Political Funding and more expenses

It is all very well and good to talk about limiting registered contributions by companies and individuals to political parties but there is a reason the old parties agreed to this system.

Now the Irish tax payer is to fund political parties on the basis of how well they did in the last election, that makes it a lot harder for new, small parties and to a lesser extent sitting independents.

Bear in mind that Beverley Flynn had to be forced to give up her independents allowance despite rejoining the FF party.

I have seen Amhran Nua ideas being lifted by FF, FG and Labour, so not only do they have a lack of new ideas, they also have an unfair advantage in funding - and it is money and media exposure that win most elections.

Why should the tax payer fund a political party, particularly when one would have profound disagreement with what they stand for, e.g. FF's NAMA support, as well as problems with FG and SF policies

That is creating a further democratic deficit, copper fastening the bottom planks of the established caste and crew on the ship of state from the people whom they are meant to serve.

They really do not want change on this Island, and unless people vote for alternative, protest, parties - there is the probability that the caste will ride out this squall

Political parties received a total of €13,603,264 in state funding for 2009, according to figures released today by the Standards Commission.

The money was paid to the parties under the Electoral Acts and under the Party Leaders Allowance legislation.


Five parties (Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael, Labour, Sinn Féin and the Green Party) received funding of €5,438,385 under the Electoral Acts and those five parties along with the Progressive Democrats received €8,164,879 under the Party Leaders Allowance legislation.
The funding is not subject to income tax and may not be used for electoral or referendum purposes.
The level of funding is linked to pay increases in the civil service; however, the legislation which governs the funding is silent on pay decreases.
Qualified political parties must furnish to the Standards Commission Statements of Expenditure of the funding received.

Non-party members of Dáil and Seanad Éireann also receive funding under the Party Leaders Allowance legislation.
The amount payable to each non-party member of Dáil Éireann during 2009 was €41,152 and the amount payable to each non-party member of Seanad Éireann during the same period was €23,383.

The total paid to non-party members was €306,000. Non-party members are not required, however, to provide a Statement of Expenditure of the allowance to the Standards Commission, or to any other authority.

The Healy Rae Clan have done quite well out of expenses. The Healy Rae brothers are defending one hundred thousand euro in expenses they claimed from Kerry County council.
An Irish Independent investigation reveals Danny and Michael Healy-Rae, were paid a total of €196,000 for 2008/2009.
In the meantime TD Dad Jackie Healy Rae claims he does not have a travel pass.
This is despite the fact that Deputy Healy Rae is entitled to apply for a free pass for public transport as he is over the age of 66.
Everyone aged 66 and over living permanently in Ireland, is entitled to the free travel scheme.
Deputy Healy Rae travels to Dublin on average once a week while the Dáil sits, incurring a fee of up to 72 euro per return train journey.
Deputy Healy Rae is then claim's expenses for these journeys.


Free Blog Counter

Ivor Calley

Ivor Calley has been caught out on expenses, and yet he still clings on to the senate seat gifted to him by none other than Bertie Ahearn.
The only apt quote I can think of is from Oliver Cromwell
"You have sat too long for any good you have been doing lately... Depart, I say; and let us have done with you. In the name of God, go! "
 
Not only has he caused himself grief, he has also given Paul Gogarty a chance to give himself a bit of positive veneer work to save his skin, even though he continues to prop up the Fianna Fail party.
 
Dan Boyle of the Green Party, another Senate Apointee, called on Ivor Calley to resign from the Seánad.
One unelected Senator calls for another unelected Taoiseach nominee to resign
 
Another person jumping on the bandwagon is Fianna Fail TD Mary O'Rourke who said the controversial Senator should step down from the Seanad and stop looking for a way out of his problems.
 
Funny how Boyle, Gogarty and O'Rourke jump on the easy target while totally silent on the by-elections.


This follows his resignation from Fianna Fail following a Seanad Committee investigation into his expenses claims.

The Committee found him guilty of "conduct unbecoming".
There are others who sould be examined as to their expenses, Beverly Flynn in particular. RTE has failed in this regad, but at least TG4 had the guts to start looking into things.


