fine gael EIRCON

GoneShootin

has anyone else seen the billboard ads that FG are running ? I realise it has nothing much to do with the internet situation, but the way the magnifiying glass hits eircom to reveal EIRCON. well, i thought it was humerous.

dahamsta

I wish they'd do something about their website, it's awful.

adam

GoneShootin

i was looking for that !!

couldnt find it, for as you say, an awful site

yellum

I wish they'd stop promising everything to everyone. I hear that their Telecoms ideas are pretty darned good though.

dahamsta

I wish they'd stop promising everything to everyone. I hear that their Telecoms ideas are pretty darned good though.

Who, Fine Gael? (The reason I ask is that Eircom's comms ideas seem to be pretty good too, if they would actually knuckle down to it and stop trying to fight competition. I honestly believe that with the marketing and customer service skills the company is and has been building; together with the obvious technical skills they have; that they would be able to retain the lion's share of the market if they took the initiative, opened up to competition, and embraced it. I'm not kidding, I really believe that.)

Well, Ivan Yates' policy document on tech and comms from a couple years ago was pretty good, but who knows what it would be like if they got into power (as if they would!)? Eircom appear to be lobbying the Government and the DoPE pretty hard, and from what I hear about the Communications Bill, they seem to be doing a pretty good job of it, i.e. the Government are buckling under to them. Who's to say Fine Gael wouldn't do the same thing?

The big issue here is jobs, and the fact that no-one is willing to stand up and say that Eircom is obscenely over-employed. I can understand the fear, but I mean seriously, how long does the Irish Government expect to gloss over the issue? Does it think the Irish people are stupid, and aren't going to see through the pretty paintwork? I feel sorry for the employees the most, because the longer it goes on, the more chance they have of getting royally screwed.

adam

GoneShootin

on a completely different topic, with no relevence asuch to the IOFFL plight [for which i may be accosted]

just playing round with those GATHERING CARD templates, made this, not great, but hey, my first attempt

sceptre

Don't want to turn this into a political discussion...


... but in the future, will Fine Gael be offering money back on other schemes where people pumped money into them in search of what they think will be an easy fast buck, only to find out, to their horror, that shares can actually go down?

... is this a once-off or will they be offering a scheme where people can write off share losses against regular income for tax purposes (might actually think about that one)

Mick Noonan, you've lost my vote, for one (and it was going to be soo easy - all you would have to have done was nothing)

Rebel18

Could the poster be aimed at frustrated eircon shareholders?
Since that he is planing to ease their pain if he was in charge.

GoneShootin

Could the poster be aimed at frustrated eircon shareholders?

thats exactly the point of the particular campaign. Mike wants to undermine FF, highlight the mistakes made. notice the blurb "Fine Gael, for better return"

but lets stay away from the politics of FG v Everyone

Typedef

<No need to quote my whole bloody post Typedef! - adam>

What adam said, remeber how Michael Lowry was accused of taking monies to licence some cellular telco deal to company X? I'm not saying FF are any less corrupt, clearly the corruption between the two is much of a muchness (Ray Burke, Charlie?) but FG do not have a good record in the area of lobbyists and telcos. Remeber the Dennis O'Brien scandal with that Scandanavian firm? Tut, tut!

Victor

Again not wishing to drift into politics, but:

Originally posted by sceptre
... but in the future, will Fine Gael be offering money back on other schemes where people pumped money into them in search of what they think will be an easy fast buck, only to find out, to their horror, that shares can actually go down?

But the thing is, the system as it stands only benefits the (relatively) rich and takes the small first time investor for a ride.

Originally posted by sceptre
... is this a once-off or will they be offering a scheme where people can write off share losses against regular income for tax purposes (might actually think about that one)

I discussed this with an accountant friend and a problem arises when capital gains (20% tax) and ordinary income (42% tax) are merged - it would still benefit the rich. What needs to happen is that the tax rates need to converge.

Lennoxschips

If people are complaining that they lost money in the stock market then maybe they shouldn't have got into it in the first place. If I bet on a horse and it doesn't win, will FG refund my stake?

pete

Originally posted by Lennoxschips
If people are complaining that they lost money in the stock market then maybe they shouldn't have got into it in the first place. If I bet on a horse and it doesn't win, will FG refund my stake?

I don't particularly agree with what they're proposing, because I think people just got greedy - but I believe FG's reasoning is:

(i) People wouldn't have invested so much in Eircom if the government hadn't hyped the sale up

(ii) They wouldn't have lost as much if the initial price had been set at a more realistic price

In effect, they're saying that what the Government (and by extension, the State) did with (i) was in principle the same as what the people who send those stupid "BUY THIS STOCK NOW!" spam emails are trying to do - hyping the stock to further increase the profit to the State from (ii).

While with regard to Eircom it may not have been illegal, it sure as hell wasn't 100% ethical.

(Not necessarily my opinion, mind - I vote Joe Higgins.)

Victor

Originally posted by Lennoxschips
If people are complaining that they lost money in the stock market then maybe they shouldn't have got into it in the first place. If I bet on a horse and it doesn't win, will FG refund my stake?

The stock market is not gambling, yes there is risk, but it is not gambling. Eircom was sold as an investment, not as a means of changing a public (benevolent) monopoly into a private (benevolent???????) monopoly.

Oh and the ordinary punter pays what percentage in betting tax?

Fergus

The irony is if the 'liberalised' telecoms market in Ireland had actually been properly regulated from the start, eircom would have had to have become an efficient well-run company, and the shareholders probably would not have lost out. Instead, we've seen a govt appoint a powerless regulator, appoint an incompetent board to TE, cave-in to the CWU with the ESOT thing, rush through the fire-sale to Valencia, and to top it all off now try and railroad an emaciated Comms Bill. FG take note.

scojones

Sinn Fein!!

dahamsta

If you'd like to point to Sinn Féin's comms and tech policy sjones, I'm sure we'd all love to read it. Until you do, I'd hasten to point out that this isn't a political forum, and if you posted like that in the Politics forum here, you'd be summarily booted.

adam

scojones

alright i apologise, it was my way of saying this thread has gone political. Sorry heh.