Has Brian proved he's no Eunuch?

OldFFail

At last, some ball$. The budget may have been tough and unpopular, but at least some "close to home" vested interests were attacked. Of course, the devil is in the detail. Lets hope it not just a mirage - i.e. hormone replacement therapy, rather than the ful set of equipment. We'll know when we see how the deputies cutbacks actually play out. Will he tough it out, like a real man, or will it be compo payments all round? Lets hope its the real deal!

If he is indeed a real man he'll now turn his attention to the so-called "structural deficit!. He will make visible progress towards addressing the incompetence, waste, and poor output within the public service. Moles tell me that there has been little attempt to rein back pre-approved spend in the public sector, even where there is no longer any justification for some of the projects. There's a quick hit here before the overstaffing and indifference is addressed.

Let's not forget the quangos and other unnecessary baggage. Little evidence of progress here.

Still not convinced he's not a Eunuch! :eek:

Comments, please.

(Quickly, before the censorship begins again. :mad:)

galwayrush

Mary Hearney has bigger balls when it comes to attacking the weak, she can put the CF sufferers on hold while she finds more money for our overpaid Consultants.:rolleyes:

Iwasfrozen

You again !?
*Sigh*
In before lock, again. :rolleyes:
*Sits down and waits for the wraith of the Mods.*

dresden8

PAYE workers get hit twice in six months but when it comes to taxing the rich we have to wait for "the results of the report."

Anybody remember the PAYE marches?

Plus ca change plus ca meme choses! (possibly)

OldFFail

You again !?
*Sigh*
In before lock, again.
*Sits down and waits for the wraith of the Mods.*

What wraith might that be, I wonder? (I favour "dangerous and evil beings", as used in Tolkien's Ringwraiths. )

Anyway, never mind that, do you think that Brian (finally) has found his ball$?

Profiler

OldFFail wrote: »

Anyway, never mind that, do you think that Brian (finally) has found his ball$?

Nope, he hasn't got any, in fact I doubt that there is sufficient testicular fortitude within the entire Fail Fail party to deal with this...

Lets really see how good he is in 6 months time at the next budget or 6 months from then when the Fail Fail have to have another budget.

turgon

OldFFail wrote: »

Anyway, never mind that, do you think that Brian (finally) has found his ball$?

I wasnt aware there was balls to be found...

Not until he culs the public sector could you say he has found balls.

OldFFail

Profiler wrote: »

I doubt that there is sufficient testicular fortitude within the entire Fail Fail party to deal with this...

So a stable of Eunuchs then? :eek:

Would explain a lot, they're looking for leadership as much as the rest of us.
But, why should the be paid like captains of Industry, then?

irish_bob

galwayrush wrote: »

Mary Hearney has bigger balls when it comes to attacking the weak, she can put the CF sufferers on hold while she finds more money for our overpaid Consultants.:rolleyes:

which group of weak people are you refering to , thier are so many of them , i loose track

Liam Byrne

Dunno about balls, but he's once again proven that he's a right tit when it comes to doing what's right for the country....

TD's pay, bank heads salaries, etc, all mentioned but awaiting a report, while the rest of us get screwed with additional "levies" (they're too pathetic to even mention the word "tax") from midnight that night.

Shower of scumbags.... :mad:

Hillel

OldFFail wrote: »

So a stable of Eunuchs then? :eek:

Would explain a lot, .....

.... even why Brian likes singing so much!

OldFFail

Liam Byrne wrote: »

Dunno about balls, but he's once again proven that he's a right tit when it comes to doing what's right for the country....

More of a castrato, then. (That would explain the tits....)

Liam Byrne wrote: »

TD's pay, bank heads salaries, etc, all mentioned but awaiting a report, while the rest of us get screwed with additional "levies" (they're too pathetic to even mention the word "tax") from midnight that night.
:mad:

Were the pay rises for the fu€k€rs in the ESB reversed??

Sand

It was a cowardly, pathetic budget - completely dodged the need to slash the public sector wage bill (which has doubled in the last 7 years thanks to the "social partners" sucking the blood of the PAYE taxpayer dry.

And now when the good times are over, are the social partners pressed to relent on their crazed demands? Nope, instead the PAYE slaves are bent over and done harshly without lubricant. All because Fianna Fail are terrified of taking on the vested interests in this country.

Fianna Fail have effectively destroyed this country's chance at prosperity until 2020 with this spineless budget.

Mr.Micro

No he has no balls. Where is the job creation in the budget or any sort of economic plan other than collect in 3.5 billion from the economy thus taking away spending from the consumer. It is vaccuous. Its like standstill budget and wait to see what happens, hoping that something will turn up, like all our young people leave the country and all those without a job.

