Post your questions for Paul Gogarty TD here.

DeVore

On Wednesday 13th Paul Gogarty TD will answer questions and debate with selected members of Boards.ie. Those members will put questions from this thread to him and challenge the answers if they feel the answer is insufficient.

If you want your question selected here is a good guide to how to phrase it.

Do's
1. Do phrase your question civilly, incivility will be deleted and the poster disciplined as per our usual forum rules.

2. Do make it as short as possible (but no shorter ) as a pithy short, to the point question is more likely to get a decent answer. Paragraphs of text allow for selective replies. Short and to the point is much more effective.

3. Try to ask one question. There are a lot of us and everyone wants their say. Please bear in mind that time is short and you arent the only one with a hot button issue


Dont:
1. Dont be rude, its not productive, its not acceptible and its not big or clever. We know you are angry, beat up your pillow, we dont need rage here thanks.

2. Dont demand your question be answered.

3. Dont post questions with logical assumptions in them (like "do you still beat your wife"). Its low, its not going to be picked and it belies an underlying bias that would be better addressed up front. Asking "Why are you supporting a corrupt, morally bankrupt government for your own personal gain?" is not going to get selected as a question. Its a statement with a "?" at the end.

4. Dont preach a sermon. Questions which are an essay with "dont you agree?" at the end are not going to be picked.


Other then that, I hope we can get through as many as possible and we'll be working to collate these into a list to kick things off.

DeV.

Police Chief Wiggum

my question for Mr Gogarty might be

why not GO to the people? what is the worst that could happen?

could anything be worse than this paralysis and gunless civil war

Nijmegen

Two questions (off the main topics I know others will address.)

What is the Green Party doing in terms of pushing legislation to help citizens and the Oireachtas effectively hold government and politicians to account? For example, any plans to reform FOI to make it more accessible and effective?

What are your plans, and the plans of the Green movement in general, after you are very likely wiped off the political map in the coming election?

Sparks

From the other thread:

Is there any point beyond public appearances in pretending that we still utilise debate in our political system, when

• the party whip is used on every vote;
• bills are guillotined to meet deadlines external to the oireachtas;
• debates are considered to be relatively well attended if there is more than one member of the cabinet present;
• the degree of technical knowledge displayed by those speaking of the areas being legislated is most politely described as absent;
• the government operates off information that is not made available to all parties; and
• policies are announced as fait accompli to the media before the debate begins?

mgmt

How does the the Green Party justify the PSO levy (subsidy for wind power) on electricity bills when so many people are losing their connection?

Nijmegen

Sparks wrote: »

From the other thread:


Is there any point beyond public appearances in pretending that we still utilise debate in our political system, when

• the party whip is used on every vote;
• bills are guillotined to meet deadlines external to the oireachtas;
• debates are considered to be relatively well attended if there is more than one member of the cabinet present;
• the degree of technical knowledge displayed by those speaking of the areas being legislated is most politely described as absent;
• the government operates off information that is not made available to all parties; and
• policies are announced as fait accompli to the media before the debate begins?

I think a good question that goes right to the heart of this:

In relation to Dail relevance, the Taoseach says that the matter of setting a date for the three outstanding by-elections is "A matter for the Dail to decide." Yet the Dail votes by party and government whip. Is it not therefore disengenious to be making this statement, and where does the Green party stand on holding these by-elections?

Judgement Day

How does the Green Party justify the recent closure of the Waterford/Rosslare railway? It was the first full rail closure since 1967 and on the Green Party's watch - some achievement!!!

maxwell smart

My question for Deputy Gogarty would be:

Why is the government and the public/civil service not run as a business, with real accountability, where people who make mistakes are reprimanded, where fraud is punished and where performance is measured against strict targets? (Like in the real world).

spudulike

Specific queation in relation to the potential introduction of toll roads throughout the country and in particular on the M50:

Mr Gogarty, since this proposal has come to the attention of the media a number of FF members have attempted to justify such action as introducing fareness and balance to road users. Isn't it true that the farest way to address road useage would be simply to increased tax directly on fuel - the more you use the more you pay. Will the green party and you in particular support introducing tolls as opposed to fuel tax?
Note: Question is from a voter in Mr Gogarty's constituency who voted green in the last election but will change if tolls on teh M50 are introduced.