The corruption allegations in the Calley case also draw attention away from the far more serious cuts in public services, NAMA and the fact that the people of Donegal South West do not have proper representation.
 
Calley is just one example of a corrupted and broken system.
Another quote from Vince Cable MP worth mentioning is that "Sometimes the best thing a government can do is simply get out of the way" i.e. let the Gardai look into fraud and corruption - like falsified reciepts

The stroke shafts the shower

Despite his closeness to Mary Hanafin, the Stroke has struck FF in recent times. In what was called a gentlemans agreement, it was arranged to 'divvy up' the chairmanship of various comittees on Galway County Council.

There are 5 Strategic Policy Committees (SPC's). The chairpersons position is worth more than 5000 Euro per annum.

FG and independents elected chairpersons to three, FF and former FF member Stroke cut a deal to secure one chairpersons position.

For continuity it is normal for a chairperson to remain in situ for 3 years, and normally forthe full 5 year term.
But the deal was they would rotate the position between them, share the spoils so to speak.
The handover over of power, but Stokes renaged on the deal.
Of course, as it seems in every public position on this Island there is no legal mechanism in place to remove a chairperson from their position, and Fahy was reported to have said that "there's nothing in writing"
"Im not in the Fianna Fail party...I did'nt go running after them , they came after me to vote.
They said I should give after a year - but I'm not giving it up now"

His reasoning was that it is Dept of Environment and Local Government guidelines that the chairperson should remain at least two and a half years.
Who knows, maybe Michael is considering joining the Green party - if they can put up with GoGo maybe Stroke might be a change for the better.

He is also miffed that in his 32 years in the Council FF have never nominated him to the positon of Mayor of County Galway.

The FF Councillors are said to be furious , but had to admit they left themselves in a position where the Stroke could shaft, and not share.

 The fact that Stroke was FF for the majority of his political life, and is closley associated with the Hanafin dynasty makes one wonder how foolsh were the FF councillors to put themselves in such a position where they could get shafted.

Not just FF, but I think nearly all councilors agreed to a request by Fahy, who was serving his sentence at Castlerea Prison, to accept that his absence from meetings of the local authority was ‘due to illness and his attendance in Dublin’ even though he was in Jail for the period.


Under current legislation, a councillor is deemed to have resigned if they are absent from meetings of the local authority for a continuous period of six months.

However, there is provision in the of Local Government Act 2001 for the local authority to take into account if a councillor has been ill, or has missed meeting ‘in good faith for another reason’.

Councillors can pass a resolution allowing an absent colleague up to 18 months before the councillor is deemed to have resigned.




Free Blog Counter

Banking Scandal -and its not even a headline

If Fianna Fail had one bit of good news in the past few weeks, it was FGs melt down. The media management has been magnificent..
The entire medias eye was off the ball, and FF will get away with the biggest failing in the political history of the Island.
The two reports dealing with a disasterous financial meltdown that lay the blame squarely on the Government.

Dermot Ahearn said the crisis was no ones fault, and the mantra is repeated.
The FF/Green manta is the crisis is outside our control - it was due entirely due to external factors.

This is a lie

The Watson/Reingling report states the crisis was home grown - and due to overly light regulation and political mismanagement.

Governor Honohan said in his report that the collapse of Lehman Brothers did not cause the Irish banking crisis.

The financial regulators were disfunctional, 'intrusive demands" from line staff were set aside when senior regulators were approached.

To quote the Watson Reingling report “internal procedures were overridden, sometimes systematically.”
The regulators did not do their jobs, and on the basis of political and business favours they were overlooked.

