The December Budget

Over the past few weeks the government spin doctors and the governments "Intellectual mouth-pieces" as so described by Jack O Connor, have demonised everyone from Nurses off on maternity leave to disabled persons unable to work. The Government and its propaganda puppets have focused on a campaign of divide and conquer, they have pointed the finger for the economic downturn at everyone but themselves. The reality is that it is the Government and its associates in the Banking and Building trade who have brought about this economic melt down. Children from disadvantaged areas and families are being denied basic human standards while this Government spends billions of Euro bailing out inept Bankers and Property speculators, my estimate is that this bail out will be at least 100 Billion and its consequences for the property market are un-measurable. Property speculators and Bankers have not only damaged the property market for the foreseeable future but also for the next generation as proxy speculators prepare to buy back assets at discounted prices from NAMA. This Government seems content to persecute the vulnerable, the elderly and the disadvantaged, while at the same time bailing out multi-millionaires. Property speculators will be able to maintain their personal fortunes while the tax payer is left with the bill for their bad debts. Families are being made homeless due to the failings of this government, yet property speculators maintain their homes and their luxuries as this inept Government fears to challenge them. This Government is cowardly and without the steel to do the right thing, the right thing is not easy to attain when you have been doing the wrong thing for so long. This government is like the man/woman who spends the house keeping on drink and then decides to sell the house to buy more drink, little children starve and are neglected as the self serving continue to self serve. The December budget is going to ensure that the rich stay rich and the vulnerable are even more exposed to harm, this government is not fit for purpose and should do the decent thing by resigning before they have to be sacked at the next general election.

UTube.com

More and more people are turning to social net works on the Internet to talk and socialise with people. These are new and challenging times when people don't have the money to go out to the pub or night club yet still want to interact with their fellow man. Internet giants such as UTube.com, Google and others have made it possible for people to talk and exchange views ensuring that many people who could be lonely or feel isolated can now feel part of a community. People should be encouraged to use the Internet and build new friendships and relationships, even if it is just to get something off your chest. While my own knowledge of computers and the net is limited I am using every opportunity to learn more, I enjoy interacting on the Irish Times daily Polls, now my own blog and I have just started with UTube.com although its a learning curve its all worth while. So if you have not done any of these things yet just log in and get started you wont regret it.

A New Day is Dawning

The Irish Times

The Irish Times reports today that the DUP and Sinn Fein are at logger heads over the devolution of Policing to the north. Still lets not panic, there is a general election looming, this is simply some positioning of the sectarian quarter. Yes indeed, both Sinn Fein and the DUP have to return to their sectarian ghettos to ensure that neither the Ulster Unionists nor the SDLP take any floating votes. Its all about a sectarian head count, even the great Stormont vision demands that each member of the Assembly signs in as either nationalist or unionist, great start to a new beginning. Any way not to worry after the general election Sinn Fein and the DUP will cosy up again and all will be well. The serious question remains as to whether Sinn Fein and the DUP can over see the devolution of policing and justice to the north. Many might think its impossible, yet in the aftermath of the British withdrawing from the Irish Republic it was Irish Republicans that had to establish a police force An Gardai Siochana that is today one of the most respected police services in the world. An Gardai Siochana has sent its men and women to far off places around the world in order to help less developed countries in the establishment and working of a modern police service. Personally I believe that Policing and Justice will be devolved to the north and I think that the DUP and Sinn Fein will deliver. Many of us remain concerned about continued terrorist activity on the ground and in particular such activity that leads back to those associated with the Provisional IRA (the murder of Paul Quinn in Monaghan a few months ago), however, it appears that Sinn Fein are being disciplined into democratic politics by the will of the people. Sinn Fein lost 18,000 votes in the 2009 European Elections in the north compared to 2004, and in the Republic Sinn Fein lost substantial support and their only MEP from the Republic, Mary Who. People are tiring of coat trailing by many associated with Sinn Fein and for this reason Sinn Fein have lost support. The DUP is now locked into battle with the UUP in what could be a defining moment for the UUP, the UUP have jumped into bed with the Tories in the hope of making gains in the north, still those gains will be minimal and the days of waving arms down the Garvaghy road in Portadown are well and truly gone. There is no real changes in the north politically, your either Orange or Green, with a little grey area for the Alliance in the middle, not a lot to choose from really. At least in the Republic civil war politics are in decline with real challenges emerging from Labour and Independents, the decline of the green party leaves a gap in the market for a new and more determined Eco-politic, thats a way off yet. The next general election in the Republic will see the Government parties removed and it will be many years before the Fianna Fail party recovers - if ever, and in that gap new eco-politic may emerge. Anyway, Yes, Sinn Fein and the DUP will deliver on policing, however we have to wait for the political love dance to end and that will be the day after the general election next year.

