Ballyhaunis Blog

No wonder Ireland has a reputation all over the world for being heavy drinking , foul mouthed fighters.
We had a Budget in the middle of the worst financial crisis the country has seen - there millions of Euros in cuts to wages and cuts to welfare benefits. Petrol prices rose - but the price of booze was cut by as much as €2.80 for a bottle of spirits . Sure - we can all get drunk and to hell with it. Maybe that is what Brian Cowen wants?

Then today we get a Green TD - (Member of Parliament to all you non Irish ) - Paul Gogarty - who uses foul abusive language in a Dail debate about the cuts . He said to a Labour member - F**K YOU - loud and clear , twice. It was going out live on TV too . What a fine example for a member of the government to set to the people of Ireland. Then again - look at Berti Aherne and Charlie Haughey - hardly good examples either. Don’t mention the paedophile priests.
He should be sacked - the 100k a year salary could be better spent on something else. A few dozen others should go too - we have too many TDs.. See clip on YouTube

Is there any hope for this country? The poor will drink themselves to death on the dole while the rich laugh at them and the elected members argue and curse but do nothing useful.
The Church just stand by , take our money and try and hide their priest’s crimes like child abuse and rape.

Now we have teachers and other public sector workers threatening strikes again. They earn more than their equivalents in the UK and do less work. The teachers will probably say we have a better education system here - but no one publishes any exam results and hardly any schools or teachers are inspected or reviewed regularly (if at all)

We have loads of nurses but for some reason the health service is still in a mess because of poor management and the corrupt two tier system that allows consultants to be paid by the government do private work instead of public.

Time for a change - or time to leave ?

Now that all the counting has finished in Mayo the final picture emerges of a loss of 5 seats for Fianna Fail ( 12 reduced to 7) Fine Gael incresed seats on the council from 15 to 17. Labour lost it’s only seat.
Will these changes make any difference to life in County Mayo ? - I doubt it.

The meetings and talking and expenses claims will go on as before. The real decisions will be made by national government and the Council manager. The hundreds of councillors all over the country will cost the country millions in pay and expenses claims - for what?
In 2007 the average amount paid to a councillor (expenses and pay) was €33,300 . There are 1627 councillors - so that is a total of just over €54 million !!
Is it worth it ?
Even if all local councillors vote one way on an issue, the county or city manager is under no obligation to follow their advice. So, real power resides totally in the hands of an appointed official who is chosen not by the citizens of a county, but by an independent, civil service dominated committee.
Many councillors just use the role it as a stepping stone on the way to the Dail . Out of the current crop of 166 TDs, 122 were councillors. That is over 70% - so do not be surprised if the councillor you voted for on 5 June ends up inside the Dáil in the near future.

Some people will say they do a lot - but most of that is just local vote catching tasks , filling in forms, releasing press statements, welcoming this decision and that decision - which had nothing to do with them.
They might say they got the potholes filled - but that is the job of the council anyway. We can all ring up and ask for a pothole to be filled - we don’t need to pay soemone €17k a year to do it for us.

Mayo County Council 2009 Election Results - Claremorris Area

See National Summary of results here
Only one Fianna Fail candidate manged to get elected in the now 6 seater Claremorris area - and sitting FF councillors Pat Mchugh and Michael Carty lost their places.
They will not leave empty handed though - because councillors are now entitled to a tax free golden handshake of €3300 per year of service if they lose their seat . That means Pat Mchugh will be getting a lump sum of around €70000 euro. Michael Carty will get about €13000 euro.
Even if a councillor chooses not to stand - they would still get the payout. The lump sum can be kept - even if they stand for election again and get re-elected next time. It is a strange country isn’t it? Redundancy pay for a job that you can go back to!
These payouts are taken from a 10 million euro fund set aside by the government.
(That 10 million could have paid for the cervical cancer vaccinations twice - it also equals the cost of subsidies for elderly people to secure their homes against burglary, which was abolished by the Fianna Fail led government this year)
So - there will be mixed emotions in Mayo - and all over Ireland today as losing candidates await these large payouts. Some of them have well paid jobs to fall back on - which they can now spend more time on - which may not be a bad thing in some cases.

Claremorris Electoral Area - After 5 counts (Final Count)

Quota 2113 NP = No Party

O’Brien Patsy FG 2760 - Elected
Finn Richard NP 2219 - Elected
Cribben John FG 2141 - Elected
Ryan Damien FF 2118 - Elected
Connolly Tom FG 2021 - Elected
Burke Michael FG 1999 - Elected

Carty Michael FF 1766 - Eliminated
Walsh Harry NP 1294 - Eliminated
McHugh Pat FF 1107 - Eliminated
McHale Gerard FF 691 - Eliminated

More Local Election News 2009

A report from the EPA lists Ballyhaunis as one of several places in Ireland where the drinking water may not pass new regulations thay come into force in Dec 2008.
With all the fuss about Bertie Aherne - stories like this get missed and the people of Ireland are left with some of the dirtiest drinking water in Europe while our politicians are more worried about bank lodgements and tribunals. Removal of Cancer causing chemicals in our water should be a priority for the politicians.

The levels of Trihalomethanes (THMs) in the water are above the new level of 100 micro grams per litre.
THMs are by products of chlorination - They are formed when natural organic material, such as the decaying vegetation commonly found in lakes and reservoirs, reacts with chlorine used to treat the water.
THMs are Cancer Group B carcinogens (shown to cause cancer in laboratory animals). Trichloromethane (chloroform) is by far the most common in most water systems. but Dibromochloromethane is the most serious cancer risk, (0.6 ug/l to cause a 10-6 cancer risk increase) followed in order by Bromoform (4 ug/l), and Chloroform (6 ug/l).

THMs can be lowered by delaying chlorination until most of the organic matter is removed or by switching to ozonation as the primary disinfection method instead of chlorination.
Other areas identified as having high THMs in the drinking water are:
Galway City
Mayo towns supplied by Lough Mask
Foxford
Clifden
East Meath
Ennis
Shannon
Sixmilebridge
Gorey
Carlow Town
Kilkenny City
Tuam
Cavan Town

Last remaining seats in Galway West have been filled by PD candidate Noel Grealish and FF’s Frank Fahy.
The result means that there is no change in the constituency’s representation after Eamon O Cuiv(FF), Michael D Higgins (Labour) and Padraic McCormack(FG) took the first three.
What is wrong with the people of Galway? They can’t drink the water before boiling - and it has been like that for months - and they keep all their Tds in power. Why no protest vote? Was there any alternative? Do people care or are they stupid?

Overall - nationwide - if the predictions on the final figures become reality, Fianna Fail will end up with 78 seats. Fine Gael will get 51, Labour 20 or 21, the Greens 6; Sinn Fein 3 or 4, the PDs 2 and the Independents 5.

This final tally of figures opens up a number of potential combinations in order to make up the 83 seats required for a majority in the next Dail.

That means Fianna Fail could form a government with the support of two PDs, two Independents and the expected support of the Ceann Comhairle, who in this case is Fianna Fail TD Rory O’Hanlon.

Alternatively Fianna Fail could simply line up with Labour where the combined total of seats would be 98 or 99.

On the other hand Fianna Fail could enter government with the six Green Party deputies, bringing the total to 84.

I will vote for two parties led by Mayo men tomorrow - not because they are from Mayo - but because together - Labour and Fine Gael can hopefully create a new government in Ireland that will help reverse some of the Fianna Fail policies that have helped the rich and not the ordinary people of Ireland. In my experience Fianna Fail elected members have a problem with telling the truth - some of them anyway - the leader included. Ten years is enough. Vote Labour and Fine Gael tomorrow .