DeVore

Question From DrumSteve, reposted here due to a bug in VB software -- DeV.

But I would like to ask him to give an honest answer as to why they ( the greens) still actively support and vote with FF in government given all the recent scandals (such as Callelly and O'Dea).

Permabear

This post has been deleted.

Nijmegen

Riffing on public transport following Donegalfella - How can you have a Green Party that supports massive cuts to services like Dublin Bus? Shouldn't the Green Party be fighting tooth and nail to improve services and efficiency in organisations like this, to provide better public transport links that make it realistic for us to ditch our cars.

whatawaster

What mandate does this government have to dictate, by way of their four year plan, the budgetary direction of the next government? ***

Wouldn’t an immediate general election, therefore, allowing each party to put forward their proposals to stabilise the economy, be in the best interests of the people?

*** allowing the other parties access to a department of finance civil servant does not constitute all-party agreement. Essentially, this government can do what it likes now, and the next government will have their hands tied. Fianna Fail and the Green Party are dictating our economic future long beyond their mandated term.

Japer

Look at the damage the green party has done to two areas in which they had an influence :
(B) The silly subsidised "cycle to work" scheme, where high income people can effectively get their cycling hobby subsidised. I was talking to one cycle shop owner recently, and he said the bulk of people who availed of this scheme were health board workers, school + college staff etc ie public sector workers. Often they spent 600 to 1000 euro , but the interesting thing he said was that they use the bicycles for triathlons / recreation / weekend trips etc, not cycling to work. Why should the taxpayer subsidise this sport ?

(B) Motor tax. people buying a bmw or mercedes now can get away with paying as little as 156 euro yearly road tax. 6 or 10 or 20 years ago road tax was far higher, in real terms. Given the state our government finances are in, the govt could dearly do with all this lost revenue. People driving economical 5 or 8 year old hatchbacks, + who cannot afford to change, are paying more road tax than fatcats driving new large expensive cars. Not fair.

Cavehill Red

1. Can he explain the incident where he allegedly rolled on the floor playing dead during another politician's speech?
2. What's his position now on his repeated profanities, both in the house chamber and on twitter, towards fellow parliamentarians?
3. Does he feel aggrieved in any way that he's the only Green TD not to attain a ministerial position in this government?
4. Given his position against many current government policies, what would it take for Paul to vote against the whip?

nesf

Q: Why is this Government, who are doomed to be voted out in the next election, not using this opportunity to do a root and branch reworking of the public service and correct the deep inefficiencies that plague the institution. They've nothing to lose, they can afford to take very unpopular yet necessary actions.

Slydice

Q1: What exactly would FF need to do for him to stop voting with them in the Dail?

Q2: What does he think would FF need to do for the GP to stop voting with them in the Dail?

Q3: How does he feel about having voted to shackle the Irish people with 100b legacy of debt? URL="http://twitter.com/brianmlucey/statuses/25977679606"]1[/URL URL="http://www.irisheconomy.ie/index.php/2010/09/30/banking-statement-by-minister-of-finance/#comment-78337"]2[/URL

SeaFields

For Mr. Gogarty,

Do you believe you will retain your seat after the next general election?

Newff

Sorry folks I know it's long, but I've been given the run around for the last three years

Mr. Gogarty, you have received an e-mail from me ( Ray O'Connor) with a brief outline of my concerns regarding the conduct of the CER and Bord Gais, so you will be aware of the background to my question and that Minister Ryan has carried out an exhaustive investigation in relation to my concerns. I have also supplied similar information to Dan Boyle, Ciaran Cuffe as vice chair to the Dail Committee on these matters (who failed to raise them) and Mary White.

My concerns relate to alleged illegal activities of BG which the CER as regulator has said was policy of BG and was reasonable. (One of these activities related to BG's lack of data protection which subsequently made headlines qed) Under guidelines for state directors, directors have to inform the Minister of illegal activity, (I informed individual directors and two company secretaries) and as a decision making body the CER has to have an appeals procedure and publicise it, and the Minister is responsible for overseeing these Corporate Governance rules. When I brought this to the attention of Dan Boyle, he said the matter would be addressed on the retirement of the chairmen of both Bord Gais and the CER. Minister Ryan has yet to have meaningful communication with me on this matter. Having talked to Minister Ryan can you answer the following brief questions?

