|
HOME PAGE RTE Online Television Programs Who links to my website? |
Funny Videos!!!
State section of motorway €6m cheaper per km...
THE tolled section of the Dublin-Galway motorway cost €6m more per kilometre than a State-built section of the same route. The 39km motorway from Kilcock to Kinnegad, which opened in 2005, was built under a public private partnership at a cost of €550m - an average of €14.1m per kilometre.
The 28km section of dual carriageway from Kinnegad to Kilbeggan, which has been completed as far as Tyrellspass, will cost €228m - an average of €8.1m per kilometre.
More
Rabbitte leaves door open for Ahern pact
Labour leader says he would take account of 'national interest'...
LABOUR has left the door open for a possible coalition with Fianna Fail if its pre-election pact with Fine Gael fails to win the support of voters.
In an interview with the Irish Independent, party leader Pat Rabbitte refused to categorically rule out the possibility of entering government with Fianna Fail.
Pressed repeatedly on the issue, Mr Rabbitte acknowledged he may have to rethink his strategy if the only likely alternative is to call a second election.
More
MAJORITY THINK BERTIE WOULD DO DEAL WITH SF...
Despite Mr Ahern's strident statements to the contrary, a majority of respondents believed he would do a deal with Sinn Fein if their support were needed to form a government in the next Dail. Respondents felt that prior to the election, Ahern had to distance himself from a party which would be fighting for key seats in many Fianna Fail constituencies but that after the election the rules would change and expediency would trump principle.
More
Poll: we don't believe Bertie on Sinn Fein...
MOST people believe Taoiseach, Bertie Ahern, will do a deal with Sinn Fein to remain in power rather than go into opposition, a nationwide Sunday Independent telephone poll reveals.
The poll, conducted this weekend, found 62 per cent did not believe Mr Ahern when he said he would not form a Government that was dependent on Sinn Fein support, with just 38 per cent believing him.
Last week, Mr Ahern appeared to make a u-turn on his previous position by indicating he would deal with Gerry Adams's party. He said: "I don't think it would be reasonable for somebody to go in and say that you wouldn't take support from a party."
More
Priest gave last rites to victims 'executed' by IRA...
AT least one Catholic priest in the North administered last rites to people who were "executed" by the IRA including some of those who were disappeared and whose bodies have never been recovered, it has been learned.
The revelation comes as appeals are again being made by the Independent Commission set up to try and locate the remains of nine men whose bodies have never been recovered. Seven of those still missing were murdered by the IRA and one by the Irish National Liberation Army.
More
Provo gangs off the hook as elite unit is shut down...
IRA criminals in south Armagh knew that the North's Assets Recovery Agency was to be abolished, days before it was officially announced, the Sunday Independent can reveal.
The agency had been set up - after the success of CAB in the south - to trace the millions laundered by crime gangs and paramilitaries. It has specifically tageted cross-border smuggling and illegal diesel washing by IRA members.
More
High Court to liquidate business of Bertie loan pal...
ONE of the benefactors who gave the Taoiseach a "dig out" during his financial difficulties has run into cash-flow problems of his own.
A construction company owned by Joe Burke, the chairman of Dublin Port, is expected to be officially liquidated tomorrow after a hearing in the High Court.
J&H Burke & Son Builders, which specialised in refurbishing pubs, is understood to have run into difficulties in recent months and will wind up owing €1m to creditors. Mr Burke, who is a director of the company, and his wife, Helen (who resigned as secretary and director of the company a year ago), are also owed €300,000 from loans they put into the company to keep it afloat.
More
FF man's tax trial put off until the summer...
(As Shifty Ahern would say: "A decent and honorable man")
A FIANNA FAIL TD charged with a tax offence will not face trial until after the general election.
Michael Collins (65), who represents the Limerick West constituency, was charged with falsely obtaining a tax clearance certificate last year, but will not be tried until July.
Mr Collins, of White Oak, Red House Hill, Patrickswell, Limerick, appeared before the Circuit Court yesterday. His defence team argued he should not face trial until after the election for a number of reasons.
More
Anger as ferry firm gets €4m in redundancy rebate scheme...
(Tax payer has to fork out to faciliate this company's plan to employ slave labour.)
THE Government was criticised last night for giving the green light to a €4m redundancy rebate to Irish Ferries - to be bankrolled by the taxpayer.
The company claimed the money against the €30m it paid out when it axed the jobs of more than 500 Irish workers from its payroll during a highly controversial restructuring plan, which saw them replaced by low-cost Eastern European crews.
More
Local structure must change - Hannigan...
IRELAND’S local government structure must change fundamentally to achieve a greater participation rate in voting and the democratic process, Meath Labour Colr Dominic Hannigan stated.
