The Fine Gael thread

[Maguire01]

Has the old thread been deleted that one as well as the Sinn Fein one?

Anyway, here's some change FG is introducing - looks to be a positive step, although there's scope for plenty more to make local government more effective.


Phil Hogan says local government reform will save €420m
Updated: 19:35, Tuesday, 16 October 2012


Minister for the Environment Phil Hogan has said plans to reform local government will save the taxpayer €420m over the next four years.

The proposals, called Putting People First, include the abolition off all 80 town councils, a 40% reduction in the number of councillors.
 
There will also be a cut in the number of regional authorities from ten to three.
 
Local authority services are to be funded through the local property tax, with strengthened audit committees.
 
A National Oversight and Audit Commission will scrutinise local government performance and efficiency.
 
Local authority managers are to be replaced by chief executives.
 
They will be responsible to the elected members in the same way as the chief executive of a company is to a board of directors.
 
The Government's document says that the role and functions of elected councils will be widened, with a greater involvement in economic development and enterprise support.

Town Councils will be replaced by new Municipal Districts, which will cover the entire county, being based on the main towns and their hinterlands.
 
Councillors will be elected simultaneously to the Municipal Districts and the County Council.
 
The document states that more power will be devolved to local level, with a substantial range of "reserved" functions at Municipal District level.
 
The city and county councils in Limerick and Waterford will be merged into a single authority, as will the two county councils in Tipperary.
 
Cork and Galway will retain city as well as county councils, while Dublin will keep its current four councils.
 
The measures will reduce the number of councillors from over 1,600 to 950.
 
The targeted voluntary redundancy scheme should see an estimated saving of €45m per year.
 
Minister Hogan has said that local authorities will have responsibility for the property tax and the amount that will be levied in each district.
 
Speaking on RTÉ's News at One, the minister said the Government remains committed to the principle that the money from the tax will be ring-fenced for use by local authorities.
 
He said the Revenue Commissioners will still collect the money, but local authorities will have discretion over the imposition of the new tax and the amount that will be charged.
 
He said international best practice suggested that local services should, as far as possible, be locally funded, and that was the rationale for the property tax.
 
He said the link between local tax and local service was severed by a government for electoral gain in 1977, a decision which he said led to much of the malaise in the local government system today.
 
Mr Hogan said that each local authority can in due course have a different level of property tax, though he said the timing of such a move would be a matter for Government.
 
He also confirmed that the power of councillors to overturn the decisions of planning officials will be abolished.
 
He said the decision had been taken in the light of evidence given to the Mahon Tribunal, regarding corruption in the planning process.
 
A directly elected mayor for Dublin is still a possibility, but only after voters in the capital are consulted in a plebiscite - a vote on a ballot question - to be held alongside the local elections in 2014.
 
Taoiseach Enda Kenny said the new local government plan was "one of the most radical, ambitious and far-reaching governance reform plans ever put forward by an Irish government".
 
He said councillors would have a stronger role on issues that matter to people, especially in economic development.
 
Mr Kenny said it would be up to local authorities to make the best of the new opportunities.
 
Tánaiste Eamon Gilmore said the Government was embarking on a clear path to local government reform.
 
He said the current system was undemocratic, unresponsive and does too little governing.
 
Mr Gilmore said Municipal Districts would replace the "patchy" system of Town Councils.
 
He said the structure would allow councillors to act at a District and a Council level.
 
Mr Gilmore said the new system would respond more quickly and effectively to the needs of people.
 
Plans criticised by some councillors
 
A number of councillors have expressed their concern at the abolition of town councils.
 
Bray Town Council Cathaoirleach Mick Glynn of Fine Gael said the reduction in the number of councillors may affect political diversity and accessibility.
 
Labour Councillor John Walsh, a member of Ballinasloe Town Council, said the move was a blow to local democracy.
 
Athlone Mayor Jim Henson said he has no confidence in the ability of Mr Hogan to introduce proper local government reform.
 
The Labour Councillor said what was being introduced was a European model system of representation that would bring elected representatives even further away from the people.
 
The Mayor of Waterford has said his city's status will be affected by the proposed changes.
 
Fine Gael Councillor Jim D'Arcy said Waterford will not be on a level playing field in terms of "city status" as it will not have the same resources as the likes of Cork or Galway and will be at a disadvantage.
 
He also said it is going to cost money in the short term and asked who is going to pay for the changes.
 
Fianna Fáil's Barry Cowen dubbed the proposals a wasted opportunity from a Government that had promised real reform, while Sinn Féin's Brian Stanley said the party would be studying the proposals.

http://www.rte.ie/news/2012/1016/phil-hogan-local-government-cabinet-politics.html

[mayogodhelpus@gmail.com]

Sounds very promising, but I will hold my breath. This is Ireland afterall and good ideas and political will are not always best bedfellows.

[seafoid]

This was all instigated by the troika. There is no way FG and Lab would have done this without them.

[Maguire01]

This was all instigated by the troika. There is no way FG and Lab would have done this without them.

Maybe not, but if you can't give them the credit for positive moves instigated by the Troika, then you can't blame them for the negatives either.

Either way, it's a positive step.

[lawnseed]

the party of goombeen traitors who are worse the fianna fail if that was possible.. well actually it is possible theres labour the shower who'd sell their own mothers to get into government with anyone at all. actually ireland has never had a real leader since the dawning of time and if theres been one i cant think of any. they've all been a self serving pack of tramps.. full of it. will things change? not likely. it all revolves around the old addage "give a tr**p a horse and he'll ride it to the devil" the Irish people would be better off run by the queen of England shes the only leader who's actually shown us a modicum of respect. 