What does the future hold

Banking

As the Irish Banking system tightens its lending criteria the question must be asked, Are the banks punishing the wrong people? As small businesses struggle to survive due to cash flow problems, due to the banks pulling tight on the purse strings as they try to make up ground lost due to inept management and poor lending decisions. The Banks have lent Billions to property speculators, these billions secured on the basis of assets that today are not worth the paper they are written on. Yet with a few exceptions the banks have failed to pursue these speculators through the courts, the banks have preferred to await the Governments bail out plan - NAMA - National Assets Management Agency - already the Government through its surrogate child has committed 54 Billion to buy up 47 Billion worth of toxic loans from the banks. These loans we are told will eventually yield a 10% top up return on the Government's investment, yet the reality of such a return is a pipe dream. Many of the assets upon which these toxic loans were secured are worthless, for some of these assets to reach their original purchase value the property market would have to go up in value by 300%, land for which 400 million was paid is today worth less than 100 million and nobody wants it. Half build apartment blocks for which there is no demand we are told will yield a profit, not in my life time. The tragedy is that as the banks bolt the door the robbers have already got away and the only people being held hostage are the small and medium business people who are keeping this economy alive. I would ask the banks to release the innocent hostages and use every method at your disposal to pursue the real robbers including those who made it an inside job. See also, today's Irish Times Poll.

Pure Gold

The Irish Times news Poll 27/10/09

Today the Irish Times news poll asks if social welfare payments should be cut in the forth coming budget. There will always be those in society who will say Yes cut the social welfare, load of lay abouts, people will say "I have never taken social welfare in my life why should they get it", the reality is that if you have been a child in Ireland or you have had a child in Ireland then you have been in receipt of a social welfare payment (Child Benefit). Even the multi-millionaires continue to get their Social Welfare payment into their bank account each month, even the Tax Exiles get their Social Welfare payment into their bank accounts each month, so all of you who have lied to yourselves for so long may now bow your heads. Yes, you have taken from the Social Welfare pool even when you most certainly did not need it. Why should old age pensioners and disabled people now be punished for the sins of this Government and its friends in the Banks and Building trade, why should children go hungry so that corrupt bankers can be retired on pensions valued at tens of millions. Why should people who have served this country all their lives be punished so that this Government can continue to live as if the recession is the fault of everyone but them. This Government and its policies directed at supporting Bankers and Speculators created this economic melt down, this Government has Ministers on combined incomes of over 500,000 Euro per year in salaries and expenses. There should be cuts made immediately in the social welfare budget, those cuts should start with the 600 wasters known as Social Welfare Inspectors who do nothing only try to clean up their own mess. Behind the desk staff in the Social Welfare offices should be immediately put to work on helping people find training, education and work. Social Welfare recipients have each week to show ID in the post office and this is all on CCTV, the ritual of weekly signing must end as it is a farce that we cant afford. These small changes would save money and help generate revenue, where as mealy mouthed universal cuts simply take money out of the economy that is so badly needed.

