s longest serving councillor. Louise Minihan has blamed the party of lacking commitment to its socialist and republican values.

Defections are not unusual but they are uncommon. During the celtic tiger hardly anyone left their parties and even now it’s only confined to the likes of Joe Beehan, leaving Fianna Fáil over the education cuts. This was understandable as the cuts were unfair and that is just one of many reasons to leave Fianna Fáil. We are bound to see more defections from Fianna Fáil even though many describe it as a cult or religious like party with devotion higher above any other party.

Defections are a sign of weakness in a party and it appears that there’s an underlying problem in Sinn Féin. Many councillors in the South-East also complained about a lack of support from the party leaders and it surprises me that such a small party in the South of Ireland couldn’t have it’s Leader or even it’s Deputy leader visit all the candidates. This also highlights a possible structural deficiency in the country’s oldest party. Fine Gael was hit hard in ’02 because of bad party structures and bad campaigning (oh and Michael Noonan!). However they learned from their mistakes and built themselves up to become the largest party in local government.

Then there’s the ideological deficit. Cllr. Minihan was quite accurate when she talked about Sinn Féin being socialist and following republicanism. They are the two cornerstones of Sinn Féin ideology, yet they are the two things than she highlights as having been lost.

Personally I don’t see it. Remember that Sinn Féin are the only party in Ireland where you can buy an IRA t-shirt from their online store. While I disagree totally with this it’s hardly a deficiency in their core values.

Then there’s socialism. I have a lot of respect for Sinn Féin’s four TD’s as they come across as hard working honest people who care deeply for the well being of the lowest in society. However again I disagree with their policies and I don’t think I’ve heard a single measure they’d enact to address the recession. But again it’s clear from their 4 TD’s that they’re socialists. On the left wing scale Sinn Féin lies somewhere between Joe Higgins and Eamonn Gilmore. And remember anywhere near Joe Higgins has to be socialism. (I’m near him by surname but I guess I’m exempt from the rule.)

So while I don’t think Sinn Féin have dropped any of their core values it’s true that their support is down. They failed to capitalise on government protest votes as effectively as FG/Lab have. They left this years elections with almost the same number of councillors and they lost their MEP for Dublin.

I’d be doubtful as to whether a general election could go any better. Mary Lou McDonald is a certain to run in Dublin and it’s likely she’ll get elected. This would bring Sinn Féin to 5 seats however this would only be a small gain compared to the gains likely by FG/Lab and it’s also likely that this support could eat into SF’s 4 sitting TD’s.

Either way Sinn Féin is facing trouble. Once seen as a party of government within a decade it’s looking likely that they’ll continue to struggle in the South for some time.

I can sympathise with the concerns of small artists who are struggling with the loss in CD sales and who are hit with the recession. Last year I bought the debut album by the Coronas, they’re doing well now and I’m proud to have supported them financially when they needed it. The same goes for Apollos Thebe. They’re a band whom I know very well and I had no problem paying a fiver for their debut EP.

However I refuse to support already wealthy artists like Coldplay. This September I’m going to their concert in the Phoenix Park, Dublin. This cost me €76!!! This is more than a lifetime contribution to the band and so I have no problem in owning ripped copies of their 4 albums.

It’s the same for U2. I’ve spent €60 on a ticket for their 360?tour in Croke Park only to find out that it’s actually a 270? tour . Again I refuse point blank to pay for any U2 album because they are already rich. U2 don’t pay all their taxes in Ireland however it is good to see them investing money into young Irish musicians. Still, I have no problem in downloading their entire discography.

Howard Wolowitz (Big Bang Theory)

This week on the International Space Station the unthinkable happened. Their toilet broke down. This is surely a once in a lifetime cock up? No, it isn’t.

The CBS comedy The Big Bang Theory very amusingly acts out this event with the character Wolowitz designing a faulty toilet which breaks down after about 10 flushes!

Him and the other scientists work tirelessly to fix the fault on a model they have on earth, but to no avail.

They can’t fix it and so the words “Houston, we have a problem!” become very poignant.

It’s also coincidental that this major mistake occurs on the week when we celebrate the 40th anniversary of the moon landings.

Wolowitz, by  the way is a engineer who lives with his mother and who desperately tries to pick up women with silly one liners. It never works!

I love the Big Bang Theory. It’s a show about 4 nerds who are totally removed from the social realities of the real world and who struggle to come to grips with the most simple of situations. Sheldon is by far the funniest character.