He made the comment after the European Conference of New Opportunities for Active Citizenship through Multi-Level Government and Strategic Territorial Planning, held recently at NUI Maynooth.
More
I won't be dependent on SF to stay in power, says Ahern...
(Shify Ahern making his position CLEAR???)
TAOISEACH Bertie Ahern has insisted he will not form a government that is dependent on the votes of Sinn Fein TDs.
Delivering a riposte to accusations that he would cling to power even if it meant being reliant on Sinn Fein support, Mr Ahern told the Irish Independent his position was "very clear".
More
Government ‘complacent to the point of smugness’
...
THE economy is overheating and the Government is oblivious to the danger, Labour leader Pat Rabbitte has warned.
He also claimed that the Government was failing in other crucial areas, such as the delivery of improved public services.
“After 10 years of this Government, everything needs fixing or is under strain,” he said.
More
FF denies claims of bid to remove Healy-Rae voters from electoral register
...
(Hardly?.)
FIANNA FÁIL chiefs in Kerry yesterday strongly denied a claim the party had attempted to remove names of people that vote for Independent TD Jackie Healy-Rae from the register of electors in Healy-Rae’s native Kilgarvan.
More
Builders cut down to size over small apartments...
(A brown envelope will soon put a stop this little scheme.)
POKEY bedsit blues may soon be a thing of the past.
Developers and builders have been ordered by the Government not to construct any more "shoebox apartments".
More
Waste charges go up...
HOUSEHOLD waste charges have increased to €8 for a 240-litre bin since the start of the year, a rise of 6.66 per cent.
According to Fingal County Council, the annual waste bill will be €185 per annum based on current presentation rates, which it claims is one of the lowest annual charges in the country.
Gilbert Power, Director of Environmental Services with Fingal County Council. said: ‘This charge to householders covers approximately two thirds of the costs of providing a waste management service to each household in the county, with the remaining one third being funded by Fingal County Council.’
More
Misery and the health service...
LIKE the traumatised victim of a car crash condemned to watch the event over and over again in slow motion, we seem destined to continually address some freshly highlighted failing of our costly health service.
A pattern repeats itself. Public attention is drawn to individual misfortune, as in the Leas Cross case, or a patient's long hours spent on trolleys, or a death caused by MRSA.
Then we are reminded of the huge sums being spent on health and the inability to deliver value.
More
Mum recalls her nine-month wait for results...
A MOTHER who may be at risk of cancer spoke yesterday of her agonising nine-month wait for test results.
Trish Williams (44), right, from Blarney St, Cork was devastated when her GP told her her cervical smear test indicated she could have pre-cancerous cells.
"I went for the test last April but the test results were not returned until the middle of December," said the mother of one.
She now faces yet another wait after a second test to find out if she needs to have a colposcopy and undergo treatment to destroy abnormal cells which could over time develop into cancer.
More
How key health service report has fared...
Prof Niamh Brennan made a series of recommendations in 2003 in the Health Service report. Have they been acted upon, ignored or partially addressed?
Here is a quick run-through.
Recommendation: There needs to be an accelerated programme of investment in information systems to extend SAP and PPARS to all major spending agencies.
More
Department's shameful attitude could be a matter of life or death...
ALTHOUGH we have one of the highest death rates of cervical cancer in Europe, there has been a notable lack of urgency tackling the problem.
A perception somehow has taken hold that cervical cancer is a second class form of the disease. It clearly has not got the priority it deserves. It can affect relatively young women, often mothers who leave children behind.
Two shameful points stick out: Firstly the Republic has no organised national screening programme; and women face expensive GP fees just to have tests carried out.
More
Fury over €100m for new health advisers
HSE tenders for experts to show how to run more efficient service.
HEALTH chiefs plan to pay advisers €100m to tell them how to run the ailing system.
The Irish Independent has learned the Health Service Executive (HSE) has tendered for a panel of financial experts to tell them how to govern the creaking service.
The development is bound to raise serious questions about why such costly expertise is needed.
More
The HSE, its advisers and the odd case of the missing zero...
HEALTH chiefs are backpedaling furiously after it was revealed they are planning to spend up to €100m on financial consultants.
They are now claiming that there was an "administrative error" in the official Government tender and the estimated value range should have been a maximum of €10m.
The clarification was issued after the Irish Independent revealed the HSE was planning to spend the huge sum on financial consultants to tell them how to run the ailing service.
More
Chemists row set to scupper price cuts...
A ROW between the pharmacists' union and the Health Service Executive (HSE) could scupper planned cuts in the price of medicines for consumers.
