Following on from
this thread
Please remain civil or posting privileges will be removed
Rules don't apply to FG just to everyone else. Can you imagine what the uproar would be like from FG if another party did this?
Just days after Harris said " Zero tolerance should mean zero tolerance" here we Harris saying "FG Senator McGahon is sorry and it won't happen again" this after he denied the allegations, always different rules when it is one of their own. Watch the usual spin on head of a pin to defend this.
If Harris were anyway serious about his Zero Tolerance utterances then McGahon should be removed as a senator but not Harris is ok with what he did because he said he is sorry and not only that is going to allow him run in the election representing FG.
Good work by the government in getting the travel ban lifted Tori Towey and getting her home
As MM said, he only talks to the press when he has good news
Other TD's are too busy trying to raise their profile and no consideration for the person in the middle
Going with the trump childish name calling playbook now. Classy as always.
Do as we say but not as we do.
Leo probably leaked more info during Covid days but Simon did his cronyism leak purely out of self interest. I'd say Leo was trusted more by FG TDs whereas I suspect they distrust Simon who has been plotting to get the top job for many years. He will be ruthless to keep it too.
Paschal was criticised by fellow FG TDs for being prudent and not doing a massive giveaway budget before the 2020 election. Simon is ensuring that doesn't happen this time around and poor Paschal has to make the spending rule excuses.
Was it not MLMD who brought this to the government's attention
I am confused.
It was @Cluedo Monopoly who posted "Crony Coveney" but it is @JP Liz V1 who is saying that they won't stop using it.
Are there two posters using the nickname?
Oh give over with the baiting. Read back over the thread and you might be able to follow the discussion. If you think me and JP are the same poster, report it. I think you know how.
You're afraid to reply directly to me but no problem accusing me of having two accounts to Clo-Clo. Wow. No honour in that.
I have used nicknames for TDs in the past and will continue to do so
Helen McEmpty
Roderic O Gormless
And so on
No idea, but if they invite you to a party anytime soon I would advise to turn it down
Doesn't sound very exciting.
Watching paint dry sounds like better fun than looking at adults going around telling each other about nicknames of TD's they have never met in their life
Very stout defence of this guy…
https://www.thejournal.ie/donohoe-defends-coveney-zappone-controversy-5537214-Sep2021/
At the committee meeting yesterday, Coveney revealed that while he did not receive a formal invitation to the Merrion Hotel party, he did receive a text from Zappone about it taking place.
He also said that he had since deleted a number of text messages exchanged with Zappone and Varadkar in relation to the special envoy role and the Merrion Hotel event.
and…
Coveney said it was a matter for the Taoiseach on whether there should be an inquiry into who leaked from Cabinet.
We all know who leaked…
If you want to make accusations about poster I suggest you contact the mods.
In terms of talking about honour 😂 hilarious
Our population hasn't increased by more than 5% in the last 12 months.
All of the rest of your points are meant to be accounted for within the 5% rule created by this very government. None of them are exceptional. Go have a look at the arguments they made in favour of the 5% rule when they brought it in.
Theres a reason economics experts are calling this rapid expansion of state spending a terrible idea. We're becoming more and more reliant on a single volatile tax source (corporation tax) to fund rapidly expanding state spending while at the same time cutting other taxes repeatedly.
We're repeating literally the exact mistakes of the Celtic Tiger years with the reliance on property then. Its incredibly irresponsible governing.
https://www.ceicdata.com/en/indicator/ireland/nominal-gdp#:~:text=Central%20Statistics%20Office%20provides%20Nominal,is%20used%20for%20currency%20conversions.&text=In%20the%20latest%20reports%2C%20Ireland,13.1%20%25%20YoY%20in%20Dec%202022.
Nominal GDP increased by 13.1% in 2022. If public spending increased by less than 13.1% in 2022, then the public sector shrank as a proportion of GDP.
