Facebook Frenzy

There seems to be a bit of a race on at the moment among politicians as to who can get as many Facebook friends as possible.

Facebook has been adopted by many TDs and Ministers as a way of keeping in contact with their constituents. Some even carry out online clinics using their pages.

While some TDs and Senators are old hands at this Facebook lark (such as Dan Boyle, Thomas Byrne, Lucinda Creighton, Ciaran Cuffe and Jerry Buttimer among the many), others are stealing a lead on the rest.

Take a bow Deputy Niall Collins who has clocked up an impressive 2,959 Facebook friends!

But Niall is choosy as to who he allows to be his Facebook friends – constituents come first with him!

Mili-Balls!

If you think our political situation is bad, take a look across the water and see the mess that has been created as a result of the UK general election!

Following Gordon Brown’s decision to step down as Labour leader, the fragrant foreign secretary David Miliband is now odd-son favourite to replace him as leader of the party and – maybe – Prime Minister in a minority government.

Also in the running is David’s brother, Ed Miliband, who is second favourite.

Others in the running include Alan Johnson, Harriet Harman and the unfortunately-named Schools Secretary Ed Balls (pictured)!

Ireland's Greatest - Round Two!

It is the controversial poll that refuses to go away - but thankfully it has nothing to do with the state of the parties.

It is the RTE poll on Ireland’s Greatest Person, which has attracted a significant level of criticism because of the shortlist of people that the public can vote for - such as musicians!

Step forward Fianna Fail’s Mattie McGrath who wants RTE to go back to the drawing board to make sure everyone can have their say - including those who do not have any access to the internet.

Mattie has a problem with the voting system - it was limited to an RTE website.

“The problem is that internet voting excludes a large proportion of the population. There are many people in this country who still do not have easy access to the internet.”

“People who fall into that category would not have been able to place their vote as RTE did not make any other voting options available.”

And he pointed out that while the internet is a great tool, it is ‘still skewered towards the younger people of the country’.

“Since the poll closed, I’ve had several of my constituents complaint that they were unable to vote on this particular poll for these reasons.”

He said RTE has a duty to reopen the voting and provide other mechanisms for people to put their views forward.

“Otherwise, RTE’s designation of the Greatest will be a very questionable assertion,” he said.

And just for the record - Mattie’s vote for Ireland’s Greatest would go to Padraig Pearse.

Time to crack open the 7-Up!

There was high praise indeed last week from the revered pages of the Financial Times for Brian Lenihan and the job of work he has to get Ireland out of the financial roller-caster we are on.

Despite our difficulties, the FT’s well-regarded Lex column said Lenihan has ‘led the way among ailing peripheral eurozone economies in taking harsh fiscal measures needed to regain investor confidence’.

“He set the example months ago that Athens should follow now, slashing public servants’ salaries and welfare payments.”

“Investors rewarded him - the yield spread over Bunds narrowed,” the Lex column reported.

While we certainly would not be advocating a champagne celebration for this rich praise, we will stretch to a can of 7-Up!

Ireland’s national debt is increasing at the rate of €593 every SECOND, €35,578 every MINUTE, €2.1m every HOUR and €51.2m every DAY!

That is according to Fine Gael’s Leo Varadkar who has a special section on his website to illustrate just how fast our national debt is spiraling upwards.

His debt clock is not about ‘scoring political points’, but rather to help inform the Irish people as to ‘the massive millstone of debt that has been built up over the past two years and is growing by the second’.

So by the time you have read this short piece, our national debt will have increased by €11,859.

Cowen's priorities

Last Friday, everyone’s world was rocked by the shock sudden death of Gerry Ryan - a mountain of a man with a mountain of a personality.

But on the same day, 900 Quinn workers were told that they would be losing their jobs in areas of Ireland that can least afford to lose them.

Within minutes of the formal announcement of Gerry Ryan’s death, Taoiseach Brian Cowen had summonsed the cameras in to give his own tribute.

But there was no sight nor sound of him in Cavan or Meath or Enniskillen or Blanchardstown.

It shows where his priorities lie.

While the Taoiseach's office has been quick to point out to this columnist that Cowen addressed the issue of the Quinn job losses last Friday while in Carlow, one has to ask - why wasn't he in Cavan or Meath or Blanchardstown?

Why did he travel to Carlow to announce 50 jobs on a day that 900 were being lost in the Quinn Group?

Again, it shows where his priorities lie.

A haircut for the beards?

Fine Gael’s Leo Varadkar has tweeted a very timely and apt question in light of the ministerial pensions controversy of the past week – ‘is it time the beards got a haircut’?

The ‘beards’ in question are, or course, the trade union leaders – some of whom have been very vocal in their condemnation of the huge ministerial pensions that some sitting TDs have been in receipt of.

One such person was SIPTU’s Jack O’Connor who last week called on any public representative in the Oireachtas or in EU institutions in receipt of State pensions to voluntarily forgo them while earning public salaries.

While we can hardly disagree with Jack O’Connor’s sentiment, it is kind of rich coming from a guy who earns a very good living representing some of the lowest paid in the country.

A bit rich in that while he is fighting for better pay and conditions
for his members, he is drawing a handsome salary of €125,000 a year
for his troubles – more than €25,000 more than what a TD gets paid.

And what about the other ‘beards’ as Varadkar and many others have christened our union brethren.

