Political pantomime leaves us with 7 dwarfs!

I wish the surviving 7 cabinet ministers good health. That may strike you as being out of character for someone who opposes the policy of the Fianna Fail government and as of a few hours ago it is a Fianna Fail single party government that runs this country for the first time since 1989. However if any more ministers resign and the Dail does not replace them then there will be no functioning government in this country. You need a minimum of 7 cabinet ministers for a cabinet meeting. This possibility would be farcical. My main concern is that the international standing of Ireland and the political standards that should apply in this country have been trashed by the government that is now leaving power.

As far as I’m aware there are no ministers junior or senior in the Department of Transport and the ongoing dispute at Aer Lingus threatens to escalate. What started out as an internal Fianna Fail matter brought on by Golfgate developed into a crisis after a good old fashioned Fianna Fail stroke backfired. The likelihood is that the next Fianna Fail leader will never be Taoiseach and that what we are witnessing is the relegation of Fianna Fail to the role of just another political party. They’re not a movement as Mary Hanafin claims but an embarrassment. Eamon Ó Cuiv’s hope’s of re-establishing the party on a parish by parish basis fundamentally misses the point that people’s focus under this government has gone from the community that they live in and the party stands no chance of re-invigorating a sense of societal participation as Fianna Fail spent the last 14 years in power cosying up to the wealthy at the Galway Tent. Many people live detached from their communities because they couldn’t afford homes in the communities that they were born in.

Brian Lenihan and Mary Hanafin seem to have shot themselves politically in the foot and that leaves the main battle between O Cuiv and Martin unless Connor Lenihan makes good his threat to run. Running is good for the profile and may be the difference between re-election and the P45. I hope Micheal Martin wins. Of all the candidates he spent the last 14 years in cabinet stoking up the bubble and he cannot distance himself from the impact of his policies. Fianna Fail under Martin will fit into the 2 and a half party system very well in the half party slot.

I expect a General election to be called for Friday February 25th. I wouldn’t be surprised if Fianna Fail appointed 3 new junior ministers as the vacancies exist and the appointments are by the government and not by the Dail. Here’s hoping that the people of Wexford put the boot in to the Fianna Fail ticket. It seems likely that the older FF TD’s with a reputation for clientelism will survive. That’d be a bonus as the image that a new Fianna Fail leader would like to create in the opposition benches will conflict with the reality.

Or maybe just maybe there may yet be a sting in the tail for us all? A reverse Tallaght strategy where Fianna Fail support Fine Gael so long as Enda Kenny follows the 4 year economic plan? Or Fine Gael falls short of a majority and is supported by the new right wing economist grouping? By the way isn’t it peculiar that these right wing economists will only stand for election in constituencies with good social infrastructure such as schools, hospitals, LUAS, DART etc? If some of these guys felt that their policies were beneficial for the entire population why won’t they run for election in socially disadvantaged parts of the country?
Strange country with peculiar politics.

We are where we are, BROKE

Its like watching a car crash. Government bluster was unspun when the Governor of the Central Bank outed the extxent of the bail out needed on Morning Irekand. Since then Fianna Fail and the greens have grasped at straws. Eamon Gilmore, Pat Rabbitte and Michael Noonan have battered the government over their denial at the extent of the fiscal mess.
Basically the problem I the banks. They spoofed the government and Fine Gael and Sinn Fein on the bank guarantee. That pushed back 2 years the day of reckoning as FF & the greens hoped that NAMA would revive their builder buddies and their paymaster banks. NAMA had morphed into a good bad bank while Anglo wanted to be a good bank and a bad bank while nobody told the department exactly how bad the mess was.
Just as Greece misled the EU on their own economic data the Irish big lie was the failure of the banks to level with the government on their precise position and the governments failure to have a regulatory regime. I’ve never rated Brian Lenihan as a Minister for Finance and the media who fawned over him in the last 2 years must be cringing today after his radio interview that failed to explain how the government decision to agree to the EU/IMF programme (not a bail out)) was despite the fact that we had enough money to keep the state (but not the banks) going until June next year was in the best interest of the euro.
It made Brian Cowen’s infamous Galway interview sound positively Churchillian by comparison. John Gormley thinks that the IMF arrival is good and may hasten changes he wanted to see for a long time! Lets see how that one pans out given the reality that TEEU has warned at civil disobedience and already there have been skirmishes between Gardaí and the SWM/PBP micro group at a student demo while an Eirigi councillor has thrown paint at Mary Harney.. The fear is that the next week building up to the demonstration in Dublin next week will be more of the economic reality of the IMF medicine for the country. The fear is that the low hanging fruit is gone and cuts will damage our country beyond the basics of what is needed for a cohesive society.
I hope I’m wrong but this could get very dirty as the Greens and Fianna Fail may well decide to tough it out with the people. Knowing many garda are as fed up with the government as the rest of us, can the government rely on every garda to do their bidding? A government that has just support from 20% of the people in the opinion rivals the support of that wonderful outfit the East German Communist Party at the end. I don’t believe they have any credibility nor right to govern. The Taoiseachs approval rating is now just in double figures and slightly ahead of the yield on Irish 10 year bonds.
We as a society are turning a corner but not the corner visualised when Brian Lenihan called us all to patriotic duty. The time has come for Cowen and Lenihan to do their patriotic duty and go and let the rest of us decide who will run our country. And while I think of it his predecessors son in law who warbles with a boy band has called for economic positivity from us.

Double speaking Greens go dumb on rail closure.

When the Irish Times contacted Minister Ciaran Cuffe about the possibility of closing the Rosslare Waterford rail line the Minister was unavailable to speak to the journalist other than to say that the matter was one for Iarnród Éireann alone. 2 days before he was appointed a minister, Ciaran Cuffe said that if a socio economic case for retention existed he’d listen to it. Now that doesn’t mean that he’d commit to retaining it he only said he’d listen to it. When Ciaran was nominated I sent him a copy of a report on the line asking that he’d respond, 3 months later I’m still waiting despite assurances from local greens that he’d contact me.