Now, if you are a right-wing hawk, this is a good idea. So those, like you, who support the 5% rule, can be consigned to the far right. Those of us, like me, who are left of centre, think that the 5% rule is a silly idea.
https://www.cso.ie/en/releasesandpublications/ep/p-gfsa/governmentfinancestatistics2022october2023/keyfindings/#:~:text=Total%20government%20revenue%20increased%20to,more%20than%20the%20previous%20year.
As it is, in 2022, government expenditure increased by 1% over 2021, a long way short of the 13.1% increase in nominal GDP. In order to keep government expenditure fixed at a certain percentage of GDP, you would have to increase by about 6% a year in 2023 and 2024, and hope that nominal GDP stays flat.
https://www.statista.com/statistics/377017/ratio-of-government-expenditure-to-gross-domestic-product-gdp-in-ireland/
As it is, government expenditure as a percentage of GDP is projected in 2024 to be 23.7%, below the 2019 figure of 24.1%, despite all of the improvements since then.
To conclude, absent major decrease in GDP, government expenditure is not currently a problem. As I said, those wishing to curtail it are likely to be right-wing hawks, or else just malcontents.
And some of the posters moaning at you were calling Mary Lou McDonald "Mary Sue" on another thread
I'd love to say "you couldn't make it up" but it's pretty much par for the course round here
It was,but she had a srangely blank face when Harris anounced she was free to go
You'd swear Mary Lou had her speeches wrote right up untill the Dáil recess giving out about government inaction and was caught on the hop with the speed of the turnaround
A normal reaction would be clapping and her face beaming with joy
Instead we have the spectacle of Simon Harris having the opportunity to go on six one live again promoting himself,talk about a backfire for SF?
So she was approached by a party colleague, on behalf of a constituent. She raised it in the Dail. It was News to Harris, but he got on board, good man. Success. The family thanked the councilor, McDonald and Harris. That's their job.
You post a little vignette inspired by an expression on McDonald's face. Well done.
It's not the Dail bar. If we know McDonald raised it, others likely do. But well done Harris too. I'm sure he played a part.
He's Fine Gael family stock.
So much for Harris and his criticism of the defence forces and "we need to have a zero-tolerance approach". He certainly holds employed members of the defence forces to a higher standard than his own party. He made a complete hypocrite of himself.
Coveny gone ,thought he was one of the good ones ,somethings coming,???
Harris is a hypocrite, both did assaults
https://www.independent.ie/irish-news/simon-harris-not-satisfied-at-defence-forces-handling-of-fallout-of-cathal-crotty-assault-on-natasha-obrien/a1393956568.html
The release didn't happen overnight, diplomatic efforts were happening in the background for quite a while.
By raising it in the Dail, MLMD raised the risk of the Dubai authorities reacting badly, her intervention was counter-productive. Well done to the Embassy lads and the government.
The department have been working on it for weeks. It's a poor attempt by Mary Lou at trying to get her face onto some excellent work by the Department which Simon Harris was quick to Thank when he made the announcement
Do you honestly think Mary Lou brings this up in Dail and a few hours later a country like UAE suddenly releases this lady to travel home? a bit of cop on.
MM also pointed out yesterday that they don't approach the media on situation like this, which of course they shouldn't as everyone is entitled to privacy, they work away and try to get it resolved as quickly as possible.
The main people that should be thanks is the embassy and the departments. Not Mary Lou running around looking for a few likes.
I think people should stop trying to score points over a family's ordeal.
"Ms Flynn said both government and opposition TDs had been “amazing” in the support they had given to their family." from the indo.
Ye both won. Have at it
The department should get the thanks as per my post. They have been working on it and they arranged the return of her passport
Mary Lou done nothing, neither did Simon Harris in reality, but at least Simon had the decency to Thank the people who did the work
Yes MLMD brought to attention of the Dail and Simon Harris was not aware of the case. Even with Michael Martin with The Department of Foreign Affairs said it was aware of the case and providing consular assistance.
https://www.gov.ie/en/press-release/b8036-statement-by-the-tanaiste/
So who is taking credit now for the result?