Woger

Do you really trust a buch of glorified gombeen men who squandered money when times were good to dig the country out of one of the biggest disasters? Keep up your nonsense parochial voting.

lostexpectation

no the bailed developers won

meathstevie

The only thing this so called emergency budget does is taking money out of the economy and shovel it into the hands of the champions of wastage. And for what ? Most likely to bail out the banks even further.

SeanW

All this budget did was raise taxes, hit the weak, and bail out the bankers up to €90 billion :eek: The politically dangerous but necessary actions of reducting unnecessary spending and taking on the public service trade union mafia was not dealt with AT ALL.

I don't know how much more cowardly this budget could have been, but the Brians better find their cajones quickly, or we're going down faster than the Titanic.

dresden8

Sand wrote: »

It was a cowardly, pathetic budget - completely dodged the need to slash the public sector wage bill

Not necessarily. A whole load of senior people are looking at the early retirement package and a whole lot of younger people are looking at the three years out.

I'm in a room with 6 people, 4 are considering going.

Services will go to **** mind, but the pay bill will go down.

Hillel

SeanW wrote: »

All this budget did was raise taxes, hit the weak, and bail out the bankers up to €90 billion The politically dangerous but necessary actions of reducting unnecessary spending and taking on the public service trade union mafia was not dealt with AT ALL.

I don't know how much more cowardly this budget could have been, but the Brians better find their cajones quickly, or we're going down faster than the Titanic.

Agree 100%. (They're still trying to keep an eye on the local election, methinks.)

This nonsense of patriotic duty is just that, nonsense. The vested interests are just two embedded to be dislodged, other than by leglislative action.

Yes, services need to be cut, but it should not be by too much. Many of the cost drivers in the public sector are well understood. There has been almost no progress addressing these. Why should it take expensive packages to retire staff who are not needed. Why should it not be possible to move staff freely between roles, with retraining if necessary. Why are there temporary CO jobs being advertised in PublicJobs.ie. I could go on and on...

If Ireland were a multi-national with similar turnover, these issues would have been addressed long ago. Many Senior Managers would have been let go (ALL Junior Ministers, perhaps?) and a general rationalisation program would have taken place. In such situations, contract staff are always the first to take a hit (Quangos, anyone?). Other staff on top salaries could be expected to take direct pay cuts of anything from 10%-20%, with allowances, expenses etc. substantially eliminated (Hospital Consultants, perhaps). Supplier costs would be rigorously audited with unnecessary costs eliminated and recurring costs reduced (Drug Bills?).

Yes there is a need for patriotic duty - and anyone who claims to be a republication should step up to the mark. However, the public sector unions and the government holds all the aces. Without an appropriate framework the ordinary mortal is doomed.

A simple example.... I visited the doctor on Friday and was charged €60. (I was the asked did I want a receipt!) I was then given a prescription for a branded version of penicillin, while a generic version would have been, maybe, one third of the price. So, all in all, a bill of ~€100. That is simply outrageous and reflects another failure of government policy and competitive regulation.

We are benchmarked against lower wage economies where costs are much lower - and that is as it should be. However, the government then has a duty to bring costs down across all sectors. Why should GP's still be allowed operate a cartel, in these perilous times. Why shouldn't they have to publish consultation prices, like other sectors? Why shouldn't they be forced to write generic prescriptions with the Pharmacist allowed to select the most cost-effective version. Because, the whole health sector is allowed show two fingers to the rest of us, that's why.

thebman

dresden8 wrote: »

Not necessarily. A whole load of senior people are looking at the early retirement package and a whole lot of younger people are looking at the three years out.

I'm in a room with 6 people, 4 are considering going.

Services will go to **** mind, but the pay bill will go down.

The remaining people could work unpaid overtime similar to a lot of private sectors workers I know.

/waits for rabble, rabble, rabble

Sand

Not necessarily. A whole load of senior people are looking at the early retirement package and a whole lot of younger people are looking at the three years out.

I'm in a room with 6 people, 4 are considering going.

Services will go to **** mind, but the pay bill will go down.

Its a public service early retirement package - I have no doubt its extremely attractive: Given the massive pensions being paid out already, I dont believe its likely the cost to the taxpayer will go down though.

As for services going to ****, youre talking like the doubling of the public sector pay bill in the past 7 years has heralded a golden age of wonderful service.

But you do hit on the most spinless part of the budget: downsizing through carrots to leave, and a hiring freeze. Totally cowardly because areas which need headcount to perform a vital function face a hiring freeze, whereas areas which are more luxuries might have no departures. The correct course of action is to review headcount in all areas, identify the vital tasks and functions, and cut the flab in the departments and areas wheres theres room to cut headcount. Instead, we are going to end up with a random and unmanaged scattergun approach to downsizing the public sector. Ridiculous.