Lets face it Fianna Fail have the greens round their little finger. The core green issues such as Stag Hunting and puppy farming don’t wash with the electorate, Fianna Fail will happily let their junior partner “progress” these issues to keep them onside while Fianna Fail get on with running the country for their developer, banker and business buddies.
The Greens of course understand this and are happy to keep their heads down until issues like the Rosslare Waterford rail line turn up and show them up now for what they once said. Here’s Dan Boyle in 2007; “Sinister decisions relating to rail freight have been made in recent years. For example, in my constituency, the freight hub in Cork depends on the Norsk facility, which has been put up for sale. In recent years, the rail turntable, which allowed freight trains to change direction, because Cork is a terminus, was dismantled. This was an attempt to disentangle the rail freight infrastructure.” How right he was so what is he doing about returning freight to rail?

Ciaran Cuffe when he was in opposition knew exactly what had to be done; Green Party 2007 Rail Transport Policy “We must allow the regions to develop their economic and social potential. We believe that the Island's rail network should be used as a basis for informing the location of significant new development over the next twenty years." “urban generated rural settlement and low-density suburban development appears to be increasing, and this pattern needs to be reversed. It is unsustainable to provide large numbers of on-off houses and ribbon development in the country-side. We must revive our rural areas, but we do not wish to see people commuting long distances by car to our towns and cities.”


Minister Mary White could tell us last year that “The Government has a commitment to investment in public transport, another form of environmentally friendly infrastructure. Almost €1 billion is being spent this year on public transport projects and the safeguarding of future public transport projects will ensure jobs are sustained and that our travelling and commuting trends will be sustainable.” So where is that money for the South Wexford line now? The line qualifies for EU funding towards upgrading as I and Nessa Childers discovered at our meeting with the EU in June. Look even if you buy the Iarnród Éireann line that there is no market for passengers what about freight?

I’m aware of a real plan to put freight on the line. Not a word in support from the greens, surprising as in 2007 Dan Boyle knew what to do; “the next Government should at the very least seek to achieve the same balance between road and rail freight as other European countries, which is 77% by road and 23% by rail. A timeframe of ten years should be set down to achieve that. It will mean investment and a reversal of policy “ Have you seen a change in policy in the last 3 years? But wait there’s more from Dan “Ports such as Rosslare, Waterford, Foynes and Cork should be used more because they have rail links, which could be connected to the national system, thereby providing for more freight to be carried. The State should move away from a radial rail system, which comprises only lines in and out of Dublin, and restore the remnants of the rail system.”

That was then and this is now. The silence of any green TD to speak out on this issue in the last 3 months speaks volumes n how suppliant the party has become. Call it Stockholm Syndrome or urban Gombeenism the greens are wrapping themselves up in knots. They’re entitled to do it but the reality is that the Rosslare Waterford rail line is gong off the tracks because of their attitude. So if you’re wondering where the money should come from to support lines like the Rosslare Waterford line I’ll leave the final word to Dan Boyle from one of his newsletters in 2007; In Government we will redress the chronic under investment in bus, rail, cycling and pedestrian facilities and we will redirect the roads budget to improve road safety and traffic management.

Labour has no policies?

The rise of Labour in public opinion polls has seen the focus of Fianna Fail and Fine Gael’s fire power turn on Labour Party policy. I’ve always read the polls with the margin of error in mind. What that means is that FF is clearly in 3rd place now but that FG is where it always is, ahead of Labour who is closing the gap and for some time now I’ve figured little else was happening outside that 2 years off polling day.

What intrigues me most however is that the spin of those parties now under threat from Labour is the same; Labour has no policies. After giving a bit of thought on this one and the last 2 years I’ve concluded that FF & FG are right! From the FF point of view the last boom was based on property and construction and we’ve no policy to re-inflate the property market unlike the NAMA plan of Brian Lenihan. Lenihan will in time be seen for what he is, conning the public into reviving a property bubble that has already burst. The verdict on Labour having policy to revive that is refreshingly negative. There’s none whatsoever!

When FG say we’ve no policy what they mean is that after they’ve pinched Labour policies on Earn and learn, Universal Heath Insurance, gap year and pre-school education as ways to reduce unemployment there is not too much left for Labour to trumpet! The reality is that FF & FG will revive profits for those who have survived this far but have they any idea how to bring down unemployment? That’s the yard stick by which most people will judge the end of the recession.
The clincher was the IMF report this week into the Irish economy. It said that unemployment will remain high, well above the EU average for 5 more years. The IMF is no bastion of radical socialism but its report pinpoints one of the failings of the current policy entente between FF & FG. They don’t have any ideas how to reduce unemployment and to provide well paid jobs. Profits in industry doesn’t mean that jobs will be created.

All that they can say is that they can try to revive the bubble in property by shoring up the banks. Thence the bank guarantee scheme, the good bank and bad bank scheme and opposition to bank nationalisation. For 2 years the slump in economic growth has cut the economy back to the bone.
Where is the scheme to revive loans to Small and medium size enterprises. This sector has the potential to deliver more jobs that would be sustainable than those in the construction sector, so why hang about on the credit line from banks? The bank revival plan is all about reviving share price and profits not employment and how the revival of the economy will be judged is by the eradication of unemployment. So far we’re as far off that as ever. To put the record straight someone told me that Labour has launched more policy initiatives than FF & FG together, over 140!

