Hard working Irish parliamentarians.

Hard working TDs.

Over the year’s arguments have been put forward by politicians trying to justify their extremely high salaries, and very generous expenses, long holidays etc, as to how hard they work. The general argument that they work 24 hours a day, 7 days a week on behalf of their constituents is the standard mantra they use.

In the past few weeks a debate has opened on their entitlements to pensions even though they are still employed by the same employer i.e. the Irish state. One argument I heard was when an elected member of the Irish parliament likened his pension entitlements to one that would be accumulated by those elected parliamentarians that also ran private commercial companies. In the issue of a privately funded pension, it is dependent on how much you pay and on what terms you sign up to, that decides when the private pension is actually paid (but realistically it will only be paid on retirement), as opposed to the public funded pensions that are ridiculously paid when you are still in work and capable of working, even if you lose your seat, IMHO if you are young and fit enough to work then your pension should not be paid until you reach pension age. If needs be, you can sign on the dole (like everybody else) in the event that you become unemployed.

On the other hand my thoughts turned to their arguments about how hard they work for their constituents. Clearly any parliamentarian that is also working in the private sector is not totally immersed in their constituents needs. You cannot work in a private business and devote 24 hours a day to your civic duties, it’s impossible. Therefore I can only conclude that they are not actually working 24 hours per day, 7 days per week on behalf of their constituents, and on that basis they should refund the portion of their salary on a pro rata basis to those parliamentarians that have no outside private commercial interests.

I could debate the complex revenue scenarios that could arise as to the issue of parliamentarians operating private commercial companies, but I will leave that for another day.

On the other hand I wonder how the normal scenario where if you pay peanuts, you get monkeys, implying a certain level of competence. We do not pay peanuts and yet we still ended up with monkeys, with no competence what so ever. How did that happen? So that’s the peanuts theory debunked.

Fianna Fail member Jim McDaid ranting and raving.

A couple of weeks ago Jim McDaid Fianna Fail TD was interviewed by Eamon Keane on Newstalk106. During the interview McDaid wondered had Fianna Fail given any thought to the fact that a Fine Gael Taoiseach might be in charge in 2016 which would mean that Fianna Fail would not run the centenary celebrations of the 1916 Rising. Today McDaid was again interviewed widely because of his refusal to give back his pension. His justification for this was he thinks the media are running the country. I think he is right in that issue, however if he really wants to have a go at the government, why does he not clearly call for the resignation of the government (after all he is a party member). Personally I want an election (like millions of others) ASAP, and not when Fianna Fail get around to it, however I do not think that who is in charge of the 1916 centenary really matters as they will have to toe a totally diplomatic line that will not offend any side of the civil war, as we are all, and always have been Irish, and no politician will ever change that, no matter what side they are on, but clearly McDaid is an example of Fianna Fail thinking as to how they play with the Irish state. They seem to believe they are the kings of Ireland, and the subjects will accept anything they hand down. Well I have news for Fianna Fail, those days are gone and you will never dominate this country again like you have in the past.

IMHO A few powerful people in Fianna Fail have destroyed this country, but you will never do it again. Your stranglehold on the institutes of the Irish state will be broken after the next election, and the gravy train will no longer roll into the Fianna Fail bandwagon. New checks and balances will be established to ensure proper account of transparency that will not facilitate any form of hiding information from the citizens. We will find out what has gone on, who gets what, and how much they get, and what for, and where rules have been broken appropriate actions will be taken. The citizens sovereignty will be established like it has never existed before, and the citizens will be the ultimate deciders of just and fair process.