Govt Ministers and their St Patricks Day junkets

Saint_Mel

Reading during the week about our ministers globe trotting to spread the great word of Ireland over this weekend.

Enda Kenny was giving out about the trips, saying they were nothing more than junkets. A Green Party minister disagreed that it was contributing to the carbon footprint ... mainly cos he got a trip to Italy out of it. Some other minister is staying in a hotel costing over €1000 a night!!!

Bertie et al saying it was important for ministers to forge relationships with other countries etc and see different ways of working.

Then I noticed that our Minister for European Affairs, instead of visiting one of out European compadres to forge good links ... is off on a jolly to China!

WTF!!!!!

Poor old Willie O'Dea is only getting sent as far as Dublin!

IanCurtis

blame the eejits that voted them in again

seamus

I think we're OK with the rest of Europe. The UK have promised not to invade again for a while :rolleyes:
China is on its way to becoming the economic engine that will fuel the next big growth for the rest of the world. It's a good idea to try get a piece of the pie.

I don't see why people are making a big fuss out of this. They do it every year, the cost is relatively negligible (it was only €500k last year) and the "carbon footprint" notion is all a load of marketing bull****.

St. Patrick's Day is a day recognised all over the world as "Irish Day". No other countries can claim any such day. I see no reason not jump on this bandwagon, go off to other countries and say, "Look at us Irish, aren't we deadly. Now, about that foreign investment..."

stevenmu

+1


Also, what's wrong with poor Willie O'Dea, he gets left behind every year?

phantom_lord

Saint_Mel wrote: »

Bertie et al saying it was important for ministers to forge relationships with other countries etc and see different ways of working.

yep, I reckon it's +ev

Then I noticed that our Minister for European Affairs, instead of visiting one of out European compadres to forge good links ... is off on a jolly to China!

europe is dead, china is the future

The_Minister

IanCurtis wrote: »

blame the eejits that voted them in again

You have am anti-government chip on your shoulder, so I don't know why I am answering, but here goes.
The opposition, if in government, would do this.
Simple enough for you.

AARRRGH

seamus wrote: »

the cost is relatively negligible (it was only €500k last year)

:eek:

The problem is the government has loads of these "relatively negligible" expenses which we write off as being "relatively negligible". But when you add them all up...

phantom_lord

he prob meant 50k?

AARRRGH

No it really is 500k. I was reading the hotels they stay in are 1000+ per night. They bring their family as well.

Mizu_Ger

stevenmu wrote: »

+1


Also, what's wrong with poor Willie O'Dea, he gets left behind every year?

He looks weird!

Its the best chance we get to advertise the country abroad. The only problem I have is with extravagances like Seamus Brennan's place in Rome. As usual, when approached about this he blamed someone else (the Italian embassy or something).

Sherifu

dublindude wrote: »

No it really is 500k. I was reading the hotels they stay in are 1000+ per night. They bring their family as well.

Sweet, what a great job.

delta_bravo

Saint_Mel wrote: »

Reading during the week about our ministers globe trotting to spread the great word of Ireland over this weekend.

Enda Kenny was giving out about the trips, saying they were nothing more than junkets. A Green Party minister disagreed that it was contributing to the carbon footprint ... mainly cos he got a trip to Italy out of it. Some other minister is staying in a hotel costing over €1000 a night!!!

Surely the host nation accomodates them and pays for the hotel?

Saint_Mel wrote: »

Bertie et al saying it was important for ministers to forge relationships with other countries etc and see different ways of working.

It is important

Saint_Mel wrote: »

Poor old Willie O'Dea is only getting sent as far as Dublin!

Limerick actually, his home city

EamonnKeane

couldn't they just stay in embassies?

Conor108

Oh it's all part of Willie O'Dea's plan for a coup d'etat

The_Minister

dublindude wrote: »

No it really is 500k. I was reading the hotels they stay in are 1000+ per night. They bring their family as well.

FFS try to be somewhat honest.
ONE minister stayed in a €1650 apartment with his family and aides. (and that wasn't on).
That minister IIRC is not getting to leave the country this year.

The rest of them stay in reasonable classy locations (as they should, they are our representatives), but not at a grand a night. Try to differentiat between a single case, and all of them.