Lest FF & FG forget Eamon Gilmore said all this as recently as April 2010; “As part of our jobs strategy, Labour will take 2 billion euro from the Pension Reserve Fund and establish a Strategic Investment Bank that will put €20billion Euro to work in our economy. The new Bank will have a joined up approach, providing finance for innovative companies and small firms, that are the backbone of this economy, but also helping to finance the infrastructure that they need to succeed.
Investment in networks like renewable energy, next generation communications, smart grids. Creating the environment for a new wave of Irish companies, that can seize the opportunities of a new world economy.
In our first Budget, Labour will establish a dedicated Jobs Fund, to finance measures that create and support employment; Such as a PRSI break for companies that create new jobs.
Such as more direct support to firms for research and marketing development. Moving ahead with projects such as school buildings, that are ready to go. Driving ahead our plan to promote building insulation so we can create jobs, lower fuel bills and cut emissions at the same time.”
So what bit of 140 does FF and FG have difficulty getting their heads around?

FF target all the single ladies

I remember canvassing a house once in North Dublin during the 1987 General Election. It was a long and cold campaign that started on the day of a snow shower. One house in particular stood out then and still does. I had an argument with a woman who told me that Ballymun should be sterilised and that all the single teenage mothers who were living in sin at our expense should be forced to give up their childrens allowance and welfare. They were getting pregnant simply as to fund their life style and where were the fathers?
Of course we’ve moved on from those dark days of 80’s when the single mother no one knew about Ann Lovett died, or the Kerry Babies tribunal inquired into how Irish values were different then, or were they? Or have we moved on at all?

Yesterdays announcement that Fianna Fail and the Greens are now going to end payments to single mothers payment once the child has turned 13 as opposed to 18 or indeed 22 if they are in continuing education at present gives the right wing moral majority who want to use the state apparatus to endorse or punish values that they disapprove a fillip.
So why are they doing this? Lets remind ourselves of what the constitution says”The State shall, therefore, endeavour to ensure that mothers shall not be obliged by economic necessity to engage in labour to the neglect of their duties in the home”. So is the government not behaving in an unconstitutional way? What they want to do is to remove a payment from a parent with a child of 13. Do FF & the Greens think it stops at 13 and that 13 years olds require no further care than school? So where does childhood end and where does adulthood start? Brian Cowen says he wants to reduce our social welfare dependency. This plan ignoes the reality that there are no jobs for single women no more than there are for any other sub group that has been out of the owrkforce for some time. A real question is what about the responisbiltiy of each father in terms of emotional support for their child even if their own income may be marginal in what it can help. A child is better off with both parents, it doesn't always work out like that, but in the physical absence of a father the state surely should step in to help.
What will the government save? Births while still above the European average are well below numbers that they peaked at in the 80’s. True the number of children born to single women are now about 40% of all births but women are having less babies and having them later in their reproductive life than ever before. My point is that the savings won’t be as big as they think.
Many on single parents benefit rely on back to school allowance, child benefit and allowances for rent. Fianna Fail & the Greens tell us that this will only kick in over 6 years but its clear that the allowance will not be paid to those with children now in 3rd level education. My point is that welfare should be about helping a person up the ladder. And in 6 years time being the child of a single parent will act as a break on progressing to second level education. Its likely that the greens don’t connect with many single parents struggling on low incomes. Its clear FF don’t care about them as a group.

Politically let’s compare the response to the recent concern about child benefit. Do you remember last year when the airwaves were filled with discussion as to whether the benefit should be means tested or taxed? In the end, they cut it. Strangely there was no debate now about limiting access to the Single Parent payment. Why? Because the payment is often to women from lower socio economic groupings. Recently the government decided to cut the pensions of elderly women farmers. These women lobbied and made sure the government made a U turn. It seems that the Fianna Fail and the Greens have now found a softer target to hit that will speak out but aren’t as well organised to protest as the farmers.

Into the vacuum will run the FF moralists who’ll nod and wink to those who are prejudiced. Believe me they are still out there a lot older and politically cuter than when they ruled the political roost in the bleak 80’s. So long as we have marginalised sub groups we’ll have them.

Cowen’s last throw of the dice changes very little

Well the reshuffle is over and it seems that Mary Coughlan the minister who doesn’t know her Einstein from her Darwin is now my boss. She’s well known for her earthy language but she’ll need all her communication skills to win teachers over. She’s effectively swapped places with Batt O’Keeffe. Otherwise it’s all change, if only for the departmental letterheads. There’s plenty of new departmental stationary contracts on offer as FF & the greens kick start job creation by changing departmental titles but otherwise it’s the same old Mary Harney, Micheal Martin, Dermot Ahern, Eamon Ó Cuiv and Noel Dempsey. Hell some of these people are around longer than the Rosslare Waterford railway! Mind you at least the railway’s worth holding on to.
There’s no sign of accountability in this reshuffle for the HSE shambles nor e-voting machines. I remember meeting Pat Carey when I canvassed for Roisin Shortall. He is a genuine man who worked hard in Finglas. I wish him well and hope he can bring to the Gaeltacht and communities the clear and caring approach he took to dealing with drugs as Junior a few years ago. I think if you represent an urban area that suffers this scourge that you’re better placed to tackle this menace as Pat Rabbitte did many years back.


I’m pleased that Séan Connick has been appointed as a Junior Minister for Marine. He’s the 3rd FF Junior minister for Marine from Wexford in 10 years. What is about FF leaders that they associate Wexford with fish and ships? By all accounts Séan is a very promising and straight forward TD. On Drivetime Mary Wilson asked him if he had a vision to which he replied “No”, and then he corrected himself to say “Yes, but I’m not going to tell you over the phone”.
I’m pleased that someone as committed to rail transport like Ciaran Cuffe is now in charge at Transport. Given his strong opposition to rail closures it’ll boost the campaign to see the Rosslare Waterford line being retained and developed. By this I’ll judge both him and Minister Connick. The greens are surely unique internationally in having 83% of their Dail party serving as minister while the luckless Paul Gogarty has the comfort blanket of being chair of the Oireachtas Committee on Education. If only the greens could organise the National Lottery, we’d all win the jackpot every 5 years! Throw in 4 senators hand picked at various times as well as the consolation appointments to Quangos made to defeated local authority candidates and its hard to understand why the green agenda hasn’t been rolled out more, unless of course they’re keeping something back for their second term in power.