Did the Minister ask the Board of Directors of Bord Gais to explain the alleged illegal activity, seeing as under law they are responsible for policy and procedures? Y or N?

Did the Minister ask the Commissioners to explain why they endorsed the alleged illegal activity of Bord Gais as reasonable? Y or N?

Did the Minister ask the Commissioners to explain why the organisation charged with enforcing customer charters in the industry, has published charters that make no sense regarding their appeals procedures? (not that it matters because the staff don’t know they have one and still don’t looking at the energycustomer.ie web site) Y or N?

If the answer is Yes to the above was he satisfied that no illegal activity took place and no government guidelines were broken?

If the answer is No or don’t know, what action will you take and when can we expect to have an answer published on Boards.ie

Is it acceptable that the Minister has not responded to my communication on these issues and others in accordance with his departments customer charter and Green Party policy of transparency?

Does the Green Party have confidence in the CER considering the above, and currently are allowing people to be cut off when they could issue the power companies with a directive to install pre-payed meters instead?

Why are the CER proposing to Nationalise the losses of Energy Companies,(have our regulators not learned from NAMA) and introduce debt blocking, there by restricting consumers right to chose suppliers?

And finally why does the Minister do nothing when the CER censors submissions to consultations when they are critical of the organisation (I have had one thrown out because I didn’t answer a question that wasn’t asked) surely the quality of the resulting decision is flawed and open to legal challenge?

Thanks for being man enough to turn up

CompFix

300,000 jobs, where are they coming from?

Sparks

Given the enormous changes in the amount of education, information and analysis now available to, and availed of by the vast majority of the electorate, are the original assumptions of the representative democratic model of government finally invalid, and should we be moving towards a more direct democratic model with distributed authority instead of the trend towards centralisation of authority that the government has pursued over the past decade?

PomBear

posted by another user a while back but i'd like him to answer if he thinks the green party lied to get into power considering their pre election promises here:

Some pre elections promised made by the Green Party prior to the election, and this is by no means a complete list merely a brief summary

(1)Green Party highlighted the need to remove Fianna Fail from Government and how it wanted an alternative Government excluding Fianna Fail.

They not only did not remove them they enabled them to remain in power

(2) Promised over 2,400 extra teachers in primary and secondary education

Voted for cuts in the number of teachers

(3)Promised 400 acute hospital beds and 400 step down beds

Cut the hospitals budgets massively

(4) Expand the medical card

They tried to take it away from some the over 70's

(5) Make major investments in Quality Bus Corridors and introduce frequent commuter routes

Cuts in funding again, Dublin Bus and Bus Eireann reducing routes by c. 10%

(6) Opposed the motorway going through the Tara

Have let it go ahead and not mentioned in case anyone noticed

(7) Would oppose a re-running of the Lisbon Treaty

Party leaders campaigned for it

(8) Increase the number of Gardai on the streets

Numbers are down

(9) Would not go into government with Fianna Fail (well TS would not 'lead' the party into government

Didn't stop him standing down as leader and taking a Junior ministry

Yitzhak Rabin

Does he genuinely fully endorse the governments banking strategy? In particular, their treating of private bondholder debt of Anglo Irish Bank as sovereign government debt.

Stinicker

Would Paul Gogarty support the outsourcing of County Council Services ending what has effectively become a glorified Social Employment Scheme with less than efficient workers?

What is Paul's opinion of Jackie Healy Rae? And gombeen politics in General?

Sparks

Why should an extremist minority with questionable ties, such as ICABS, be feted by the government to the point where their inventing and awarding Minister Gormley a 'lifetime achievement award' is sufficient to have Leinster House reserved for the event? Given that there are far more voters involved in fieldsports than opposed to it, is it right for the ideology of democracy to be subverted by the ideology of a party elected through democratic means?

Also, given that the Green Party have pursued anti-salmon-fishing policies for some time now, where are the sustainable salmon on the menu for that event coming from?

