Sure I can… Labour is busy exporting as much labour as it can to live in economic exile in other countries. And thanks to Rauri Quinn they are also doing a great job at making sure the next labour generation are so uneducated and laden with debt that they are completely unemployable.

Absolutely correct… There is in actual fact no need for party names, it’s ” that 120 against that 46″ or whatever way it’s broken up at the moment, none of them have a shred of decency in my eyes until they reform those blasted, F****g expenses, most get triple what I earn in UNVOUCHED expenses, our country is a joke and absolute joke.

It’s easy to see where labours votes are going in the next election….ULA

In fairness everyone knew a vote for labour was a vote for the coalition, they didn’t hide the fact that they were going to do that.

Thats why I didn’t vote labour.

I didn’t vote for them but you are right they were elected to implement the policies in their manifesto. They have no mandate to implement the policies in the programme for government which pretty much casts aside everything they stood before the people with. If they wanted a mandate for the programme for government they should’ve gone back to the people. But that would’ve jeopardised their seats and pensions. If any party in the Dail stands for nothing it’s Labour. But the leaders don’t care, most will be retiring before the next election on their huge ministerial pensions, leaving the rest to suffer a similar fate to the Greens and PDs. So Mr Keaveney stop throwing boulders out of your greenhouse, it makes you look even more stupid than we already know you are.

First thing that entered my mind too!

I think the point Colm Keaveney was trying to make is that it is easier to stay firm on your views in opposition rather than try to have them implemented in a coalition government

Winston,
I think he is saying that it’s okay to u-turn because it’s difficult to be in government.

Winston I hit the thumbs down button instead of the up button. Sorry.

100 years since the establishment of the Labour Party, and EVERYONE knows that if the founders we alive today they’d be outside this conference with the protestors…

I guess you missed the “why” behind the protest..
1. It was a flat fee. Meaning it was nothing to the wealthy and a lot to many more. Have the government explained how the tax next year will be calculated yet? Is it property value – if so property value when? Is it on acreage – if so that is unfair in light of price variations from area to area, is it linked to ability to pay? Because then if your neighbour is unemployed and you aren’t that you pay more – which is also unfair.. So how is it to be done? Can we reasonably expect any fairness in this?

2. We keep hearing about how everyone else pays property tax, but they aren’t paying private companies for the services they pay their property / council taxes for.. If we are to pay this tax, can we expect the councils to provide waste services, emergency services like the fire brigade etc? And remember – water will be extra, not included in this charge..

Yes, a tax on wealth makes sense, property tax when properly implemented and operated are also a good idea, the fact of the matter is that this is not what we are being asked to sign up for, as usual, the Irish equivalent will most likely be a poorly run, inefficient and management / admin heavy waste of money.
From what I understood of the campaign it wasn’t the tax itself that was the problem – it was the mode of implementation and the lack of value for said charge (especially in light of all the other indirect taxes we pay).

I agree, though I put it poorly I meant to say that a flat tax was a poor idea, but to extrapolate from that and say NO property tax is a good idea is bad politics. It should be directly perportional to wealth (definitely) and take in to account current income (of course) but the point is a property tax is a good idea for the country. Is it a poor time to introduce it (with so many in negative equity), not doubt, but telling people they can/should choose not to pay it is bad populist politics that benefits no one expect the careers of those who preach it.

There is also the factor that it’s like a last stand. As we have seen, our government and the one before do not care for public protest. They do not care for letter writing campaigns nor do they care for petitions.

So what exactly is left?
Yes, it’s populist, but as I’m sure you’re more than aware the populace are getting restless. We were led to believe that we voted out corruption and wound up with more of the same. It’s great that we Irish are so stoic, but it’s also like we choose to bend over and take it.

Personally I don’t see why the protest isn’t marching to Aras an Uachtairan to our allegedly socialist president to ensure that he refuses to sign all these austerity measures into law, or that he may dissolve the Dáil, and if he can’t do that then what exactly are we paying his (bloody high) wages and costs for?

And while we are at it, surely we the people – the true bosses in this land, should be reducing ministerial wages and expenses as a matter of course? And I’m not talking about a few grand for show, I mean REDUCING, let them lose the percentage equivalent everyone else has – both from their wage and from their pensions. Let them wait for their pensions until pensionable age, and only claim 1 state pension. It wouldn’t solve everything, but it would certainly help, not only financially but in terms of morale.

But I guess that’s far too idealist of me!! Personally I believe that it doesn’t matter who you vote in, the faces change but nothing else ever does. FF/FG/Lab are all the same, and SF/ULA probably wouldn’t make much difference either (can’t say for sure as they’ve never actually won!), the real decisions aren’t made by these poster boys anyway. There’s a hive of senior civil servants telling them what they can and can’t do, they aren’t voted for and they don’t change. The system is corrupt. We can expose Bertie et al all we like, the problem runs far deeper and until we weed that out, we will always be screwed..

Oh Yes, Richard Boyd-Barrett should be in one of the other Parties telling lies. Imagine speaking out about issues of public concern. What a Disgrace.

He comes from a wealthy family, lock him up! What this country likes is inexperienced school teachers, drunken fools and low brow gangsters from working class areas running the show for the benefit of themselves and their entourage.

Why attack his background? So what if he comes from a wealthy family…. It shows more backbone to do what he is doing if that’s the case. What have you done for the people of this country lately?