Let there be light where there is now darkness

Prison Officers and Strike Action

As Prison Officers ballot their members on possible strike action, can such action be justified? Each day hundreds of Irishmen and Women enter the gates of prisons such as Mountjoy, Limerick, Cork, Wheatfield to face another 12 hours of uncertainty. These men and women face a daily routine that many would not wish on their worst enemy. These prisons contain gangs, groups of people who while on the outside gathered together to carry out crimes of murder, armed robbery, drug dealing, these people have no regard what so ever for the lives of the men and women charged with their care. Intimidation is routine, violence is routine, drug dealing is routine, yet these Irishmen and Women are being asked by this Government to carry out their daily routine while understaffed, under resourced and under paid. There are many prisoners within the prison system who have no interest in harming prison officers, each year many men and women are sent to prison for minor offences and non payment of fines that would be better dealt with by other methodology, such as community service or restorative justice. Yet it is that sizable minority who continue their daily trade in brutality that cause much risk to the good men and women of the Irish Prison Service. While the lurid tabloids tell us that prisoners don't seek rehabilitation while in prison this is a lie, while John O Donoghue was Minister for 'Justice' dozens of men and women convicted of sexual crime sought to go on the sex offenders course in Arbour Hill Prison, however the Minister and his Department continually told these prisoners that there were no places available and that there was no money for further places. Today we know that there was plenty of money for Mr O Donoghue to hire chauffeur driven cars and other luxurious trappings, some of the men who were denied their cry for help have since been released and have re offended. There is very little available in the Irish Prison system by way of Rehabilitative care, many inmates simply stay in their cells stoned out of their heads, when these people cant get access to drugs they will do anything for a score. In the blight of the moment without drugs these inmates will carry out any command by ruthless hoods in order to get a 10 Euro bag of heroin, they will scald an officer with boiling water, hit an officer with a sweeping brush or any other weapon he can find. Officers are often alone on a landing that houses 20 inmates. In Wheatfield for example the landings were designed to international standard to house 16 men in single cell accommodation, today these cells have been doubled and you now have 32 men to one officer on a landing, while the Numbers of prisoners have doubled the number of officers have remained the same, the availability of recreation and rehabilitation have all remained the same. Many will say good enough for prisoners, they deserve to be treated like animals, well if you treat people like animals they will act like animals. The staff are put at risk on a daily basis, staff are always out numbered, always vulnerable, and all of this is due to the fact that the Government have failed to address the massive failings in the criminal justice system. During the 'boom' this government spent hundreds of millions on its own extravagances while failing to deliver basic services. This Government in time of 'downturn' is spending billions on failed bankers and property speculators while putting our front line staff at risk. We should have a world class criminal justice system with the highest standards of best practice, what we have is daily fire fighting management of a system that is as rotten as the Victorian building of Mountjoy Jail, Yes, Prison staff should strike but also strike with sensitivity for those in your care, they may be in the system but they did not create it or your working conditions.

Should Public Servants Strike over Pay

This morning the Irish Times - News - Poll asks a similar question, the simple answer would be No, they are lucky to have jobs, however is this a realistic answer for those men and women who on a daily basis put their lives on the line so that we the public can go about our daily business. As the Government prepare to bail out building speculators and Bankers to the tune of at least 100 Billion (I believe that this will be closer to the actual bill) should front line public sector workers have to pay for the sins of the greedy and the self serving. I say No they should not, why should a nurse loss 100 Euros per week out of a small wage packet while former Banking Directors are retired off on pensions of millions, why should a Garda or Prison Officer loss a large chunk of their already squeezed wage packet so that Building Speculators are bailed out with our tax money, some of these property developers are tax exiles - they don't even pay their tax in this country, yet we are to bail them out. At night as the Government Ministers sleep in the comfort of their fine five/six bedroom houses with landscaped gardens, chauffeur driven cars and all of the other trappings of self absorbed individuals, Nurses, Gardai, Firemen, Prison Officers are putting their lives on the line to ensure that the public are given protection and service. How dare this Government brutalise our public servants while they themselves fill their car boots with goodies, how dare they take 16 Euro per week off pensioners - pensioners who have given a life time of service to this country, how dare they make mealy mouthed cuts to the social welfare of hundreds of thousands of people who have been made redundant due to the greed of the Golden Circle of Government Ministers, Bankers and Property Speculators. Yes Public/civil servants must take what ever action necessary to show this Government that if they want the tax payer to pay for their sins then they must also feel the pain.