The show just finished it’s 2nd season and there’s a 3rd on the way, which I can’t wait for!

Even if you don’t like science or nerds, this is a very funny show for anyone to watch.

For the most part this has happened. Consumer spending is down and the housing market is gone, however there’s one thing that hasn’t left us, Holidays!

Everyday this week as I’ve checked my Bebo or Facebook pages, I’m met with virtually the same thing, uploads of holiday photos. Snaps from France, Spain, Turkey,  America, even Croatia (wherever that is)?

It’s clear then that the middle class of Ireland is still the upper class that it once was. I still see middle aged men wearing shirts driving Range Rovers with a smirk on their faces. There’s nothing to smirk about when you’re damaging the environment!!!

It’s clear then that more taxes must be imposed on our middle-upper class. Nothing too harsh to discourage productivity but I’d say you could squeeze a billion or so with a 3rd band of tax.

Most of us agree that sanctions need to be applied to Iran, as is needed to North Korea and Burma etc. However when these sanctions put at risk the well being of that nation’s citizens it’s clear that sanctions are not the right way.

Today 168 people died in Iran when an old Russian Aircraft from 1987 crashed into the ground creating a massive crater on impact. Much of Iran’s fleet is old and out of date. This causes huge risks for flyers. The oil rich nation could easily upgrade and improve its fleet if it wanted too however sanctions from the US prevents this.

As a result there are virtually no Airbus or Boeing planes in Iran.

The blame for this lies ultimately with the US who refuse to allow planes and their parts into the country. People have died because of this sanction and it has to stop now.

David Higgins at Oxegen? Yes, believe it or not I was!

I only went for Saturday’s music however it’s clear that I will definetly be returning in 2010 for a 4 night camping holiday.

As with any big trip the preparation starts before the day and Oxegen is no exemption, even on a day ticket. The night before I packed wellies, spare socks, drink, bottle caps (I’ll explain below) and some snacks to eat.

The day began at 7.00 am with the monotone buzz from my alarm clock. This was most unwelcome considering that I have never woken earlier than 9 during the summer, also because I only got 3 hours sleep the night before (excitement keeps you awake, especially at Christmas)!. Then at 8.00 am I arrived at my friend’s house which was the Rendezvous point for the 7 of us going to the music festival.

The others arrived a little later and we then took the bus into town. Afterwards we went to O’Connell Street to purchase our €20 bus ticket when we were blessed by an offer we couldn’t refuse, free tickets on the Lucozade party bus! The coach left a little after 10.00 am and it was clear before we left that this bus was not only free, but better! We were allowed drink on the bus and there was a guitar. One of the Lucozade workers had an acoustic with him and he led a sing-song for the hour long journey. This, along with the drink got us off to a perfect start to what would be a perfect day.

Upon arrival, it was clear that Oxegen is not just a musical festival but a drinking one too. Everywhere you went in the grounds there was drink. People with cans, crates, bottles or other types that you just know are alcohol. We joined in and found a nice patch of grass to lie down on as we fueled ourselves for the day. The area where we were was just outside the entrance to the stages.

After the supplies were consumed we went inside for The Saw Doctors @2 p.m. We had VIP tickets so check-in was instant however we were subject to search like everyone else. Any bottles of liquids you have must have their caps removed incase they get used as a missile. This is where my concealed bottle caps came in handy.

We went straight to the main stage and the small number of people there meant that we got very close to the stage. We then listened to great songs like N17 and About You Know. The Saw Doctors are a fantastic Irish band and they’ve stood the test of time against an ever changing taste of music within the youth of society.

After that we went and got some food in one of the many overpriced stalls at Oxegen. Later in the day I went back for more food and the grand total came to €20 (Thankfully that was the figure I would have paid on Dublin Bus!).

• Small Ham and Mushroom Pizza – €8
• Gourmet Burger – €7
• Plain Hot Dog – €5

I also later bought a €2.50 bottle of Coke!!!

