how do you rate simon coveney?

whelan1

watching the frontline ... he hasnt spoken yet but do you think he is doing enough in his port folio? I myself think he is not promoting agriculture enough , as it is one of the best performing sectors here at the minute, also the fact he paid his spin doctor a 6 figure some last year, rather than the agreed €92,000 annoyed me a bit... imo any body would be able to do agriculture at the minute as its not tough times

johngalway

whelan1 wrote: »

also the fact he paid his spin doctor a 6 figure some last year, rather than the agreed €92,000 annoyed me a bit... imo any body would be able to do agriculture at the minute as its not tough times

They talked about his advisor on the radio a couple of days back. Apparently his last job had a salary of + €400K a year, but you want him to work for €92k? (by the by, he did leave for a higher salaried job).

I'd rather have the best person for the job in the job, with results, than another half arsed civil servant drawing wages until pension time and not being able or interested in their job.

Just my 2c.

whelan1

they had agreed to pay 92k.... when the country is in dire staits do you not think thatmaybe they could stick to what was agreed... i agree we need the best person for the job , but agriculture would run on its own at the minute

johngalway

whelan1 wrote: »

they had agreed to pay 92k.... when the country is in dire staits do you not think thatmaybe they could stick to what was agreed... i agree we need the best person for the job , but agriculture would run on its own at the minute

Nope, I am one of the few people who aren't bothered about how much a person is paid. On one provision, that that person is more than capable, interested, and able to deliver results. That said, I don't want five or ten of them in any dept. I want people who can grab a situation by the scruff of the neck, or other anatomical parts, point it in the right direction and give it a firm, uncomplicated kick up the arse.

And if they can't, fire them, yesterday.

The state the country is in won't be changed by 10 or 15 advisor's wage levels. The best person for the job, not another mediocre corpse waiting for pension day.

bob charles

johngalway wrote: »

Nope, I am one of the few people who aren't bothered about how much a person is paid. On one provision, that that person is more than capable, interested, and able to deliver results. That said, I don't want five or ten of them in any dept. I want people who can grab a situation by the scruff of the neck, or other anatomical parts, point it in the right direction and give it a firm, uncomplicated kick up the arse.

And if they can't, fire them, yesterday.

The state the country is in won't be changed by 10 or 15 advisor's wage levels. The best person for the job, not another mediocre corpse waiting for pension day.

I have to agree John, even it wouldnt be worth it to me to take a pretty tough job which only comes with a salary of 92k before tax. The best are not going to be attracted to these jobs with the current pay scale, just wait and see the new boy in finance.

Re Coveney - I wasnt a fan before he took up the role but I think he has handled the positon well especially considering the previous 2 Ag ministers that were a joke. Hopefully he is only warming up as there is a serious amount of work to be done in the years ahead but I know he has his hands tied

Suckler

whelan1 wrote: »

watching the frontline ... he hasnt spoken yet but do you think he is doing enough in his port folio? I myself think he is not promoting agriculture enough , as it is one of the best performing sectors here at the minute, also the fact he paid his spin doctor a 6 figure some last year, rather than the agreed €92,000 annoyed me a bit... imo any body would be able to do agriculture at the minute as its not tough times

Just because it's doing well today doesn't mean it will do well tomorrow. Getting the right advisor in at an extra cost could be the saving factor in future planning. Getting some civil servant in because he fits the wage bracket is naive. We could enforce the 92K wage bracket but would be cutting off our nose to spite our face.

just do it

I'd prefer to have 1 or 2 highly paid advisors that are effective than 5 ineffective ones at 92k.

yellow50HX

well there are a couple of issues really on the paid advisors thing.
the 1st one is that FG and Lab were all pretty quick to jump up and down on FF when they were in power when it came to cronyism but they dont seem to be much better. Uncle Enda went out of his way to reward his director of policy with a plump job and an increase in pay, and coveny is doing the same. What is the point of setting a salary cap and breaking it to ensure it one of their buddies is sorted out.

I agree that the best person should be paid well but in these case's it seems that the person has been appointed by the ministers as opposed to the position being advertised and all applicants assessed like in a real work place.

