Ye were conned, Laura F. You’ll have your chance to strike back at the next G Election. She is a hypocrite & she has shown herself to be that.

Mr. Carroll

Your previous comments display a blueshirt agenda to your sneer-snicked grin on your photo. I’m sure many of the readers here will take your views as superior to those of nobel economist Nouriel Roubini who recently warned that Ireland cannot continue without radical political change.

The people would vote Fine Gael and Labor out of office.

Rob – play the ball & not the person. If you have to get personal, it means u really have no arguments to fall back on. As for this ” you are a blueshirt ” line many on the left throw – so predictable at this stage. Change the record. Irish politics has to change & so has the behaviour of the likes of Claire Daly & Co. So has the whole attitude of the Irish electorate. As a commentator here says – we have a football team mentality when it comes to politics. Support whatever team blindingly. Hopefully she will be gone at next G Election & I hope people vote in someone who is actually worthy.

At least I & many others have our real profiles up on this & are not hiding behind anonymity, Rob. Why haven’t you ? Be brave & put up your real profile & let us all see who you are. No ? Thought so. I am no fan of Claire D. Sussed her from day one & am glad in a way she has been found out. Am glad many more are seeing the light.

I have a sneaky suspicion that the majority of people here who use the term “blueshirt” as an all-propose and highly witty reply to any question they have no answers for may not actually know what a “blueshirt” was. Recieved wisdom, ain’t it grand.

U said it -

Even if someone was only going to and from the Dail from their constituency office, that would cost the guts of 3,000e based on the numbers you have provided. Obviously a TD does far more travelling than that even in their own constituency, Dublin North has 19 electoral divisions alone.

While I would be opposed to excessive expenses, I accept that a TD could legitimately use €20,000+ in their day to day constituency work. Outside of that of course TD’s can work in different areas outside their constituency. Obviously not to go on holidays and junkets that return no value for the taxpayer, but if it is politically relevant work and useful to the nation as a whole then it is acceptable in my opinion.

The merits of opposing the HHC is of course an ideological issue, but all TD’s would use expenses to further their ideological allegiances, such as Fine Gael TDs and Ministers going around the country to promote the FCT.

I’m shocked! Imagine a Marxist Leninist lying to people!!

fact!!Shes a spoofer of the highest order,god blessiss

Aye !! Some “socialist” alright.

Well done Clare Joe Mick and gang you guys must be the only socialists on the planet campaigning against a property tax . I heard Joe on yesterday saying that people with second homes should notpay it either .
Not sure where they think the money comes for them all to be junketing around the country spouting there particular brand of Socialism beacuse as we can see from Clares buddy Mick VAT or Tax for builders is not something they can be to bothered with either

You brought up something very interesting here Pat. If you have a look back at thejournal.ie article on Pearse Doherty’s travel allowances (http://www.thejournal.ie/pearse-doherty-expenses-no-breach-leinster-house-travel-503075-Jun2012/) you will note that the 45,000 miles that he logged in travel entitled him to a payment of 22,575 euro. However, as his entitlement exceeded the cap on such allowances his actual payment was 11,273 euro. This enlightening piece of information resulted in the accusations against Mr. Doherty being found as groundless.

I would think that the above findings (especially in view of the cap on these expenses) puts your assertions regarding travel allowance payments of 22,000euro to Ms Daly in another context entirely – even for a Dublin TD!

Mr. O Beag,

Her expenses were used for a good purpose. The people are tired of paying stealth taxes to pay bondholders of Anglo Irish Bank. The Irish deficit balooned to 32% of GDP because of corporate socialism.

Rob,

The fact of the matter is thus, she used taxpayers money to travel outside of her constituency to encourage people to break the law. She and her cohorts enticed hundreds of thousands of people across the country to break the law, all of whom are now dealing with the pressure of mounting fines and the imposing threat of legal action on top of the rest of the uncertainty in their lives. I’m not saying that the housing charge was in anyway right or just but it’s like road tax, no-one likes to pay it, but they do, because they’re legally required to do so.