Funding for Protestant Schools

As the Irish Government prepares to cut the Education budget given to Protestant schools in the Irish Republic we must ask if this is a continued discrimination against the Protestant community. I say yes it is a discrimination against the Protestant community, the savings to be made from such mealy mouthed cuts are a drop in the ocean when compared with the damage such cuts will have on the Protestant community in the Irish Republic. Indeed the cuts are small change when compared with the 100 Billion that the Irish Government will eventually pay to bail out corrupt Bankers and Property speculators. Since the foundation of the Irish State Protestants have felt a sense of isolation from mainstream Irish society, education grants and other incentives for the Protestant community encouraged the Protestant community to believe that perhaps the Irish State did care about their minority status, now however such cuts in the Education budget of Protestant schools will be an echo back to the days when Protestants were driven out of the Irish Republic in their tens of thousands by extreme nationalists. Upon the foundation of the Irish Republic Protestants were effectively banned from the civil service as the Irish language was a prerequisite for those wishing to enter the civil service. This Government is failing in its duty to protect the Protestant community from further isolation and marginalisation, such mealy mouthed targeted cut backs makes one think that this government is simply a bully, a government that can take money from the marginalised, the frail, the disabled, yet the same Government is on its knees to the Big interests of the Banks and the Property Speculators. This government is not fit for purpose, this government is self serving and greedy, this government is the school yard bully who takes little Johnny's pocket money.

Free Speech

Should the BBC have given the BNP leader an opportunity to speak? Personally I think that the BBC were correct in allowing the BNP leader to speak. Free speech is the corner stone of our democracy, that right to free speech must be tempered with common sense, we cant allow incitement to hatred against any individual or group of individuals. Time and again we have seen a small group of 'journalists' incite hate against individuals and groups of individuals, who will forget that rag tabloid that published lists of alleged sex offenders, resulting in totally innocent people being burned out of their homes, or indeed the most recent outrage concerning the death of the most wonderful Stephen Gately of Boyzone. Yet such banner headlines and insensitivity are written by people who are to be pitied rather than prosecuted. These articles are written by people who seek attention due to some sociological or psychological defect from a time or place, attention deficit disorder is the term I am looking for. Anyway, the BNP has nothing to offer most people and to ban them from our public airways would be a mistake. In Ireland we had the ridiculous situation where Sinn Fein were banned from the airways in the Republic of Ireland for many years during the 'troubles' in the north of Ireland and yet when Sinn Fein were given access to the national airways nobody was really interested in what they had to say, thats why they have been reduced to having four representitives in the Dail (House of Parliment) in the Republic. Again in the north of Ireland Sinn Fein were barred from the airways from 1986 and actors were used to speak their words, what a farce. In the last European Elections in the north Sinn Fein actually lost 18,000 votes compared to their performance in 2004. That said Sinn Fein will be about for a long time in the north as the only other nationalist party the SDLP are viewed by working class Catholics as woolly jumpers (middle/upper middle class) who have done little for the poorer working communities. There is no logic in banning people from the airways or denying them free speech unless they break with basic principles of common decency, such bans are driven by people who feel inadequate or who feel that they may be exposed. For example in the Irish Republic Mr Pat Kenny who hosted the Late Late show up until recently, interviewed a convicted sex offender, the usual burn the books brigade cried foul and so did some politicians, yet behind this fasade was the fear of being exposed. Politicians feared that they would be exposed for their failure to provide even basic rehabilitative care for such offenders while in prison and the makey up groups feared that they would be exposed for their banner headlines and tabloid driven moral panics that insure that they remain at the top of the Government grant list and maintain their inflated salaries and expenses as they go about their 'voluntary' work. My view is that free speech must be upheld as a basic human and civil right, yet with that right comes responsibility, that right must not be denied lightly, and that responsibility must not be dictated by they who feel inadequate in their own walk of life.

