Tag Archives: Labour Party

Government intervention needed to cut petrol prices

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Fianna Fáil’s Naas Area Representative, James Lawless, has urged the government to act now without further delay and tackle the escalating cost of petrol which is crippling families and businesses across the country.

“The price of fuel again reaches record highs this week as families return to school and the weekly round trip of school-run, children’s activities and all that goes with family life. Families have told me they can no longer afford even those standard activities trying to run a regular family car on current fuel prices” stated James.

“The government have sat on their hands and allowed the situation escalate to crisis point. For every litre of petrol sold almost a euro of that is taken in by the government in taxes. Meanwhile they have twice rejected Fianna Fáil proposals to make even modest cuts to the price of fuel in both April and again in August of this year when Fianna Fáil tabled legislation before Leinster House to reduce fuel excise duties” James explained.

“But government policy is counter productive; fuel tax revenues actually fell this year for the second year running as motorists are being hammered again and just cannot take any more; disposable incomes are disappearing out the exhaust pipe with knock on effects for the whole wider economy as everyone suffers from less to go round”.

“The exorbitant cost of fuel is hitting every single household in the country and is discouraging tourists from travelling through Ireland not to mention the direct cost hitting every business. You don’t even need to take my word for it: As Conor Faughnan of the AA said last week ‘The motorist is being used and abused by the government’”.

“If Fine Gael and Labour could just put aside party politics and accept the Fianna Fáil proposals, the Government could take a simple step that would immediately reduce the price of petrol at the pumps. I am calling for immediate action before the situation escalates any further than it has already” concluded James.

Too many twits

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Or something like that was how David Cameron put it. Now normally I wouldn’t have much time for a Tory but he is the young energetic leader of a party which was out of power for over a decade after a decade prior of being in power until the people got so sick of them they turfed them out for the alternative. And now after a rebuild (and time for people to finally get sick of the new crowd) looks like they’re back in vogue again. I like Labour (old and new) a lot and whilst I was never particularly a Blairite, I was certainly a Brownite and an avowed fan of the new generation such as the mellifluos Milliband, some of which I’ve discussed here before.  But all politics is cyclical and whilst we wait out the turnabout Cameron is living proof that there’s hope for us all.

Anyway I’ve digressed but my original message was to say whilst I haven’t been posting (blog wise) a lot lately, I’ve been busy over on twitter which to be honest is a whole lot easier than writing a full article. So for anyone interested you’ll find me over here in between blog posts…

PS Our former leader (Bertie Ahern TD) begins his News of the World column tomorrow, and whatever about apple tarts, the man knows his sport. Might even pick up a copy as my usual business post is sadly lacking in the green field department..

Can the centre hold?

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It’s pretty apocalyptic out there. The political and economic storm clouds are gathering and darkening. And all the signs are that worse is to come.

In the middle of all this we have an opinion poll. FF are on 22% – a historic low. Like most members I’m pretty disappointed by this but not hugely surprised. The public sector pension measures were never going to be popular with those affected; people are not sadomasochists. People are angry and to a certain extent nervous of what’s around the corner. Like most workers out there I’m not expecting any increments or bonuses this year, and will consider myself lucky if that’s all I have to worry about. It’s not easy. Jobs are being lost hand over fist in the private sector.

The last couple of days have been pretty much worst case scenarios for the government. The ILP / AngloIrish transactions beggar belief. The recap scheme was followed by BoI doubling its bad debt write off the very same day. Brian Goggin (BoI CEO) came on the news to tell us he would “only” earn “just under 2 million” next year. Are these people for real? The government need to kick some ass and quick. Heads have started to roll but more needs to come. And it can’t be just about public hangings. Jesus was fed to an angry mob. Get the right heads rolling and fast..

Back to that opinion poll. I think though the government have been under pressure they’ve actually turned a corner in the last fortnight. But they’re not sellling the message. I guess it’s hard to steer a ship and man the radio at the same time. But someone needs to do it or the vacuum will be filled elsewhere. It’s already happening – I used to like Gilmore – I’ve praised him on this blog before – but I cannot believe his performance over recent times. It’s the worst kind of economic populism (Burton too). It’s easy to throw out soundbites and beat an empty drum. And it’s so hypocritical. Only a few months ago Gilmore and his apparatchiks were readying to steamroll a ‘New Labour’, Blair style reform package, through the NEC (Labour central council), stimying the grassroots and unions and centralising control in a new centre right leadership. Just ask a Labour activist about the ‘commission on twenty-first century labour’. But hey presto its in the trashcan since the winds of change started blowing – who needs ideology eh? Yet the poll suggests it’s working for them. I think it’s very dangerous. We are entering a 1930’s style era economically – and we all know how that one worked out.

I close with a quote from a favourite poem (Yeats Second Coming) – seems pretty apt in current climate:

Turning and turning in the widening gyre
The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,

The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.

And what rough beast, its hour come round at last,
Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born?

Left at Lisbon

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The referendum season is really rolling now that we’re just over a week to polling day. The Fianna Fáil campaign which was initially slow to get out of the blocks, received a real lift when Taoiseach Cowen finally got his seat at the top table and immediately injected some pace taking to the country in a full scale canvass effort. In fairness to him it’s the kind of thing ususally reserved for general election efforts and he really laid down a marker for the rest of the pro-treaty parties to follow (just realised the irony in describing FF as pro treaty but that’s one for the anoraks:)

I will be voting Yes, not just because the big man say so, (although as an FF activist I am highly motivated to deliver a successful first outing for him) but also because I have studied the issues and concluded it is the right thing to do. The treaty enhances democracy, streamlines procedures, makes sensible procedural adjustments and ensures equality across all member states, no mean feat considering the extremes of size and weight across the union. In fact countries like Ireland end up punching above our weight with the same presence at the table as Germany, France or any the other larger member states. Sure we lose a comissioner for 5 out of every 15 years, but so does everyone else and we all know above a certain critical mass a committee can no longer function effectively. The treaty is hard to sell because there are no big new ideas like the single currency or enlargement, but rather housekeeping, making the union work better from within and without. National and the European parliament have greatly increase powers increasing the democratic ethos of the union, whilst the citizens’ charter enables participative democracy on a grand pan-european scale. Interestingly this million-sig petition idea came from John Gormley who similarly has comparable ideas at local level in the recent local government green paper. The treaty has been in progress for over ten years, and I believe in order for the union to continue to function these changes are essential – the status quo is not an option. At the end of the day the key agreements were forged under the Irish presidency when then Taoiseach Bertie Ahern and then Minister for Foreign Affairs Brian Cowen put 90% of it together.

Lastly on the local scene, the Taoiseach and our very own Commissioner McCreevy were in town last week where I joined them for a whistlestop tour up Naas main street. Reaction was good as most people are engaged at this point with minds focussing during the closing stages and more and more information coming onstream. Most the local councillors have personalised posters up at this stage signifying the final rallying round before the big day. Top points for european exposure go to Paddy Mac and the Labour posters which one could be forgiven for taking as local election posters so faint is the white Lisbon related text buried away in the top corner above a huge photo and name plate. In fairness to Paddy it seems to be the Labour template as I’ve seen them in Dublin too with all the Labour councillors and why not, they might as well kill two birds at one stone – recycling at its best. A cynical thought did strike me though – with the left so split on the issue, could they possibly be attempting to have it both ways with maximum profiling on the issue and yet a degree of detachment from the message. Play the man not the treaty.. Given Gilmore’s vigorous championing on various news programmes it’s hardly the official line but to the man on the street looking at a poster, name association achieved with minimal baggage?? Far fetched perhaps but fiendishly cute at the same time!