The Irish Pharmaceutical Union (IPU) has asked members not to co-operate with the HSE in negotiations and has demanded a meeting with Health Minister Mary Harney.
A copy of a letter sent by the IPU to its 1,600 members states: "This is a very serious development and the union is consulting with its legal advisers on the matter, and all the committees of the union will be meeting on Sunday, January 21, to consider future action and strategy.
More
He's off . . . a red card for Meath TD hopeful Geraghty
(Do we really need another football head in our parliament? Have we not got enough in Shifty Ahern.
Anyway, this Geraghty guy seems to be a thug. This is not the first time that he has been involved in thuggery on the 'pitch' and he was recently in court for running a bar without a licence. Is this the caliber of politician that we have to look forward to?
Are people like this going to be the opposition or the government?)
HE may be hoping to win a seat in the next Dail but yesterday it was a bench in the dressing room for Meath TD hopeful Graham Geraghty after he was sent off, writes Frank Roche.
The Meath footballer now faces the prospect of a possible four-week suspension.
The Fine Gael candidate was sent off playing for Meath against Louth in the O'Byrne Cup.
More
Court case
Solicitors may face music on 'tasteless' advert...
(The 'gutter' legal profession in Ireland who make sure that every case is unfinished to the point where they can get 'repeat business'. Ethics, morality, honesty, justice etc. don't count for anything.)
A SOLICITORS' firm that specialises in family law has been ordered to explain its actions after advertising its services by asking people who had an "unhappy Christmas" to contact them.
Unusually, complaints were made by fellow solicitors, as well by as members of the public.
Farrell Family Law Solicitors placed a series of ads in a national newspaper last week stating: "Unhappy Family Christmas? Call Farrell Family Law Solicitors for confidential advice. Open over Christmas and New Year."
More
A WAR of words broke out last night over Fianna Fáil’s position on Dáil support from Sinn Féin after the General Election.
(TV pictures of Martin McGuinness presiding at a gathering of galoots wearing black berets and bashing drums in Limerick last weekend means that terrorism hasn't gone away and to think that Fianna Fail would even consider seeking their support to form a government after the next election is a terrifying prospect.
The number one priority of this government is to hold on to power even if the nation has to be driven into the ground to achieve this aim.
Would this be a good time to leave the country?...Cuba?)
The row began after Taoiseach Bertie Ahern told RTÉ’s This Week programme that there would be no coalition discussions or formal pacts with Sinn Féin.
However, when it was put to him that he would have no difficulty in accepting the support of Sinn Féin (in a Dáil vote for Taoiseach) he replied: “I do not think it would be reasonable for somebody to go in and say that you would not take support from a party.”
More
THE State is paying over €150 million in rents and leases to private landlords each year.
New figures released by the Health Service Executive (HSE) give an overall picture for the first time of the total amount the State spends on renting space and other property each year.
They confirm that the Government is by far and away the biggest tenant in the country.
More
THE State is paying over €150 million in rents and leases to private landlords each year.
New figures released by the Health Service Executive (HSE) give an overall picture for the first time of the total amount the State spends on renting space and other property each year.
They confirm that the Government is by far and away the biggest tenant in the country.
More
When friends in high places count as an extra source of political power
WHEN Bertie Ahern opened his heart and revealed to the nation that a group of friends had dug deep into their pockets to give him a helping hand in his hour of need it emerged that several of his generous friends, nicknamed 'The Bertie Dozen' just also happened to be political allies, appointed by Fianna Fail to some of Ireland's semi-state boards.
Questions arose about whether it was merely a coincidence that senior figures in a number of Ireland's most powerful bodies were bank-rolling the then Minister for Finance at a time of personal distress.
More
As always, we're the ones who will pay
IT WAS startling last week to hear a builder publicly attacking Fianna Fail, a party often regarded as the builders' friend. But his anger may have been a sign of things to come.
Homeowners will not be able to sell their houses after January 1, 2009 without purchasing a special energy certificate. And the Building Energy Rating (BER) certs may prove or disprove allegations that many hollow-block houses being built are in fact 31 per cent less energy efficient than houses elsewhere in Ireland.
More
Developers target golf clubs, GAA and schools
THE possible sale of the 56-acre Foxrock Golf Club in Dublin is likely to be the thin end of the wedge as hungry, cash-rich property developers seek further opportunities to build luxury apartments and other new homes.
Golf clubs in urban areas remain the investors' target of choice. One industry source has described many of the remaining exclusive Dublin courses as "sitting ducks", following the news that Foxrock Golf Club may now go the way of Dun Laoghaire Golf Club.
More
Taxpayers duped for a third time
TAXPAYERS have every right to feel very annoyed by what the Exchequer returns for 2006 reveal about the management of the public finances.