Forgive me, but I can’t understand how her actions, or those of Higgins and Collins, can be described as anyway justifiable. They abused the system, deal with it.. It would transpire that these beacons of moral justice are nothing more than hypocrites and have succeeded in nothing more than disgracing our national parliament since their election with their antics.

Correct, Gemma.

“enticed hundreds of thousands of people across the country to break the law”

Are you Robocop? She campaigned against a stealth tax which people are saddled with to pay for the gambling debts of bankers and their ponzi scheme. You can call that what you want, but 50% of people have stood firm against a government with no mandate. Stop allowing yourself to be duped.

Gemma McGrory,

You are the typical example of an Irish electorate who just sits back and takes it up the… It has to be said you are naieve. As a taxpayer, I have no problem with Clare campaigning for civil disobedience. No sane-minded person would pay a tax to Bankers. The Irish people already pay the lions share of tax to a corrupt government of FG-LAB.

Robocop? Grow up. Get your head out of the clouds. Rob, let me break it down for you as you seem to have difficulty in comprehending this Yes, she enticed them to break the law. The bill proposing the household charge was passed in both the Dáil and the Seanad and henceforth became law. She, and her counterparts actively campaigned to ask people not to pay it. Paying the €100 charge is a legal requirement of anyone who owns a house as such, if you own a house and don’t pay it, you are breaking the law.

As for the government, I just want to put it out there that I am, in no way, a fan of the FG/Lab governent, however to suggest that a government which holds the largest majority in the history of the state has no mandate is nothing less than idiotic and laughable.

And to end, Rob, the only person on this thread who is allowing themselves to be “duped” is you my friend. Wake up and smell the reality.

Tim,

I was a member of the Irish electorate who bought their “we’ll bring something different to the arena” sale that they were parading around last February. I am now a member of the electorate who can, with the experience of hindsight, see right through their façade and they’ve proven themselves to be just like the rest.

Excellent, Gemma.

@ Rob – the ” Robin Hood” argument doesn’t hold up. These are not heroic outlaws, these are well-paid elected servants of the people who are taking it upon themselves to decide what is good for the people without actually consulting the people. This is a fundamentally undemocratic stance and is an indefensible position.

…… with a touch of don’t do as I do. do as I say ……………

Gemma- For very many years women campaigning for the vote engaged in your so-called ‘criminal activity’

Workers going on strike to defend their jobs and income engage in your so-called ‘criminal activity’

I could go on – but the point is clear.

Hardly a staunch backer – http://www.socialistpartyni.net/component/content/article/115-southern-politics/809-south-socialist-party-statement-on-mick-wallace-tax-controversy-

Seems like a witch-hunt by doubting people. No matter what she says, people would continue to scorn her. It’s an old Irish thing whereby people throw stones at someone doing them a favor.

I’m happy to pay the household tax though. She’s not doing me a favour.

I’m not paying the HHC and it has nothing to do with Clare Daly’s stance on the issue. I suspect I am not alone.
I realised before Daly ever went outside her constituency that the FG/Lab does not act in the interests of this countries people.
I would commend her on her direct answers on vinb last night regarding this red herring, which were in contrast to the smug condescending waffle coming from Pat Rabbitte.

If Clare Daly is milking the system then what was Fred Forsey doing?
As far as I’m aware no decision has been made by Oireachtas officials to find her actions out of order.

God help us if the so called socialist party ever get into power. Safe enough i’d say though

@Kevin,

There’s that word again “Entitled”. :(

Jean and tshirts? Get out of here!

“when they are used to promote defiance of a law of the state”

You sound like a robocop. She was 100% correct to use her expenses on behalf of the Irish people to camapign against stealth taxes to pay bank bondholders. There is nothing exaggerated about these bondholders, all of them are ruthless speculators who are sucking the Irish people.

