What do you want as the key election issues ?

Liam Byrne

When those individuals that you haven't seen in 7 years come knocking, what issues will you be raising with them ?

Here's my list:

1) Inflation - we might be more wealthy and better paid but we're paying through the nose for everything and we're uncompetitive as a result

2) The "property ladder".....I don't want to "invest", I want somewhere to live that I can afford, without paying a mortgage for an already-wealthy landlord :mad:

3) Public services - ESB, Gas, Health service, bin collecting, etc, etc all gone through the roof

4) Shannon Airport - if you support American troops in Shannon, you don't represent me

5) Rights of criminals vs rights of the public and of victims
If someone breaks the law, they have diluted their own rights; that's their choice, not mine, and they should have to live with the consequences. As someone brilliantly commented on The Last Word about that Clare woman's rape case - if you crash your car after drinking or taking drugs, do you get off scot-free ? Everyone should have equal rights until they deliberately encroach on someone elses; if they do that, THEY'RE the ones who have moved the goalposts, and there should be no legal help for them if someone returns the "favour"

6) Broadband - the current fiasco is pathetic, with neither ComReg nor the Goverment doing anything about it other than talking shop and lying down when eircom barks

7) Taxes for small fry, tax-free for the big boys
If you work for a small business or for yourself, you're working your ass off just to make ends meet; in the meantime, multi-millionaires play golf because of their grants and investments

8) Infrastructure
Every ring-road gets houses and retail parks built on it, defeating the purpose; every railway leads to Dublin, along with 90% of major roads. About time ye started actually planning things in advance so that life is more than commuting and working

9) Local Facilities
There is nothing to do except go to the pub; where are the sports facilities ? The local squash court closed down, there are feck all open, public green areas. Not everyone plays golf.

Delboy05

Immigration (asylum seekers, EU citizens, and work permit holders)
Whats each party's plan.
To FF/PD canidates;
1. how has practically every asylum seeker who arrived here been allowed stay (except those that moved on voluntarily) through 1 loophole or another. Why deportation orders not acted on.
2. why are people who's work permits have elapsed allowed stay here and pressure is now arising for an amnesty for them!!!!
3. How many people are we expected to let in to this country....when the Irish population are in a minority?
4. why are student visas still being handed out to chinese students when the dog on the street know that this is 1 huge scam.Most of them dont do to college, they work far more hours than they're visas allow and when their visas elapse, they just remain on here. Hence the chinese are now 1 of the biggest ethnic minorities here now.
5. Labour law enforcments. When will the number of labour inspectors be increased so as to catch illegal immigrants and improve the lot of legal workers being abused by employers.

To all other candidates:
what are your views on the above issues and what would your party do about it

Jackie laughlin

Do we want a socialist health system or a neo-liberal one?

RandolphEsq

I would like to see Ireland use her voice more in terms of world affairs e.g. North Korea, America in Iraq etc. Really, Im quite satisfied with how my life is at the moment in terms of economic stability (My parents ) and we are supposed to vote for what benefits us ourselves. So what I'd like to see is more worldwide plans like uniting the EU into one country over time

shoutman

The Health service is definately a key issue, throwing money at it is not the solution and everybody knows that. It's an absolute farce, too many people are coming out of hospitals worse off then they were when they went in (MRSA etc.)

I as a 20 year old who has never been overnight in hospital in my life would be openly fearfull to be staying in one (maybe its a phobia)

Also I think the tax situation has to be sorted out, "creative tax management" is a luxury only afforded by the wealthy who can afford to pay tax accountants money so they can pursue tax avoision. Its not right and has to be sorted out.

In a few years when I have a full time job I dont want to be stuck in traffic for 4 hours a day, I dont want poor infrastructure and badly planned roads to influence my career/housing choices in the future, this has to be sorted out. better funded bus routes, better public transport period. (I'm sure its been discussed an awful lot on the politics and other fora on boards but whats wrong with spending the money living through chaos for a few years and coming out the other end with a Paris/Moscow/New York/Calcutta style underground system, if these places could do it so long ago surely we can do it now, didnt some spanish operation offer to do it for a few billion?

Also I would like to see a ban placed on SUV's in citys, they are a complete nuisance, they are heavy polluters and a lot of the time the people driving them cant drive them! (I know the finance minister is going to put heavy taxes on them in time for the next budget, but whats the problem with doing that today?)

I'd like to see a clamp down on beggars, i'm not talking about people addicted to drugs or alcoholics living on the streets who have real problems and need the spare change to get by. I'm talking about professional beggars who work the streets as a job and then go back to their council houses an
d put their feet up (I know a family, residing in the darndale area who do this very thing and it sickens me when I see them in town begging as if they had no where to go.)

I've gotten completely off topic now

/end rant.