These set out how much the Government spent last year, what it raised in taxes, and they show how the financial outturn differs from the original budget day estimates. Once again, tax revenues greatly exceeded the forecasts made by the Minister of Finance a year ago.
In other words, the State collected much more money in taxes than it needed to finance the level of public services that it provided. The excess tax revenue will now be used to reduce the national debt.
More
Time to tackle bloated public service
WHEN is failure a triumph? When Brian Cowen and the mandarins in Merrion street get their tax forecasts wrong, not once, not twice, but three times, and turn budget deficits into surpluses, by accident. After presenting three budgets, the minister has managed to under-estimate tax revenue by some €8bn in three years.
In 2004 he under-estimated tax receipts, by €2.2bn. In 2005, he did a little better, and was out by a mere €1.7bn. But last year he surpassed all records when tax revenue was €3.9bn higher than he had forecast a year ago.
More
Fine Gael party memo to ad agency
(The following is a Fine Gael memorandum, drafted by its director of communications, Ciaran Conlon, to Stephen Quinn, director of Atomic Advertising agency and to Niall Dowling, account director.)
More
Desmond in court move over lawyer for tribunal
(The 'greedy bastard' syndrome in action.)
BILLIONAIRE businessman Dermot Desmond is understood to be planning a High Court challenge to the Moriarty tribunal, on the grounds of an alleged conflict of interest involving one of its lawyers.
Senior counsel Jerry Healy did some work in 1996 for Persona - the consortium that came second in the competition for the State's second mobile phone licence. Persona is now suing the State.
Mr Desmond made more than €130m from his involvement in Esat Digifone, the Denis O'Brien-led company which won the licence.
More
Labour senator put in €92,000 in expenses on top of his salary
ONE senator claimed over €90,000 in expenses in the last year, eclipsing the next highest claimant by over €15,000, new figures reveal.
Revised figures compiled by the Sunday Independent show that for the 12-month period up to December 1, 2006, Cork-based Labour senator and Dail hopeful Michael McCarthy claimed a total of €92,096. His claim was the highest of any member of the Dail or the Senate.
Listed here today, and compiled from information acquired under the Freedom of Information Act, are all expenses paid to all senators during the year, which shows that many senators match or claim higher expenses then their Dail counterparts.
More
Sabotage: TD wrecked FG's secret strategy
A CONFIDENTIAL Fine Gael memorandum seen by the Sunday Independent reveals the extent to which FG deputy John Deasy has shattered the party's carefully planned political strategy for the first six weeks of the new year.
It is clear from the memorandum that by focusing attention on the future of its leader, Enda Kenny, Mr Deasy and, to a lesser extent his colleague Damien English, have destroyed a well-devised and carefully-timed Fine Gael plan to launch an outright personalised attack on specific Government ministers.
More
Enda Kenny shaken, not stirred
IMAGINE if Enda Kenny actually did something wrong? Imagine if he took a load of money from businessmen for his children's education and told us all to mind our own business when we asked him about it? Imagine if it emerged that while he was Minister for Finance he never had a bank account - sort of like being the Pope but not really believing in all that organised religion stuff.
As it is, the man has done nothing, yet kicking him in the head has become a national pastime. These are times when you can't execute one of recent history's most evil tyrants without everyone whingeing. But sometimes you imagine that Enda could be put in front of a firing squad on the Late Late and no one would bat an eyelid.
More
Kenny lets rebel TDs off hook despite fury over 'sabotage'
(These galoots are what we have to pin our hopes on to oust the more serious crooks and their henchmen...We're going to be left with six of one and seven of the other...Or is it the other way round?)
FINE Gael leader Enda Kenny shied away last night from disciplining two rebel TDs for undermining his leadership.
John Deasy and Damien English dramatically raised the leadership issue by suggesting that a new leader might be selected should Mr Kenny lose this year's general election.
Mr Kenny flew back from a holiday last night in a bid to shore up his position.
More
Negative vibes in Fine Gael
WHEN Fine Gael launched an American style "negative campaign", it was assumed it would be directed against the government, not against itself.
Instead, in a bizarre flurry of statements and interviews over the past 48 hours, the party appeared to flagellate itself mercilessly.
More
Hospital campaigners warn TDs as merger plans are unveiled
Plans to further merge services at Cavan and Monaghan hospitals look set to make the provision of hospital facilities in the border counties a major election issue.
Campaigners fighting to save Monaghan hospital voiced their fears yesterday that services would continue to be eroded before any new hospital is built.
This followed the disclosure that the Health Service Executive are currently working on proposals to merge the Departments of Medicine at the two hospitals.
More