Shopping in the North of Ireland

Over the past months much has been made of people travelling from the Republic of Ireland to Northern Ireland where there is a lower cost of living and allegedly better value to be had. However, when one allows for the exchange rate difference between Sterling and the Euro, and unless one is travelling in a tax payer sponsored Ministerial limosine - one must also factor in travel costs. Today the Irish Times reports that 1 Euro will buy you 0.91720 Sterling, that means that your already down approx 10% on your Euro, and lets say for arguments sake you spend 20 Euro on petrol there and back, parking is mainly free in Newry. So lets take the ipod which is retailing in Newry at 108 Sterling but is retailing in Dublin at 139 Euro. By the time we convert our Euros to Sterling and account for our petrol money the saving is minimal. Other such luxuary items have a similar tail to tell, personally for these type of items unless your filling the your car boot its best to shop in the Republic, shop around. I was however able to buy a set of three painting canvases for 22 Euro in Easons in Newry while the exact same canvases were 59 Euro in Easons in Dublin, this type of disparity is not easy to explain. In relation to groceries and in particular any store giving you £1 Sterling for 1 Euro there is value to be had for a family sized trolley, yet if we shop around in the Republic we can find bargains, both Dunnes and Tesco are now providing a 55 cent white sliced loaf, both are also competing in frozen food and fresh meat departments. So my overall feeling is that shopping around in the Republic is the best option and it keeps our families, neighbours and friends in jobs. I dont think that anyone should deny themselves the experience of going to Belfast or Newry to shop, but I would ask people to do the hard sums before they go with the headlines of unbeatable bargains and money saving offers, just like the Republic you can find bargains in the north but you can also get ripped off. Happy shopping where ever its is.

Unemployment

At a time when there are over 400,000 people unemployed (live register) in Ireland, is there anything positive that can be taken from being unemployed. My personal experience is that there is much that can be positive about being unemployed in the short to medium term. While I understand that the bills keep rolling in and debts appear to be impossible mountains to climb, my personal experience is that this can also be a time of opportunity. I know some will say what is that idiot talking about, others will say thats true, others will just be too depressed to care. However, lets look at this together. When I was made redundant through no fault of my own I was in great dispair, I lost everything, and I mean everything. After I gathered myself up, and I mean gathered as you would gather a black bin bag full of rubbish. And I was full of rubbish, despair, thoughts of self-harm, the usual things that one thinks when one feels left behind by the world. Any way having visited the doctor and taken about all the self pity I could for myself I decided to try something different. I went to the Local adult learning centre at the VEC, I asked to speak with a career advisor. The careers advisor first asked me what interests I had, and I told him I liked business, I liked the way business operates, I like the way people turn ideas into business, you know stuff like that, nothing too heavy. The advisor then asked me if I had ever considered becoming a business advisor. I explained that I was someone with very little formal education. That he said could be resolved. Really I thought, this man is living on the moon. Any way I began by doing an English and Maths course and as I grew in confidence I took on a business management course, sounds like alot and maybe it was, but I was determined to beat the blues (remember this was not all about money). I had decided not only to change career path but also to change my life. Now I am a business advisor, I can pay my bills and have some time to myself for other activities that I enjoy, including this Blogg which is my latest adventure. I know some are saying - but there are no jobs out there, I know - thats why you must create your own as I have done, I am not someone with a silver spoon in my mouth, just an ordinary worker who was let go and had to start again. Your not on your own as you contemplate where to go from here, I know some of you have kids running around and your looking at them and thinking about Christmas and how you can keep them happy and yet stay within a tight budget. God help those of you with mortgages and wondering if you will lose your home, please dont give up, lets be positive. Sit down and talk with your partner, try and extract from this situation a way going forward, now is the time to say I am going to do that course at the VEC/College/University, it will be a struggle, but it will also bring rewards that are now a very dim light at the end of the tunnel. We are all in this together, we have been let down by many, the only one that can get us out of this is ourselves, so lets make that move, contact the VEC or any other educational facility and let the journey begin, God bless you on your journey.

