Cut and tax us to death – thanks Fine Gael and Labour.

It’s worth a listen:

Apologies to those who don’t understand a word of it. I couldn’t afford a translator.

He said that defaulting was a non-runner because:

• we are a responsible country
• we have a responsibility to the Euro and
• we have a responsibility to our European partners

He made no reference to the fact that he and his/the Government has a responsibilty to us its citizens.

I think that says it all.

Cute man.

He knows he probably wouldn’t get elected next time out.

He knows that TDs and Senators will probably have their pay slashed in the budget …. ergo less of a pension for him

By resigning now he’ll have ‘bowed’ out at a higher salary so he’ll end up with a higher pension.

As I said …. cute man!

Kerry County Councillor Michael Healy-Rae was officially selected to run in the next General Election at a meeting in the Gleneahle Hotel in Killarney.

He’s hoping to replace his 79 year old father Jackie Healy-Rae one of the Independents who has been propping up our incompetent Government.

Jackie is a T.D. Two of his sons (Michael & Danny) are Kerry County Councillors.

What good is nepotism in today’s world? As long as the mentality of ‘my father was one, I’ll be one too’ continues in our country nothing will change.

We need people in Government who are qualified to run our country.

Not a system based on nepotism.

Michael Healy-Rae has said that he will rise to the challenge when the General Election comes.

I’m sure he will … rise to the challenge of seeing how much money he can get into the Healy-Rae coffers.

The Healy-Raes claim Kilgarvan as their base …. you wouldn’t see much evidence of their work there.

Unless of course you count the widening of the Loo Bridge to Kilgarvan road (ongoing for the past few years) …. using Healy-Rae machinery/equipmnent.

Electing a Healy-Rae to the Dáil won’t do any national good. The only local good the Healy-Raes have done so far is for themselves. I can’t see that changing.

As one Kilgarvan resident said …. “the Healy-Raes never did anything for anyone unless it benefited themselves …. they’re mé féiners.”

Will people ever learn?

No … I don’t think they will.

Fingal County Council paid a Dublin-based photographer €10,000 for a one day photoshoot!

When will our politicians stop stealing tax payers money?

The people in power are abusing the power that has been entrusted to them.

The article is here.

It focuses on the €10,000 cost but it also focuses on the irony that Socialist Party Councillors posed for the aforementioned photos in an opulently decorated Georgian mansion.

Socialism how are you!

I’m fine … thanks! …. drawing a nice wage, posing for photos ….. and screwing the tax payer.

And this follows the news that other Councillors attended a Facebook tutorial course at the cost of up to €500  per Councillor to the tax payer!

And Brian Lenihan has the neck to tell us that our standards of living will be reduced by the budget.

Yes Brian … ‘ours’ will but will ‘yours’?

And I’m being kind at that!

No matter what he puts his hands on he does damage. He has interfered with the provision on an incinerator in Dublin – and is almost bringing it to a stage where litigation proceedings will be issued against the Government.

Now he is hitting the commercial vehicle userm all because the 4×4 status symbol passenger vehicles of the Celtic Tiger era are now not affordable to the nouveux riche who are now feeling the pinch and are declaring that their passenger vehicles are now commercial vehicles without doing the necessary modifications required – no back seats/blacked our side windows and welded bolt holes for seat.

In clamping down on these people he’s instructed all motor tax offices to get people renewing or newly registering their vehicles to sign a declartion that they have a business, have a business registered number with revenue and will not use their commercial in any shape or fashion for personal and domestic use.

So … no stopping at the shop to get some milk, no taking the 4×4 to mass on a Sunday. That’s what you’re declaring not to do but now Gormley says that the occasional use of commercial vehicles for personal reasons is fine.

He doesn’t get it …. he’s making people declare they won’t use it for social and personal use and that declaration has to be signed in front of a Garda. Then he says ah sure it will be grand the odd time. The Guards will use their discretion. He shouldn’t put people into that position.

He is also making life difficult for people who don’t have a business but do use their commercial vehicle for their work because they can’t sign the declaration stating they have a business.

A friend’s phone call to the local tax office yielded this scenario:

You can’t declare you have a business? … it must be taxed privately so …. tax goes from €288 per year to €1566 per year thank you very much. O … but we can issue private road tax on a commercial vehicle ….. we’ll have to change it from commercial to private on its klicensing cert. (A quick phone call to the insurance company and they state that the vehicle is, was and always will be a commercial vehicle and cannnot have its status changed and even if the tax office reclassifies it they won’t insure it privately.

So … it has to remain classed as a commercial vehicle …. motor tax office won’t issue commercial tax to the owner and won’t issue private tax as it’s turned into a private vehicle which means it will have road tax but will be uninsurable!

The whole issue has become farcical and it’s all as a result of John Gormley and his band of Green party merry men.