Having light touch regulaton is one thing, but the shelving of investigations is to me criminal, and someone needs to answer that.
The excuse that the crash was unforseen is untrue - there were some very serious people who warned of the crisis.
In April 2007 Prof. Morgan Kelly warned we were heading for a recession with a hard crash because we had a classc set up for a property bubble bust.
Bertie in response to this and other warnings said that sitting on the sidelines moaning and cribbing - and was surprised that people who warned of a potential bust did not commit scuicide.
Regling / Watson said that by the middle of the decade, the financial and property boom in Ireland presented features that should have sounded alarm bells loudly.
Domestic financial stability reporting by the Central Bank had failed in this regard.
Brian Lenihan emphasised that the reports were "preliminary, scoping reports", which would point the way to a more detailed examination by a Commission of Investigation.
One wonders who is going to be in charge of it? Perhaps a tame high court judge or Fianna Fáil Senator Ivor Callely?
It will investigate the banks, but not the government, this is pointless - the politicians were as responsible as the bankers.
In the banks already a few token heads have rolled.
But the people who have been bought in to run our banks were alreeady senior members of those boards.

We are leaving foxes in charge of the henhouse
I believe we need someone like Eva Joly, a Norwegian born French judge with an outstanding history investigating corruption by politicians and vested business interests.
She finished her work quickly in Iceland.
We need to know what senior regulators failed to investigate concerns, we need to know what politicians were involved in getting tax breaks for regulators.
We need to uncover and prosecute those guilty of corruption and incompetence - otherwise they will do it again.

Free Blog Counter

Stroke strikes again

Well, gombeenism is still alive and well in Galway East. I wrote about Michael 'The Stroke' Fahy - Galway coco councillor before.
After being released from Prison on appeal he was allowed - how I dont know - to stand and win a seat at the council as an independent.

On his return to Galway coco Cllr Fahy did not refer to his own absence - but noted other developments such as the green light for the re-opening of the Athenry-Limerick railway line.
"It lifted my heart last Friday when I arrived back near my own home to see the work started on the railway line. It will be a huge boost for south Galway"
And we should have seen this as a warning shot of his intentions.

So, the Western corridor opened, and the Stroke pulled off another one, using his position to benefit himself from public finances.

He was jailed in 2007 in relation to fraud and attempted theft in connection with a fence constructed on his property during a road expansion in his area.
He was sentenced to a year in jail and fined 75,000, in a retrial in 2008 he was again convicted fraudulently obtaining benefits from the Council, convicted and fined 30,000.
He is appealing this.

But not to lose the big picture, while he is costing the tax payer money in apeal after appeal, he now has had a railway bridge constructed on his property, worth in the region of 2 million Euro.

A spokesperson from Irish rail would not confirm the cost on the grounds that individual prices paid for such strucures were sensitive commercial information that could predudice future transactions - so we cannot find out how.

The Councillor is one of only four farmers to benefit from the use of an overbridge on the railway line, he described its costruction as a coup.
A level crossing was not good enough for him.

This waste of resources, when 100,000 euro has been removed from the Galway west budget is a disgrace.

On the main Clifden Galway road, major roadworks are underway, and yet the people of South Connemara are not to get a traffic filter at the Recess cross road, which with the increase in speed on the road is becoming increasingly dangerous, with high road usage.

However, Cllr Fahy has managed to have an expensive structure built on his farm during the construction of a new railway line!

This has to be taken in context when we see that Representatives of Iarnród Éireann and of its parent body, CIE, appeared before the Oireachtas Transport Committee after media reports claimed that fraud and malpractice at Iarnrod Eireann could have cost the company close on €9 million.

Iarnród Éireann Chief Executive Dick Fearn broke down the €665,000; €271,000 related to collusion with a contractor, €363,000 to the illegal sale of railway equipment such as sleepers, and €30,000 to invoices for work not done.Three employees were dismissed as a result – but not, apparently, tried for fraud or jailed for what might well be described as theft.

Although the Stroke resigned from FF he is still close with senior members of the party, Mary Hanafin TD, daughter of Sen. Des Hanafin in particular - does this nepotism ever end!!
Sen Hanafin senior was a very conservative FF member, oposing divorce, and his son continues in that vein with his opposition to gay marriage.

Mary Hanafins Mother Mona, and Brother - Senator Hanafin  - were among a select group who welcomed him home on his release from prison.
Since then Sen. John Hanafin has been appointed to a very plum position on the permanent delegation to the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE).