Now that our hunger was satisfied we decided to check out some of the tents. This was a good move because it was starting to rain. We immediately avoided the dance tent. We were told that half the drugs seizures happen there and also it was full of horny 20 something year olds. Instead we went into the Heineken Tent and caught the Saturday’s as they finished their set. There was once a humour in our school that the Irish girl in the group, Una Healy’s sister is a teacher in our school. Unfortunately that’s not true

When they had finished the rain was pretty heavy so 3 of us decided to search for the VIP area. We had missed it on the way in and we were sorry we didn’t find it sooner. The main feature of VIP is proper toilets. Proper as in, not being a smelly port-a-loo! After relieving ourselves in comfort we went into a cool tent in the shape of Indian Huts. Inside it was warm, sheltered and there was good music playing. The early start had knocked a lot of energy out of us so we immediately lay down in a corner and rested for a while. Then on the way out of the VIP area we came across a camper-van with Xbox 360′s inside. We were able to just walk in and play games of Gears of War and Tekken. VIP is truly worth it and I’d recommend it to anyone, regardless of the cost.

After the casual gaming we decided to find the rest of our group. We found them outside the Main Stage enjoying the end of The Blizzards. I don’t know any of their songs except Fantasy so it was great to hear that song. By now it was 5:30 p.m and only 6 hours until King of Leon. Amazingly the queue into the pit was growing hugely and so some of my friends decided to get in it to secure their place at the front for KOL at 11.30 p.m!

The rest of us returned to the VIP area to chillax some more. This time we went into the bar and amazingly the 3 of us were served. However it’s €6 a pint plus a €3 deposit on your cup! Even so we were able to sit back and relax with a nice cool beer. This was the queue for 2 of my mates to fall asleep! I decided to go and play some more Xbox with a more sober guy from my group and we then returned to find the two lads still in slumber. We woke them quite suddenly by throwing our bags on them, however one of them still slept .

At 7 p.m we left the VIP area and strolled around the site and we bumped into a good friend of ours from school. He was camping for the 4 nights and his weekend hadn’t been going so well. He told us that his tent was a foot underwater and that as a result he got no sleep in the two nights previous. That combined with E-Tablets he said caused the white in his eyes to turn red, prompting a passing Guard to questions his activities. However even though things weren’t great for him (he also hadn’t had sex yet to his displeasure) he was still in the mood of the festival and it proved that nothing can upset you greatly at Oxegen. It was at this time that I realized that rain had run-off my waterproof jacket into my jeans pockets. I subsequently discovered that my phone’s keyboard was not working. Sure I needed a new one anyway.

By now the queue for the pit was enormous and it was unlikely that we’d get in to join our friends already there. Also two of my friends wanted to see The Mars Volta at the O2 stage.  I decided with another friend to try for the pit and this was greatly assisted by the friend from school we just met. He stealthily distracted a group of people in the queue while me and my friend slipped into the queue, thus propelling us within meters from the top of the line.

At the top of the line, a clearly drunken man approached the stewards waving a fake pass saying that he had to get into the pit for dear life. The steward calmly told him off saying “These guys [pointing at me) have been waiting over and hour and a half, so back of the line!”. Haha, yeah right. More like a minute and a half .

Now inside the pit we then had the arduous task of reaching our friends at the top. It was vital that we made it there by Kings Of Leon. One of my friends had a calculated plan to display the word milk with four T-shirts, each one displaying a letter. 8 people were required to perform the stunt. We had plenty of time though. We just caught the end of The Yeah Yeah Yeahs and there were two more acts until KOL. The first of these were Elbow. I was eager to hear them as they are opening for Coldplay in September and when they walked on stage with a string quartet it was looking promising. Their songs were good however they were a bit slow and I only really enjoyed the last song. Not to worry though because at 10 p.m Bloc Party arrived.

I thoroughly enjoyed them especially their hits like Helicopter and Hunting for Witches. This brought us to 11 p.m and by now I was with my friends and it was only half an hour until KOL. By now I had been 3 hours in the pit and my bladder was beginning to enlarge. With no other feasible option I had no choice but to urinate in a plastic bottle .

However nothing could take from the atmosphere. One could never imagine that being so tightly packing into such a small space could be enjoyable but being in front of a massive stage with a band only feet away is an experience too good to miss. You don’t care that you’re being swayed left to right, back and forward as some eejits attempt to force their way to the top. You don’t care that you’re being touched at all side by a bunch of strangers older than you and you don’t care that the place smells like B.O and shit. This is Oxegen and in Oxegen all your worries are gone.

The clock turned 11.30 and Caleb Followill walked onto the stage followed by his two brothers and his cousin. The Kings of Leon opened with Notion, their newest single. It had to be my favourite song of the night. KOL make great use of piano in this song.

Their entire setlist was a great combination of the old and new tracks and it was well received by the crowd. Unfortunately some of the songs were slower than usual and this took away from the mood somewhat. Also there appeared to be a cock up by the drummer in Sex on Fire but it didn’t bother me too much. All in all it was a fantastic concert however they didn’t play Milk .