The_Minister

shoutman wrote:

I'd like to see a clamp down on beggars, i'm not talking about people addicted to drugs or alcoholics living on the streets who have real problems and need the spare change to get by. I'm talking about professional beggars who work the streets as a job and then go back to their council houses an
d put their feet up (I know a family, residing in the darndale area who do this very thing and it sickens me when I see them in town begging as if they had no where to go.

The Supreme Court recently struck down the law making begging illegal, so you can probable expect some new legislation to be drawn up soon.

ballooba

1. Public Spending (value for money)
2. Economy
2. Health
3. Transport

TheNog

Health and Education.

Health care should be available and readily for everyone whether they are private or public

Education - updating of school building and reducing the class sizes. Although education has come along way since I went to school,facilities do need upgrading so as to put the foot forward for the future

AngelofFire

Shannon Warport- All parties should clarify their stance on it

Healthcare-Would be great if we could have free G.P. care at the point of use.

Education Funding.

Gay Marriage

Workers Rights-In light of the Irish Ferries fiasco last year more has to be done to protect workers rights.

Public Transport.

InFront

Corruption, and dishonourable politics
Health Service: staff, facilities, MRSA
Crime & Punishment: Gangland, young criminals
Job losses (not saying I want more people to lose their jobs, I'd just like it to get a lot of focus)

And an overall promotion of the idea that some TDs seem to find hard to get their heads around: that a successful economy and a successful society are not mutually exclusive.

InFront

The_Minister wrote:

The Supreme Court recently struck down the law making begging illegal, so you can probable expect some new legislation to be drawn up soon.

Not sure about that, it was a very old, dated law as far as I understand, and I think a reintroduction of it would give the impression that the Government are picking on easy targets as opposed to the real criminals that abuse society in a much more devious way. They'll want to be seen as tough on tough criminals, not devoting their energy to minor, more benign offences that few people give much thought to.

rkeane

Health ....I think Mary Harney is doing a good job but more needs to be done
Immigration.....a proper debate is needed...failed Asylum seekers must be deported....all loopholes must be closed...this scam has cost this country hundreds of millions.
Broadband....we need to get real on broadband
Justice....something must be done about our bail laws

karen3212

Healthcare - a health card for everyone, as in the Uk, and free care for all(obviously paid for by taxes).
My sister is entitled to a medical card, but is ashamed to get one or use one. If we all had one, I think she would feel better about using it and actually go to the doctor when she is sick.

Macy

1) Decentralisation
2) Exploitation of immigrants, abuse sub contracting for de facto employee's, diminution of workers terms and condition, abuse of redundancy legislation etc etc etc. More weighting in favour of the ordinary worker instead of the fat cat I suppose.
3) Health Service, or lack of
4) Infrastructure, or lack of - transport, telecommunications, power
5) Planning and Environmental issues - mainly around the vast amount of (supposedly inert) landfill going on in Wicklow, and the lack of enforcement on the conditions, and lack of input by residents who have to live near these areas (or even by their representatives in the process).

dr.bollocko

Legalize it....

Jackie laughlin

" ...we are supposed to vote for what benefits us ourselves."

Very interesting. Expand.

nesf

Jackie laughlin wrote:

Do we want a socialist health system or a neo-liberal one?

Or more accurately, we want a socialist health system but are we willing to pay for it? Ditto with welfare etc.

Rather than the present rush to provide the biggest tax cut to the population while promising the sun, stars and moon.

karen3212 wrote:

Healthcare - a health card for everyone, as in the Uk, and free care for all(obviously paid for by taxes).

The problem is that majority of the people in this country don't bother with the part you have in brackets and seem to think that "efficient public spending" or something will cover it, which is patently false. If we want that kind of health system we have to pay for it but everyone is afraid to tell the electorate that they'd have to pick up the cheque.

RandolphEsq

dr.bollocko wrote:

Legalize it....

Legalize what?













Oh :cool:

mike65

Competence

Mike.

arbeitsscheuer

Healthcare, Housing, Education.

The basic obligations of the welfare state, to put it simply.

* Tackling the public service. Not only do the public sector have wages on average 30% above the equivelent private sector employee, they are guaranteed inflation proof wage increases that rewards ineffeicency. The job for life attitude is alive and well in the public service.
* Public transport. Through carbon tax or peak oil, the age of cheap transport will come to an end eventually. Make the bold moves now while we are flush with cash and invest in a good public transport system.

NewDubliner

The decentralisation scandal.

Stamp duty.

Government mis-management of the public service.

Failed projects being passed off as 'successful'.

is_that_so

Most of what I had thought of has already been listed although there's no harm repeating one or two of them.

Competence - Whoever we get , they should be competent and able. Quite a few outgoing that would never enter that category.

Education/Training - Instead of talking about "Life Long Learning", doing something about it. Would like to see a big push on upskilling and lots of incentives for people to actually take training courses. Also a big push on education - school building , class sizes and review of public exams.