But the suggested Department of Economic Development never materialised, nor did the rotating greens. It’ll have annoyed Fianna Fail that more back benchers didn’t get preferment. Leo Varadkar’s smoke screen of a personal attack on his former party leader provides the perfect cover behind which FF back benchers can lick their wounds. I’ve never liked Leo’ approach. Could it be a case that soon FG may have their own reshuffle and that Leo will find out what a family at war is really like?

End of the line for Rosslare Waterford Rail service

Cynics say that you know when a rail line is set for closure because the station gets a new lick of paint. Naturally my concerns grew when I went to Rosslare Strand to see the Waterford platform was painted and resurfaced that there was something a foot. The line serves Wellington Bridge and connects a rural hinterland to Waterford. Many of these small villages have lost their bus service last year and now will see their rail service go. As recently as 1995 there were 3 return trains to Waterford.
Fair play to Brendan Howlin, he flushed Irish Rail out. I’ve seen the correspondence from Irish Rail. They are seeking to put an alternative in placed for their passengers and are offering workers either a severance package or a transfer. The letter to Deputy Howlin is signed by a senior manager in Irish Rail. The fate of the line that links Wexford to Waterford, Cork, Limerick & Galway is sealed. After over 100 years the line will close.
I’ve blogged this matter before, I’ve explained how management blew €30K on taxi fares because they timetabled a Waterford crew to take the train to Rosslare after the last bus returned to Waterford. A Wexford crew was a possibility. I’ve also said how they never promoted the line despite fares being less than Bus Eireann. The timetable was altered making it awkward for passengers to sprint to Plunket Station for the train home.

I’ve written to the Transport Minister as well as the 2 greens who passed the book to Irish Rail. The greens are ostensibly a party of public transport and it is to their shame that they never lifted a finger to stop Irish Rail management. Not so much as a tweet out of Senator Dan Boyle. FF have no policy other than nationally saying one thing while Sean Connick TD touted by some as a possible Minister saying something else. If he’s appointed a Minister will he reverse this decision?

McCarthy called for the lines closure and now we’re starting to see McCarthy by stealth. Despite the fact that the train in to Waterford has a loyal passenger base each morning and is always at least half full and was reliable rail passengers from Wexford will now be faced with gridlock on the Ferrybank dual carriageway in order to get to work. I’ve travelled on that line twice in the 18 months. I’ve seen its potential. So too has RTE’s “Nationwide” which reported positively 4 weeks on the route. Run trains from Wexford to Limerick Junction. Allow connections to the Western Rail Corridor. Where’s the vision with Irish Rail?
Instead over time the line will deteriorate, sleepers will rot and ultimately it will be impossible to re-open a service along the line. Brendan Howlin will raise the matter on the adjournment on Tuesday night in Dail Eireann. Lets see what the Minister says in response.

Dan’s tweet loses Trevor’s seat.

Trevor Sargent is someone that I’ve always had time for. I was surprised to hear that he’s resigned. I’m taken back by the letter he sent to the member of the Garda in relation to the case. It really puts the garda on notice that the Minister expects. The party was once told during coalition talks in 2007 by the late Seamus Brennan that they were playing senior hurling. If they didn’t know it before they certainly know it now.
Trevor is a decent politician. Compare how he behaved in comparison to his ministerial predecessor in North Dublin, Ray Burke. Burke is a former Minister for justice but it’s his successor Dermot Ahern to whom most fingers are now pointing. Trevor’s indiscretion occurred over 2 years ago. Fast forward 2 years and one O’Dea less and what is shaken out of the woodwork only a letter from Trevor to a garda which is unlawful according to a law that few people have ever heard of. The net effect is the end of his ministerial career. I can understand the need of a politician to make a representation for a constituent. I do it myself although admittedly never to a garda.

Senior Hurling is a wonderful sport when played well. Minister Ahern comes from Louth, not a stronghold of hurling. Today the green party seem to be squeezing in on his patch with the appointment of Mark Deary to the senate. Louth will be a 4 seater at the next GE with 4 outgoing TD’s, 2 Senators and Labour’s poll topping Ged Nash and maybe an MEP running too.

With all that competition a weakened Green Party is in the interest of Minister Ahern. This evening Minister Ahern when asked about leaking the documents said “I didn’t leak them, and to the best of my knowledge neither did any of my colleagues”. Lately he described the Greens as having been accommodated in government and read between the lines and it seems that Dermot Ahern, the man who regards Willie O’Dea as a friend and shouted touché during the O’Dea no confidence vote while taunting the opposition, should be, to use another fencing term, on guard for what’s left of this term in office.

What’s done is done and what’s lost is lost forever. The greens may well reflect that Dan Boyle’s famous tweet about being bounced has had a very damaging outcome bring the vengeance of Fianna Fail about their heads. In
the meantime the likely elevation of Mary White and the rumoured retirement of Martin Cullen means the Green deputy leader will be the most senior gobernment politican in the south east.

Shot at Dusk for the defending the indefensible

Not even the greens could tolerate the arrogance at the end. The suggestion that Willie O’Dea who had paid a significant sum to settle claims of slander was somehow a victim was one that not even John Gormley could swallow. In the end it was the appalling inability on O’Dea’s part to understand his position that did for him. When I heard on Matt Cooper that an unscheduled meeting of the FF Parliamentary Party was being held at teatime and that FF speakers were unavailable for media interviews the writing was on the wall for Willie.

