General Irish Government discussion thread [See Post 1805]

Scoundrel

Bishop of hope wrote: »

He will be in a tight spot on tuesday!
Will he vote confidence in Varadkar?
Be interesting to see after his outburst this week how he wriggles if he votes with Leo.

Of course he will he's an empty vessel.

Itssoeasy

I mean it’s not a surprise that Michael Martin will do anything to stay as Taoiseach until he has to hand it over. I’ve no issue with a vote of no confidence being used as it’s there to be used when felt necessary, but Mary Lou McDonald trying to claim the motion wasn’t about political point scoring was next level spin. Of course it is about political point scoring, so as I say I’ve no issue with the use of a motion of no confidence in the right way but trying to suggest it’s not political is disingenuous at best. Also, the fact labour are supporting this one instantly makes me sour on it because I think Alan Kelly is the worst leader of a political party in the dail.

So Martin is putting pressure on Woulfe and Coveney is talking tough in Brexit.

The spin machine is working overtime at the moment, you’d think there was a no confidence vote happening that they want to distract from.

It looks like Woulfe is being thrown under the same bus that Maria Bailey perished under.

L1011

SF have a knack of timing confidence motions really, really badly - the proposed one that took down the last government notwithstanding - as a few of them have failed just before something went wrong badly enough that another one could have passed; but couldn't be held.

This could easily be the same again if there are actually more leaks to occur.

L1011

L1011 wrote: »

SF have a knack of timing confidence motions really, really badly - the proposed one that took down the last government notwithstanding - as a few of them have failed just before something went wrong badly enough that another one could have passed; but couldn't be held.

This could easily be the same again if there are actually more leaks to occur.

the stuff in the Village today doesn't seem to add more, other than claiming the relationship between Varadkar and O'Tauthail is more than Leo made it out to be and claiming he lied to the Dail about it.

It does show just how individuals set out to manipulate government ministers for personal gain though. While this is nothing new, for me it shows how weak the FG government was under Varadkar and how desperate they are not to cause any waves.

Scoundrel

https://twitter.com/EwanMacKenna/status/1326139584481255432?s=19

A clear cut case of cronyism and corruption here. If tis were in Boris UK we'd be screaming from the rooftops.

Scoundrel

Scoundrel wrote: »

https://twitter.com/EwanMacKenna/status/1326139584481255432?s=19

A clear cut case of cronyism and corruption here. If tis were in Boris UK we'd be screaming from the rooftops.

There is zero information on contracts awarded for the Covid response. But it isn’t Boris, so no one will care.

Cyrus

Scoundrel wrote: »

A clear cut case of cronyism and corruption here.

clear cut? on the basis that a first time tds uncle's company (which is a relatively large and long established PLC with a demonstrable track record in the area) got a small contract.

thats quite the leap.

CrabRevolution

Cyrus wrote: »

clear cut? on the basis that a first time tds uncle's company (which is a relatively large and long established PLC with a demonstrable track record in the area) got a small contract.

thats quite the leap.

I worked for CPL once upon a time. They're probably the biggest supplier of agency staff to the HSE, everything from Nurses, Doctors to Healthcare Assistants, Radiographers etc. There's long standing frameworks for certain hospitals/regions to draw down on certain agencies for what resources they need.
The idea that it's some shady underhand deal for an obscure well connected family company is laughable. And as you say it's apparently a stroke for the uncle of a TD only months in the job.

L1011

Gibbering reason from MacSharry about how he's going to vote confidence but not mean it...

twitter.com/MichealLehane/status/1326188722958823425

Any chance of the vote failing (now its been switched to a confidence vote as per usual) relied on people like him going against it.

Scoundrel

Bishop of hope wrote: »

He will be in a tight spot on tuesday!
Will he vote confidence in Varadkar?
Be interesting to see after his outburst this week how he wriggles if he votes with Leo.

FF TD Marc MacSharry confirms he will vote confidence in the Tánaiste later but is approaching it in a manner akin to Éamon de Valera’s “empty formula” when his party’s TDs took the Oath of Allegiance in 1927 @rtenews

What a ****ing eejit

beggars_bush

Will this Seamus Woulfe issue cause a major crisis for the government?

Chips Lovell

I very much doubt it. I think both the government and the opposition want him gone. If the attorney general is right and the Oireachtas can impeach him, I'd imagine he'll be gone fairly quickly.

Brussels Sprout

Two weeks ago, when this Varadkar story broke, I remember someone on Twitter quipping:

How are they going to Sinn Féin their way out of this one?

Well...it turns out that they're going to try their hardest to do just that:


https://twitter.com/FineGael/status/1326274488921690112

Scoundrel

https://twitter.com/caulmick/status/1326515179987869697?s=19

Cyrus

Jesus he gives me the runs

I suppose they took the contracts at gun point as well.

Scoundrel

Cyrus wrote: »

Jesus he gives me the runs

I suppose they took the contracts at gun point as well.

I suppose they expected to be paid for work? A revolutionary thought in FG Ireland I know. CPL are poverty exploiters.

Cyrus

Scoundrel wrote: »

I suppose they expected to be paid for work? A revolutionary thought in FG Ireland I know. CPL are poverty exploiters.