Her remit was not to go around Ireland pushing her agenda. She wasn’t elected for that. She has her own constituency. She had absolutely no right to go around pushing the agenda and expecting the state to pay EXTRA for the privilege. The agenda she is pushing is asking people to break the law, face fines, court and possible prison. Its completely irresponsible what she is doing.

If she feels the need to attend other constituencies outside of her remit, then it should come out of her OWN wages and not be subject to additional payments from the tax payers, working class and the state coffers.

The bondholders may be sucking us dry but when your a TD abusing the expenses system that very much is sucking the people dry also.

keep drinking the kool aid. Ms. Daly used her expenses to campaign for the Irish people against a property tax. The Banks were bailed out by Fine Gael and the bondholder payments continued (the latest €1.1 billion paid last week). That is equivalent to all our new taxes raised in 2012. So in one day, we handed over all our new taxes to ‘speculators’ as Noonan called them last June.

Without complying with (granted an unfair and unreasonable) demand from the ECB to bail out the banks and unsecured bond holders we wouldn’t have money to pay Ms Dalys salary or expenses. She’s preying on people’s fears to create a political base for herself and her comrade Higgins.

Do you really think the ECB would risk the stability of the Euro financial system by cutting Ireland off? Fine Gael defied the ECB last year by burning €5 billion from these unguaranteed bondholders. We didn’t suffer any consequences from that. Fine Gael are merely playing the lap-dog because they are afriad to flex their muscles at stopping the bondholder payments. They still have the option of doing it but refuse to.

@ Rob – Yes, the ECB would cut Ireland off. at this stage, we’re a minor issue, not the priority. The Left really should drop this fantasy that we are essentially important to the EU. We’re not. There are many European politicians who advocate cutting their countries’ losses and letting the smaller countries to get on with it on their own.

Donating a portion of your salary to party funds is NOT the same as a pay cut. The taxpayer pays the same and the money does not go back to the Exchequer. This “average industrial wage” claim is a sham. If the TDs were serious, they would demand an “actual” pay cut, and so would help to lower public sector spending. Forgive me if I’m wrong, but has any TD asked for this?

And who gets all the money that the naive people going to the household charge meetings give. And is it declared for income tax purposes. I doubt it because the so called socialist parties motto is “LET SOMEONE ELSE PAY”.

They shouldn’t get expenses from anywhere. When they applied for the job, they knew where the office is. Who gets paid for living in Kildare and working in Dublin etc etc. plus expenses exceeds amount needed for the few times they go into the office

No there wouldn’t.

No there wouldn’t. They’d be laughed at by their own for being amateurs.

Maybe they did!! These expenses are a scam. A way of seeing the country at tax payers expense

”…spawned from the university debating society”? More likely spawned from the musty environs of the Kings Inns or the Law Library!

Don’t think any1 in there should get expenses!! They get enough pay!

What is wrong with you ? this articale has nothing to do with Phil Hogan , everyone know the deal with him . Deal with the issue , Claire daly used public money to futher her own agenda when it should have been paid for by her party or herself , simple! All you guys banging on about expenses for thsi gut and that gut , breaking advisers pay caps etc etc , which is all correct but then when one of your own do it , ist ok its a smoke screen . It is now imperative that all in public not only do the right thinhg but are seen to do the right thing end of . Why has she not called for her buddy wallace to resign ? why did it not occuer to her that the workers part shold be paying for this campaign ?

Mr. Gallagher

My point is that the media are trying to smear people with principles. I think Ms. Daly was right to spend her money in Ireland where it goes back into the Irish economy. The same cannot be said about Phil Hogan in Rio. Also, people do not want to pay more stealth taxes to bail out Banks and bondholders. That was one of the reasons for opposing the Household charge because it is a stealth tax.