My initial response is that his demeanour reflects a government out of touch. They thought they’d get away with a truncated vote of confidence, that sneering at the opposition sufficed for debate and high handed references to blue shirts, George Lee and the Northern Bank or low handed ones to Gardaí, brothels and ladies of the night would throw enough dirt in the air to see Willie safe just one more time. Did he actually think for one minute that the general public would feel sympathy for a cabinet minister in the most unpopular government ever who settled a claim against him because he claims he is a victim?


There is a view however that being attacked in a personalised way by your political opponents is a plus at an election. I’ve been called a few things in my time, some in public others in private most of them slanderous. I look at them as a badge of honour. Where does public life go if politicians resort to law to financially compensate themselves against the realities of public life? It's likely that a politician other than Willie O'Dea may well have got away with the slander but would many other politicians have had the neck to suggest what Willie did?

The O’Dea affair has actually camouflaged the reality that the government was almost beaten in a vote on the Finance Act today. Had that happened there would have been a General Election and I’d have spent today canvassing. As usual there is a Wexford connection, Enniscorthy’s FF TD John Browne was AWOL for the vote. If George Lee had still been around then the opposition would have won.


Last month Brendan Howlin told the Labour branch that he thought that an election could happen anytime citing “events”! The Williegate affair arose over 24 hours, the fact that he’s gone will introduce a friction between Greens and FF. As with Brian Lenihan Snr and the famous mature recollection affair of 1990, the shafting hurt and we know what happened to Haughey and subsequently that government. When trust goes in a government it hits the rocks. Cllr Quinlivan’s colleagues at Stormont know this only too well. In time tonight’s dramatic events will be seen to be a turning point between Greens and FF.

Deirdre’s “Dear John” letter spells out how hopeless green politics has become

To paraphrase Oscar Wilde, a man with Wexford connections; to lose one candidate is a misfortune, but to lose 2 sounds like downright carelessness. First the 2004 Dublin Green Euro candidate Patricia McKenna walked and now her successor has bolted, launching a scud at her party leader for not standing up to Fianna Fail. To be fair to Gormley she’s no George Lee. Senator De Burca had abandoned the Wicklow constituency for Dublin. She was looking for a post in the cabinet of Euro Commissioner Máire Geoghegan Quinn which she didn’t get. In reality she had no political future so she walked.

While Fine Gael is big enough to cope with a resignation a smaller party like the greens will be more damaged by a walk out. In fairness the Greens will keep the seat as it is a government appointee and I imagine Mark Deary or maybe Wexford’s Danny Forde will now come into the reckoning for this as they try to focus on constituencies where they have a possibility of success in the next GE.


Many will question the timing of the resignation and ask why Senator De Burca had no problem supporting the programme for government, NAMA or blasphemy and why now? Her resignation will destabilise the party as it is now apparent even to senior greens that the Custom House bunker that John Gormley shelters in while the country goes belly up cannot ignore the reality that FF is running rings around the inexperienced greens.

Where does this leave the greens? Closer to exiting from government or cosying up closer in full knowledge of the inevitable electoral consequences? For a small organisation any resignation is damaging and takes longer to recover from. Bizarrely Labour is the only party now organisationally stable but I remember resignations during the 1980’s and I know the effect they can have on morale among ordinary members. To be fair to Labour has a philosophy. It gave something for members to debate and boy did we debate it. At some stages it was deeply fractious and divisive. So I know where the greens are going on this one. They'll hang in their riding roughshod on the FF horse and facilitate bankers, builders and cutbacks. Someday they’ll look back on Paul Gogarty’s expletives with amusement indeed it may be the only thing that may well unite them.

Time was Green politics was provclaimed as clean politics, now Green Politics is mean politics. We’re closer to an election one way or another, there’s no way this government will last till 2012

FF & Greens threat on union subs is illegal

Those the gods destroy they first make mad. I’m reminded of this wisdom this week when I hear Minister Dempsey responding to the air traffic controllers dispute with a suggestion to ban strike action in essential services. The cabinet’s union bashing continues with suggestions that they will refuse to pass on union deductions from their employees in an attempt to break opposition to pay cuts. This threat should be ignored by public service workers. I say; Bring it on, Let me explain; It’s my view that any such attempt is illegal under data protection law.
It seems that they have learnt nothing in all their years in power other than bullying their workers. About 9 years ago my own union ASTI were locked in a bitter pay dispute with the government, a dispute that we lost and one that I believe our union has yet to fully recover from. Part of our action was to work to rule and not to supervise for absent colleagues. As a result school boards of management closed schools on health and safety grounds although staff were in situ and willing to work. The government moved quickly to withhold 5 days pay from teachers over the Christmas holidays. .

I was particularly annoyed by this move and was one of 42 teachers to take their case to the Data Protection Commissioner in January 2001. I pointed out that my membership of a union is a matter for me and the union concerned. The only reason I had notified the department of my ASTI membership was to facilitate me in paying my union dues, in exactly the same way that VHI, pension, AVC payments etc are processed. I pointed out that the salaries section had no other dealings with me and that if the department had an issue with me that they were obliged to write to me directly asking me if I had been party to a work to rule protest and then following a response taken the action they did


The commissioner investigated my case and found in my favour. The government was obliged to return the deducted pay, not just to me but to every teacher. This 2001 decision is highly relevant to the government’s latest plan.
The Data Commissioner satisfied himself that data relating to my ASTI membership “was obtained by the Department for the sole purpose of deducting ASTI subscription from salary and remitting such deductions to the ASTI and for no other purpose. Using the data for another purpose contravenes section 2 of the Data Protection Act 1988.” Following this decision the Department of Education was warned not to repeat this action as a heavy fine would be imposed.

