Is the present FF/FG/GP government the worst in the history of the state?

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121194950#Comment_121194950

You’re some man 😂

so HAP, which helps poorer people afford to rent, is a scam?

So what’s the alternative then? Honestly I can’t wait to hear it.

As for building houses where would you like them to go? same goes for the materials and contractors where will they be gotten at such scale?

And lastly where will this money come from?

See you have a lot to whinge about and decry but very little in the way of effective solutions other than “affordable housing for everyone!”

You sound like PFP or one of them. Plenty to whinge about but scarce any useful solutions or ideas.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121194974#Comment_121194974

“Tax people less but build more houses!”

jesus you’re a dreamer mate.

Peter Flynt

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121194978#Comment_121194978

Well if HAP didn't exist rents wouldn't be as high. I think that is fairly obvious. Cui bono re HAP?

nachouser

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121194929#Comment_121194929

Well, no they did not have magic wands. They were built up piece by piece when property prices were very low in our terms and the locals were shooing off cattle from their garden. In Dublin.

Sconsey

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121194966#Comment_121194966

WTF?... you are complaining about a lack of public housing, the government should be providing affordable housing for all....but you also call tax immoral and theft....where does the money come from then?

Peter Flynt

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121194994#Comment_121194994

I never called tax immoral or theft. I called taking 40% of a single person's wage after €40000 to be immoral/theft. For the government to then boast about record tax receipts is then quite something. . . especially when they have spent 500 million more than the total cost of building the Burj Khalifa in Dubai to build one hospital and it is still not completed.

Sconsey

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121195003#Comment_121195003

Get real will you, you called the the 40% tax rate immoral and tantamount to theft. you are contradicting yourself and presenting incorrect numbers as fact.

Cluedo Monopoly

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121194853#Comment_121194853

So you have nothing tangible. I can list a lot of their initiatives that have utterly failed.

I heard a good one this morning. The government announced a year ago they are going to put solar panels on all schools. Progress to date? Zero schools.

Peter Flynt

I called that tax rate at €40000+ to be immoral or theft .

FrancieBrady

Not worse than the government that crashed us in 2008 but with the party that led that government now in power with the opposition that cheerled them over the edge, probably the 2nd worst. Enda Kenny’s one that conned everybody with promise of reform after the crash coming in 3rd.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121194991#Comment_121194991

What? Please explain how HAP has caused high rents exactly?

Cluedo Monopoly

They promised us New Politics in 2011 but the 2015 public service reform bill is still stalled and the TDs/Councillors are as corrupt as ever.

For Forks Sake

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058316774/is-the-present-ff-fg-gp-government-the-worst-in-the-history-of-the-state

Not event the worst government this century

"What IMF" saaid these clowns, as the IMF were already in the country. And that was less than 15 years ago, that we (as a country) have rebounded in relatively short period of time is remarkable.

Have a look at Greece (which all the SF/PBP types said we should follow) as an example of how not to do it.

BlueSkyDreams

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121195030#Comment_121195030

I listed some in earlier posts, but the bottom line is that ireland has one of the highest standards of living in the world, has full employment, exceptional job opportunities and one of the highest personal savings rates on the planet.

Most people (largely anyone that has a mortgage or owns their own home) are doing very well financially and although you are right that there are plenty of areas for improvement, the living standards for most people in ireland are exceptionally high.

If there are no solar panels on the local school roof, people will still have a good standard of living.

Most people holiday abroad every year, often 2 or 3 times. Bars, Restaurants, shops and cafes packed in Dublin most nights of the week. never mind the weekend.

Lots of people with lots of money and lots of job opportunites for people to join them living the high life, if people are so inclined.

Its not an excuse in ireland to say people cant earn good money and do well for themselves.

Put the work in and the opportunities are there.

Most countries do not afford those opportunities.

FrancieBrady

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121195082#Comment_121195082

This is one topic where deflection to party’s who never were in government is fairly pathetic tbh.

Jim_Hodge

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121194966#Comment_121194966

And, to go back to your own OP comparing this government historically, tax rates had been higher and allowances/credits lower for decades under successive governments. Maybe you need to rephrase the OP to fit the narrative you followed up with.

Tork

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121194974#Comment_121194974

So where would all of this extra money come from? If the government decided to pay nurses and teachers and gardai more money, every other public servant in the country would stick their hand up and look for a pay rise as well. It's easy to say on Boards that a garda is more valuable than a clerical worker in the HSE but real life doesn't work that way.