Economy - let economic common sense prevail. Much bigger focus on how we can get indigenous companies to grow.
My bugbear: Scrap 12.5% corporation tax for any company that has no employees here.

Infrastructure

Value for money and finish some of these plans. More consideration given to public transport. Take on big semi-states(wishful thinking)

Public finances - Suspend benchmarking immediately subject to proper review.

Crime/Law - Sort out the legal system. This to me includes an awful lot of joined up thinking to be done, including the role of the judiciary, role of gardai,quality of our laws, use of prisons and what we want from our justice (not vengeance) system

Immigration - Policies , integration and everything to do with immigration all out on the table.

Planning/Development - Again some joined up thinking on regional and national level plus a need to tackle developers(personally I am a fan of "use it or lose it" approach to land banks), county councils "visions" and
[rant]also include massive fines for developers building estates without facilities.
Would also like to see some kind of central power that can intervene when half-witted councillors get their crayons out.[/rant]

Mental Health

Having recently been exposed to the tragedies that can unfold in this area it is one of the great undiscussed topics -IMO a very big taboo area. We need policies, laws and we need to talk about it.

billy the squid

AngelofFire wrote:

Shannon Warport- All parties should clarify their stance on it

Healthcare-Would be great if we could have free G.P. care at the point of use.

Education Funding.

Gay Marriage

Workers Rights-In light of the Irish Ferries fiasco last year more has to be done to protect workers rights.

Public Transport.

Funny, I must have missed the release announcing Shannon Airport's name change, oh well.

It doesn't really matter what the election issues are. It is not like the situation is going to be any better.

Health for example was a big issue at the last election, so much so that we had independents joining together to form the independent health alliance, what good did it do.

The only people who will get back in are the ones who get mary in Moyross a new set of aluminium windows off the council or who gets mikey's little johnny back into school after he's been expelled.

Het-Field

1.Reform of Archaic Gun Legislation which
-Allows For Guns In The home
-Allows Local Superintendants Hand Out Gun Licences

2.Criminal Justice
-Mandatory Life Sentences For Rape, Murder, Drug Dealing
-Mandatory 30 year sentences for all heavily involved in Gangland Crime
-Electronic Tagging
-New prison With More Places

3.Health
-Widening the Net of Irish Consultants

4.Immigration
-Deportation Of All Immigrants Guilty of Indictible Offences. This means that Immigrants wont face deportation for small traffic violations or petty offences like that

5.Finance
-The Continuation of the System which has seen Ireland ecome a major market force. I.E. The Liberal Economic Approach

6.Society
-The Introduction of Civil Unions
-An Abortion Referendum with a straight Choice Yeah or Nay

The Rejection of he Slump Coaltion in favour of a Government with the PDS

ballooba

Het-Field wrote:

2.Criminal Justice
-Mandatory Life Sentences For Rape, Murder, Drug Dealing
-Mandatory 30 year sentences for all heavily involved in Gangland Crime
-Electronic Tagging
-New prison With More Places

Who is going to pay for all these prison places?

Certainly not our dwindling number of IDA supported FDI companies.

Het-Field wrote:

The Rejection of he Slump Coaltion in favour of a Government with the PDS

Are you actually Michael McDowell? Mindless repetition of your leader's catchphrase does not make for good debate.

Cantab.

I want my government to:

Fix the housing market.

Realise a sustainable economic future.

Tackle local authority corruption and poor planning.

Fix the chronic traffic congestion.

Sort out the social time-bomb in west Dublin and other commuterland areas.

Protect the rights of the unborn.

Continue the good work in Northern Ireland.

Ensure the freedom of all religious institutions and their ethos.

Jonny Arson

is_that_so wrote:

Mental Health

Having recently been exposed to the tragedies that can unfold in this area it is one of the great undiscussed topics -IMO a very big taboo area. We need policies, laws and we need to talk about it.

Wholeheartedly agreed. Someone close to me has been suffering from mental health problems and I am sickened and appalled at the lack of care and treatment this person has recieved. Simply, the mental health service is under resourced and they do not want to know about people who have severe mental health problems or who are suicidal. After much making of noise finally this person was taken into a hospital but the doctors and staff played psychological warfare on this person in every attempt to make them think there was nothing wrong with them and they're imagining everything etc. etc. They didn't want to know and they make you worse. A girl who was in the bed next to my close friend had thrown herself out of a 2nd floor window in a suicide attempt and they kicked this girl after 2 days because she was ''fine''. All this is only a fraction of the story.

