Following on from
this thread
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Got to feel for Ossian Smyth (G) who's on Saturday with Katie Hannon, Generally an incoherent chap at the best of times , he's struggling. Problem after problem, crisis after crisis being discussed and he's just lost (almost embarrassed)
Interestingly but not surprisingly not a FG representative to be found, Normally Colm Brophy, camp's outside Montrosia on Friday evening to make sure he gets a seat on the show ( as far away from a SF representative as possible) mind you 😏
Smyth is honest. I will give him that.
Not surprised that FFG were hiding. They wouldn't put their names to the commentary on the housing disaster speech during the week.
They even brought up the Rural Broadband plan - does any government project ever go to plan or within budget?
Let's not mention the new NMCH 🤔
Is a poll due this evening?
Think that there's a RedC poll due either tonight or next weekend. If it is tonight then the polling may have captured Higgins' housing comments and Varadkar's rant. RedC uses a panel of about 40K voters that it thinks represents the electorate. That makes it different from the other pollsters who use random samples. It has some of the characteristics of a tracking poll (which surveys the same people each time) and some of a random sample poll. It always underestimates FF support but FG support has also been struggling in the RedC polls. Varadkar's rant might help FF slightly as it took some of the focus off Higgins and his housing comments.
RTE isn't exactly unbiased but its "The Week In Politics" has a token Green TD but no FF or FG TDs on to discuss the cost of living. It is interesting that FF and FG have gone to ground and are sending out a Green TD to defend the government. As usual, RTE can be relied upon to pretend that Labour is a major political party.
https://twitter.com/rtetwip/status/1538129889445937153
Regards...jmcc
Indeed , FFG appear to be in hiding , none on Saturday with Katie Hannon.
Thanks for update re Polls 😏
Sinn Fein have taking over Red C's polls, they cannot be taking serious
That wonderful FF conspiracy theory? :) If brains were dynamite they wouldn't have enough to blow their nose.
Don't forget Paul's pal Peter who loves robbing us and Mary blind.
What exactly does the housing minister do all day? All I can see is ineptness in every facet of the housing disaster.
An Bord Pleanála hit with fines as 5,500 houses now delayed - Independent.ie
An Bord Pleanála hit with fines as 5,500 houses now delayed
Section overseen by Paul Hyde faces new deadlines on plans for 25,000 home by August.
An Bord Pleanála is paying out fines to a growing number of builders and developers because it is now routinely missing planning decision deadlines on major housing projects.
More than 5,500 individual proposed housing units in Strategic Housing Developments (SHDs) are currently overdue a decision from the board.
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I understand that fines are 10,000 for each delay. Crazy stuff.
More ineptness around the housing disaster.
Councils not collecting vacant site levies due - Independent.ie
Councils not collecting vacant site levies due.
More than half of the country’s local authorities have not collected a single euro of the vacant site levy from landowners since its introduction in 2018, according to new figures obtained from the Department of Housing.
They also reveal only 8pc of money due for payment under the levy last year was collected by various city and county councils.
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Can this government achieve anything???
I believe his mentor taught him quite a few things.
This clown needs replaced ASAP
That is a very damning article. How is he the housing minister!? A lot of New Politics going on there.
He's kept busy arranging FF strokes 😏
I think and I've said previously this APB debacle is going to get very ugly and cosily by all accounts.
Eoghan Murphy was Bad (I'm being kind) but my god Darragh O Brien is.... Well words I'd dare not use on a Sunday 😁
A lot left out as well. Maybe they couldn't publish some of it. I remember hearing about him being given GV Wrights seat, and then his brother was given his seat, and now is the only one they put up in that area. I don't know many out that way, but the few I do know seem to be under no illusions about him. 🤷♂️
Always amazed me FF took the housing portfolio given as they must have known the Bucket of Poo FG made of it over a decade, I suppose to be fair Covid didn't help but even that aside , some of ideas O Brien has come up are simply codswallop. Leo must have been grinning like a Cheshire cat when FF took the portfolio, thinking foolishly FG can pass the buck , that notion hasn't ended well.
It's utterly perplexing how it was actually possible to make a bad situation, Catastrophic.
By far Darragh O Brien the worst performing minister in any portfolio in living memory, next to Stephen Donnelly and that's saying alot given Simon Harris's performance in Health which essentially brought down a Government.
Has Harris got around to that matter he's being considering for Mionths ,incidently, at this rate, Leo's little troubles will be resolved quicker than Harris's indecision 🤔
What exactly is O'Briens role in this government?
I thought he was minister for housing, heritage and local government (which to me seems like a serious conflict of interest). Yet his last few tweets show he is or was in Finland at a meeting with the Finnish ministry for the environment, and has previously (November) made a statement in the Dáil telling us that the European court judgment would be “complied with” when the Derrybrien Wind Farm was “subjected to a retrospective Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) – otherwise known as substitute consent”. There are other examples of him wearing the minister of the environment hat too... Is he doing Eamonn Ryans job too?
Last weeks last minute law change seems to have shone a torch on him. He has essentially changed the law so that (judging by the sector that seem to give the most donations to him) the people that stand to benefit most from the housing disaster, can donate unlimited amounts to him so that FF can benefit from the back of same housing disaster..
Ideally they should be CPO'ing any land that has been rezoned and is being hoarded by the developers, if they don't start building on it. Block the non residents buying up blocks of apartments etc. too, at least temporarily. The bullsh*t that this lot get up to is crazy.
I used to always think that the best stroke is the Breast Stroke. How wrong was I, it's of course the Fianna Fail Stroke.
I've one simple question, Would you buy a used car off Darragh O Brien 🤔 😁
Housing and health is were they make their money. Housing is working out perfectly well. Big money in it. **** the public.
Of course there's that, silly me 😏
Well I have known Darragh for 22 years and in the past few years my estimation of him has gone right down.
I've tried to figure him out and I'm just honestly struggling.
Cluedo you need to dampen down your unrealistic expectations, everyone knows that you cant build houses overnight 👍️
Are you building a Dossier 😁
By the quotes above overnight must be at least 10 years.
i wonder are there serious tensions re the budget in October in govt. Leo V and FG wanting more universal measures re cost of living to ensure their wealthy friends aren’t left out of any tax cuts.
While FF and the greens demanding more targeted measures rather then across the board the FG are demanding.
Will be interesting how this plays out. In the end I suspect a compromise will be agreed that will satisfy all parties.
Vultures, private investment funds, landlords, speculators and developers in any event will be the big winners in any budget giveaway.
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