The music ended at 1, we got a lift at 2, I was home by 3 and in bed by 4 just as the sun was coming up.

Oxegen 2010, I can’t wait.

Yesterday during a debate on the minimum wage, Leo Varadkar asked the Minister about a leaked document he found online about the sensitive issue. The Minister’s response was not only a light year away from a proper answer but it was also a cheap shot at the Fine Gael TD and an insult to all internet users:

Given that I have much more to be doing than reading The Irish Times’ – and for that matter, from what I can see you spend 99.9 per cent of your time on the internet, and on the computer – I haven’t time to be reading The Irish Times for what they have to say… what I can say say is – I cannot, and it is my responsibility not to, make any public pronouncements [on this issue] on the basis we have to adjudicate within the department of enterprise, trade and employment…

Every time there is a small jobs announcement of a few dozen or so, the Tánaiste is always there to push her own profile and to pretend that the government is creating substantial jobs. These jobs thankfully are in the IT sector however the support she gives to these jobs is undermined now by her statement.

I always find it confusing that Minister Coughlan will always show up at a small jobs announcement yet she’ll never be there at the big job losses. When Dell shed 2,000 jobs in Limerick, the Minister should have been there. When SR Technics shed 1,000 jobs, the Minister should have been there. The post of employment Minister can’t be selective in being there for the good news. The Tánaiste needs to show that she cares about the jobs being lost just as much as the jobs being created.

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SIPTU president Jack O’Connor said that it was a stand against the profits of employers who are trying to drive down wages to their own benefit. I’ve never heard such crap. There are firms, particularly in construction going out of business everyday and one of the main reasons for this is that their wages are too high to maintain. That’s also why many employers are lowering wages. It’s an accepted fact amongst all economics and observers that we became a high cost and high wage economy. Now it’s time to go back the other way. Wage reductions are needed across all sectors, particularly at the top.

It is unacceptable that any workers group demand a pay rise in a time when we need to reduce costs, including wages. Electricians want to up their hourly rate to €24! People working in supermarkets only earn half the money and I don’t believe any trade is worth twice that. Electricians are skilled workers however they are below the likes of electrical engineers and the amount of time it takes to become an electrician is much less. I’m guessing that you could probably become one within a year or two.

Electricians benefitted immensely during the boom with small and large scale projects to be found everywhere across the country. From Office buildings to bathrooms, plugs and lights were needed and the Electricians did those jobs professionally. Electricians have also benefitted from nixers during the Celtic Tiger with no amount of that money going into tax. Fitting dozens of down lighters into South Dublin kitchens was a popular job I’m told. They are of course very complex and for some reason you can’t get energy efficient bulbs for them!!!

If this ridiculous strike goes ahead then electricians will pull construction projects to a halt. Construction firms are already feeling the pinch of the recession and this won’t help them. Consumers would also be left out as repairs on houses cannot be made. This could leave many people in the dark!

The stance taken by their employers is equally startling. They’re seeking a 10% pay cut which I fell is also excessive. I think both sides need to meet somewhere in the middle. The TEEU union needs to stop being greedy and try instead to maintain pay at current levels for their workers and the employers need to bring their demands down to something around 5%.

It’s likely that this strike will go ahead however it will not generate any public support. I certainly won’t give it any backing and most people will be shocked when the demand of 11% reaches the headlines. After about a week the strike will be over and everything will be back to normal. Both sides will then agree on something a little more reasonable.

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1. Change the holiday dates of the Dáil so that there is never a gap of longer than a month. The current summer recess of 3 months is a luxury only endured by secondary school students and their teachers and even we only get 2 weeks during Christmas. (TD’s get 4!). This change would mean that the Dáil would have no end. It would run continuously with spaced breaks to ensure TD’s have holidays and time to catch up with constituency duties etc. A Dáil with no end would not have a backlog of bills to be passed and it would ensure that all legislature is scrutinized and that amendments can be made orderly and can be considered properly.
2. When the Dáil broke for 3 hours a few weeks ago both side of the house were to blame. The opposition underestimated it’s speaking time however the government had no bills in backup to be discussed. This must become a mandatory system where the government can have a bill in reserve. This will ensure efficient running of the house and it wouldn’t leave time wasted.
3. Finally we need to increase the amount of time that the Dáil spends in session. Currently it sits less days than I do in school and the total time would be less also. I know TD’s and ministers have many other tasks to do and many of those aren’t even in Dublin however there will always be someone around to speak in the house, after all there are 166 TD’s. Keeping the Dáil open 5 days a week would be a very positive step and it would give TD’s who normally wouldn’t have an opportunity to speak a chance to air their views. It also puzzles me that the Dáil starts at 10.30 am when most workers are at their desks by 9. This also needs to be changed.