Cluedo Monopoly

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121195131#Comment_121195131

I have a very good job and mortgage almost paid off. However I do not accept mediocre in my life as readily as you do and I not credit the power swap charade with my success (I did vote FG for 20 years thinking they were honest). Come back to me when the trolley crisis is fixed, when waiting lists are reduced to decent levels, when housing and rentals are affordable for young people, when Irish nurses stop leaving for better work practices and standards of living, when public service corruption reform legislation is passed, when our children get better physical and mental health services, when we hit climate "plan" targets and aren't the worst country in EU for emissions per capita, when the whole country has decent broadband, when the Gardai is properly resourced and effective, when our justice system is fit for purpose, when our national broadcaster provides a service that is value for money, when we have a public transport system to be proud of, when we have a decent water/sewerage system and clean rivers/lakes etc etc etc. They have failed utterly in all the basics.

Cluedo Monopoly

I mean this is just today's news

No schools fitted with solar panels a year on from climate announcement (irishexaminer.com)

Not one school has yet been fitted with solar panels a year on from when the €50m climate action scheme was first announced, the Oireachtas education committee has heard.

They have lots of so called plans but nothing gets delivered.

Clo-Clo

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121195587#Comment_121195587

So who have you voted for to resolve these issues?

BlueSkyDreams

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121195587#Comment_121195587

All areas for improvement, sure.

But show me a country that doesnt have work to do and improvments to make.

The bottom line is we are near the top of the Premiership for standard of living, in global terms.

There is more to do, I agree, but the vast majority of countries are below us, there are very few above us.

One thing I would say that is related to a lot of the points you make is that we havent been able to keep up with infrastructure requirements vs our rapid population growth and of course, that impacts housing, healthcare and transport etc.

But staffing projects is very difficult when we are already at full employment and our very generous welfare state keeps plenty of folks out of the job market. If we could incentivise more people to work that do not currently, we could pour more resources into fixing some of those infrastructural projects.

Our non working household numbers are too high, but the flipside is we have a very well funded welfare sysytem, which is a positive, of course.

Cluedo Monopoly

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121195674#Comment_121195674

I voted for Catherine Connolly (IND) since 2016 and she is a very honest woman and has held this shoddy government to account many times. I will never vote FG again. FF never an option. Very unlikely to vote SF but I would vote SD. I think we need a new party or two with candidates/TDs that have integrity and vision. Most are just plain greedy now and block all reform. We still need the New Politics that FG promised in 2011. All lies of course.

downtheroad

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121194663#Comment_121194663

To be pedantic, it's 48.5% over €40k. 52% kicks in after €70k (70,044 I think, to be precise).

Cluedo Monopoly

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121195713#Comment_121195713

It's not about a few "improvements to make". These are fundamentals. The basics. Major major failings. Take your head out of the sand. I hope you never have to watch a relative try to sleep on a trolley in a busy corridor in pain. When did Enda promise to end the Trolley crisis ??

Peter Flynt

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121195587#Comment_121195587

THIS is precisely the point of this thread as never in the history of the state has a government boasted of so much revenue at its disposal and delivered so little. Where is all the money going?

Nothing summed it up greater than earlier today in Dail Eireann with Leo Varadkar trying to win a round of punch n judy politics with Mary Lou McDonald on the basis of 80,000 young people have emigrated over the last 3 years but 90,000 returned (he never declared their ages).

Other governments have been bad but they arguably have achievements to their name. The Ahern governments revolutionised the road network and introduced and extended broadband. They made huge investments in public sector bringing strikes to NIL from an era of industrial rest in the 1980s and Ahern can claim credit for peace in NI.

The present government seems to give billions away to NGOs to promote what they think. Millions provided to RTE and radio stations under the guise of "Government of Ireland" (TM) adverts.

It's a government which literally delivers next to nothing.

BlueSkyDreams

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121195734#Comment_121195734

Not many countries dont have similar issues. Take a look over the water to the UK, as an example.

They have a major trolley crisis in hospitals.

Again, more workers required to provide the level of care we need.

We need more people in the workforce to support a growing population.

timmyntc

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121195056#Comment_121195056

Common knowledge that HAP pushes up rents - its more money chasing finite supply of rentals. How would it not inflate rental prices?

Clo-Clo

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121195722#Comment_121195722

Vote SD or some party, you might as well stayed as home instead of wasting the fuel driving to a polling booth to vote for independents.

mykrodot

it always makes me laugh when posters claim that people going abroad for holidays is a barometer of how wealthy we are!!

They are going abroad because its a hundred times CHEAPER than trying to holiday in Ireland! These are the hard working families who pay for everything, taxed to the hilt, kids in school, doing everything right! They are going abroad because its either that or no holiday at all!

(and I guarantee you if restuarants are packed every night of the week, it is with tourists or stag/hen parties, nobody in my family or friend circle can afford meals out anymore!)

suvigirl

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121194920#Comment_121194920

That doesn't mean what you seem to think it does.

if it did every government would also have to provide food and clothing, healthcare for everyone also