Another scenario for you:

Builder – has a job – has a commercial van for his work – commercially taxed and commercially insured.

Builder loses job and is now on the dole (welfare) – according to tax office van is not beng used for work so it should now be reclassed as private and taxed privately also! The man is without job and they want to add an average of 500 to 600 extra on his for private tax! All this makes no sense anyway – as insurance companies will not accept reclassification and will only insure commercially.

This Government is getting dafter.

Two reports have given a damning indictment of Brian Cowen’s handling of the economy while he was Finance Minister.

Fine Gael tried to force the Dáil to hear a motion of no confidence today but the Ceann Comhairle (Fianna Fáil) prevented it.

Despite the criticism, the Tánaiste Mary Coughlan has said that the Government wouldn’t react to Fine Gael’s push for a vote but that they (the Government/Fianna Fáil/The Greens) will have its own motion of confidence next Tuesday when the Dáil resumes its ‘full business’ – apparently the Governemnt would have lost the vote today because so many of the Government TDs were absent.

Brian Cowen has accepted full responsibility for his role as former Finance Minister in the run-up to the crisis and he has accepted that he did not take the right actions to prevent it.

BUT …. he refuses to accept all the blame …. he blames flawed projections from the Central Bank, the I.M.F and the O.E.C.D.

So …. he accepts he did wrong, he blames others, he’s now the leader of our Government and now the Government is planning to vote 100% confidence in him.

How can we move on when the architects of our downfall are still in office, are still running our banks and still refusing to accept full responsibilty for the mess our country is in?

As long as we are blinkered by our own self-interests we’ll never get out of the quagmire we’re in.

Politics needs fresh faces … faces who know what they are doing. We need a change of Government …. Fianna Fáil needs to be cast out into the wilderness and forgotten about. The opposition, also, needs to be tossed into the wilderness after them. I wouldn’t have much faith in them running our country either.

Fine Gael needs a credible leader … Enda Kenny isn’t one. Labour has Eamon Gilmore … (jury is still out on him) and Sinn Féin are rooted in the past and are as far removed from all matters economic as they can be.

The Greens have lost all credibilty since they sold out to attain power …. Greens means environmental taxes … period … why vote for a party that answers everything with a tax … carbon tax, water charges, property tax, etc. They are even banning the cutting of turf ….. the ordinary householder has been banned from cutting turf as a fuel … but still the large scale commercial cutting of our boglands continues unabated.

Ban commercial cutting of bogs, allow the householder cut his/her 10 to 20 hoppers per year so that he/she has an alternative to oil/coal etc. John Gormley would prefer we burn oil … why? …. probably brings in more into Governmnet coffers by way of taxes/carbon tax etc.

If the Government led by example I’m sure all sectors of our fair country would follow suit in bringing us back on our feet.

Come on Ireland!

Senator Ivor Callery has cost the taxpayer €81,000 for overnight costs and travel expenses since he was elected to the Seanad in 2007. The amount was uncovered as a result of a Freedom of Information request by some news paper or other.

Though he has a ‘home’ and office  in Dublin, he claimed his expenses from his ‘residence’ (holiday home) which is in Kilcrohane in West Cork,  a distance of 360km from Dublin. He stopped claiming from this ‘residence’ during the latter part of last year.

Politicians’ expenses are now available for all to see …. starting from March 2010. Amazingly enough Mr. Callely didn’t claim anything for March and April 2010. He actually gave back €3,987 in March because he ‘wished his expenses and allowances to reflect his actual spending’.

The Taoiseach demanded a full written explanation from him but he made a personal statement in the Seanad that he wanted to go before the select Committee on Members’ Interests to explain himself.

This would suit him …. the committee usually meets in private.

This is the same man who lost his job as a junior transport minister in 2005 because the painting of the Senator’s ‘home’ in Clontarf was paid for by a construction company – a vested interest.

Senator Callely is confident that he will clear his name as he believes he has complied with regulations.

Mr. Callery clearly rode the system to ensure that he could take full advantage of it.

In my book his actions warrant his immediate removal from office.

In all probability he’ll just get a slap on the wrist and all will merrily carry on as normal.

Well he’s gone …. he resigned.

He didn’t go willingly but Dan Boyle’s no confidence in him on Twitter was curtains for him.

Twas a bit ridiculous when the vote of no confidence was beaten by Fianna Fáil with the support of the Greens.

Yet ’twas the Greens and Twitter burned him.

Though I don’t use Twitter tis a great invention.

It’s amazing the allegations he made about a Sinn Féin Councillor in Limerick in the run up to the last election.

He said the Councillor ran a brothel etc.  …. allegations which he later retracted and had to pay compensation for.

The Limerick Leader recorded the allegations.

You can hear them here.