I think many of these measures would have solved the problems we saw these past few weeks and there is no doubt that my proposals are pro-democracy.

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I will be voting YES on Lisbon 2 and I want to outline my reasons for doing so.  Unfortunately the Lisbon Treaty is a complex treaty which tries to reform the complex institution which is the EU. I will explain my reasons by refuting some of the assertions made by the NO side in the Lisbon 1 campaign and in the process promote the reasons to vote YES. I know many onlookers at the last campaign criticised the YES side for constantly being on the defence, instead of explaining the treaty, however the inaccuracies made by the NO side need to be dealt with if we are to have an honest discussion about the treaty.

Democracy

First I must state that I have not read the Lisbon Treaty, nor have I ever read the Irish Constitution or any other legal text. However I am not alone. Less than 1% of the Irish electorate will have read the treaty by October and the few who bother may not understand it fully. I was amazed to see the now defunct Libertas party handing out copies of the treaty to the public during the last referendum. This was a total waste of paper in my view as hardly any of those people read it. The reason so is that Lisbon is a legal text that has been negotiated by highly intelligent and experienced politicians and public servants in the EU. For the most part the negotiators of the treaty were directly elected politicians with a mandate to fight for Ireland’s position in the EU.

This legal text is not meant to be read by the electorate because we wouldn’t understand it and rightly so. Changes in large institutions like the EU need to be written in concrete and elaborate language to ensure the texts’ strength against the courts of law that it may find itself infront of. Many in the NO side argue that the complexity of the Lisbon treaty is in itself a reason to vote NO however I don’t believe this is responsible of them. Everyday solicitors deal with complex legal texts in criminal law, family law etc. representing clients who wouldn’t be able to interpret these texts otherwise. That’s why we hire solicitors.

In my view the Lisbon treaty is so complex that it is not fit to be put before an electorate. This may appear undemocratic however there is a balanced counter argument to this claim. We elect MEP’s and domestic leaders who make these decisions for us. Why should we weigh in on an institutional reform treaty when they can instead? If they skrew it up we elect somebody else to rectify the situation. I would much prefer that this was the case instead of the treaty being decided by an electorate with a collectively lower understanding of EU law and treaties. 46% of the NO voters last time voted so because they didn’t know what the treaty was about.

Commissioner

However the Irish electorate will be deciding the treaty in October and they will be voting on the same question: do you want Ireland do ratify the Lisbon Treaty? The NO side conveniently picks up on statements like this and I accept the fact that the treaty itself hasn’t had a comma changed. However separate to the treaty are legal guarantees addressing the fundamental concerns of the electorate from the first referendum. The first and most important of these is the retention of a commissioner. The NO side easily forgets this when they make sweeping generalisations like “nothing has changed”. The commissioner is one incontroversial difference between the two votes and it’s irresponsible for the NO side to argue this.

Say I (The EU) went to buy a TV from my friend Paddy (Ireland) and offered him an unfair price for the TV and as a result he rejected my offer (Lisbon 1). The next day however (October 2009) I go back to Paddy and offer him the same price only with €50 extra (legal guarantees).  The question remains the same “can I buy your TV?”, however the conditions in which the question is asked are totally different.

Taxation and Abortion

Another thing that has changed is the binding guarantees on taxation and abortion. Ireland’s 12.5% rate of corporation tax is sacrosanct in my view and any attempt to tamper with it would prompt questions to be raised about our continued participation in the EU, as would the attempt to impose abortion on Ireland. Besides it’s now impossible to change our rate because of the legal guarantee. What part of legally binding does the NO side not understand. Who is going to try to impose abortion on Ireland anyway? Socially conservative parties like EPP, who is the largest party in the EU would not allow for any country to be dictated to on their sensitive social issues like abortion so any plan to impose abortion on Ireland would be easily defeated in the parliament and in the council, with or without the Lisbon Treaty.

