Enda kenny's legacy as Taoiseach.

Tombo2001 wrote: »

I would say he is the best Taoiseach in my lifetime. And am saying that as someone who has given first preferences to 4 different political parties over time.

Reason I say it - is when I look at his track record - and compare it to Jack Lynch, Charlie, Garrett, Albert, John Bruton, Bertie and Brian Cowen - I simply think govt performance was stronger for a sustained period of time under his stewardship than any of the others.

Of course you can look at gaffs he has made and laugh at him. I'm looking at govt performance under his stewardship, and comparing it to others. I dont think there is any other way he should be judged.

filbert the fox wrote: »

Ahem, spending €1,000,000,000 of taxpayers money on a white elephant called Irish Water is not a major scandal?! HELLO?

Have we forgotten already that the redundant water meters cost €750,000,000 alone. How many houses could've been built for that money?
Because Enda Kenny blinked after setting the per litre charge for water we are now taxing motorists to pay for water.

The recovery happened not thanks to Mr. Kenny but because those of us who braved it out had to pay new taxes. And just in case you forgot:

Pension Levy
Household Charge
USC
Income Levy
Property Tax
NPPR
Water Charges
Vat increase
Vastly reduced inheritance tax threshold
PRSI and USC on Rental Income

:mad:

Tombo2001 wrote: »

I find it heavily ironic that you'd make a reference to mindless acolytes; while at the same time being happy to blame all the woes of the world on the government. I'd consider that mindless.

As mentioned, I've voted for four different political parties in my lifetime.

Comment above refers to 'record breaking homeless'.

Two points I would make about that.

1. Yes a lot of people are 'homeless' in Dublin. Qualify that though. They are not sleeping on the streets. They are in temporary accomodation. I think the term 'homeless' is bandied about pretty loosely. Not trying to diminish the position of people who are in temporary accomodation; however they have somewhere to stay. The vast majority of the people you describe as 'homeless' are not on the streets, they have somewhere to stay which incidentally is being paid for by the taxpayer.

2. Why is there some much homelessness in Dublin.
In my view there are a few reasons
(I) Because housebuilding fell off a cliff in the late 2000's. Thats a fact. Housebuilding fell from 80'000 a year to 5000 a year. If we had built an extra 10'000 house a year over the past decade - that would be 100'000 house in total- the homeless problem would not be so acute as it is today. There was a general election in 2011. Fine Gael were elected at this election. I did not hear any of the internet crusaders for the homeless calling out for more house to be built at this time. But of course with the wonderful power of hindsight, the government should have done this that and the other.

(II) Moreover - High rents, high house prices and consequently homelessness is something that quite often happens in highly successful cities. There is a homeless problem in London, in San Francisco, in New York. People there have been priced out of the accomodation market. They cant afford to live where they grew up. The same happens in Dublin - and of course here its a the governments fault.

(III) The state supports for welfare dependant people and low income people are absolutely huge here. People on HAP schemes quite frequently are in a position to pay rents of EUR1500-2000 per month. They are in a stronger position in the rental market than professionals who have skilled themselves up and are earning 50k/60k per annum.

So lets over look the fact that the economy has recovered from a precipice, that we are at full employment, that skilled workers are coming here from all over the world because of the healthy state of our economy - and lets just concentrate on the fact that because a natural consequence of strong economic performance is rising house prices, therefore some people find it difficult to afford rent.

Maybe you'd prefer we all went back to low wages, working in tshirt factories, and the lowest house prices in Europe. That would certainly solve the 'homeless' problem.

Again, to my earlier point - who was a better Taoiseach?

kbannon wrote: »

In fairness:
* do you object to the establishment of Irish Water (and having to pay for water) or how the politicians from *all* parties could not agree on a funding model to the point that they all ended up breaking it?
* some of your €1bn figure would have been spent on water and sewage services anyhow. Maybe you should remove those costs before moaning.
* in terms of "taxing motorists to pay for water", the costs of public water (excluding private wells and group water schemes) and sewage treatment always came from the exchequer although the funding was never enough to meet the required costs (hence why the system is now so poor). The estimated costs to fix the system are €10bn and this now will have to come from the exchequer. How many houses now won't be built because of this whinging by the populist parties?
* in terms of listing off a range of taxes, what's your point exactly? Do you think a country shouldn't have taxation?

Tombo2001 wrote: »

I'm not downplaying the issue of homelessness at all. I'm saying its point scoring to lay all the blame for a complex problem at the door of government.

Back to the question

In the past 40 years, who was a better Taoiseach than Enda Kenny, and why?

Its a straight question, if you have a straight answer I would like to hear it.