Tensing Norgay,

Please see my earlier response. Ask yourself whether the media gives a fair and balanced look at Phil Hogan’s €20,000 trip to Rio. The answer is clearly no. Now why do you think that is?

I’m no fan of Phil Hogan, but as minister for the environment it would have been irresponsible of him not to have attended the earth summit in Rio. I know that you think that he and his officials should have paddled there in a canoe and slept on the Copa Cabana beach however he didn’t and that fact has nothing to do with TD’s expenses.
Clare Daly, Joe Higgins and others have not contrasted their use of expenses with Phil Hogan’s trip to Rio so why do you keep banging on about it?

Correct, Tensing N. They are great for hopping up & down when others are caught out. Different when it’s one of their own. I’d forgive her if she smiled a bit instead of going around with a scowl on her face all the time. She did herself no favours & hopefully the electorate will come out of the long grass at next general election & give her no vote.

No one is disagreeing with you on the Hogan issue Rob. but your support for Daly using public money suppose to get her from north Dublin to the dail to support her political cause totaly undermines your credibility . you’re blindly supporting Daly as you would a football team, that’s one of the biggest problems in Irish politics if u ask me. people concentrate too much on the teams and not the game (the issues)

Carl Gillen,

Ask yourself whether these tree huggers will be demanding higher carbon taxes in the name of a disproven thery. Global warming was recently disproven. Scandals continue to rock the climate fear movement, the U.N. IPCC has been exposed as being a hotbed of environmental activists and scientists continue to dissent at a rapid pace. The scientific reality is that on virtually every claim — from A-Z — the scientific case for man-made climate fears has collapsed. Yet, Hogan will still embark on carbon taxes and water charges like his predecessor Gormley.

Rob, you’re all over the place ideology wise. A socialist when it comes to the household charge and somewhere to the right of the tea-party in relation to global warming. Even so, it has nothing to do with TD expenses.

Rob; Minister in doing his job shocker. These TDs are not cabinet ministers. Their remit is the area they are elected. Nowhere else. The travel allowance was always associated with getting to/from the Dail via your constituency. Even Richie Boy knew it and I would imagine Clare, Joe, etc. would have been told by Richie.

I applaud them for spending money around Ireland and giving our economy a bit of a boost. But they could have done so without abusing the expenses system and milking the state, the working class and the tax payers even more. They could have covered these expenses in their very generous wage and leaders allowance. The people they represent didn’t have the luxury of getting paid to attend their meetings, petrol, accommodation if needed, and so on. So its a smack in the face to those they represent.

As a member of Fine Gael Kevin, are you position to speak for the people Clare represents?

Would you like to also conedmn enda kenny and michael noonan for handing 26 billion to the banks after promising not another cent? Is that not a smack in the face to the people THEY represent i.e. the Irish people??

Rob. You are entilied to your own opinion, but you are not entiled to your own facts. ‘Global warming was recently disproven’. By who? when? and on what basis

Declan/Tensing/Bibao/Kevin,

I am no fan of Clare Daly per se, but i respect her views 100%. We had FF/Labour and an independent academic from DCU on the Vincent Browne show last night. The show itself was a frace, because Sam Smith was so far up labours rear end, brown-nosing (so i am guessing the little git is looking for s Seanad Pension nomination, watch this space) so much to Pat Rabbit was night, it was a mockery. But even Nora Owens (former FF minister, Pat Rabbit, current serving minister, and the DCU Government expert, all said that they would have assumed that the expenses that Claire Daly put in, would have been legitimate. Every expense she put in to reimbusement, was receipted.

You are going on about not turning this into anything other than an attack on Clare Daly, because you bully boys like attacking the left, but, come on, fair is fair. Neither she, or Joe Higgins (who i find onnoxious to listen to) are trying to scam the public. They are giving their time over to highlight and represent what is wrong with this country. I understand that in total, Clare Daly expenses 15,000 Euro for the entire year (and that includes her day to day Dail expenses, and her campaigning on the HHC outside her constituency).