As always, the public service unions are choking the life out of the PAYE worker. The PAYE worker who is already getting pay cuts, picking up their redundancy and now facing tax hikes to keep the gravy train rolling.

The same cowardice that refused to take the required action in the early 1980s is guiding this budget.

The one thing that struck me is the comments of the reporters mingling with the TDs after the budget. They said something along the lines that Fianna Fail TDs were comforting themselves that the PAYE workers didnt have any representitives so had nothing and no one to rally around. Its true, PAYE workers dont have a single representitive in the social partnership talks, and not a single representitive in the Dail or the Seanad. Its probably why reaction to the budget is so muted - its the voiceless PAYE slaves who got shafted, everyone else is fairly happy under the circumstances.

dresden8

thebman wrote: »

The remaining people could work unpaid overtime similar to a lot of private sectors workers I know.

/waits for rabble, rabble, rabble

How many? Where? How many hours?

Sand

How many? Where? How many hours?

As many as are needed to meet deadlines. You might have heard of deadlines from your friends who work in the private sector.

dresden8

Sand wrote: »

As many as are needed to meet deadlines. You might have heard of deadlines from your friends who work in the private sector.

Thebman? Is that you?

Hillel

dresden8 wrote: »

How many? Where? How many hours?

It would be a (very) brave private sector worker who claimed overtime right now, even if they had the option. There is an expectation, totally warranted IMO, that staff at all levels just knuckle down and get on with it. In my industry most workers are contracted for 37.5hrs/week. They would typically work up to 45hrs/week before ANY additional payment was considered. Even then, they are more likely to get "gift vouchers", rather than overtime at Civil Service rates.

Hillel

Sand wrote: »

As always, the public service unions are choking the life out of the PAYE worker. The PAYE worker who is already getting pay cuts, picking up their redundancy and now facing tax hikes to keep the gravy train rolling.

The one thing that struck me is the comments of the reporters mingling with the TDs after the budget. They said something along the lines that Fianna Fail TDs were comforting themselves that the PAYE workers didnt have any representitives so had nothing and no one to rally around. Its true, PAYE workers dont have a single representitive in the social partnership talks, and not a single representitive in the Dail or the Seanad. Its probably why reaction to the budget is so muted - its the voiceless PAYE slaves who got shafted, everyone else is fairly happy under the circumstances.

Exactly true, social partnership is for the favoured few and the PAYE worker in the private sector is excluded. It is not that the current round of PAYE cuts weren't warranted - IMO they were. The issue is that there was no one to insist that the public sector costs were tackled in parallel.

The local elections actually offer an opportunity for FF. If they act quickly they could introduct substantial reform, and roll back the cost base. Even better, it would be one in the eye for FG/Labour who are likely to be the dominant parties in local government, following the elections. (I know, I know, quickly <=> Brian's, an unlikely pairing.)

thebman

dresden8 wrote: »

How many? Where? How many hours?

Lots and lots and lots! I believe you are aware that many people in the private sector don't get paid overtime.

You said services would go to crap. I merely suggested a way to avoid that which seems to work in the private sector for many companies.

Thanks for showing my /waits for rabble, rabble remark was correct though

dresden8

thebman wrote: »

Lots and lots and lots! I believe you are aware that many people in the private sector don't get paid overtime.

You said services would go to crap. I merely suggested a way to avoid that which seems to work in the private sector for many companies.

Thanks for showing my /waits for rabble, rabble remark was correct though

Wow, after two hundred years of unions and 90 years or republicanism workers are willing to return of slavery.

Wilberforce was a pr1ck after all. He should have saved his energy after all.

dresden8

thebman wrote: »

Lots and lots and lots!

Mmmmm. Can't argue with those numbers!

OldFFail

With the very greatest respect to Allan Cavanagh, I think he got it wrong in his caricature of Brian. (see:
http://www.caricatures-ireland.com/blog/the-taoiseach-has-no-clothes-and-rte-has-no-balls-the-brian-cowen-nude-caricature/)

RTE may have no ball$ but Brian certainly has shown none either. I have a local copy of the caricature with important modifications. Anyone know how I could post it online?

Try and save a few county councillors seat at all cost, and £uck the country. Now there's even talk of rowing back on the pension cuts for sitting TD's.
See http://www.tribune.ie/news/article/2009/apr/12/u-turn-still-a-possibility-on-aherns-pension/
Not only a coward, but an incompetent one at that!