What current FG policies are right wing?

Idbatterim

listen I run a business, they keep saying "the low corporation tax is advantageous, because it makes us competitive" yeah fine. Yet charging outrageous vat rates, when so many sales can be made online is a good idea? money just leaving here and making it harder for people that sell abroad to compete. A ****ing idiotic rate of marginal tax, that hits people keeping the wolf from the door, never mind the wolf of wall street, you think that kind of figure might be applied too. Rip off housing, for dublins size, has to be the worst transport network of any comparable western city, with the wealth it generates!

Its great all the world class welfare rates and add ons, keep the likes of margaret cash here and more arriving every day, wouldnt want them leaving! But to hell with doctors, nurses, consulatants, engineers, any worker for that matter. Tax the **** out of them, they are all of course going to stay here for the great weather and governance :rolleyes:

Some times I actually wonder if I am starrring in my own version of the trumann show, see how far you can be pushed!

landofthetree

Long_Wave wrote: »

The reason you've never really seen what FG is really like is because they've never had an overhaul majority. Brendan Howlin revealed that Leo Varadkar wanted him to cut social welfare by 40% in 2011.Thats right, arsehole varadkar wanted working age people on social welfare to live on €115.00 per week and oaps to live on €145 per week

Leo wants us to move towards the European model on dole payments but others didnt back him. They couldnt stomach it as the layabouts would get a lot less than those who worked and lost their job.


https://www.thejournal.ie/leo-varadkar-dole-payments-3691540-Nov2017/

Eg like the Dutch system


The Dutch system is particularly generous.

It gives qualifying workers – who have worked the last 26 of 36 weeks or 52 days a year in four of the last five years – a sizeable chunk of their wages.

For the first two months, you will be paid 75% of your wage, up to a maximum daily wage of €207.60.

This will drop to 70% for the duration of your eligibility, up to a maximum period of three years.

For an average wage worker (€25,824 a year, €2,152 a month, €538 a week, €76.85 a day), this translates to €403 a week.

Idbatterim

landofthetree wrote: »

Leo wants us to move towards the European model on dole payments.


https://www.thejournal.ie/leo-varadkar-dole-payments-3691540-Nov2017/

Eg like the Dutch system


The Dutch system is particularly generous.

It gives qualifying workers – who have worked the last 26 of 36 weeks or 52 days a year in four of the last five years – a sizeable chunk of their wages.

For the first two months, you will be paid 75% of your wage, up to a maximum daily wage of €207.60.

This will drop to 70% for the duration of your eligibility, up to a maximum period of three years.

For an average wage worker (€25,824 a year, €2,152 a month, €538 a week, €76.85 a day), this translates to €403 a week.

great, I am all for a proper welfare system, once based on what you paid in. Where will leo find the money for this, for all the hard workers though if the **** hits the fan again? take it from the wasters who have never worked? You have to be long term unemployed to get the xmas welfare bonus for christ sake :rolleyes:

PeadarCo

jd1983 wrote: »

The most profitable Dublin routes have been privatized, resulting in higher Dublin bus fares being necessary. This is scandalous.

No bus routes in Dublin have been privatised.

A handful of orbital routes have been put out to tender. The government still has complete control over fares, route frequency and buses. If the providers don't meet the relevant demands they get fined and it obviously impacts the chance of winning future tenders. Private companies operate routes but they have to meet government requirements and don't set fares. More will be put out to tender in future years. However the service will still be more or less government run from a customer point of view(the people whom a bus service to serve first and foremost) as the government will decide all the relevant criteria for a route. Obviously this will reduce the power of unions to bring the city to a halt but that's not a bad thing.

Even intercity routes are heavily regulated so that only two operators can operate on the relevant routes. The reason Bus Eireann doesn't operate them is because Bus Eireann management didn't think there was a market for direct intercity traffic and private operators got there first.

jd1983

PeadarCo wrote: »

No bus routes in Dublin have been privatised.

A handful of orbital routes have been put out to tender. The government still has complete control over fares, route frequency and buses. If the providers don't meet the relevant demands they get fined and it obviously impacts the chance of winning future tenders. Private companies operate routes but they have to meet government requirements and don't set fares. More will be put out to tender in future years. However the service will still be more or less government run from a customer point of view(the people whom a bus service to serve first and foremost) as the government will decide all the relevant criteria for a route. Obviously this will reduce the power of unions to bring the city to a halt but that's not a bad thing.

Even intercity routes are heavily regulated so that only two operators can operate on the relevant routes. The reason Bus Eireann doesn't operate them is because Bus Eireann management didn't think there was a market for direct intercity traffic and private operators got there first.

I don't really want to get into a semantics argument but that does sound like privatisation and the main steam media at the time called it as such:

https://www.irishtimes.com/news/environment/three-more-dublin-bus-routes-to-be-privatised-from-sunday-1.3836667

To be fair I can see some benefits from what you describe above, particularly reducing the leverage certain trade unions have but it's most definitely a right wing policy. My main concern would be the way the likes of FG and their supporters blame semi state inefficiency for losses and resulting increased public transport fares. Whereas the real reason is due to profitable routes being privatized. If you're going to do this at least be honest with the people and don't use it as propaganda to defund public services further.

PeadarCo

jd1983 wrote: »

I don't really want to get into a semantics argument but that does sound like privatisation and the main steam media at the time called it as such:

https://www.irishtimes.com/news/environment/three-more-dublin-bus-routes-to-be-privatised-from-sunday-1.3836667

To be fair I can see some benefits from what you describe above, particularly reducing the leverage certain trade unions have but it's most definitely a right wing policy. My main concern would be the way the likes of FG and their supporters blame semi state inefficiency for losses and resulting increased public transport fares. Whereas the real reason is due to profitable routes being privatized. If you're going to do this at least be honest with the people and don't use it as propaganda to defund public services further.

But the semantics are important. State services are not being defunded. The state is choosing to spend its funds differently to try and get better value. No Bus routes in Dublin have been privatised and all are funded by the state with the NTA making all decisions on fare routes and frequencies. In relation to Dublin the only profit a private company will make is the difference between their running costs and money they get for running the service. Its the same for Dublin bus on the relevant routes. The profitability of the route is irrelevant because ultimately its the state that sets the prices and decides the schedules. Saying they have privatised the most profitable routes is unfortunately just incorrect. The routes that have gone out to tender (which is open to Dublin bus) have been mainly orbital routes. By the same criteria practically all our primary and secondary schools are private schools and we have no public education system. Remember a large portion of the actual buildings are owned by the Catholic Church and run by independent/private boards of management.

In the case of intercity routes the reason you can only have 2 operators is due to government regulation of the routes and Bus Eireann management didn't think people wanted direct services. So services have improved. In terms of Public service obligation tenders we are back to the Dublin bus situation. The states funds the service decides on frequency etc. It should also be noted a big driver of the tendering is EU regulations on competition and the government complying with them.

You seem to falling for Dublin Bus and Bus Eireann propaganda as they try and protect their monopoly that if state funding goes to anyone but them it's suddenly not state funded. If you use that as your criteria for privatisation you are suddenly reclassifying large amounts of the public sector as the private sector. The primary and education system being a good example. Want the government to build more houses suddenly its a right wing policy because if any part is subcontracted out to private sector suddenly its no longer state funded.