Can you guys not see how hypocritical it is for you to attack Clare Daly and Joe Higgins for these relatively minor expenses, when you have the likes of FFg’s Phil Hogan over partuing it up in 340 euro per night Hotels in Rio de Janeiro? He spent a week partying, and then took a more expensive flight back , just to see a football game in his own county?
You guys really can’t see the moral difference between the two?

We have Pat Rabbit last night claiming success for having turned around the unemployment crises, and saying that he and every member of the Government deserve the wages they are on, and increased expense allowances, because in his words, they have improved things so much.

Really guys, are you going to try and defend your corrupt Governments record, by attacking the socialist Party or SF?
If there was a single moral bone in any member of the cabinets body, they would immediately call for all the ministers in teh cabinet to reduce their wages and total compensation packages to less than 50k per year until the crises is over. That would save the country 8 million euro per year between now and the end of their term in Government. At least that way, when they bring in charges like the HHC and PRSI increases, water charges, Electronic device charges, increased VAT rates, university fees, Petrol duties and so on, they will fully understand what impact they are having on the AVERAGE person in the country. Instead, they are attempting to deflect attention away from these issues by attacking the socialist and SF.
They are doing through their mouth-piece the Independent Newspaper Group, owned by Denis O’Brien. This is the same Denis O’Brien who magically appeared on stage beside Bertie Aherane (sorry, Enda Kenny) at the New York Stock Exchange this year. This is the same Denis O’Brien who bought ESAT from the FFG/Labour Government 15 years ago for 19 million euro and then sold it on for a 2,000 million euro profit (yes 2 billion profit) 1 year later.
The same newspaper group ran the story last week against Pearse Doherty, the day before SF tabled the bill to repeal the household charge.
Like come on, is this a democratic republic or a banana republic that controls the media and stifles any opposition voices. We saw the same thing last week, when the Independent ran the columns from Brian Hayes (FFG minister) telling the people not to watch Martin McGuinness shaking hands with the Queen. If that wasn’t bad enough, they then ran 6 different Irish hater columns backing up their FFG minister.
You guys are detsroying any semblance of democracy left in this country, along with freedom of speech. If it wasn’t for the Journal.ie, they would have the entire market sown up.
People are leaving this country at the rate of 70,000 people per year. We had a BBC program on BBC 3 last night highlighting all the worngs that this government are perpetrating on its citizens. It was shameful to watch, and yet i think it should be mandatory viewing in every school in Ireland immediately.
FFG/Labour are not only continuing the policies of FF before them, they are perfecting the corruption and efforts to silence the opposition. Romantic Ireland really is dead and gone!

Well said Cal! A clarion call for certain heads to be extracted from arses regarding the goings on that are repeated day on day!
You can actually see a marked difference in the standard of journalism being churned out by the print media since O’Brien took hold…

@Cal quote :”I am no fan of Clare Daly per se, but i respect her views 100%” i didnt read much further , didnt have to becasue you are either being disengenuious or deluded , every one who disagrees with you are bullyboys or gits , even having a go at Sam Smith . You are classic want it all’s ,full of bluster and angst and no solutions , id say grow up but it looks like that time has past . BTW what would it take for you to be a fan ? 101 % agreement perhaps?

Rob get over it

Clare daly did not spend money on my behalf

and no chewing gum, either.

@Rob, As much as I am not a fan of Big Phil he was on Newstalk last week and explained that approx 40K people attended the summit and hence hotel prices shot up which makes sense. He also said that he signed a deal with Bolivia (from memory) in relation to a student exchange programme worth circa €30Million to us. €20K investment for €30Million is a bargain in any terms. People need to look at expenses return to the exchequer compared to the cost.

Eugene, Dublin is a much smaller city than Rio. We have swarms of supporters that hit the capital for big sporting events, and concerts. I dont know of one normal person who pays 340 euro per night. That is Hogans spin machine in operation. Don’t believe a word that guy tells yo. If says black, its probably white.

