Skip to main content

Banks vs the Government

Written by Joerg Steegmueller
Banks vs the Government

In an unexpected move the European Central Bank (ECB) has reduced the interest rate last week from 1.5% down to 1.25%. (www.independent.ie/business/european/boost-for-mortgage-holders-as-ecb-cuts-interest-rates-2925263.html)

Since most banks in Ireland are now owned by the state, the Taoiseach Enda Kenny has warned the banks that laws could be introduced that would force the banks to pass on interest rate cuts if they don’t do that now. (www.independent.ie/national-news/pass-on-ecb-interest-rate-cut-kenny-warns-banks-2926680.html)
And what did most banks? They ignored the warning! I guess this “game” Bank vs Government resulted in a 1:0.

The AIB and the NIB have declared that they will not pass on the rate cuts, the ESB will pass them on and the Bank of Ireland has not made a statement yet, but there are expectations that they won’t pass on the cuts either. (www.rte.ie/news/2011/1109/mortgage-business.html)

Economy, Politics, , , ,

Retirement Home in Phoenix Park

Written by Joerg Steegmueller
2 Comments
Retirement Home in Phoenix Park

Based on the preliminary indications, Michael D Higgins will be the Irish president for the next 7 years. This was not my preference, but I am not dismayed. In the end the president can’t do much anyway and i am sure Higgins will do an ok job.

However, I was hoping that Aras an Uachterain would not just a retirement home for a has-been politician and unfortunately that’s what it most likely will be.

Higgins might have been a strong and convincing politician in his younger years, but recently he is more known for citing poetry and for speaking in Irish.

The two previous presidents (Mary Robinson and Mary McAleese) had the same limited ability to achieve anything of substance, but they did push the boundaries a little. I expect that Higgins will not push anything.

He won’t screw up anything either, so no progress was made, no step forward and nothing beneficial to expect, but his probably election is no terrible disaster. …just a bit of a disappointment.

Considering that he is already too old for the role, we can be quite certain that he won’t stay longer in it than 7 years.

Elections, Politics, Uncategorized, ,

Dail Holidays again? Or maybe not!

Written by Joerg Steegmueller
Dail Holidays again? Or maybe not!

The Dail (Irish Parliament) is known for its propensity to take time off. The Fianna Fail government was heavily criticised in recent years, that despite serious issues in the country the parliament needed their loooong holidays. That was the OLD government that held on to the many and long holidays. But all has changed since the elections! Or has it??

Breakingnews.ie reports at www.breakingnews.ie/ireland/taoiseach-cancels-mid-term-break-for-dail-525874.html this:

Taoiseach cancels mid-term break for Dáil
26/10/2011 – 12:14:30
The Taoiseach Enda Kenny has cancelled a mid-term break for politicians next week.

The Dáil was due to adjourn tonight until Tuesday week.

But after opposition from Sinn Féin, Fianna Fáil and People Before Profit, Mr Kenny announced the Dáil will now sit on Wednesday and Thursday next week.

There are two HUGELY interesting aspects in this small article.

1) The party that for decades held steadfastly on to the much too long holidays is now opposing them. Fianna Fail opposed the mid-term break!

2) The party that came to power with the promise that they will change all bad habits and will reform a broken system that the previous government left behind had NO intention to cancel the holidays. If Enda Kenny hadn’t suggested that there should be holidays, the others would not have had to oppose. So Enda Kenny from Fine Gael no better than the previous leaders from Fianna Fail?

You probably are wondering if the people that didn’t oppose really think they are in school, because the mid-term break is for schools only! I wonder too! Odd!!

Politics, , , ,

Referenda – Vote YES and NO!

Written by Joerg Steegmueller
Referenda – Vote YES and NO!

This Thursday, together with the Presidential election, the citizens of Ireland (i.e. not me!) will be asked to vote for or against two referenda as well. One is to change the constitution so that the salary of judges can be economically adjusted, meaning REDUCED. And the other to allow the Dail (Irish Parliament) or the Seanad (Upper House) to “conduct an enquiry that they consider to be a matter of general public importance”.

I didn’t give much attention to the referenda, like most people, but today I checked the wording of the new article in the constitution and I am shocked.

The referendum about the judges pay is no problem. I would definitely vote YES. If all other employees of the state have to live with less money, then judges should too!

But the other referendum would give the Dail or Seanad more or less the same power as a court has. The principal of separating judiciary and executive powers in a democratic state is hugely important, but this article will severly impact that.

I believe the idea was to give the parliament the power to investigate issues that in the past were given to tribunals and that cost a huge amount of money and never produced any results, but I don’t think the tribunals were the right approach. Irish politicians like Lowry, Bertie Ahern and others who were dodgy as hell should have been in front of a court not in front of the members of parliament to explain their acts. It is NOT the role of a parliament to replace courts!

So I hope that it will be a clear NO to the second referendum! It has to be reworded to be acceptable.

Justice, Politics, Society, ,

Sean Gallagher stumbles!

Written by Joerg Steegmueller
Sean Gallagher stumbles!

I have declared that I would vote for Sean Gallagher as the new president …if I was allowed to vote. But in the last debate of all presidential candidates, Sean Gallagher stumbled the first time.

Because I wasn’t able to see the whole debate, I am not exactly sure how it all happened, but seemingly Martin McGuinness declared that someone rang him and told him that Sean Gallagher collected a cheque for Fianna Fail from the caller a few years ago.

Interesting in the context of Gallagher’s repeated attempts to distance himself from any FF involvement, but not scandalous in itself. If he collected a cheque for a party he was involved and did deliver the cheque to the party, I don’t see where the scandal is. Sure it doesn’t really tally with Gallagher’s preference to be seen as unattached to Fianna Fail, but that is still no disaster.

He was an active Fianna Fail member and it would have been better to accept and admit that and then to tell people that there is no danger from an ex-Fianna Fail member as president because the president has zero political power anyway. But for some reason people in Ireland are EXTREMELY sensitive to Fianna Fail membership.

Much less so than they are to Sinn Fein or even IRA membership!

I never thought much of Fianna Fail (always found it funny that they had “fail” in the name!) and I never liked Bertie Ahern even during the times when he was admired like a god by many. But on the other hand, I don’t think either that because one party has been involved in a lot of bad things and has contributed significantly to damaging the country, that then all members are automatically bad apples.

So I still have no problem with a former Fianna Fail member as a president of Ireland, but I wish Sean Gallagher had handled the conflict better. The worst sentence was probably when he declared that he had “no recollection of receiving a cheque”. This is the wording that was used by all the corrupt or dodgy former Fianna Fail figureheads. BAD choice!

I don’t think collecting a cheque on behalf of your party is a terrible thing, but I would imagine that Sean Gallagher’s support in the presidential race experienced a severe drop in that moment.

On a side note: Interesting that the politician with the darkest and dodgiest past, Martin McGuinness, was the one that threw the dirt at Gallagher!

Elections, Politics, President, , ,
 
Malcare WordPress Security