And there is the issue that despite the fact he could not attend meetings because he was jailed County Councillor Michael Stroke Fahy kept his council seat and pay.
Galway County Council approved a request by Cllr Fahy that ensured he would not lose his sea
A resolution proposed by Cllr Michael Regan (FF) and seconded by Cllr Tomás Mannion (FF) meant that the local government act did not apply to Cllr Fahy for missing meetings in March and April because he was "sick and in Dublin"

These actions allowed Fahy to keep his seat and further benefit himself at the publics expense, at a time of cutbacks, reductions in public spending and increased hardship for the average citizen, the Stroke got his bridge to nowhere.

Tribal loyalties and ties to FF still hold strong, despite corruption and gombeenism.

Free Blog Counter

Worries on Association

In writing this blog the only thing that really concerns me is the concept of being regarded as on the margin by associaton.

I dont want to be associated with parties I do not vote for because of my opposition to the Treaty.

I consider an undemocratic attempt to push through a treaty I do not believe and certainly have not been convinced as being good for the EU.

I am an independent voter. I have friends, relatives, neighbors and colleges who I admire and like, who I respect, from right across the European political spectrum.

If the politicians have any respect for their electorates or democracy then this has to stop.

As an independent I have canvassed and normally voted for the Labor Party in Ireland.

In the next local elections I will vote Fianna Gael, possibly continue to vote Labor at National level and in the past I have voted for Fianna Fail.

All the main Irish parties are in favor of the treaty/constitution, is this out of conviction, fear or inadequacy? If it is out of conviction, why did they fail to convince the 93.1% of voters who in 2007 put them in office to accept the treaty/constitution?

Maybe its peer pressure, wanting to impress their bigger political partners on the mainland?

Or is it simply the politicians belief this is too big a decision for the regular voter to make themselves? This is something I don’t know.

The main problem for me right now is no major party represents my views on Europe.
I thought that this is what being in opposition meant, to at least offer an alternative.

The only group I can find with a broad base of support, across the political spectrum are called The Peoples Movement - more about them and other alternatives as I find out more.

We should be able to disagree without being disagreeable, and should not the democratic opinion of the Irish electorate be accepted if we are part of a comunity of nations?

In my opposition to the Lisbon treaty, I worry that I might be associated with Sinn Fein, I am not, but they are the only party in the Dail objecting to the Lisbon Treaty.

But then again, the Turks have a saying that I really like – that a broken clock is right twice a day.

In my opposition to Lisbon, I might be associated with Libertas – a grouping who have no seats in the Irish Parliament, no council seats or any representation in the European Parliament are also being promoted as the main opposition to Lisbon.

To be blunt Libertas scares the crap out of me, a Pan European party with a mandate which is specifically anti European, nothing about Ireland. They are closer to UKIP than they are to the Irish political scene.
Are we going to end up a laughing stock with a party in the EU parliament but no national representation?
I don’t want to support a party with no national mandate.
They don’t even have a .ie website for gods sake, yet the Irish media expect me to take them as the only opposition to the treaty.
That is a failing by the Irish media in my opinion.

They are in rhetoric closer to parties who I would not naturally be inclined to vote for like UKIP or the US Republican party than they are to the Irish political scene.

I admire many aspects of conservative political thought – self reliance and personal responsibility, the importance of a stable family unit, and for true conservatives like Lincoln the importance of civil liberties and a less intrusive government.

The Libertas.eu site trumpets an alliance with a German Party – the AUF, who I cannot find on wikipedia, but whose German website gives me the impression they are quite conservative, for a Christian God, Work, and the environment.

I understand that many aspects of our traditions, morals and laws come from a religious background – but I am politically secular. Personal faith is a separate issue.
But I really believe that mixing religion and politics always seems to be a bad idea.

That has been especially true when the leaders were unelected.

Europeans in particular, with the history of the continent, should understand that.

Again, as always – thanks for reading, or listening.

Even if you don’t agree with me –

I hope you give some thoughts to the points made

And please let others now about these blogs, podcasts and youtubes.

Citizen Simon - out

Free Blog Counter