They will be paid I’m sure , that little clip gives us no insight into how often they are to be paid and what the reason for the delay is, pretty typical of Barrett , big on outrage but small on detail.

AlmightyCushion

Cyrus wrote: »

They will be paid I’m sure , that little clip gives us no insight into how often they are to be paid and what the reason for the delay is, pretty typical of Barrett , big on outrage but small on detail.

Exactly. It is probably something like they are paid monthly and started after the payroll cut off. This happens in companies across the world, it just depends on when you start working. Sure, it's a little annoying for the employee but these things happen. To suggest that it is something under handed and the government aren't paying these people is just stupid.

PeadarCo

Scoundrel wrote: »

I suppose they expected to be paid for work? A revolutionary thought in FG Ireland I know. CPL are poverty exploiters.

Any evidence? CPL are a very big recruitment agency and cover a wide range of jobs. It would more surprising if the government didn't use them. In my experience of having got jobs through them in the past they do not pay poverty salaries. They generally pay somewhere in line with the going rate for a particular job,which obviously varies depending on the job. But you are not looking a poverty wages.

This story is an attempt at manufactured outrage that relies on the person reading it being clueless about the actual company/recruitment industry. With how the government has managed Covid over the last couple of months there's plenty to criticise the government over without making stuff up.

blackwhite

PeadarCo wrote: »

This story is an attempt at manufactured outrage that relies on the person reading it being clueless

Sums up most of the claims raised by Murphy and his ilk TBH.

Scoundrel

https://twitter.com/gavreilly/status/1326897771836792833?s=19

Now this is hilarious the incompetence here is staggering can't these fools do anything right?

seamus

Most pertinent question here is when this recommendation was first made.

Like, if it was before this NAGP thing came out, then it's just unlucky.

If it was after, then the govt has walked into another easily avoided embarrassment.

Edit: I see she was nominated on the day of the confidence motion.

Oof. Martin will absolutely fuming.

Scoundrel

AlmightyCushion wrote: »

Exactly. It is probably something like they are paid monthly and started after the payroll cut off. This happens in companies across the world, it just depends on when you start working. Sure, it's a little annoying for the employee but these things happen. To suggest that it is something under handed and the government aren't paying these people is just stupid.

https://www.rte.ie/news/2020/1112/1177721-cpl-contact-tracing-staff/

They must be apologising for the craic?

CrabRevolution

Do contact tracers ever actually meet patients in person? Or is it just a computer and phone job?

VinLieger

CrabRevolution wrote: »

Do contact tracers ever actually meet patients in person? Or is it just a computer and phone job?

Computer and phone, meeting in person would not make any sense.... They are tracing those who are infected and those potentially infected

Cyrus

Scoundrel wrote: »

https://www.rte.ie/news/2020/1112/1177721-cpl-contact-tracing-staff/

They must be apologising for the craic?

so Barret was complaining people handnt been paid for 4 weeks, even though reading this it would appear that people are only paid every 4 weeks, you couldnt make it up.

In a statement, the HSE said it had been made aware of a "small group of new joiners" whose contract hours were only submitted for payment yesterday after six weeks instead of four.

seamus

The hits keep coming for this Government. From the Irish Times this morning;

Seamus Woulfe was only appointed in July after his name was given to cabinet by Helen McEntee. Helen McEntee in turn got his name from the Judicial Appointments Advisory Board (JAAB). Several other judges had written to the Government expressing interest in the position. McEntee selected Woulfe and presented his name to cabinet without mentioning the others.

This is not strange, it's standard practice. The kicker in this story is that applications to be appointed to the Supreme Court are not made through the JAAB. Woulfe applied incorrectly for the job, when he should have applied directly to the Government. McEntee presumably selected him specifically because he had been nominated by the JAAB, and she didn't realise that this was not the correct process because she was only two weeks in the job.

This doesn't mean that Woulfe shouldn't have been given the job - the government can choose anyone whether they've applied or not - but it seems like his application was given far more weight than it should have been.

Another instance of a Minister being badly let down by their staff and left with egg on their face.

https://www.irishtimes.com/news/politics/cabinet-not-told-judges-applied-for-post-filled-by-s%C3%A9amus-woulfe-1.4407946

CrabRevolution

VinLieger wrote: »

Computer and phone, meeting in person would not make any sense.... They are tracing those who are infected and those potentially infected

Yeah was thinking that. Just RBB's use of the phrase "frontline workers" to describe contact tracers struck me as strange. "Frontline worker" is a deliberately loaded phrase (popular with the likes of RBB) chosen to exclude the likes of managers and administrative staff from any praise for the workers of the HSE/Gardaí etc. Now while they do a vital job, calling contact tracers "frontline" when they never have to leave their home/office seems a bit of a stretch.

ancapailldorcha

Scoundrel wrote: »

https://twitter.com/caulmick/status/1326515179987869697?s=19

Scoundrel wrote: »

https://twitter.com/gavreilly/status/1326897771836792833?s=19

Now this is hilarious the incompetence here is staggering can't these fools do anything right?

Please do not just paste tweets here. This is a discussion forum, not a link repository.