There are many similarities in what happened to me and what the government is now proposing to do to IMPACT, SIPTU, CPSU members. If what is reported happens, Brian Lenihan will direct officials to assess each employee record, cancel their subscription to the union and presumably return it to their pay packet without written notification from the employee whose money it is in the first place. If they don’t do that they will have to hold on to their employees money against the employees instruction provoking a Fr Ted situation where the money will be resting in their account!
The facility to deduct union membership from salaries was offered to the employee from the state, not from the union. The state pays the union at the direction of the states employee. They cannot unilaterally decide to withdraw that facility without entering into a discussion with its employees. They cannot, to quote the judgement, take information for the purpose of facilitating payment and use it for a political purpose of discommoding a union. Am I the only one who sees this as being a breach of an employee’s confidential data and rights? If you can try this one on with an employee’s union subvention what’s to stop a similar move to thwart payment to a health insurance provider if the government doesn’t like the cut of them too?


Since I started teaching how we were paid has changed enormously. We were told that it was all about the cashless society. The ATM (beloved of those of us who cast a sceptical eye in bench marking) replaced the cheque. But what we’re getting now is the amoral society. One where the Greens and FF will do, as they put it euphemistically, what has to be done to put this country back on its feet. There’s many a public servant who’ll be on their feet soon enough but not in the way that Cowen and company imagine.

Banking on Lehmans to bail out the bluFFers!

The standard FF defence for presiding over the shambles that has been Ireland’s banks in the last 2 years has been “Lehmans and Bear Sterns were a shock to the system”. Expect to hear a lot more of this when the Irish banking inquiry gets going. The commission will be chaired by the Governor of the Central Bank who’s been a loan voice within that organisation calling for accountability and an international “wise man”. They cannot look at anything that happened since September 30th which means that NAMA, events in Anglo Irish Bank, Irish Nationwide and the role of the regulator who told us that the Irish banks are the best capitalised in the world in the events of late 2008 are beyond the scope of the inquiry. The relationship between the Finance Department and the banks as well as the regulator and the banks will be examined too. It’ll be mostly in secret and those giving evidence will be spared the embarrassment of the media and public discussion of their evidence. The first stage will be all over by May (we’ll see about that!). These reports will be laid before the Oireachtas and will be the basis of a commission to inquire further and will wrap up by years end. Irish bankers doubtlessly still deeply grateful to the government will be treated with kid gloves by the Greens & Fianna Fail in comparison to their counterparts elsewhere. Current government policy is off limits, of course.


I’m totally underwhelmed and I don’t think that the inquiry will restore confidence in the banking system. I believe there should have been a wider scope along the lines Eamon Gilmore argued. Firstly clarify the extent of the Supreme Court judgement into the Abbeylara Case and see if the intention was to end all Oireachtas inquiries or just those that may lead to a negative finding affecting an individual. If the matter is clarified satisfactorily change the law to allow Oireachtas inquiries again. The Abbeylara Inquiry determined in the context of an Oireachtas Committee into the events surrounding the killing of a man by the gardaí.
Too much has been relied on in this judgement on which to base an opinion surrounding all inquiries. What is interesting is that the Abbeylara judgement precluded adverse findings of fact and conclusions in relation to a named person not a member of the Oireachtas. So why can an Oireachtas inquiry not ask members of the Oireachtas about their role in the collapse? Brian Cowen and Bertie Ahern are not protected by the Supreme Court judgement. Both have played key roles in determining the relationship between the FF, the banks and developers. Surely these 2 could throw a little light in their part in the slump? Add in Mary Harney.

So the best that the Greens can get out of FF is the “tried and trusted” mechanism that served the government so well in Ferns, Murphy, and the Ryan Reports. My recollection of these reports were that some chapters were withheld from publication, and that culprits hid behind letters, while senior management in the garda bent the rules while those on the ground tried their best. But unlike Murphy, Archbishop Martin didn’t inquire into the behaviour of paedophile priests in Dublin diocese, he co-operated as head of the diocese. The Greens spent weeks promising acocuntability and fell way short again. What's new?
However the Governor of the bank is now charged with investigating his own banks behaviour. This is setting the man up for a fall! I believe that Prof Holohan is genuine in his intention to get to the bottom of the scandal but he will be hampered because many of those who preside over the light touch regulation at the bank are still there. He’s in an invidious position. I forecast that co-operation will be less than whole hearted and the momentum of the inquiry will run into turbulence. Add to this the pedestrian pace of the year long garda inquiry into Anglo and the need to protect the identity of those responsible being released so I reckon that all we’ll find out is that Banker A was put in charge by an internal interview process that was overseen by Bankers B & C. A along with Banker D ignored the loans approval committee which was chaired by B and provided monies for Banker E who is related to C to buy shares in Company F which was part owned by individual G through Contracts For difference that was arranged by Banker H.


The greens and FF have provided those with an interst in obstructing an inquiry with a golden opportunity to do just that. In the end will confidence in the banking system be restored by this inquiry? Will Brian Cowen and Bertie Ahern have to account for what they did, explain the cancerous growth of FF, Bankers and Builders, well to quote the late Jim Gogarty when he asked for a receipt from Ray Bourke, “Will we f---?”

Snow Joke in Wexford when Gormley's grit hits the fan!

It’s early January and the government are out of bed! When they pulled back the curtains they found what the rest of us knew for 2 weeks. Wexford Town is treacherous with snow and ice. Wexford is no different to many other parts of the country. The N11 was particularly hazardous with the Gorey by-pass being especially bad. I wouldn’t attempt to drive a long distance in Ireland on the national primary routes that the Environment Minister claims are open. On Wednesday I spoke to Joe Duffy on RTE’s “Liveline” in response to concerns that Irish Ferries cancelled sailings when Wales had good weather because it was snowing heavily in Wexford.

