Government sending their goons door to door!

nkay1985 wrote: »

How were those services provided last year Joe? And the year before? And every year before where there's not been a household charge?

You're either very naive or have a big old spoon in your hand stirring up the pot.

Nkay, these services funded by debt last year and the years before. That's why we have the huge national debt that's crippling the country.
We cannot go on like that anymore.

JoeGil wrote: »

If you are not receiving any services then I agree you have a valid point to raise with your county council.
I live in a small village and between council workers and people on employment schemes there are at least 6 people maintaining services for the village and surrounding areas every day.

Joe,I'm guessing there's probally two men emptying bins/steet sweeping on the streets in your village and the employment scheme is possibly CE/TUS doing a bit of tidy towns work.

pickarooney wrote: »

Poetry!

Beat me to it, there's a good image to start the weekend on.

JoeGil wrote: »

The services that are being currently provided are at a level funded by € 100 per annum. If you want a higher level of services you will need to discuss the possibility of paying a higher annual charge with your local representative.

JoeGil wrote: »

Nkay, these services funded by debt last year and the years before. That's why we have the huge national debt that's crippling the country.
We cannot go on like that anymore.

I don't think many people would have difficulty paying taxes if there wasn't such chronic mismanagement of public finances by the public sector at every level, from the politicians on down. The comfortable days of riding on the back of banks acting more like casinos are over, time for some proper management.

Think this story is a bit of a red herring tbh, are they suggesting that office staff are redeployed knocking on doors and shaking a bucket? Can't see it happening.

I don't envy the council workers if they have to do this. The abuse they'll get on some doorsteps will be vicious. I can't see them collecting too much. I image if people don't want to pay they won't pay.

There is also a safety issue if they do manage to collect anything they are open to being attacked or mugged.

I think it is hilarious that so many of you are highly strung about this relatively small fee for house owners when the vast majority of you don't own a house!

JoeGil wrote: »

Nobody can predict what if anything the charge will be in five years time.
However I also cannot expect to live off the fat of the land today for free and have a future generation pay of these debts in 5 or 10 years time.

I'm assuming from your post that you don't pay tax.

I posted this previously but its worth another go for the keep on taxin' brigade.

Time for a quick look at the joys of Irish public spending, courtesy of the Irish Times:

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/...301773607.html

CONSULTANTS HAVE been paid almost €17 million in relation to the development of a new Dublin regional sewage treatment plant, even though a site has yet to be selected for the facility.
A study published six years ago identified Portrane in north Dublin as the best site for the new plant which would be second in size only to the Ringsend sewerage works. However, Fingal councillors rejected the plan and ordered a review of the study.
The Greater Dublin Strategic Drainage Study was commissioned by Fingal on behalf of the four Dublin local authorities from the Dublin Drainage Consultancy, a consortium involving Hyder Consulting, and Dublin-based firms PH McCarthy Partners and RPS-MCOS. The published cost of the study in 2005 was €10 million. However, new figures released by Fingal now set its cost at €14.9 million.

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/...307765606.html

CLARE COUNTY Council has spent almost €4 million on a 450- metre “road to nowhere” in Ennis that has not seen traffic use it since it was completed more than two years ago.
In response to a Freedom of Information request, the council has confirmed that it has spent €3.71 million on the stretch of public road leading to the Information Age Park in Ennis.
This works out at €825,974 for every 100 metres. However, no traffic has used the road since it was completed due to the loss-making Shannon Development’s failure to complete the remaining 200 metres of the route leading to the agency’s information park.
The figures show that €2.78 million was spent on costs associated with the compulsory purchase order of the lands.

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/...310194953.html

MORE THAN €9 million in EU funding secured to assist redundant workers from computer giant Dell was not spent, more than three years after the employees lost their jobs.
It is now expected a significant proportion of the €35 million in funding to support and retrain 9,000 construction workers will also have to be returned to the European Commission because of a failure to meet deadlines for the funding.
Sinn Féin finance spokesman Pearse Doherty has called for an independent inquiry into the management and administration of the European Globalisation Fund projects for Dell, SR Technics and Waterford Crystal and for some 9,000 redundant construction workers.
Last October Minister for Education and Skills Ruairí Quinn acknowledged there was a problem of “maladministration” in the funds, which he said was by the “previous administration”.

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/...313204492.html

The Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht has confirmed that it is spending €56,413 to carry out a monitoring project on the natterjack toad that is found mainly in Co Kerry.
In response to a Freedom of Information request, the department also confirmed that it is also spending €54,500 on the first ever national study of the marsh fritillary butterfly.
The marsh fritillary is the only legally protected insect out of 12,000 Irish insects.
An expert on natterjack toads, Prof Mark Emmerson of Queen’s University Belfast, yesterday described the toad as an “iconic species”.

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/...308953779.html

ALMOST €9 million will be spent by Dublin City Council next year in relation to the development of the Poolbeg incinerator, which has been delayed for more than 18 months.
The contract between the council and the developers of the Poolbeg incinerator has been extended until February by agreement with both parties, the council has said.
The council is to spend €8.9 million next year, in addition to €34 million already spent on the 600,000 tonne facility, even though its future remains under review. The council also has a future liability of €23 million to pay in relation to the project.