Eugene, just saw that you are friends with a FFG TD on facebook. Well done on being honest with everyone and letting them know that you are not exactly an independent thinker… If you were not a FFg supporter, would you still supoprt Hogan? If it was Mary Lou McDonald, or Clare Daly, would you be on their side also?

@Cal, regardless 40k people arriving into a city which is busy will push up the price but even if is was €50K in expenses it would be a good return for the deal he signed of €30M. People are so obsessed with the price of everything and not the value anymore and we need to see value with tax payers money. Did the 20K included a number of staff, car/taxi hire, meals, hotel etc. What should be given in all expenses is the amount of people who went on these trips so we see a cost per person. Clare Daly in this case is wrong she should only use the expenses for her constituency. Other Anti HHC TD’s and Parties did not use expenses and they need to be commended for that but I do not agree with TD’s (the lawmakers) advising the public to break the law but do protest as its your free will in a democracy but not with my taxes I would prefer them to be used for the benefit of the community I live in.What really needs to be done is vouched expenses brought in with clear rules of what can be used as there is too much grey area for TD’s to go around.

Eugene, Matt Cooper constructively challenged Hogan on whether he needed to travel to Rio to sign the documents, or whether or not they could have been posted over, saving the Tax Payer 20,000 euro (OK, less 2 euro for stamps and an envelope). Come on, that is exactly the same as Clare Daly going to a town like Kilkenny to talk about the HHC or phoning into the meeting.

Most of ye are the hypocrites. Bet most of ye would advocate that politicians should work for the benefit of the whole country and not just their constituents. Clare Daly is serving the people of Ireland and not playing parish pump politics. I commend her.

And Bilbo I am not a member of her “team” but I will not allow party alliegiences come between me and what is good for my country. I morally object to the Household Tax. I am a tax payer and consider it a privilege to contribute to my country and my people but this is a tax put on the backs of Irish homeowners to bail out big business. No way! We won’t pay!

@Cal, Yes I have contacted a FG TD in the past on matters but so what has that got to with this. To be honest I have been giving him grief over the NPPR being paid by people who do not own a second property which is a bigger disgrace than the HHC among other things as I want the Government held to account and thats what TD’s are there for not just for election time or is only ok to deal with opposition TD’s? You seem like a SF supporter so you must not be an independent thinker yourself just go the party line then. I think if you get a return then you have to consider the cost versus the return on everything. I think Mary Lou and SF have been right in relation to the HHC by not telling people not to break the law but saying you can make your own opinion and also SF have not used expenses to promote a law even that they disagree with. Regardless of party/independent it is not right to be wasteful with tax payers money.

@Cal, I did not hear the programme but if there was no real reason to be in Rio then he should not have been there.

Eugene, I am not a socialist party member, and i do lean towards SF, but am in no way a member (and never have been). I support Calre Dalys endeavor, based on the fact that she spent 15,000 euro in total in the last 12 months on expenses. This is vastly less than any SF/FFG/FF/Labour average. She has expensed with receipts, every penny. She hasn’t tried to hide a penny of her spending.

Compare that to Hogan, who in one week alone, ran up a 20,000 euro bill, while holidaying in Rio. If any member of SF did that, i would condemn them. This is pure pigs at the rough politics. Daly is not in that category.

I hope you see the distinction. And Hogan is not the only one at it. We heard today that all teh advisors hired by FFg/Labour that break the salary cap law, will be paid by the tax-payer, even though they break the law. On top of that, the advisors are getting public servant PA’s, and those public servant PAs are getting an extra 7k per year to work for those special advisors.

Like come on…. You dont need to be a genius to work out, which TDs are milking it, giving their mates jobs, using public servants as secretaries for their mates, and then paying those public servants 7,000 extra keep quiet money. FFG/Labour are making FF look like Angels… and trust me FF were the worst thing to ever happen our country.

