Semi State media will oppose this and other efforts to cut public overspending which are the cause of high taxes and charges

Reform the Seanad, make it full time and do the Councils business. Budgets and Bye-laws, appoint a manager in every council and have one mayor of Ireland in the Seanad!

Why counties, have a large urban area look after the sensible geographical area around it. The tribal GAA mentality that hogan has is what’s wrong with this country. One council simply can not work in certain areas for many reasons

Marie, it’s going to help everyone except those of us who pay all these taxes! I could do with a trip to dentist but I can’t afford it!!

Not forgetting getting your kids educated for close to free (not 100% but close at least until the age of 18), child benefit, road maintenance, a highly subsidised public health system, an old age pension, social security safety net if you lose your job, a police force to stop anarchy breaking out, public water system etc etc etc…

I’ m every bit as critical as the next person about high taxation and public spending waste, but people need to cop on and not always just look at the problems in public administration. We get a lot, and if it were gone in the morning you’d know about it. And you free dental checkup would not be the thing you miss first.

@Colin. To partly quote you, “we get a lot”. All I can say who is we. The we is as diverse as there are plants on earth. I am on welfare. I get 186 a week and I pay a mortgage and everything else out of that. I still have to pay the dentist as these treatments are removed form the medical card. I get no fuel allowance, rent allowance, or free anything. Some people do because they know the system. I pay 113 a week to my mortgage and last week went to a community welfare officer with 86 euro worth of tv stamps to see can I get the rest as an emergency payment. I just cannot afford it. So tell me again about how i get a lot. My toilet won’t flush since I moved in 7 year ago in a run down estate. The streets are filthy outside my door and the footpaths are in bits. No regular bus service (it comes when it suits the driver) and I could go on but you get the picture.

Presume you’re not paying tax, though, so right now you are a net beneficiary. The gripe above is what taxpayers get for their money. Reality is that most people get more than they put in, and are utterly unappreciative of it, until it’s cut.

And for what it’s worth I pay several multiples of the average income tax per person in this country. I am vastly a net contributor. It’s easy to gripe about how little I perceive I am getting back, but if you look at it honestly in comparison to most of the world’s population, and in comparison to most eras in history, we get a huge amount from our public administrations. Those who would argue for complete liberation not to pay any tax and live in a country with a centralised public administration should consider Somalia for their next holiday to check it out. Frankly, the average taxpayer in Ireland pays very little tax in comparison to similar wage earners in other countries, yet seem to expect the same generous welfare, pension and health care systems those countries have.

It would be an interesting experiment to see if those who gripe about tax were given the option to opt out of taxation, but also opt out of public health, police protection, emergency service provision, and pay the full economic cost of all those services at the point of delivery. The vast majority would find themselves paying a lot more. Reality check.

Should be ‘without a public administration…’

I love how someone asks ‘ what do we get for our taxes’ and when someone answers, the red thumbs come out. LOL. You want, want, want, but don’t want to pay, pay, pay.

Thy charge a lot of money for granting planning P . The bigger the store the bigger the cost and of course the. Rates that follow . So planning P. Is just a cash cow for them. To Hell wit the high street even if. The business is closed down thy still DEMAND rates .

@tax slave. You mentioned planning. I live in a disadvantaged run down estate in Limerick and when I moved in had to knock a wall to park the car in the drive for security. I was told I needed planning permission to do that even though 99 per cent of residents where I live NEVER got it. I paid over 500 euro to a draughtsman to draw gates to a drive on my house and the council took this money and other charges. Screwed by the council I was. Yes it is a cash cow and I shouldn’t have bothered doing the right thing when my neighbours carry out whatever works without any suck planning permission and get away with it.

why did you pay 500 for a draughtman, you would have got the gates for that…………………..

BTW Carew Park isn’t that bad at all…………

I’ll never be able to afford planning permission now……at least with the old system you know who to bribe!

It would also have the effect of creating a significantly less democratic country, but sure who cares as along as we save a miniscule amount of € on a few TDs salaries

** Eyes Wide Shut!

We should just get Angela Merkel to send over a dozen of her people & let them run the whole show. Why do we need thousands of middle-men (& women). Hogan is the worst sort of parish pump politician, he just doesn’t care about anyone except his own gang.

Colin what makes you think there will be less councilors ?? I have been looking into it and no where does it say there will be less councilors . It does say the will be doing away with town councils ,but no details on the other changes .I have heard talk from members of a certain party that some counties will have an increase in members. I accept it may be so as he keeps on banging on about “power” giving councils more “power”. All I know is its Ireland so the politicians know the can get away with any thing as the have done and will do as most people asleep.