Dirk Gently

What safeguards are the greens (or FF) putting in place to safeguard our economy against future collapses. I talking regulation of banking and financial institutions as well as breaking up too big to fail companies before they become a national threat. (please give practical examples of what the green party has done to protect from future collapses)



What is your opinion of the global financial system. Would you favour replacing it with a ruthlessly regulated system complete with jail terms for those who breach regulation. (if you favour regulation, please give practical examples of what the green party has proposed or legislation you intend to push through)



Will the Green party block any attempt to impose an un-metered flat rate water tax. I know what your preference is, but will you actually block the tax until such a time that metres can be introduced and then only tax the excess used beyond need.

johnnyskeleton

"Don't you hate that Deputy Stagg fellow?"


Sorry, couldn't resist.


I guess I won't be one of the people participating in this here debate then!

Or, a more serious version:

"Given the large amount of publicity surrounding your use of profanities in the Dail chamber, which have made you a household name and have assisted in your development of the "last angry man" persona, if you were given the opportunity to do it again, would you?"

Heroditas

Q. Deputy Gogarty, why are your newsletters that are delivered to your constituents badly lacking in Green/National news? Instead we are informed of minor issues in the constituency that should be dealt with by the elected councillors, e.g. William Lavelle and Derek Keating. Apart from the back to school allowance, your newsletters have lacked any insight into national issues such as jobs, NAMA, taxation, energy policy etc. We don't need to be told that South Dublin Council are providing brown bins. Please discuss.

Q. Why does the Green party continue to support a PSO levy that is adding large amounts to energy bills when the majority of this levy is used to fund inefficient peat-fired power station?

Q. How does the Green Party propose to change the set-up of the Single Electricity Market, whereby the price of electricity is determined by the most inefficient generator, thus ensuring that even with high percentages of renewable energy generators, the price of electricity will be determined by fossil-fuel plants?

Thank you

BeardyFunzo

Can Deputy Gogarty explain how Dan Boyle yields influence within the green party despite being rejected by the electorate? An unusual situation for a 'democratic' party.

Seth Brundle

1. Given the continual rise in suicide rates since 2008 coinciding with the worsening in the economy and the known link between unemployment and financial hardship and suicide, does Mr. Gogarty feel that he and/or his party are somewhat responsible for these tragic deaths?

2. There are plans to introduce tolls on many of our motorways. Does he accept this given that many people will avoid these tolls by using other roads and therefore increasing fuel consumption. This will also increase the risk of fatalities as people move from the safer roads to less safe ones, is it prudent given the massive cost to the exchequer for each road fatality?

Grizzly 45

A few questions.

Why is the Green party allowing its animal rights agenda be dictated by a core group of proven anti fieldsport ,anti agriculture,anti pet owning militant radicals of which at least one has a proven criminal record and advocates violent means to achieve their agenda of animal liberation?[names,dates and locations gladly supplied].

Why do certain KEY members of the GP feel a need to closely associate with this core radical group of people ?

Why did the GP feel it necessary to force thru a total unimportant issue like stag hunting thru the Dail,and in the process waste valueable Dail time which could have been spent more productivly discussing the worst crisis about to hit the State since its foundation? And feel a need to placate appx 60/80 of the radical element in is party???

Why do GP feel it necessary for any prospective members to be vetted and on probation with their local [whatever is left] branch,before becoming fully fledged members??Eventhough GP has taken their money in a annual subscription??

Why is the GP and paticullary Min John Gormley in bed with car manufacturing companies,notably Renault,trying to sell on the Irish people the next biggest Con job of electrical cars and some utopian ideal of Ireland being powerd by green energy by a totally unrealistic date of 2015??

why has the GP got an immense problem with certain types of hybrid vechicles?IE the Lexus 4WD,and none with the EG Toyota Prius??
BOTH have the same technology,are made by Toyota,yet one has a larger more practical design.Is this Green social engineering,on the basis of all dual power cars are equal in the tax bracket,except those who might be driven by rich capitalists and country bumpkins???

Why is the GP not examing the possibility of alternative fuels.EXCLUDING bio diesel?GP has gone remarkably quiet on this issue since the closure of the Mallow sugar plant and the idea of converting it into a alcohol fuel recovery plant. Why is the GP not suggesting that local areas with crops[mostly anything ,inc weeds] should be grant funded to produce alcohol for fuel for petrol driven vechicles,ala Brazil with "Gasohol".Thussly encouraging local farmers to switch from cattle production to a crop production[reducing green house gas by cow fart],creating jobs in the motor industry of dual fuel R&D and building,and in the production of alcohol for fuel??