[lawnseed]

It pains me to get involved, quit the fighting and trying to rise one another. Bar what some of you might think we perform the mod role voluntarily, so I cannot stand seeing reported topics when this could have easily been avoided.

I've cleaned up the thread, changed the name of it and merged the other thread created, please keep all related topics of conversation to this thread.

thankyou.
now all we need is some proper adult debate

[Rossfan]

It pains me to get involved, quit the fighting and trying to rise one another. Bar what some of you might think we perform the mod role voluntarily, so I cannot stand seeing reported topics when this could have easily been avoided.

I've cleaned up the thread, changed the name of it and merged the other thread created, please keep all related topics of conversation to this thread.

thankyou.
now all we need is some proper adult debate

Like this? - 
the party of goombeen traitors who are worse the fianna fail if that was possible.. well actually it is possible theres labour the shower who'd sell their own mothers to get into government with anyone at all. actually ireland has never had a real leader since the dawning of time and if theres been one i cant think of any. they've all been a self serving pack of tramps.. full of it. will things change? not likely. it all revolves around the old addage "give a tr**p a horse and he'll ride it to the devil" the Irish people would be better off run by the queen of England shes the only leader who's actually shown us a modicum of respect.

[lawnseed]

It pains me to get involved, quit the fighting and trying to rise one another. Bar what some of you might think we perform the mod role voluntarily, so I cannot stand seeing reported topics when this could have easily been avoided.

I've cleaned up the thread, changed the name of it and merged the other thread created, please keep all related topics of conversation to this thread.

thankyou.
now all we need is some proper adult debate

Like this? - 
the party of goombeen traitors who are worse the fianna fail if that was possible.. well actually it is possible theres labour the shower who'd sell their own mothers to get into government with anyone at all. actually ireland has never had a real leader since the dawning of time and if theres been one i cant think of any. they've all been a self serving pack of tramps.. full of it. will things change? not likely. it all revolves around the old addage "give a tr**p a horse and he'll ride it to the devil" the Irish people would be better off run by the queen of England shes the only leader who's actually shown us a modicum of respect.

actually rossie that post was from a protest thread now deleted by our moderater. i would delete it but given whats going on in our country over the past 4 years i think it sums up the leadership or lack of leadership on offer to the people of this island. as regards being run by the queen of england thats indication of just how badly ireland has been governed since the civil war. unless you know of some leader/party that has done something to be celebrated. and ffs dont wheel out the good friday agreement

[mayogodhelpus@gmail.com]

It pains me to get involved, quit the fighting and trying to rise one another. Bar what some of you might think we perform the mod role voluntarily, so I cannot stand seeing reported topics when this could have easily been avoided.

I've cleaned up the thread, changed the name of it and merged the other thread created, please keep all related topics of conversation to this thread.

thankyou.
now all we need is some proper adult debate

Like this? - 
the party of goombeen traitors who are worse the fianna fail if that was possible.. well actually it is possible theres labour the shower who'd sell their own mothers to get into government with anyone at all. actually ireland has never had a real leader since the dawning of time and if theres been one i cant think of any. they've all been a self serving pack of tramps.. full of it. will things change? not likely. it all revolves around the old addage "give a tr**p a horse and he'll ride it to the devil" the Irish people would be better off run by the queen of England shes the only leader who's actually shown us a modicum of respect.

actually rossie that post was from a protest thread now deleted by our moderater. i would delete it but given whats going on in our country over the past 4 years i think it sums up the leadership or lack of leadership on offer to the people of this island. as regards being run by the queen of england thats indication of just how badly ireland has been governed since the civil war. unless you know of some leader/party that has done something to be celebrated. and ffs dont wheel out the good friday agreement

Surely you mean a spamming thread that you started rather than a protest thread. I am confused the British Queen has been head of the administrative region know as Northern Ireland for 60 years now, so are you using Ireland in the context of the 26 counties Lawnseed  Regarding the British Queen, are you advocating British rule in Ireland Lawnseed    Again in relation to your view on the British Queen are you abandoning Repulican values and advocating Royalist values      and at that Absolute Monarachy       

I'll take Republican Nationalist Fine Gael if this is what Sinn Féin represents, British Royalist Unionist Partitionist values 

[lawnseed]

i refer the honourable member to the reply i gave some moments ago..

[mayogodhelpus@gmail.com]

i refer the "honourable member" to the reply i gave some moments ago..

Sounds like British parliamentary speak to me 

[lawnseed]

that leader your proud of.. ? any ideas..? de valera? surely not kissy kissy boy the gimp

[mayogodhelpus@gmail.com]

that leader your proud of.. ? any ideas..? de valera? surely not kissy kissy boy the gimp

thankyou.
now all we need is some proper adult debate

  That was too easy.

[lawnseed]

that leader your proud of.. ? any ideas..? de valera? surely not kissy kissy boy the gimp

thankyou.
now all we need is some proper adult debate

  That was too easy.

yup and you knew who i was talking about. i see he's busy french kissing now.. which is an improvement on sarkozy slapping the head off him like benny hill

[lawnseed]

WANTED.
one site for kids hospital, needs to have good parking and access to good road network. bareface preference given to constituencies of fine gael tds or ministers.

its not urgent the odd child might die or have to be shipped out for treatment but its in the pipeline since 2007.

contractors seeking work should include kickbacks in all quotes. those not on first name terms with fine gael ministers/tds need not apply.

interviews to be held at a constituency office or golf club soon enough