Dail Bar: Drink In Or Think In?
Over more than the past ten years, North Tipperary was home to some of the world’s largest industrial companies such as Aventis Pharma, Antigen, Procter and Gamble, Taro Pharmaceuticals, Tubex, BSN Medical and many other large Irish-owned companies such as the Irish Sugar Company, Erin Foods, Greenvale Animal Feeds, Liam Carroll Transport, and Kelly’s of Fantane.
The Co Limerick based, profitable yet greedy, Dell Computer Company, which gave employment to, give or take, some 400 Tipperary employees moved out to Poland.
This year St Mary’s Famine Museum, here in Thurles is forced to remain closed following damage to the value of € 70,000 in wanton vandalism, depriving the town of badly needed tourism revenues.
Hospitals have been closed or rendered useless to those who have no transport and who are in need of urgent Health Care. Government departmental offices have been closed, denuded of employees or completely moved away.
Here in Thurles seventeen local businesses have ‘gone to the wall’ since the start of this year and there are huge concerns for other establishments now downsizing, with rumours predicting that many more job losses will haemorrhage from smaller businesses, in their continue struggle to stay in business here in the town. Required cash flow and credit from local banks is reported as non existent, with some small companies existing on small savings to continue trading, in the hope of an upturn in trading conditions.
Our local North Tipperary Independent TD Deputy Michael Lowry has defected from his ‘Independent Status’ to support this Government, which has presided over the most substantial job losses in Nenagh, Roscrea, and Thurles, in living memory. The highest live register figures ever recorded in Thurles since the mid 1980’s show 3,201 people have signed on in August, a 20% increase since January last.
It is nothing short of outrage that almost all of the companies I have mentioned above closed in the past ten years under a Fianna Fáil-Progressive Democrats-Green Party-Independent propped up Government. Ineffective mixed Coalition Government policies have forced thousands of workers across North Tipperary to seek out their nearest dole office.
With the exception of Taro Pharmaceuticals which is now, as already stated, heavily boarded up, North Tipperary has not benefited in any way from any worth while foreign direct investment, within the last ten years.
Government and their snake-oil salesmen at both County and Local level has done nothing. Nay they have actually supported their party in the rape of this county. We have had no investment, little research and development funding and certainly no new jobs.
This present Government has totally failed, in particular, the people of North Tipperary, and indeed meddled with administrative structures which had a proven track record of success in delivering the occasional crumbs which fell from ministerial tables. So far as I am aware Shannon Development, Enterprise Ireland and IDA Ireland have not organised a single visit for any real potential investor, entrepreneurs or business person to north Tipperary in recent years. This same Government now support plans, to even take our water.
Drunken Politicians, Unions and Tribunals
This week the media, who appear currently to be the only governance in this country, informed its purchasing electorate that our Fianna Fail elected Taoiseach held, some say a “Drink In ” others a “Think In” down in Galway entertaining their troops as a Cabaret performer. Listeners were in revolt over his inability to speak coherently because of a sore throat from imitating golfers and Media persons. Well “mocking is catching” as my dear ould Grandmother always warned me.
It is with shame, horror and surprise that I must report that the current economic state of North Tipperary causes no such revolt amongst discerning local politicians. We appear to be totally devoid of any form of quality leadership not only in county Tipperary, but nationwide.
Now three years into this recession, we see daily cut backs on spending on our counties roads, on our hospitals, and educational institutions. We see life continuing as normal for those we employ to make our laws and generally govern, with embarrassing Banquets and Junkets continuing in our finest hotel bars and restaurants.
Last week’s Controller and Auditor General’s report on public expenditure appears to revealed that State spending continues to be wasteful and inefficient.
Based on bi-monthly reports made to the Department of Finance by the Departments with responsibility for Tribunals, the following is made public:- Up to the end-February 2010 the cumulative cost of the six tribunals was €217.31 million, of which €44.41 million comprised administration and €172.9 million was derived from legal costs. The legal costs figures include €79.19 million for third-party legal costs that are already paid and we learn that further third party legal costs have yet to be presented and taxed. All of the latter costs, paid for by the taxpayer, were caused by necessary investigation into those that we employed and trusted to govern our State and who now stand accused of corruption.
Calls will again emanate from lovers of truth next week, when the €2.3m paid to SIPTU by the Department of Health as part of an overall allocation of €12m each year to the Skill programme for the training of lower-paid health staff, gets a hearing in front of a Dail committee. Now it also appears that an additional extra €876,000 was paid through a health service partnership forum, which had been set up to foster co-operation between management and unions. Indeed there is more disturbing Union business that even the media or the C&AG’s are possibly not aware of as yet, which will come to light.
To-day we learn that a female Garda has reported to her superior officer that a drunken Fine Gael TD threatened to damage her career and made physical contact with her, after she had prevented him from driving his car from Leinster House. Are we to have a public enquiry into who leaked this female Garda report I now wonder?
I believe it is now time for the Minister for Health Mary Harney, TD to close that Dail Eireann Public House, in the interest of everyone’s overall National Health. Cigarette smokers have undergone ‘the reformation’ under laws made by this ‘Nanny Republic’, why not our drunken politicians.
Readers tell us how you feel.
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