As for the idea that these people as replacing lazy arse civil servants is a bit harsh, yes there are plenty of civil servants appointed to positions solely cos they have been around for so long rather than actual abilities (the last financial regulator springs to mind) but these people are now also civil servant so will be entitled to pensions after they leave too. Also i doubt they a high ranking CS has been let go to make room.

We here a lot about ethics in public office but the reality is that while the party names maybe different the attitudes will stay the same.

As for coveny i rather not put my full feelings on the man on here but i'll give him some credit, he has a good smile and always looks good during photo ops. so he might be good for promoting agri foods, he's pretty good at promoting himself.

As for people saying that anyone could be agri minister at the moment is a mistake. people said the same about the finance and jobs ministers when the celtic tiger has roaring and see what happens. what is needed is someone with brains, imagination and leadership now, we need to make sure we capitalise when things are going well and have proper foundations in place before the wheels come off.

If we have learned anything over the last few years is that everything goes in cycles, farming wasnt in too good a place a few years ago so we need to make hay while its shining but be ready for when the rain comes back.

Conflats

I feel coveney is doing a good job, he's young which is a change from the whole political system usually, he is from a farming background, he has a 3rd level degree in the industry so he has an idea of what he is talking about.
He is trying to encourage young people into the industry unlike his predecessors, but there is more to do really as regards the photo op's sure any politician is good to find those and it was important for him to be present at all times during the Chinese vice presidents visit there a few weeks ago.

blue5000

I wonder what uncle enda has on the report card

HMMMM looks too good on telly, far too smooth. Has he leadership ambitions? Better move him to health/enterprise in the shuffle before he gets too big for his muddy boots.:P

Farmer Pudsey

johngalway wrote: »

Nope, I am one of the few people who aren't bothered about how much a person is paid. On one provision, that that person is more than capable, interested, and able to deliver results. That said, I don't want five or ten of them in any dept. I want people who can grab a situation by the scruff of the neck, or other anatomical parts, point it in the right direction and give it a firm, uncomplicated kick up the arse.

And if they can't, fire them, yesterday.

The state the country is in won't be changed by 10 or 15 advisor's wage levels. The best person for the job, not another mediocre corpse waiting for pension day.

I disagree any government advisor will only be in the job for only one term if he is any good after this he will have access to a huge network of contacts and will be able to command huge wages from private Industry. This fallacey about paying massive wages to so called special advisors is bull also it costs a fortune the last government had hundreds and remember P-Pars, Voting Machines, Bertis Bowl, Mater hospital, HSE, DAA in my opinion the civil servise was better run 20-50 years ago before special Advissor and massive pay rates. As the pay was not related to so called private industry rates only people who were willing to genuinely work hard took promotion in the CS.


Also in the Semi State Sector senior management took a long term view not how was the best way to maximun their bonus.

As for 10-15 high paid advisors per minster a junio minister would want 5-10 so all in all 350-400 costing 140-160 million

to be fair to Micheal Noonan and Brendan Howlin they are holding steady on the head of the Dept of Finance at a max of 250,000 it is all this talk of pay the rate that landed us in the sh##e in the first place

johngalway

whelan1 wrote: »

any body would be able to do agriculture at the minute as its not tough times

Farmer Pudsey wrote: »

This fallacey about paying massive wages to so called special advisors is bull also it costs a fortune the last government had hundreds and remember P-Pars, Voting Machines, Bertis Bowl, Mater hospital, HSE, DAA in my opinion the civil servise was better run 20-50 years ago before special Advissor and massive pay rates. As the pay was not related to so called private industry rates only people who were willing to genuinely work hard took promotion in the CS.

The two above comments are more dangerous than any perceived fallacy. Letting some twit bounce along the bottom of the aspiration ladder in such a position is such a waste words fail me. If you had read my posts fully you would have noticed something important in them:

johngalway wrote: »

capable, interested, and able to deliver results.

The state the country is in won't be changed by 10 or 15 advisor's wage levels. The best person for the job, not another mediocre corpse waiting for pension day.

Farmer Pudsey wrote: »

I disagree any government advisor will only be in the job for only one term if he is any good after this he will have access to a huge network of contacts and will be able to command huge wages from private Industry.

That's a bit of a generalisation. Some will, some won't, some will be replaced by future administrations, some won't. I'd still rather have the intelligent, capable, focused, result driven people at the top than the mediocre bargain basement seat fillers.