The neglect of mental health care in this country is an absolute national disgrace and cannot continue to be kept hush hush by our inhumane politicians as there are people unessecarily dying because of our government's couldn't give a fcuk attitude. If there was any secret undercover investigation just like Leas Cross you will miraculously see it become an issue and action been taken on it. They know its an issue but until it become mainstream then they'll make the effort to save lives.

nesf

Jonny Arson wrote:

Wholeheartedly agreed. Someone close to me has been suffering from mental health problems and I am sickened and appalled at the lack of care and treatment this person has recieved. Simply, the mental health service is under resourced and they do not want to know about people who have severe mental health problems or who are suicidal. After much making of noise finally this person was taken into a hospital but the doctors and staff played psychological warfare on this person in every attempt to make them think there was nothing wrong with them and they're imagining everything etc. etc. They didn't want to know and they make you worse. A girl who was in the bed next to my close friend had thrown herself out of a 2nd floor window in a suicide attempt and they kicked this girl after 2 days because she was ''fine''. All this is only a fraction of the story.

The neglect of mental health care in this country is an absolute national disgrace and cannot continue to be kept hush hush by our inhumane politicians as there are people unessecarily dying because of our government's couldn't give a fcuk attitude. If there was any secret undercover investigation just like Leas Cross you will miraculously see it become an issue and action been taken on it. They know its an issue but until it become mainstream then they'll make the effort to save lives.

It's a taboo in the society and this is what filters through to all levels, honestly this will never be a top priority for any of the parties election manifestos until society changes, and that's just the way politics is. Also, you (most likely) have no psychiatric training, so don't try and judge whether or not someone should be taking up a bed in a psychiatric ward. It's a very complicated thing and sometimes the worst place for a person is in there.

redspider

I think the disaster that is our Health System needs to be tackled. I was heartened to see the issues lively debatedly on a double header special on Prime Time recently, perhaps some of you caught it?

The retired consultant, Sheehan, a founder of Blackrock Clinic spoke well and made a very valid point that there should be one good public system in the country, and if there was to be anything private it was for the top-end. He is against the current mixed system. Unfortunately, he has the experience but many out there do not, especially some of his fellow Consultants.

Of course like many issues, it is sometimes stating the obvious, and yet there is no long term solution to changing the current situation, as Political Parties are weak, as solutions require dealing with Unions and Public Servants who have their own self-interest and their own remuneration as first priority and the system improvement second.

Political parties do not take hard decisions readily if at all. As was pointed out in the programme, people are dying. There is much talk about the deaths on our roads, many self-inflicted and avoidable. But these deaths are not self-inflicted and are not avoidable in the current system. Ironically, dead voters dont vote!

Mental Health, as alluded to above may be another sub-problem within the Health system. I am no expert in that area so cant comment on its level of resourcing, the effects, etc. Anecdotally it does seem to use up a lot of funding but that may be a mis-perception. But like many areas in the Health Service, putting extra money at it is not the only part of the solution. The whole system needs a major overhaul and so far I have not heard any concrete and detailed plans from any party as to what they will do to make things better.

FF + PD's, surely they have had their stint at this and failed. Another 'shower' may be no better but is it time they were given a try??

hmmmm .....

Redspider

ps: will you be compiling a top-10 of issues .... you can put up 20 in a poll perhaps and then we can vote on them .....

po0k

Energy self-sufficiency (or as close as we can get).

The_Minister

redspider wrote:

FF + PD's, surely they have had their stint at this and failed.

http://www.progressivedemocrats.ie/our_policies/energy/health_reform/

Harney hasn't done too bad, all things considered.......

AngelofFire

Het-Field wrote:

-New prison With More Places

The prison population is high enough. Do you we really need to spend tax payers money on another prison, would it not be better to set up community service programmes for minor offences, that way the offenders are giving something back to their communnity, and keep prison places for those who pose a genuine danger to society.

ballooba

AngelofFire wrote:

The prison population is high enough. Do you we really need to spend tax payers money on another prison, would it not be better to set up community service programmes for minor offences, that way the offenders are giving something back to their communnity, and keep prison places for those who pose a genuine danger to society.

I read on the front page of the Irish Times today that it costs on average €450,000 to keep a Y.O. in a Y.O. institution. The cost for female Y.O.s the figure is closer to €750,000. Indeed, more people in prison is not the answer.

We also see in recent days that the system is failing to keep criminals from runnning their enterprises from within the confines of our prisons. What purpose exactly do these places serve? They are not rehabilitating these people. Effectively they are not locked up either if they can continue to commit crimes which effect people outside the prison.

I genuinely think that serious efforts need to be made at Y.O. level to intervene earlier in these people's lives. We also need to look at how social work is carried out to see if improvements can be made there. I'm not a social worker but I would imagine it is a very difficult job. I am sure there are situations where the social worker has to leave a child in a very negative environment because the alternative is worse. We also need to legalise adoption of children of married parents.

Het-Field

Het-Field wrote:

1.Reform of Archaic Gun Legislation which
-Allows For Guns In The home
-Allows Local Superintendants Hand Out Gun Licences

2.Criminal Justice
-Mandatory Life Sentences For Rape, Murder, Drug Dealing
-Mandatory 30 year sentences for all heavily involved in Gangland Crime
-Electronic Tagging
-New prison With More Places

You missed boot camps or forcing the unemployed into the army. Guns in the home? Nonsense of the highest order. I'm not going to vote for a Columbine or Dunblane or Hungerford myself anyway. Mandatory sentences for murder? You'll be glad to know that has been the law for a rather long time, but don't let that get in the way of a rant. And I'd pity the sod who allows his friend a joint in return for the latter giving him a fiver towards his next purchase. Life? Positively hilarious.

