Is there any party or person worth voting for in modern-day Irish politics?

Absolutely disgusting that once again the good republicans will close their ears to reports of abuse of female unionists and dismiss it as mere criticism.

The Shinnerbot phenonemon on social media is now well accepted, but it does not make for a welcoming environment for women who differ from Sinn Fein. Whether you are Arlene Foster or Mairia Cahill or Helen McEntee, you know that they are always coming for you with abuse and misogyny.

Thats because in the larger city councils, 20% of the money is ultimatley transferred out of the area to support rural counties.

So why charge your constituents more in Dublin City if 1 household in 5 is giving all the money to Roscommon?

Thats hardly a vote winner, whatever colour your political skin.

Especially given that any shortfall to deliver essential services will come from central govt anyway.

True, but via central funding reductions it still does, Ultimatley.

i.e. Dublin City keeps it money from the 1 in 5 LPT, but loses the central funding to Roscommon instead.

So same outcome.

This is just a bizarre claim.

Where did I say Arlene Foster and her family never got abused?

It does, because by not applying the discount, you are asking the propery owners to pay an amount that is otherwise covered by central govt.

Where did I say anything about her father?

I knew her father, they lived about a mile away from where I am sitting now.

I said NOTHING about him being a legitimate target.

This is just disgraceful dogwhistling debating.

Then how would a county in deficit make up the shortfall, if it wasnt receiving LPT transfers?

What we need to do is increase the freedom of county councils to set higher and lower rates and abolish the central transfer. Then we could have real local elections where people vote on the basis of whether they want higher LPT and better services or lower LPT and worse services.

I understand the old system isnt there anymore. I am not disagreeing with you.

But I seem to recall that some councils were running >15% deficit on their LPT, so an increase to even the max 15% wouldn't cover the delta.

Now it could be that as a result, the councils spend less, as you say.

But it could also be the case that additional central funding makes up the shortfall, as there are other sources of govt funding, again, as you point out.

But if the additional central funding increases to close the delta, then someone, somewhere, is losing out, as they have lost spend that was previously allocated to them.

Its a difficult one to calibrate across all the councils as the income generation capabilities is so varied.

I like the idea, but I guess it is unequitable for the more rural counties whom dont have the population (or the house prices) to generate enough income to make their 15% count for much.

But on a personal note, I would quite happily pay more if i knew there was an ROI, above and beyond what we recieve today from DCC.

But I would want it fully costed and segregated from core spend. I know I would never get that. :)

The house prices issue isn't what should be driving the level of LPT. The amount of services should be driving that. If services cost more in rural areas because of the dispersed population, then those living there should pay for that.

So roughly what % of people living rurally are farmers?

Fair enough, we’ve almost a million more. How many more hospital beds have we? School places? Prison places? Houses?

When I was younger and the country was a lot poorer our bins were collected, you’d often see street sweepers out cleaning the roads, plenty of council house building going on, rentals available without selling your firstborn, lots of apprenticeships available. What’s improved since then? How’s the children’s hospital going?

To claim that Ireland is “stable” is to have your head well and truly buried in the sand. Ireland is a plaything to those with money connected to the “elite”.

Its true, but it is also logical that some services are going to cost more in absolute terms to a dispersed population than a concentrated one.

Waste management services for instance. It is a lot more expensive and time consuming to serve a thousand people in rural Mayo than the same mumber in a single apartment complex in Cork or Dublin.