And to those whinging about the cost, I would say we get far more back in the long run.

Essexboy

The_Minister wrote: »

FFS try to be somewhat honest.
ONE minister stayed in a €1650 apartment with his family and aides. (and that wasn't on).
That minister IIRC is not getting to leave the country this year.

The rest of them stay in reasonable classy locations (as they should, they are our representatives), but not at a grand a night. Try to differentiat between a single case, and all of them.

And to those whinging about the cost, I would say we get far more back in the long run.

There is not a shred of evidence that we get anything back from these jollies! What will Abu Dhabi (population 1.6million) do for Ireland?
I notice that none of the Government's defenders have used their other argument - that they want to maintain contact with the Irish abroad. Bull!

Idbatterim

Firstly 500k is nothing to the Government in the scheme of things, secondly the trips promote Ireland and create links that probably bring in a multiple of the 500k figure! what should the ministers do, take a bus to the destination and stay in a youth hostel?!

Davidius

Sure if it's really that big of an issue you can always have an uprising in Cork, go to prison and write an anti-semitic book about your struggle or something.

P_1

I presume that Willie's in charge now then :eek:

seamus

Essexboy wrote: »

There is not a shred of evidence that we get anything back from these jollies!

How would one gain such evidence? You can't measure direct returns on this kind of stuff.

What will Abu Dhabi (population 1.6million) do for Ireland?

Abu Dhabi is part of the UAE which is roughly the same size as Ireland both in terms of landmass, population and wealth. I'm not sure exactly how the link arised, but Etihad fly from Dublin to Abu Dhabi 2 or 3 times every day. That's an indicator that's there's a significant amount of business between the two cities (even if they are connecting flights).

Essexboy

seamus wrote: »

How would one gain such evidence? You can't measure direct returns on this kind of stuff.
Abu Dhabi is part of the UAE which is roughly the same size as Ireland both in terms of landmass, population and wealth. I'm not sure exactly how the link arised, but Etihad fly from Dublin to Abu Dhabi 2 or 3 times every day. That's an indicator that's there's a significant amount of business between the two cities (even if they are connecting flights).

You can't measure direct returns on this kind of stuff

Exactly. All we are left with are assertions that these junkets produce benefits, from the same people who tell us that Foreign Direct Investment is based on hardheaded decisions and not by sentiment about Ireland.

SimpleSam06

seamus wrote: »

China is on its way to becoming the economic engine that will fuel the next big growth for the rest of the world. It's a good idea to try get a piece of the pie.

Actually China is in a bit of bother these days. Inflation is rising rapidly and rural / low paid workers are finding it very hard to make ends meet. There is also a growing dissatisfaction with employment levels, you have a million graduates coming out of universities every year and no jobs for them. Their one child (as long as its a boy) policy is coming back to bite them hard on the arse, factory output is cooling, and there is only so long they can keep their currency artificially low before the combined economies of the first world knock that practice on the head.

Add to that the adverse publicity they are receiving from the Olypmics and Tibet, and I'd say China has some serious issues of its own. Its massive growth in recent years was only because it was starting so low on the economic ladder.

The one and only advantage goods from China have is the cost, and as outlined above, that won't be there for long. They certainly have nothing to boast about when it comes to quality, the side effect of living in what amounts to an autocracy, not a meritocracy. What floats to the top there isn't the best. Already a lot of corporate types are eyeing other ASEAN countries and places like Vietnam to source low cost products.

Anyway, to keep things on topic, I can see a lot of good reasons for these trips by Irish politicians, as long as they keep an eye on the finances.

FlutterinBantam

Listen up.

Years from now this stupid debate will still be going on.

Government Ministers would be stark raving mad not to try to get the most from St Pats day...thats a given, and won't change because its sound economic practice.

Now if we could get them to control the costs of the Public service!!!

there's where the crock will really rear its ugly head in years to come.

Essexboy

This article says it all
[HTML]http://www.thepost.ie/post/pages/p/story.aspx-qqqt=VINCENT+BROWNE-qqqs=commentandanalysis-qqqid=31230-qqqx=1.asp[/HTML]

galwayrush

No thumb's up / thank you's from me to any of the Ministers.