None of my key issues would involve kneejerk bog standard right wing 'flog them all' stuff anyway.

ballooba

Deleted User wrote:

You missed boot camps or forcing the unemployed into the army.

Neither of those are PD policy as far as I am aware. The former is however an excellent FG policy.

Forcing unemployed to work is debatable. Some people just are unemployable.

Some people work in the black economy and still claim welfare i.e. gardeners, handymen, domestic help etc. I don't have much of a problem with these. They probably don't make enough in the black economy to actually support themselves but at least they are not idle.

Then again you have those actively engaged in crime and who are claiming welfare. This is unfair. The CAB takes care of the biggest offenders there.

OPENROAD

Delboy05 wrote:

Immigration (asylum seekers, EU citizens, and work permit holders)
Whats each party's plan.
To FF/PD canidates;
1. how has practically every asylum seeker who arrived here been allowed stay (except those that moved on voluntarily) through 1 loophole or another. Why deportation orders not acted on.
2. why are people who's work permits have elapsed allowed stay here and pressure is now arising for an amnesty for them!!!!
3. How many people are we expected to let in to this country....when the Irish population are in a minority?
4. why are student visas still being handed out to chinese students when the dog on the street know that this is 1 huge scam.Most of them dont do to college, they work far more hours than they're visas allow and when their visas elapse, they just remain on here. Hence the chinese are now 1 of the biggest ethnic minorities here now.
5. Labour law enforcments. When will the number of labour inspectors be increased so as to catch illegal immigrants and improve the lot of legal workers being abused by employers.

To all other candidates:
what are your views on the above issues and what would your party do about it

1.Yes and what is there policy on the thousands of illegal Irish in the US.
2. Will they back US Plans to round up these Irish and deport them back to Ireland.

redspider

The_Minister wrote:

http://www.progressivedemocrats.ie/our_policies/energy/health_reform/
Harney hasn't done too bad, all things considered.......

I had a read of that, and listened to her youtube video.

Now, first things first. Are you a PD supporter? If so, and perhaps this is something that should be included in all postings here, you should declare it. I am a 'swing' (neutral?) voter by the way and change (usually) at each election.

As to Mary's achievements in Health. She is only in the job 2.5 years. To say she is responsible for changes over 10 years is disingenuous. Also, some of the improvements she is talking about are relative and some even highly contentious. Increasing hospital infrastucture in a Government that has taken in more taxes (in absolute terms) is what would be expected. Fire-fighting with 'improving A&E' by 40% is a joke when that problem shouldnt be there in the first place! The same with cleanliness. These are not achievements in my book or indeed many Health officials and practicioners. The recent Prime Time programmes on Health highlighted some of the mess and Mary pulled out of being interviewed on that programme. Its not like her to send in a written statement so clearly she realises that at times its difficult to defend the problems.

I dont envy Mary or anyone the Ministerial position in the Health portfolio. But she has not been so radical or effective as she may have thought. I think she suited Industry and her switch with 'Mee-hall' Martin has not worked out. Granted it has been a short space of time, but that's why the FF/PD ticket needs to be looked at in its whole, and the progress over 10 years, especially in terms of Health.

Its true that the next 'shower' mightn't do any better, but 10 years is a long tenure. Its a fair crack of the whip and if improvements haven't been tangible, really tangible, then it would seem prudent to pick someone else and give them a shot. They may be worse or they may be better, but uless they are tried, we wont know.

Mary is okay though as a politician, and as a person, although at times I worry about her own health and sometimes she has been very 'right wing' in terms of her negotiation skills and economic positions, but she is certainly a good person to have in the Dail. Maybe a stint in opposition will see her shine as well!

Redspider

Party Affiliation: none
Voting Intention: not decided yet

nesf

redspider wrote:

Fire-fighting with 'improving A&E' by 40% is a joke when that problem shouldnt be there in the first place!

Could you elaborate on that? Without improving A&E in the first place how could it not become a problem? I may have missed your point though.

Edit: Sorry, I think I was unclear myself in the above. Basically, this isn't a zero sum game. Our population has increased over the past 10 years so we were always going to have to improve A&E facilities etc just to maintain the then present standards (which I think we all agree were not high enough). Due to (needed) cut backs and the previous recessions, the health system that was inherited was sub standard and not in a state to deal with a population increase, never mind a substantial one. It was always going to be an uphill struggle and to just maintain the waiting list times that we all complained about needed investment! We have a low tax system and the framework of our national health system and the strength of the unions in this sector will make change difficult for any party who wants to maintain the present tax system status quo (which is all of the major ones). When analysing the health system it is not as simple as saying that there shouldn't be a problem with it. It was in trouble before the present Government took office and the fact that despite a substantial population increase it has not descended into total chaos is something that they should be at least lauded for, if not particularly loudly. They might not have effected major change within the system but they didn't leave it fall to pieces either and managed to make some headway. Perhaps not enough, that is arguable, but to accuse them of completely messing it up is either a)mis-informed or b) opposition spin tbh.