Last Sunday with with a number of councillors, I spoke with the Director of Services for Roads and he explained that rock salt was more effective than anything else but that it was fast running out. To be fair to the officials (I hope I’m not accused of having been domesticated by officials), they cannot spread grit that they are not responsible for ordering. Rock salt supplies are ordered by the NRA and the provision is put out to tender because of the value. Moreover the council has let go workers because of the reductions in allocations by central government. The point I’ve made to people who’ve raised it with me is that I cannot spend what I’m not given to pay someone who isn’t there to spread what isn’t bought! And to be fair people are beginning to understand that. I did make the point to officials that sand should be used but they replied that sand blocks drainage pipes and gullies and will eventually lead to flooding. I understand where they’re coming from and that they have been put in this position by the government, however they can’t make the political points that I can

The Minister for Transport is said to be on holidays on the beach in Malta while the Minister for Environment (who says he’s not the Minister for Snow) told RTE News tonight that he didn’t know the minister’s whereabouts. There’s one thing John Gormley is sure of and that’s that he’s passing the buck to local authorities because they are responsible for the gritting roads, just as he passed the buck to local authorities for all the flooding by blaming flooding on rezoning. I’m fed up of last November’s floods being described as a one in a hundred year event or the snow as a one in a thirty year event. Minister Gormley is bang out of order when he said that Local Authorities have enough money, we don’t. We had a cut in both 2009 budgets and another in 2010. Our estimates reflect that and allocations are made arising from what we can raise. The minister needs to stop hiding behind clichéd figures plucked out of the cold air.

In 1982 the late Michael O’Leary (who was slaughtered at the time for his response) was in charge as Garret Fitzgerald was on an holidays when snow fell. He acted to convene an emergency cabinet meeting, if a minister couldn’t make it then he got Health Boards, Garda Commissioners, Army Chief of Staff and RTE, Emergency services and anyone who could affect change. Soldiers were put out on the Curragh to protect abandoned cars, Irish Rail ran a train to bring milk to Dublin, Radio stayed on air 24 hours broadcasting information. My point is that every state body played a role. At least to O'Leary's credit he tried to do something. Now when a similar emergency is even longer all we get is finger pointing at the local authorities. Why? Because FF don’t control them.
Calling out the army will make little impact in Wexford. We have 2 full time soldiers and 20 RDF members in the town. Indeed RDF numbers are being run down in line with budget cuts. The RDF will not be mobilised, Wexford’s needs will still go unmet. The “problem” is merely now seen as one of keeping roads free and then everything else will fall into place. Many of our major roads are tolled and constructed by PPP. When the projects finished and opened early they were held up as examples of how things should be done. Should the PPP companies now be charged as the state has to step in to maintain them? I think there’s a case for levying these companies now.
There are a wider number of needs, isolation in particular among the elderly, medical as the injured make their way to A&E as well as leaks that can mean no water or sewage or increased cost in water treatment. Social welfare payments didn’t arrive at some post offices while there now exists a clear need to pay now the fuel allowance so that those on limited means can kept their homes warm.
My own party spokesman on Education Ruairi Quinn’s suggested that schools make up days that are lost. I’m not so sure how this would work. I’m also not so sure as to who would do the work. Where caretakers or secretaries were in working during the snow, would these be expected to show up on the extra day and would they be paid extra? When would the days be worked? In the event of a teacher who may have been on maternity leave on the “snow day” and had returned before the snow day was worked, would she have to work a day that she never had off? I don’t believe that the Department of Education will go there given the wider reality of frayed industrial relations in the state.

It should provide an opportunity for neighbours and communities to pull together rather than for Minister Gormley to pull the other one! We’ll make it through despite the government. There exists the possibility of more snow before the week-end is over, Lets hope we cope better. At least Minister Dempsey, who gave us the e-voting machines won't have to worry about a cold front where he is!

Slump Coalition’s greatest myths; Part 1; “We all benefited from the boom”

The above sound byte is frequently used in the media by neo-liberal economists, bankers, builders, property developers, FF and their Green and independent patsies. This statement is never challenged.
A small number of property developers amassed enormous land banks for the purposes of development. To aid them the FF & PD government incentivised building. The construction sector needed domestic customers for housing so mortgage lending criteria were relaxed, second homes and buy to let schemes
incentivised. Profiteering saw the average price of a house climb under Ahern & Harney between 1994 and 2007 from €73k to over 320K! During the same time inflation in the building sector suggested the average house price should be just €132k. The difference between the 2 is accounted for by profiteering. To keep up with rising prices, the value of mortgages rocketed and while wages grew they couldn’t keep pace with profiteering in the building industry do it became more difficult for ordinary people to get their foot on the property ladder.

A hysteria resulted where even reality TV programmes got in on the act to find properties for first time buyers, in one case a government TD acted as a judge and newspaper property supplements bulged with seductive ads for new developments.

So let’s not confuse higher pay with any putative direct benefits from the boom, unless you think that it’s somehow a privilege to own your own home! Many of the houses built in the boom were distant from where people worked and involved a long commute usually by car, expensive child-care and when the child goes to school above average pupil teacher ratio.
When Bertie Ahern proposed to increase his salary by €38K per annum he ignored the reality that for 1.5M in the state €38K was their total household income! Many in the workforce have little or no pension provision for their retirement. At the same time total tax reliefs in the state were valued at 25% of the total tax take! The top 1% when you leave out residential property own 34% of Irelands wealth. During the Ahern period when a wealthy person could find tax shelters to invest in (private hospitals, hotels, 3rd level facilities, nursing homes, holiday camps, student apartments, park and ride facilities, car parks, and refurbished flats), childhood poverty rates were at 7.5%, just 21k social houses built, pupil teacher ratios were among the highest in Europe, hospital waiting lists grew, marginalisation grew as Michael McDowell said he believed in inequality as a motivator in society.
At the same time state assets such as Telecom Eireann, Aer Lingus were flogged off to the market, cash reserves depleted to an extent that investment in broadband significantly lags most EU countries. In the case of the electricity market, prices were driven upwards so as to make the industry more profitable for new entrants. This policy is being encouraged by the greens to an extent that price of power is now a key expense in SME’s.

