Author: Anthony

The inequality and high cost of a failed state

Letter in today’s Irish Independent.

Ordinary taxpayers pay price of failure

AT least 12 middle-income earners have to work for one full year to provide sufficient income tax just to pay for the pension of failed Financial Regulator Patrick Neary.Similarly, another 12 middle-income earners have to work one full year just to pay for the pension of Rody Molloy, former chief executive of FAS.

Approximately 44 middle-income workers had to toil for one full year to pay for Mr Neary’s golden handshake. Similarly, another 44 middle-income earners had to slave hard to provide for Molloy’s golden handshake.

Therefore, in their first year of “retirement”, it will require the total income tax of over 112 middle-income earners to provide for their golden handshakes and pensions. Assuming that both gentlemen survive for another 20 years (God willing), some 570 middle-income earners will have beavered away to keep them in the lap of luxury.

This simple calculation can be used to put other Government wastage into perspective.

For instance; more than 5,000 middle-income earners had to work one full year to cover the outrageous wastage of Martin Cullen’s infamous e-voting machines, not including on-going storage.

Ordinary working people see these — and the many other unjust and unsustainable payments/wastage — as the real barriers to achieving any consensus in the concept of “shared pain”.

Unless Cowen and co grasp the nettle, through emergency legislation if necessary — and address these issues immediately in a fair, sustainable and transparent way — we will certainly face social unrest and turmoil.

John Leahy
Wilton Road, Cork

Another hidden perk exposed

Letter in today’s Irish Independent.

Reading a recent taxation publication I came across the following regarding PRSI:

“The following are excluded for PRSI purposes: Payments received by a person in respect of the following offices: income related to a member of the Dail, An Seanad, or the European Parliament, the judiciary, public offices under the state such as Labour Court members, the Comptroller and Auditor General, Harbour Commissioners etc.”

Surely this is a scandal at any time, but particularly in the present climate. How do they justify this?

Joe Kennedy
DUBLIN 13

Very strange goings on at Irish Nationwide Building Society

Very strange goings on at Irish Nationwide Building Society (Irish Independent).

Apparently, Noel Harrington a branch manager in Limerick, was asked to step aside while an independent inquiry was conducted into the way he handled his own loans and those of a property developer with borrowings of €36 million.

Yet, Mr. Harrington faces no allegations, is on full pay and is not regarded by his employer as being under suspicion.

The independent inquiry into non allegations that Mr. Harrington’s employers have no suspicions about apparently concerns a substantial €1.2 million difference in a redemption fee, in other words, €1.2 million has gone astray somewhere.

And who is conducting this ‘independent’ inquiry, is it someone inside the Society? Is this not a matter for the Financial Regulator or the Garda Fraud Squad or did the Financial Regulator tell the Society – go away and hire a private investigator, we have enough on our plate already.

The real cause of the global financial crisis

Most people agree that there are two principal reasons for our ongoing financial crisis; the global crisis that originated in the sup prime market in America and the bursting of our own property bubble.

Sunday Independent columnist Gavin Duffy, however, thinks differently. According to Mr. Duffy we Irish are suffering from a persecution complex, we’ve convinced ourselves that the situation in Ireland is worse than any other country (Questions & Answers, 1st question).

In fact, says Duffy, every country in the world is suffering from a property bubble on the same scale as we are because of “an unholy trinity of three seismic events that happened in the last twenty years.”

1. The fall of Communism resulted in a sudden flow of huge amounts of money into the West.

2. Technology that moved this money around the world faster than anyone could count it or any regulator could police it.

3. After a millennium of serfdom the Chinese decided to open up their country and provide the global economy with low cost manufacturing.

That money flowed into the West and it had to find a home and it found it in property and that’s what caused the global financial crisis.

So, does everybody understand? The fall of the Soviet empire, fierce fast money and an evil Chinese plot to swamp the world with low cost goods.

Now Duffy, pass me that joint, you’ve been sucking on it for far too long.

Hurley: Stating the obvious

“The State was facing a difficult year in 2009.”

This was one of the gems of wisdom from John Hurley, governor of the Central Bank, a man who receives but doesn’t earn; an outrageous salary of €368,000 per annum (Irish Times).

Every child in the land knew years ago that the situation was serious when the likes of Hurley was saying there was no problem.

Hurley: A government lapdog

I’m delighted to see that the cowardly and dishonest ramblings of John Hurley, governor of the Central Bank, to the Joint Committee on Economic Regulatory Affairs last week have been exposed.

John McManus, writing in the Irish Times, effectively concluded that Hurley was/is nothing more than a lapdog for a government that didn’t want to know about the very dangerous bubble that was building, a bubble that was bound to burst with dire consequences.

Government warning: Brian Cowen is not a drunken buffoon

My instinct is that you need to go easy on Brian Cowen as it might be perceived to be a bit personal at this stage. You should spread the attention around as much as possible.”

“This is not a reaction to any pressure from Government; we have not received any objections or complaints on behalf of anybody in Government. This is about fairness.”

So wrote the producer of the Gerry Ryan Show, Siobhan Hough, to satirist, Oliver Callan, regarding his increasingly controversial portrayal of Brian Cowen as a drunken buffoon (Sunday Independent).

Not a reaction to any pressure from the Government? Yes, of course, Siobhan, we believe you.

We're looking into it…

Fianna Fail TD Thomas Byrne was asked questions about TDs pay and expenses on Saturday View.

On expenses.

“That’s a good question actually. “We certainly have to lead by example and I would have no problem with a fully vouched expenses system (They keep saying that but nothing happens).

On the €61 for just turning up for work.

Yes, that has to be looked at…proposals have been put forward to the Minister for Finance and he has been slow to come back on them and think it’s because he probably wants a much more radical approach to expenses and we may see that before the supplementary budget.

On junior ministers.

“I’m not going to start criticising my colleagues but certainly in this day and age…there’s certainly an argument to reduce junior ministers…but let’s leave that for the budget

On payments to chairmen of committees. (Chair 20k, vice chair 10k and conveners on 5k).

“I think they should be reduced…certainly the money should be reduced…it’s alright when the money’s there but at this stage it will all have to be looked at, we have to show example.

“I’ts alright when the money’s there.”?? Pure Fianna Fail.