Drink Driving Limit in Ireland

For those people who live in countries where drink driving is not tolerated it must be amusing to see Irish politicians arguing over how much alcohol a person should be allowed to drink before driving their vehicle. At the moment the blood alcohol content limit in Ireland for drivers is 80mg of alcohol per 100ml of blood. The Minister for Transport Mr Noel Dempsey wishes to reduce that level to 50mg of alcohol per 100ml blood. Yet yesterday 20 backbench TDs and Senators opposed such a move. Why in Gods name would anyone oppose the introduction of what is effectively life saving legislation, and why in particular would politicians who are charged with ensuring public safety and well being oppose such moves. The answer is simple. In rural parts of Ireland many people, families and communities live in isolation. In places such as Connemara in County Galway, a place of great beauty and toruism in summer, a place of great isolation and lonelyness in the winter, the pub is the only place where people can come together and enjoy music, dancing and a game of cards. The pub is the place where matters of great importance are discussed be that farming, fishing or rural development. The pub is the place where the local Minister and TD holds his clinic on a Saturday morning to listen to the concerns of locals. The pub is in effect the heart and soul of the community, it is the place where the lonely no longer feel lonely, where the elderly feel safety and comfort, where the open fire is the symbol of a community of families and individuals. Yet the difficulty is that for Johnny who has to travel several miles down from the hill of Cashel there is no public transport, there is no bike lane, there is no taxi, no well lit corridor, the only means Johnny has of getting to meet with his neighbours and friends is to drive his tractor or his car. Johnnys closest neighbour may be six or seven miles away, they cant car pool or tractor pool as the journey for a game of cards or an hour of Irish dancing could take an hour there and back by the time you negotiate the narrow winding roads. Many living in big towns or cities cant comprehend this rural life style, why should they, they step outside the door and there is a bus, taxi, tram to take them where they want to go. The pub for the city resident is a walk down the street and is only one of many entertainments that are at hand. Yet drink driving is a major cause of death and jury on our roads, how can we balance the need for drink driving reform and at the same time take account of the hardship such reform will impose on many rural people and communities who are already feeling isolated from the decisons of Big Government and 'self serving' politicians. Perhaps a solution could be found in the government facilitating transport initiatives in those rural communities. Let there be a rural initiative lead by Government that ensures that in particular older and disabled persons can have access to transport for their one night out per week, let there be provision for those proud people who have served this country so well. Lets include not isolate rural Ireland from Governemnt innitiatives that are being driven for the good of the people. In this instance I support the Minister's push for drink driving reform, but let that reform be tempered with remedies for those who do not have access to chaufeur driven cars.