The Economy

The next issue of the Lisbon treaty is the economy, or is it a Lisbon issue? The treaty itself is fairly neutral on economics because it is primarily a reform treaty on the institutions of the EU. The real economic issue surrounding Lisbon is European popularity. Ireland has a reputation in Europe and voting YES surely won’t annoy many of the people we have economic ties with. Also when the EU decides how to distribute its resources, Ireland may find itself at the bottom of the list for grants and other economic benefits. Some say this is classic scaremongering by the YES side however we are the ones who are scared. We fear the fallout from a second NO vote and to be fair there’s more to lose by voting NO than by voting YES.

This is a harsh reality which we face and while this is an unacceptable position to be in, I believe voting YES will give us a reputable position in Europe to change how the EU essentially bribes us into voting their way. Many in the NO side have argued that defeating the treaty had no negative economic effects however what if we voted YES? Would we have seen greater help from the EU in addressing our economic crisis?

Neutrality

Neutrality is another issue which has been at the core of the NO side with concerns ranging from military spending to conscription to a European Army. Thankfully the latter has since been deemed a void argument. The fact is that Ireland is a neutral country and while there are discrepancies about it within our own constitution the EU has been the main group respecting our neutrality and I don’t believe that will change by ratifying the Lisbon Treaty. Again if we were to be dragged into a situation disrespecting our neutrality then we would be easily able to highlight the new legal guarantees, which again enshrine our neutrality, and the problem would go away. The same goes for Finland, Sweden and Austria who are neutral by name only, yet they have all ratified the Lisbon Treaty democratically through their parliaments with no fear of neutrality conflicts.

Power

Remember that the EU must pass all it’s treaties through the Irish electorate in the future. They have absolutely no intention of disrupting our comfortable place in Brussels for fear of a backlash on future referendums. It’s a very convenient form of appeasement and I hope the NO voters who feel that the EU is becoming federalist and too big will realise that the ball will still be in our court even after we ratify the Lisbon treaty.

Ireland is now powerful in Europe and I don’t believe that the new voting mechanisms announced in the treaty effect our ability to swing legislation in our favour. The NO side say that it weakens our voting power and the YES side say it doubles it. Either way any piece of legislation requires a huge amount of support from a majority of the ministers who represent a wide range of countries and populations. If some nations want to pass bill that we don’t agree with then tough! We can’t have it all our way and disregard an overwhelming majority of EU countries.

Veto

Vetoes is another issue which the NO side has blown out of proportion. The veto has only ever been used once by Ireland and it is rarely used by other countries. The time in which we used was regretted by Alan Dukes after he used it and it is widely accepted that the vetoes are out of date and the ones we lose are the ones we don’t need. This helps the EU run more efficiently and it reduced bureaucracy

As I understand it the new voting mechanisms support the concerns of smaller nations and it’s more than coincidental that the governments of Malta, Luxembourg, Cyprus, Estonia, Slovenia, Latvia and Lithuania have already ratified the treaty. All these countries have smaller populations than Ireland, yet their politicians agree that Lisbon is good for them.

Politics

Such political support is unparalleled and it is rare that we see the three main political leaders in the country campaigning together for a YES vote. Surely this is such a great issue that it is beyond party politics? For this reason alone I’d vote for Lisbon and I don’t intent to appear as a party diehard or a mindless sheep. We elect politicians in this country to represent us and if they all say that Lisbon is good then they’d be making a right fool of themselves if they’re proven wrong. Fine Gael and Labour would love an opportunity to embarrass this government, even more so now than during last years’ campaign. However they haven’t. They see that there is something more important that taking shots at Fianna Fail.

Conclusion

So the bottom line is this. Do you want to support Sinn Fein, Joe Higgins and the rest of the extremists? Or will you follow the established and reputable political parties who represent over 90% of the country and who YOU picked to represent you? Sinn Fein has collectively opposed every treaty since our original entry to the EEC in 1973. (They even opposed that too, by the way) Now I’m not going to go as far as to call Sinn Fein Eurosceptic, however it’s hard to find them in praise of Europe. The Maastricht Treaty, for example, paved the way for the Euro and the Celtic Tiger. Without it Ireland would not have had such immense economic success and we would struggle in this financial crisis. Now we have the same groups who opposed these productive and progressive measures coming out in opposition to a treaty that primarily comprises of a few administrative changes.

This treaty is not revolutionary and it won’t make your life much better. It makes hundreds of small tweaks and changes in the EU’s institutions and tries to make them run better. Please support the efficient future of the EU by voting YES to Lisbon in early October.[polldaddy poll=1738056]