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/...312795497.html

€650 million spent on unrealised projects

€30m

Children’s hospital
Some €30 million has been spent by the hospital board – mainly in fees to architects, engineers and other consultants or experts – in progressing its plans. The Government says a revised plan will be produced in the coming months.
€42m

Dart Underground
Plans and land acquisition for the Dart Underground have cost millions, but the project has been delayed indefinitely under the new capital spending plans.
€50m

Media Lab Europe
The high-technology “seed bed”, based in Dublin’s Liberties, was run jointly by the government and Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and was one of Mr Ahern’s most favoured projects. Founded in 2000, it went into liquidation a few years later, with consultants describing its output as “dismal”, “surprisingly weak” and “mediocre”.
€130m
PPARS
The HSE’s information technology project started small, at an estimated cost of €9 million in 1997, and ballooned to a cost of €130 million in 2004, before being put on hold by the Health Service Executive in 2007.
€55m

E-voting
Martin Cullen ordered more than 700 of the machines at a cost of €51 million, only to have them placed in storage in 2004 when security concerns emerged. Attempts to sell them have so far been unsuccessful.
€1.5m

Hospital co-location
Almost €1.5 million was paid in legal and financial costs associated with the now abandoned plans to develop co-located private hospitals. Project agreements for each of these hospitals expired in March 2011.
€44m

Decentralisation
Millions have been spent on acquiring sites for the Government’s decentralisation programme in locations where plans to transfer public service offices and State agencies have been either postponed or axed.
€18m Metro West
Millions has been spent on the design of this section of the Metro. It, too, has been shelved indefinitely as a result of cutbacks to capital spending plans.
€150m
Metro North
The decision not to proceed with the Metro North rail project as part of the 2012-2016 capital investment programme will cost the State more than €150 millionincluding compensation to the project bidders.
€100m

Bertie Bowl
Millions were spent on consultancy fees and the clearances of the Abbotstown development in preparation for a national stadium. Political opposition from Fianna Fáil’s coalition partners, the PDs, ultimately scuppered the project, although the FAI went on to relocate its headquarters at the site.
€42m
Thornton Hall
The Government spent €30 million acquiring land for the Thornton Hall “superprison”, which has been delayed indefinitely. A further €12 million has been spent on original plans for the prison and the Central Mental Hospital. Both designs have since been scrapped. Plans for a scaled-down version of the prison have also been long-fingered.
. . . and what €650 million could buy

185 SCHOOLS
+1 CHILDREN’S HOSPITAL
+1.5 AVIVA STADIUMS
+15 MILES OF LUAS TRACK


And thats just a(nother) lazy Saturday first page of Google search. Then you've the fun and games with social housing, with as much as a third of local authority budgets being spent on houses which are now more expensive than those on the open market.

Where I come from in Galway half the city was poisoned by cryptosporidium, YEARS AFTER THE MONEY WAS MADE AVAILABLE TO FIX THE PROBLEM. Who was fired? Nobody. Eyre Square ran millions over budget and became a national disgrace. Some roadworks up the way from me are now also millions over budget and six months overdue, choking the main traffic route for tens of thousands of people. Tens of millions more being blown on removing roundabouts and putting in useless traffic light systems, you can't drive a hundred meters within the city boundaries without hitting lights now. The list goes on and on and on.

Overturn the lot of them, disband the civil service, shake it out into something more modern, and watch the deficit vanish. To hell with this charge and the rest of the tax hikes until we get some accountability, efficiency, and proper management of public finances.

dlofnep wrote: »

I'll invite them in for a cup of tea, and hold them up half an hour so they can't bug anyone else.

As they're about to leave, you could ask for a contribution, as water ain't free & neither is standing under the roof of your house.

If the gov was smart they could as the jehovahs to go door to door for free.

wexie wrote: »

So hang on, you've got private citizens cleaning the streets and a private company collecting the bins? What services then are you waffling about?

The irish water infrastructure is horrible outdated and really poorly maintained, the roads are in an absolute state (unless you're travelling to or from Dublin).

It's been mentioned before, if the local councils start getting their budgetting in order and introduce some savings and efficiencies (like finding staff that will work more than 5 hours a day) maybe then I'll start considering funding some of these non existent services by means other than income tax, USC, roadtax etc.

Untill then I petty the poor council worker who has the nerve to come round here and I just pray I'll manage to contain my rage when I'm showing him the driveway wearing my steeltoe boots

The services I am referring to are the ones provided by the county council. These include maintenance of roads, footpaths, green areas, lighting etc.

fishy fishy wrote: »

I'm assuming from your post that you don't pay tax.

I do but I also know that the country is increasing it's debt burden by at least € 15 billion in 2012 to keep going. This represents about € 8k per household in the country so € 100 is a very small contribution to reduce this borrowing.