The December Budget

As the Irish Government prepare to punish pensioners and the most vulnerable people in society, for the sins of the multi-millionaire bankers and property speculators, with crushing cuts in pensions and basic welfare payments we must ask oursleves as a nation why are we allowing this brutality to occur. Brian Cowen who leads the Irish Government and while both Minister for Finance and now as Leader has pursued what can only be described as Biffonian Economics, these are not the economics that one would find in the library books of our great universities, but the economics of men who have become detached from the reality facing ordinary people on a daily basis (Blair syndrom). How can Brian Cowen defend taking 16 Euro per week from a pensioner on 230 Euro per week, a pensioner that has worked for a life time and made a life time of contribution to this State. The dire consequences of such cuts on older and disabled people is beyond the comprehension of a man on a combined income of 400,000 per annum in salary and expenses, chaufeur driven car, subsidised meals in the Dail restaurant, world travel in the government jet and a life style that he would not have achived as a dry as dust accountant, no he had to become a 'public servant' to achive such high office. While Brian Cowen has talked about Government Ministers taking a 10% cut in salary across the board, that 10% is easily of set by a 10% increase in expense claims by the same Ministers, the pensioner or disabled person has no such expense account with which to balance the books. This government has failed in its duty to stand up to the interests of the Bankers and Building Developers/speculators, this government has bailed out the Bankers and Builders with 54 Billion Euro of tax payers money, a sum that this Observer believes is only the deposit on the real bill they have run up, while at the same time this government has brutalised the most vulnerable in society with cuts in rent supplement, cuts in payments to care workers, cuts in salary of our front line staff, cuts in resourses for those most in need. It is a shame on this government that hundreds of people are queuing at soup kitchens in the back streets of Dublin each day as they have been cast out of their jobs, their homes and denied basic care. It is time to say enough is enough, it is time that this government and its decaying green fig leaf were challenged in a real and meaningful way. Industrial action can only be part of that campaign, people must stop pursuing small sectional interests, this campaign must be a united efford by those in the public/private sector, by those who have lost their jobs due to the greed of the corrupt, they who have become marginalised by the black propaganda of Government spin doctors. This government must be replaced with a Government that had no hand in the economic destruction of our country, a government that puts people at the heart of government strategy not spin doctors. Lets stand together and say enough of your bully boy tactics, lets reach out to our neighbour and say we feel your pain, and make a real effort to ensure that this Government is thrown into the dustbin of political history as the government that punished the elderly while supporting the greedy.

The Site for the New Childrens Hospital

Several years ago I was asked by a property developer to project manage the development of a number of sites for him in the Dorset Street area of north Dublin. I knew this developer well and he knew me well and thats why he trusted me with the work. However, at that time I could not understand why anyone would be pumping millions of Euro into Dorset Street, it was hardly an investment area at that time. I asked the developer why he was investing so much money in the area and he told me that because of his friendship with certain politicians he had been given the knod that there was going to be a super hospital built on the site of the Mater hospital. I would later discover that this developer was also well placed on a hospital Board of Directors. I thought nothing more about this until one day a friend of mine said he was hoping to secure a large contract in relation to the building of the new hospital on the Mater site, I said to my friend that the site had not yet been choosen and that international experts were advising that the hospital should be built on a green field site, my friend quickly reached for his phone and spoke directly to a senior government Minsiter. When my friend was finished talking on the phone he assured me that the new hospital would be built on the Mater site, I found all of this extraordinary. Still I was simply a builder not a politician. Anyone who has ever been involved in a big building project will always tell you that it is much easier and cheaper to build from scratch rather than try and turn a pigs ear into a silk purse. Last week when it was announced by the Irish Government that the new hospital would proceed on the Mater site it came as no great surprise, the projects I managed in the Dorset Street area are well and trully finished and much accomadation now awaits the many thousands of staff that will work on the new site. Many will think that the hospital is being built on the Mater site as it is the best location and can deliver best practice in universal cradle to the grave health care, my own thoughts and knowledge are that the site has been choosen to ensure that tens of millions already invested by property developers is not lost and neither is their support for this government.

NAMA Fact or Fiction

As NAMA comes into force we are told that it has been created for the common good, we are told that NAMA is the saviour of the Irish Banking system and therefore the saviour of the Irish people who are presently struggling to make ends meet. Yet there appears to be much about NAMA that we don't know, will property developers/speculators who have run up debts of Billions of Euro be allowed to borrow again from these same banks, if an ordinary citizen borrows from the bank to build an extension to their house and then default on that loan, that ordinary citizen is quickly Black-marked and will never again be able to have a loan from that or any other reputable institution. Yet it appears from what has been said by the Government to date that No such Black mark will be put against the property developers/speculators who have at least contributed to the economic collapse of our Banking institutions. Nowhere has it been said that when NAMA takes on the Toxic Loans and Assets attached to those loans that proxy buyers would be allowed to buy these assets at discounted rates on behalf of the original developer/speculator. My guess is that by next summer the banks will need more money and the 54 Billion Euro of tax payers money already pledged to the banks will soon be nothing more than a deposit for the real bill that the developers/speculators and banks have run up during the period of much wealth and little regulation.