Het-Field

AngelofFire wrote:

The prison population is high enough. Do you we really need to spend tax payers money on another prison, would it not be better to set up community service programmes for minor offences, that way the offenders are giving something back to their communnity, and keep prison places for those who pose a genuine danger to society.

If you have visited Mountjoy one sees the need for a new prison. This is simply to afford convicts a reasonable standard of living. THey have to **** in a bucket, eat in their cells, sit in rooms with no ventalation, and in some cases tiny little cells have three or four to a room. A new prison would afford this new standard of living. Im not saying that rapists or murders should be held in the lap of luxuary, far from it. But a bigger prison would be a useful tool in keeping prison violence down, and it would also help with palcing new aminites in the prison. Furhtermore, a bigger prison would provide for longer sentencing for those who deserve it. While twelve year may sound a long time, relatively speaking its very short, and a larger prison with more places would allow the government investigate the possibility of extending sentencing. As things currently stands the sentences are short so the state can move prisoners on.

A new prison would have advantages

Het-Field

Deleted User wrote:

You missed boot camps or forcing the unemployed into the army. Guns in the home? Nonsense of the highest order. I'm not going to vote for a Columbine or Dunblane or Hungerford myself anyway. Mandatory sentences for murder? You'll be glad to know that has been the law for a rather long time, but don't let that get in the way of a rant. And I'd pity the sod who allows his friend a joint in return for the latter giving him a fiver towards his next purchase. Life? Positively hilarious.

None of my key issues would involve kneejerk bog standard right wing 'flog them all' stuff anyway.

No, you misunderstood. I want the legislation reformed to remove guns from the home. Under the 1935 act one can get guns in the homes after an agreement with the local superintendat. The reform I want is to see regional gun clubs, with heavy security. This would allow the government keep a stringent track on all guns in the county. Furthermore, I dont want the local gardai having the power to throw around gun licences. Conflicts of interest occur, and that is unnacceptable.

Furthermore mandatory sentences have never been upheld. Its time they are.

This is not right wing rubbish or a flog em all attitude. Thats rubbish. I want sensible reform

You clearly dont understand the legislation, and what I said. Too blinded in having a go at the PD's and what you thought you read. I suggest you reread my earlier post, and read it with a clear head

ballooba

Het-Field wrote:

A new prison would have advantages

A new prison may have advantages. Extra prison places is another issue.

Why do you think more of my tax money should be spent keeping people locked up for longer? What are the benefits?

oscarBravo

Het-Field wrote:

While twelve year may sound a long time, relatively speaking its very short...

Relative to what, exactly? Twelve years is one-third of my life so far, and however I slice it it's quite a while.

Time Magazine

Het-Field wrote:

While twelve year may sound a long time, relatively speaking its very short...

So I take it you won't mind FG taking the ministerial seats in the Dáil for a couple of terms then.

I expect the next 12 years will seem very long for the PDs.

ISAW

Ibid wrote:

So I take it you won't mind FG taking the ministerial seats in the Dáil for a couple of terms then.

I expect the next 12 years will seem very long for the PDs.

Nice change of context! he referred to "prison terms" and you seem to think "terms in government are the same thing". And FG would certainly have ministerial seats if they went into government with FF. I am not talking about the upcoming election but withing 20 years if FG dont get into government with Lab either Lab SF Greens or FG will have to go in with FF. I really doubt a SF PD Green Lab FG coalition. So they will have to get it this time or one will have to declare with FF.

redspider

nesf wrote:

Could you elaborate on that? Without improving A&E in the first place how could it not become a problem? I may have missed your point though.

A&E as far as I can recall, was not as huge a problem back in 1997 as it is today. So in that sense, Mary Harney stating that A&E improvements in recent months is a major accomplishment is disingenuous to say the least. The A&E crises, and some other problems in the health service, have by and large happened under an FF/PD watch. FG/Lab have hardly been in power at all over the last 20 years so any inheritance was from FF/PD and FF, even FF/Lab.

> Basically, this isn't a zero sum game. Our population has increased over the past 10 years so we were always going to have to improve A&E facilities etc just to maintain the then present standards (which I think we all agree were not high enough). Due to (needed) cut backs and the previous recessions, the health system that was inherited was sub standard and not in a state to deal with a population increase, never mind a substantial one.