Ireland's GDP bears almost no relation to the performance of our domestic economy. Thats exceptionally common knowledge, its why we're not even included in GDP comparison charts by economists any more.
Which completely invalidiates literally every single part of your post.
"International agreements oblige Ireland to publish economic data according to common standards. But these standards make little sense in Ireland’s case—notably when totting up GDP, which measures the value of goods and services produced in a country. Ireland’s generous corporate-tax regime has made it a hub for multinational tech and pharmaceutical companies. These firms generate much of their income in Ireland, inflating its GDP, but funnel that money to their headquarters (or shell companies) abroad. Those incomes should not be fully counted when measuring the size of Ireland’s economy."
https://www.economist.com/the-economist-explains/2023/10/31/whats-weird-about-irelands-gdp
The neutral, expert, Irish Fiscal Council also disagrees with you completely. And completely disproves with your previous post claiming the increase was due to things like capital spending:
"The State's fiscal watchdog has claimed that the Government is adopting an 'everything now’ approach of current spending increases, tax cuts and increased investment for next year’s budget.
Responding to the publication yesterday of the Summer Economic Statement, the Irish Fiscal Advisory (IFAC) also said that by breaking its own rule limiting spending increases to 5%, the Government is increasing the risk of the economy overheating and adding to inflation pressure.
"The plans for the budget are significantly more expansionary than April’s Stability Programme Update," IFAC said in a series of tweets on social media platform X.
"This comes at a time when the economy is performing well. Unemployment is at record lows and employment is at record highs."
"As a result, the economy does not need more money pumped into it from Budget 2025."
The council also said that when windfall corporation tax receipts are excluded, the Government is planning on running a deficit of €5.5 billion next year.
"This comes while the economy is performing well. If underlying surpluses are not being run now, when would they be run?" it asked.
IFAC also alleged that the claims in the SES that the increased budget package for 2025 is to, in part, fund higher capital spending, is not true.
"Plans for investment in 2025 are unchanged from the April forecasts. Instead, all the increased spending in 2025 is for current spending," IFAC stated."
https://www.rte.ie/news/business/2024/0710/1459234-govt-adopting-everything-now-approach-to-budget-ifac/
Lads. She was asked to raise it in the Dail. She did. It was news to Harris. The family wanted her to raise it in the Dail. That's her job. End of story. Of course there were likely numerous civil servants working on it, as it is their job.
The family thanked everyone. It reads like some of you are peeved because Mary Lou played a part. Get over it. The result was great.
It's very telling that McDonald playing a role in having the air hostess released causes more of a stir than Harris making a mockery of Natasha O'Brien by pretending to have her back, when he is guilty of the kind of turning a blind eye to assault he accused others of.
“There can be no toleration, there has to be zero tolerance for violence of the kind that we witnessed against Natasha O’Brien – quite shocking – and indeed, in other cases that have come to light.“In parallel with that, an audit is under way in respect of any other cases, similar to that case that may be out there.”He added: “The use of violence in the manner that was used in these cases is quite shocking, there is no excuse for it.
“There can be no toleration, there has to be zero tolerance for violence of the kind that we witnessed against Natasha O’Brien – quite shocking – and indeed, in other cases that have come to light.
“In parallel with that, an audit is under way in respect of any other cases, similar to that case that may be out there.”
He added: “The use of violence in the manner that was used in these cases is quite shocking, there is no excuse for it.
https://www.limerickleader.ie/news/national-news/1537812/harris-not-satisfied-at-defence-forces-handling-of-soldier-who-attacked-woman.html
I wonder how the news of Harris being 'happy' to have McGahon as a candidate sat with Natasha O'Brien.
Why would Harris know about it?
He is the Taoiseach, he has departments to look after this and they had already been looking after it
Fair play to all the people who worked hard to get her home and safe
You seem to think using what happened to that lady is now a points scoring exercise online, never mind the victim, she is just now open to fire around online.
Take one issues and then vaguely tie it to another to have a pop at a political party.
How many times now have you posted the same thing on this thread?
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