Peter McLoone from IMPACT is another who is representing low paid workers struggling to survive in today’s harsh economic climate.

For his trouble, he is getting paid in the region of €155,000 a year.

ICTU boss David Begg is hardly on the breadline either – he is drawing in an estimated €137,000 a year.

And Blair Horan, from the Civil and Public Service Union, is also a high-roller pocketing in the region of €120,000 a year for his troubles.

While many people, including union bosses, have taken pay cuts in the past year, it is hard to stomach that this group of people – whose job it is to represent the low paid and vulnerable workers – are still earning more than three times the average industrial wage.

And so we come back to Leo Varadkar’s tweet: ‘is it time the beards got a haircut?”

We think so.

Separated at Birth?

It is hard to deny the resemblance between former Financial Regulator
Patrick Neary and Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou.

Maybe Patrick ‘light-touch regulation’ Neary has taken up a nixer as
the face of the Greek government?

Either way, the two men have cost us a lot of money!

Power to the people!

Well if the past week in the corridors of power has proven anything is that public pressure works!!

It started just a week ago with the Dail and Ministerial pension being claimed by Ireland’s new EU Commissioner Maire Geoghegan-Quinn.

And within a matter of days, they were all falling like flies in the scrum to give up their pensions.

Ruairi Quinn was the first heavy-hitter to lead the way and all eyes were then on Bertie Ahern to see what he would do.

But in great Bertie tradition, he spoke out of the side of his mouth for a few hours before finally relenting.

One wonders if it has anything to do with next year’s race for the Aras and the public perception his refusal to give it up would mean?

Labouring the point of a TV debate

The Labour Party is feeling a little unloved by our national broadcaster – and it has every right to feel miffed.

It is a case of always the bridesmaid and never the bride for the Labour Party when it comes to pre-election TV debates.

The big ticket event is between the warring bride and groom – Fianna Fail and Fine Gael – and Labour is traditionally designated to the position of bridesmaid and also-rans along with Sinn Fein and the Greens.

But in light of the UK TV debates, the Labour Party is starting to flex its muscles and demanding what should rightfully be theirs – a place at the big ticket event.

Leading the charge is the party’s spokesperson on Communications, Deputy Liz McManus.

She feels that it is time that RTE woke up to the fact that Ireland is no longer a two-party country – Labour is biting at the heels and wants a piece of the action.

“It is time for RTE to acknowledge that the Irish electorate will have the same three way choice at the next election here,” she said.

She said the arrangement that has operated to date – where Labour has been put in the same bracket as Sinn Fein, the Greens and (in the past) the Progressive Democrats – could not be acceptable in the changed political environment in which we now operate.

“All of the recent opinion polls have shown that Irish politics is now a three horse race.”

“For instance, the most recent tns/MRBI opinion poll showed just 12 percentage points covering the three main parties, while the most recent Millward Brown poll showed a range of 15%. There is very similar to the range covering the three main parties in the UK.”

“In addition a number of opinion polls have put Labour ahead of Fianna Fail while in the recent European elections, Labour won a quarter of the seats – the same number as Fianna Fail.

“RTE should recognise that the Irish political landscape has changed and there is no case for retaining the outdated two leader format. RTE should have the courage to resist attempts by Fianna Fail and Fine Gael to retain the outmoded status quo.”

“As far back as last October the Labour Party wrote to RTE looking for a commitment to a three way debate, and while we received an acknowledgement saying that RTE was reviewing the format used in previous elections, we have had no other response.”

“As there is a possibility of a general election at any time between now and May 2010 this is a matter that we will be raising with RTE again,” she said.

A Case of Mistaken Identity?

Getting ticked off by constituents is an occupational hazard for politicians but Labour Senator Dominic Hannigan has to draw the line somewhere.

It seems that the Meath-based Senator has been getting a telling off from voters in Wales this week!

“I know we can be blamed for all sorts but I did wonder why I was receiving complaints about building schools on parkland in Cardiff,” the affable Senator said.

The mystery was solved when he discovered his irate email was actually intended for a political namesake – Dominic Hannigan of the Cardiff South and Penarth Liberal Democrats!

“I learned after the last general election that there are two politicians called Dominic Hannigan. It was a bit of a shock but I
made contact with my Liberal Democrat double. I told him he could have some ‘you can do better with Hannigan’ pens I had left over from the campaign,” Meath’s Hannigan said.

“Maybe Welsh Hannigan will send me over a few of his election tee-shirts. The Liberal Democrat’s turquoise and yellow colours are almost a match for those of the Royal County. I know I’d prefer to trade election knick-knacks than constituents complaints,” he said.

The Show Must Go On

Fine Gael flop George Lee is only a wet week out of politics but that isn’t stopping constituency rival Senator Alex White from letting the grass grow under his feet.

Alex was the shoe-in to win the Dublin South by-election last year – until Fine Gael parachuted the former RTE Economic Editor into the race.

But Alex hasn’t gone away – just last weekend he sent a letter to all constituents in Dublin South reminding them that he is still working for the good of the area.

“The recent resignation of George Lee as TD came as a bolt from the blue. Understandably, many people felt shocked and disappointed that he had abandoned his political ambition so prematurely,” wrote Alex, not afraid to mince his words!

“However, Mr Lee has moved on and so must we.”