I agree, the demographics have changed both in size and in profile. An increase in the numbers of our older citizens puts more stress on health as does an increase in population and immigration. But having said that, costs going in adjusted for any normal figure of inflation have increased by an even bigger amount. It would be interesting to see the PPP (Purchasing Power Parity) figures per capita spent on the Health Services over the last 30 years or so and even better to have a study/report which can quantify the illness propensity/increase out of that due to numerous factors, age, lifestyle, etc.


> It was always going to be an uphill struggle and to just maintain the waiting list times that we all complained about needed investment! We have a low tax system and the framework of our national health system and the strength of the unions in this sector will make change difficult for any party who wants to maintain the present tax system status quo (which is all of the major ones).

Low PAYE income tax is a headline figure and not a true reflection of total tax take. I dont have the tax take to hand as a percentage of GNP or GDP or how much of that is spent on health. Ireland is not a high tax country, but there is quite a lot of tax going towards a large public service that includes the health service. Perhaps 30% of GNP is tax and pays for the public/civil service area and one third of that is spent on Health. I think this 10% figure is what I've heard mentioned elsewhere. Germany and France spend higher, 13% for the latter I understand, but they would seem to get far more value for that spend. That is the big thing with our Health 'system', its not the cost but the output/productivity. Or are we saying that as a nation we are less healthy than the French? Maybe so .... we cant be exactly the same.

> When analysing the health system it is not as simple as saying that there shouldn't be a problem with it.

I'm saying that there shouldnt be stupid problems with it that are solvable and a necessary minimum. eg: A&E. An old lady waiting on a chair for days is ridiculous. And for example, today we are hearing that many expectant mothers have to wait 5 months for their first scans such as in Galway. That is not good practice by any medical standard. The backlog could probably be got rid of simply I am sure if equipment and staff were made available, without the staff having to go off and look for 20% extra!

> It was in trouble before the present Government took office and the fact that despite a substantial population increase it has not descended into total chaos is something that they should be at least lauded for, if not particularly loudly.

Erm, I dont think anyone would state that the Health situation is a job well done. I dont even think Mary thinks that.

> They might not have effected major change within the system but they didn't leave it fall to pieces either and managed to make some headway. Perhaps not enough, that is arguable, but to accuse them of completely messing it up is either a)mis-informed or b) opposition spin tbh.

I'm not saying its the PD's fault, per se. I'm just saying that the problems in Health havent been remedied, and that many problems have appeared on the FF/PD watch since 1997.

Even though my handle is related to a spider I try and avoid spin !

Redspider

Party Affiliation: none
Voting Intention: not decided yet

dajaffa

My number one issue is the Health Service. Along with all the usual A+E, consultants, nurses etc that are deemed important enough to form part if the various pledges being made, as a student physio the situation in both my and the other allied health professionals is bleak.

Most graduates cannot get jobs in Ireland, despite the fact that in-patients are not getting enough treatment, and out-patients face an 8 week+ wait to be seen, and this is after a referral from a consultant which in some cases can be a far longer wait too. Yet we have a situation where there can easily be over a hundred applicants for a basic grade physio post...

Similarly there are shortages in the amount of Radiographers, OTs, SALTs etc. Currently (as far as I'm aware) it's not that difficult to get a post, though it has been getting progressively harder in recent times (again despite a clear need for more posts) for graduates to get a job and in a few years this situation is likely to have escalated if action is not taken.

Sleepy

Education - if a silver bullet exists to solve the majority of society's problems in a generation or two, it's the education system. Pump it with resources and reform the out-dated curriculums where necessary. Provide for Life-Long Education instead of just waxing lyrical about it.

Competency and Honesty - no more tolerance of TD's lying about their qualifications, being given portfolios any man on the street can tell you they're unqualified to run, or in a nutshell "the right person for the right job".

Clean up the legal profession - Remove the self-regulation of Kings Inns and the Law Society. Give Fathers equity in the Family Courts. Clamp down on frivolous law-suits. No more allowing serial offenders to walk the streets. Ensure that those guilty of serious crimes do time.

End the corruption - Forget about tribunals that only serve to line Barrister's pockets. If there's evidence of corruption, the guilty party should stand trial in a criminal court. Re-introduce capital punishment for public representatives found guilty of corruption.

Health - This largely ties into my first point. The best way to improve people's health in this country is to educate them on proper health and nutrition. Teach this in our schools, provide the facilities and fund the sports programs etc for our youth and they'll live longer healthier lives than our generation.

Those are my main concerns. If there's a need to raise taxes to pay for this, I'm happy to pay my fair share as long as the 'golden circle' pay their fair share too.

oscarBravo

Sleepy wrote:

Re-introduce capital punishment for public representatives found guilty of corruption.

Let me get this clear: you're advocating executing politicians for taking bribes?