Why is John Gormley now insisting that commerical vechicles MUST be only used for commerical purposes,as this is a total impossibility for some people to run two vechicles??


Is The Green party ,really a "water melon " party??Green on the outside ,but mostly communist [Red ] on the inside??Judging by most GPs in Europe have a significant number of EX communist parties in their ranks who have adopted Greenism as the new socialist world order,and the draconian tactics used by GP Irl to force their policies true??

As the GP was NOT voted in by the Irish people,nor does it have a MANDATE of the Irish people to be in power.And ipsofacto the GP is then a puppett party of Fianna Fail,does this not give Mr Groaghty any moral qualms or sleepless nites on the morality of their position??

Overheal

CompFix wrote: »

300,000 jobs, where are they coming from?

And are these permanent positions? Or are they Seasonal; Temporary positions?

bleg

Do you feel ashamed that your government has introduced measures that mean homeless and cancer sufferers pay for their medicines?

DeVore

Bleg, can you or someone, link up a reference for that? I hadnt heard of it before and am curious what you are referring to.
Thanks,

DeV.

Newff

On the PSO levy, the CER says that it's a formula laid out by the EU in it's directives, I've looked at the directive and I can't see a formula. It uses words like apportionment and charge to customer, but it doesn't determine the basis of apportionment. In gas legislation the PSO levy method of apportionment is at the direction of the Minister so I would say it's the same for electricity.

So the minister is imposing a flat charge which Dan Boyle said on Frontline the Greens were against, as it didn't adhear to polluter pays principle.

There was nothing to stop Ryan imposing a levy based on consumption, they can say it's only a €5er but based on consumption many would be paying higher, and would be harder to justify.

Sparks

DeVore wrote: »

Bleg, can you or someone, link up a reference for that? I hadnt heard of it before and am curious what you are referring to

It's the 50 cent item per prescribed medication item that they introduced a few days ago...
http://home.thejournal.ie/medical-card-holders-to-pay-more-for-pharmacy-bills-from-today-2010-10/

jmayo

What is the green party's definiton of high speed broadband ?
Is it the same as that put forward by eamon ryan ?

I would recommend that politics mod and broadband provider oscarbravo could question him on this.

Why isn't there a serious investigation being carried out of nuclear power options ?

bamboozle

my 3 questions for Deputy Gogarty;

Q1-Ben Bernanke as head of the US Fed Reserve has arguably the most important job in finance in the world, his salary is $185,000 PA. Patrick Neary the retired former head of the Financial Regulator has a pension of €145,000 (at todays fx rate =$201k). How can our state justify paying such an exorbitant pension to someone who performed so poorly?

Q2-Why dont we have a fully vouched expense system for politicians?

Q3-Given the last time the Seanad rejected a Dail Bill was in the 1960's, how can we justify the expenses incurred in running such a toothless body?

_Kaiser_

DeVore wrote: »

Bleg, can you or someone, link up a reference for that? I hadnt heard of it before and am curious what you are referring to.
Thanks,

DeV.

I'm assuming it refers to the new charges on perscriptions for medical card holders?

(EDIT: Beaten to it by Sparks.)

Laminations

My question:

after turning so many corners, after revising so many estimates, after reneging on so many promises, after getting so much wrong (bailout would be cheapest, AIB wouldnt be nationalised, NAMA will make a profit) and in the light of the biggest drop in consumer sentiment last month and our withdrawal from the bond markets, do you think that this government has lost the confidence of the people and the Market and therefore have little credibility left?

And if you feel like it that could be followed up with:

Do you think confidence and credibility are important? Can you seriously say you have these things (if he does reply that way) when your approval ratings are so low and the markets are charging exorbitant rates for us to borrow?

maynooth_rules

Not an issue that directly relates to Paul Gogarty, but as a member of the Green party he is involved in bringing in this amendment. How does he feel about the Department of Education bringing in an amendment to allow completely unqualified teachers to teach in a classroom at a time where there are simply hundreds of unemployed teachers. Link

Scofflaw

An obvious question - now, at least - is what the thinking behind the call for a national forum on the economy or a national government is, and how serious the Greens are about it. Would they be prepared to sacrifice the party (by agreeing to pull the plug and force a GE) to get agreement on either of those proposals?

cordially,
Scofflaw

How does Mr Gogarty feel about the damage that himself and his fellow deputies have done to the legitimate green agenda in this country..at a time when these issues are more important than ever, this administration has ensured the end of any viable green party in the country..