@ Cal I agree with some of what you are sayng but two wrongs don’t make a right and that is why I said vouched expenses with receipts needed for payment, Revenue do not allow you profit from expenses in the private sector. What really needs to be done is a cap is put on expenses that you do not need to be preapproved and once you think you may go over your cap (approx budget figure) you need to get sign off from 2 TD’s (one in Govt and one in opposition) You would have a cap for each expense (say 3K for travel) and again receipts needed. This way one will be watching the others spending. I am just sick to death of waste with politicians (all politicians) and in some area’s of our public service not to mention the banks.

Agreed Eugene, but i think we will be old for dead before FF, FFG or Labour ever consider implementing your idea. Its too much of a cash cow for them :(

He probably stayed in his car being the miserable kerry person that he is.

Diarmaid, can you not see the irony that 3 politicians, who’ve spent 99.9% of their respective careers, giving out about expenses, have now been embroiled in a controversy surrounding their own claims?

I did point that out in the comment Gemma. I have a bigger issue with the Indo and RTE stars however. And to be fair the expenses were not made up, like the expenses they take issue with.

The irony is unmissable Gemma. However a similar vein of irony ran through the Pearse Doherty travel expense accusations until they were found to be ungrounded.
Would a tree laden with the ripe fruit of irony not be an attraction for the press to go orchard robbing? Just to end up with a bitter taste in their mouths…
I think the lure of irony may be the undoing who rush to grasp it – be careful!

…undoing *of those* who wish to grasp it. – Mea Culpa!

I wonder was that a fixed sum or was a receipt provided…..he may have driven home!

So you should just take all the austerity and shut up? You are a Fine Gael dream come true.

Welcome to a recession Gary.

As you know there are other ways of beating a recession and austerity has proved to be a pretty bad choice for recovery.

You are 100% correct.

none of the expences are justified, maybe I’m being naive but why should our taxes go to the likes of her to travel around Ireland telling people to break the law, where will she be when the fines are handed out? my guess is not to be found

No, they’re not justified. Saying the money went to deserving causes is irrelevant. They are spending taxpayers’ money without the taxpayers having any oversight on where the money goes. Any TD that does this, for whatever reason, is arrogantly disrespecting those who pay their wages.

Gary I have no problem whatsoever with people opposing the Household Charge. I do have a problem with anybody refusing to pay a lawfully raised tax or charge and particularly where that person is a Member of Dail Eireann who has taken a solemn oath to behave in a Constitutional manner. nIt is sickening to have this craw thumper sneering from her lofty perch in The Dail and using my hard earned taxable income to incite other to break the law. nHow do you defend this outrageous position.nThis creature had her hand in the cookie jar and SHE WAS CAUGHT!n

And doesn’t like the fact she was caught.

Would that be caught as in the way Pearse Doherty was “caught”?
Oh It was in the Indo so it must be true and the result of months of investigative journalism?
Or maybe it’s information that has always been in the public domain and the Indo in best tabloid fashion presents it as news.
Expenses are a scandal across the board in my opinion, but the selective witch hunting within the media is as transparent as it is nauseating.

The vast majority of smokers oppose the duty on cigarettes. Should we pay Clare Daly to go around promoting the purchase of smuggled cigarettes?

The vast majority of drinkers oppose the duty on booze. Should we pay Clare Daly to go around promoting the purchase of smuggled booze?

I’m very disappointed in Daly. I don’t agree with a lot of her policies (more due to extremity than the principle in most cases), but I thought she had complete integrity. She’s still got more integrity on one finger than the majority of TDs, but she has definitely lost something.

Ronan, cigarettes and alcohol are luxury items and should be taxed accordingly. The roof over your head is not.

Home ownership is not a requirement to live.

Shelter is a requirement, adequately provided the world over by renting.