Are you serious?

nesf

Firstly, apologies for the late reply, I've been stupidly busy lately.

redspider wrote:

A&E as far as I can recall was not a huge problem as it is today back in 1997. So in that sense, Mary Harney stating that A&E improvements in receht months is a major accomplishment is disingenuous to say the least. The A&E crises, and other problems in the health service have by amd large happened under an FF/PD watch. FG/Lab have hardly been in power at all over the last 20 years so any inheritance was from FF.

It's a shared inheritance, via the Tallaght Strategy (cross party support) and from before then. It wasn't just FF. My point though was more that no matter who took on the role of Government, they would be starting from a sub-optimal position rather than blaming those who came before the present Government. I don't like the historic mudslinging that usually follows party-line argument so I try to avoid it.

redspider wrote:

I agree, the demographics have changed both in size and in profile. An increase in our older citizens puts more stress on health as does an increase in population and immigration. But having said that, costs going in adjusted for any normal figure of inflation have increased by an even bigger amount. It would be interesting to see the PPP (Purchasing Power Parity) figures per capita spent on the Health Services over thye last 30 years or so and a study/report which can quantify the illness propensity/increase out of that due to numerous factors, age, lifestyle, etc.

Those would be interesting figures alright.

It is a very complex situation though, with many different factors and is muddied by the media to a large extent imho.

redspider wrote:

Low PAYE income tax is a headline figure and now a true reflection of total tax take. I dont have the tax take to hand as a percentage of GNP or GDP and how much of that is spent on health. Ireland is not a high tax country, but there is quite a lot of tax going towards a large public servichat includes the health service. Perhaps 30% of GNP is public service and one third of that on Health. I think this 10% figure is what I've heard appox elsewhere. Germany and France spend higher, but they would seem to get far more value for that spend. That is the big thing, its not the cost of our unionisd staff but their output/productivity. Or are we saying that as a nation we are less healthy than the French? Maybe so .... we cant be exactly the same.

Our overall tax take is not small, I agree. However, changes to the health system will be paid for over decades, not just one term. We may receive a lot of our tax take from companies now but that may change and we should avoid creating a health system which while excellent would be unsustainable in rough economic times (like France, essentially).

redspider wrote:

I'm saying that there shouldnt be stupid problems with it that are solvable and necessary. For example, today we are hearing that many expectant mothers have to wait 5 months for their first scans. That is not good practice by medical standards. The backlog could probably be got rid of simply I am sure if equipment and staff were made available, withouth the staff having to go off and look for 20% extra!

I agree, but the strength and attitude of the unions is a problem independent of the Government (though, something that they need to either combat or work around/with). Look at other EU countries, France in particular, and see how unions and regulation can hold back reform in areas. It's tricky and I wouldn't solely lay the blame on either side in this but any reform in the Health Service is not going to happen in a vacuum.

redspider wrote:

Erm, I dont think anyon can state that the Health situation is a job well done. I dont even think Mary thinks that.

I most definitely didn't mean to say that or come across that way. I think progress was made but that there is a long way left to go, though I'd honestly believe that this will always be the case with a health service - there will always be room for improvement.

McSandwich

1. Proper management and efficiency for all public services, especially Health. E.g. examine possible solutions such as separation of Accident and Emergency through introduction of more local clinics.

2. No more wasting public money. Barrier free road tolling will be the next big waste if the current plans are implemented.

3. Overall of everything to do with Justice and Law. For example, too many cases of rapists and killers walking free/ or on bail while non payers of fines take up prison spaces. (Why not use community service more?).

3.1 More protection for victims of crime, more punishment for scumbags. Anyone found guilty of damaging property should have to pay for the damage, in full.

3.2 Investigate decriminalising drugs - possibly at a European level.

4. Adequate provision for our future energy needs, our economic future depend on this..

4.1 Incentives (tax or otherwise) for those who conservere energy and/ or make their homes and business energy efficient. E.g. large grants and no tax on purchase and installation of solar heating a insulation.

4.2 Disincentives (fines and/or tax) to businesses and public services who waste energy or fail to implement measures to conserve energy. We don't have enough to waste...

5. Development of national public transport. For example parallel planning of rail links along with national/ motorway routes. If rails were laid down with the M50 extra lanes might not be required.

6. Development of bus and/or light rail in cities, towns, and rural areas where appropriate.

7. National wireless Internet access - 100% coverage.

8. Incentives for indigenous businesses and employers. Encourage investment in Irish business rather than property (esp. overseas property)

9. No stamp duty on property for 'owner occupiers.' Investors (especially those owning more than 2 properties) should bear the brunt, not those looking for somewhere to live.

10. Replacement of motor tax with a system which encourages purchase of efficient vehicles, e.g. include tax in price of fuel. Remove VRT, or at least do not apply it to safety features.

11. High quality education (and decent schools/ facilities) at all levels, starting from primary.

12. Make homelessness and poverty in Ireland a thing of the past.

13. Lots more but I'd be happy if the above could be achieved in 4 years!

Now to decide who to vote for...