Sparks

Scofflaw wrote: »

An obvious question - now, at least - is what the thinking behind the call for a national forum on the economy or a national government is, and how serious the Greens are about it. Would they be prepared to sacrifice the party (by agreeing to pull the plug and force a GE) to get agreement on either of those proposals?

cordially,
Scofflaw

Didn't Labour just ask them the same question (though in the form of a challange) last night?

Scofflaw

Sparks wrote: »

Didn't Labour just ask them the same question (though in the form of a challange) last night?

I can't find any reference to it on the Oireachtas site or on KildareStreet.com, so I don't know.

cordially,
Scofflaw

kevteljeur

Paul, you've mentioned on Twitter about the patriotism that fights to protect our economic sovereignty. We are required to submit our state budget plan for the next four years in advance, to an external organisation, for approval and possible ammendment - effectively making decisions on Irish economic policy non-sovereign.

So, in that context, and given that this approval is not optional, do you still believe that we have economic sovereignty, when the budget that you will vote on is one that has had to be given approval outside of the state? Does this not imply a loss of economic sovereignty, once an absolute veto is enabled from outside the state?


Thanks for taking the time to engage with the public.



k

bleg

DeVore wrote: »

Bleg, can you or someone, link up a reference for that? I hadnt heard of it before and am curious what you are referring to.
Thanks,

DeV.

Referring to the prescription tax that has been introduced unilaterally by the govt despite international best practice, concerns from patients, GPs and pharmacists.

The Dept of Health & Children's Expert Group on Resource Allocation and Financing in the Health Sector has equally stated:


“In the view of the group, the recently introduced capped co-payment for prescriptions for medical card holders is unlikely to meet the criterion of raising enough revenue to justify the administration costs,” the report said.

“Evidence suggests that any deterrent effects will be to reduce the use of both necessary and less necessary drugs, with possible harmful effects on health.”

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2010/0710/1224274419367.html?via=rel

Paul Gogarty voted this through in the Dail. I'm just wondering if he feels ashamed in any way.

LostinBlanch

My question for Gogarty, even though I'm not expecting anything like an honest answer.

If the Greens had voted not to go into government to prop up FF in 2007, would you have:

1. Stood behind Bertie applauding him as your party leader did in that infamous picture on his retirement?
2. Voted in favour of protecting Willie O'Dea in his vote of no confidence?
3. Voted for NAMA?
4. Supported the fact that those who stand to benefit financially from NAMA are deliberately being kept secret from FF?
5. Supported the fact that all bondholders in Anglo are deliberately kept secret by FF?

Seth Brundle

LostinBlanch wrote: »

1. Supported the fact that those who stand to benefit financially from NAMA are deliberately being kept secret from FF?

kept secret from FF or kept secret by FF?

kevteljeur

kevteljeur wrote: »

Paul, you've mentioned on Twitter about the patriotism that fights to protect our economic sovereignty. We are required to submit our state budget plan for the next four years in advance, to an external organisation, for approval and possible ammendment - effectively making decisions on Irish economic policy non-sovereign.

So, in that context, and given that this approval is not optional, do you still believe that we have economic sovereignty, when the budget that you will vote on is one that has had to be given approval outside of the state? Does this not imply a loss of economic sovereignty, once an absolute veto is enabled from outside the state?


Thanks for taking the time to engage with the public.



k

Thats a silly anti lisbon question.No one and no country that has to borrow money in circumstances where banks don't want to lend it for fear of not getting it back, has economic sovereignty.
Thats always been the way since the dinosaurs.

Economic sovereignity in that case has been ceded by the eejits spending what they don't have.
I would suggest not wasting this opportunity with superfluous makey uppy anti lisbon,anti EU nonsense like that.
Questions like why Neary's pension is more than Ben Bernanke's salary are way more pertinent and how do the greens stand over it.


[mind you does anyone seriously expect kenny or gilmore to shave taoiseachs and ministers salaries when they get into power... hypocrites].

Hootanany

Why wont you pull the plug on this most unpopular Government the Dogs in the street can tell you we all want a new Government