Consumption replaced production in our economy. Ireland has now nothing to sell on an international market other than low tax to attract company accounts to the IFSC. Unemployment is now set to hit a record 500K this year, 4 businesses are going bust a day, tax take has slumped, social welfare and spending cuts are a reality. The party is over. Like any party the guests are gone leaving the clear up to the hosts.

Drink! Feck! Arse! Budgets!

It’s a budget that Fr Jack would be proud of. If Carlsberg could do budgets they’d do this one! Drink prices hit the floor, the millionaire’s G&T drop in price as VAT & excise duty are reduced. The bill is picked up by the public servants and those on social welfare.
I debated the budget in South East Radio with Michael Wall (SIPTU), Michael O’Leary (a local financial services expert) & Cllr Michael Sheehan of Fianna Fail just hours after the speech. Dan Walsh did the needful and chaired the debate. Every year South East Radio has a budget debate and this is the second time I’ve done it. It’s an example of public service broadcasting that you don’t often hear in local radio. The response from the listeners was hugely critical of the budget, and I’m not surprised. As a budget, I must say that I’m still in shock. I’m shocked that Fianna Fail could walk all over vast swathes of people to appease the bankers, builders & IBEC so blatantly. If Labour tried a fraction of what FF & the greens pushed through there would be a schism.!

Lets punch through the noise and set Budget 10 in context. All the money saved last year has been channelled into the banks by the back door off balance sheet and not a cent of it was mentioned today. Its not as though we’re through the worse, the worse hasn’t started yet. There’s no stimulus here, SME’s are looking for credit, they won’t get it today and it won’t happen because the CEO of the Bank of Ireland gave away the game when he said that capitalisation will only lead improving the balance sheet of the banks, no mortgage holders or businesses need apply. Employment is the only way out of the slump.

We’ll soon be out of recession but we’ll be in depression then! By then anincreasing number of families relying on social welfare will be paying prescription charges per item, carbon taxes to heat their way out of fuel poverty, struggling to meet mortgages. against a backdrop of the ending of the embargo on repossessions.
How can you expect people who get less to spend more in an economy? The sub-text to the agenda is emigration, cut jobseekers assistance for young people and that will act to drive young people out. The other subtext from FF & the greens is that there is no alternative to cuts and that the rich should keep their heads down and let ordinary people carry the can.
On the way home I must confess I only stopped to fill the tank with petrol At home I saw Eamon Ryan on “Prime Time” tonight. I couldn’t help wonder if he regretted not running in the 2004 presidential election. Surely his chance of the park is now as real as Kenmare Hospital. The Green Party’s endless spin on the green or knowledge economy is running the risk of getting the word knowledge a bad name. The only green jobs created are for green senators counting frogs. That’s why the budget will get through. It won’t revive the economy it’ll knock it out. Once that happens emigration will start. In the end, Craggy Island may well seem more populous than John Bull’s other one

Savaged by a dead sheep

It was a most memorable put down. Denis Healy’s verdict on a joust with Thatcher’ Chancellor of the Exchequer came back into my mind when I heard that Fianna Fail backbenchers were reportedly revolting against any deal between the government and the unions to resolve the public service pay dispute.

If you believe the media the usually anonymous backbenchers who’re lucky enough to be household names in their own households have suddenly evolved a spine and are opposed to any suggestion other than pay cuts for reducing the public service pay. It just so happens that I’m reading Charlie Bird’s autobiography at the moment. He has written a chapter on the plinth at Leinster House and those particularly those who inhabit it for the purpose of sending a message to their constituency. It would be wrong to think of these backbenchers in the true style of a political maverick. It’s quite the opposite. The backbenchers were sent out by the Fianna Fail press office to deliberately undermine ICTU. They’re more Sepp Blather than same bladder. Their lines were written for them and the media notified of the “dissent”. In short the backbenchers were willing tools in the deliberate collapse of partnership engineered by Brian Cowen.

A clue to the reality was the attack on the process by John Gormley. It was time to be tough and reach the €4B target for 2010. It’s just a year since Ciaran Cuffe threw himself at the mercy of Ireland’s pensioners to hoots of derision. It seems that the greens have moved on from connecting with real fears that exist in the community and are now lining up alongside the bankers, developers, Fianna Fail and IBEC. Their fears are more pressing.
I don’t go with the media line that Cowen is weak and not in control. Many of the backbenchers who’re concerned at the crisis happily hid from their constituents when banks were bailed out through NAMA, Christmas bonus axed or public servants went on strike. Its easy to dismiss the backbenchers as lumpen gombeen men who hold the family seat but in fact if you look particularly at the 2007 intake you’ll see that their background is significantly different to the traditional view of a FF backbencher who’s got a GAA background, a farm and is middle aged. Many of the new FF backbenchers are from middle class professions; solicitors, accountants, company directors etc. It reminds me of the 1977 intake of FF that gave us Charlie McCreevy, Mary Harney, Bertie etc.
There is an ideological agenda at play taking advantage of the economic slump trying to recast Ireland amidst this crisis. No other EU country is going through what is happening in Ireland now and many ordinary people are fearful. Fear is thriving in Ireland, fear of unemployment, illness, aging, eviction, and emigration. FF & the Greens will lead us to a place where there is a price on everything and if you have the money you can have a service and if you don’t then tough luck. Reykjavik on the Liffey was the snide cut at our economy in 2008. In the future it may be California in the Atlantic and mark my words, there’ll be an enormous social price to be paid and very little sunshine to show for it.