Fine Gael has launched its winter campaign against the Government and shows no sign of resting on its poll poistion. The campaign aims to highlight the governments mistakes and Fine Gael's alternative to the budget. The campiagn consists of a website with online videos, regional meetings and asking people for there say. Speaking on the launch of the campaign Fine Gael Leader, Enda Kenny saidWe want to hear what the public have to say about the future direction for our country. We have set out an alternative to the current Government's approach based on tough but fair policies that protect the vulnerable in our society but tackle wasteful and excessive spending. This campaign exposes the Government's failings in the recent Budget and promotes our better alternative. It also allows for both...
I have been following Redmum very closely on this issue has she has some excellent links and footage of Harneys statement in the Dail. She has some excellent posts which include links and ideas to try and change the Governments mind on this issue. *HPV vaccination programme 'put on hold'*Email Harney photographs of your daughters*Some more action on Cervical CancerShe has also linked to a petition so please sign it!Also Grandad has an excellent post on this issue and Mary Harney and the HSE in general which is also worth a read.It is a shame that the Government have withdrawn this service and it should be...
So we have had two major(ish) u-turns on the latest budget. One on medical cards, but still 5% of pensioners will lose their medical card and one on the 1% "Lenihan Levy" which means that if you earn €17,540 you don't pay tax but if you earn €17,541 you do as P. O'Neil points out over in Irish Election. I'm still not happy with that as I work in retail so therefore have to work Sundays and public holidays meaning I get overtime and have to pay the tax. I worked it out. On my average wage the Government will get what it will cost me to go to College next year! I agree with the unions that the limit should be set at €22,000.But now attention is moving on to the cuts in Education and to a lesser extent Social Welfare. Will the Government u-turn on these I doubt. Schools look like they...
I have written an article over on Newsvine on this. I have reproduced it below.The Governments decision to scrap automatic Medical Cards for the over-70's is still reverberating around the News websites and the papers letters pages. I have heard one theory on why the Government is not backing down on this issue despite the disquiet on the backbenches and with the coalition partners. Do they want the Government to fall?This is my fathers theory. Basically Fianna Fail were not especting to win the General Election last year. So now they are stuck with a financial mess that they walked us into and have no Idea how to get us out of it. So the only solution is to lose a vote on the Social Welfare Bill and force a General Election. But will this happen?A number of Government TD's have come out...
Zeig Heil Motherfuckers!!...
Well its all said and done now. Bryan Dobsons stunt double delivered a tough one yesterday. They're strangling each other in the Dail over it, but no doubt it'll be all forgotten about in a few weeks, as these things are. The people who are roaring about not voting next time round for any party or indeed Fianna Fail, normally forget such things as well.Vat goes up to 21.5% from December. No big deal???? Course not. As long as your buying shoes and clothing. No VAT on them. And sure there are plenty of foods that are VAT exempt, but theres also a selection of food products that do have the oul VAT. Like chocolate biscuits? Like frozen desserts? Like fruit juices? Well they along with a selection of other food products will all get the new 21.5% VAT rate. It'll all add up over the course of...
Every time there is an election I always give Fianna Fail a look to see if I would give them a preference and next year in the Local's and Europeans a fairly high preference is on offer due to the fact there is only one FG candidate in Cork South Central LEA and Ireland Euro South constituency, but after yesterdays budget not in a million years will Fianna Fail get a preference, no matter how measly from me. The Greens and PD's (if they are still around) can go look somewhere else too, unless they get a backbone. Not only have FF lowered my take home pay by 1% (I'm on minimum wage ffs) but all my costs will rise because VAT is going up, road tax is going up, petrol is going, flights are going up among lots of other things (oh and wine, but not beer and spirits? would love to know the...
Yesterdays PR excercise Budget could spell the end for the National Pay Agreement. Unions and employers organisations have yet to approve the deal and after yesterdays Budget I can't see any union recommending it to its members. Already the deal called for a pay freeze and then rises less then inflation, in reality a pay cut, but with the government taking 1% from EVERY worked and increasing VAT which will increase inflation by about 1.1% (thats 2.1% gone) workers don't have money to spend. It wil all come down to local bargaining. I don't foresee many strikes, as I do not see the Pay Agreements as a reason there hasn't been any in the last number of years. But the budget takes the biscuit so to speak for many workers. I will be amazed if any union approves the deal and certainly ICTU...
Below is Enda's Speech that he has given in response to Budget 2009. I must say I agree with it whole heartedly!Yesterday's budget was disgraceful in what it contained. It was deplorable in what it did not contain. And it was fascinating in the response it created. Never in my political life have I seen such a universal rejection of a budget. One by one the statements came out. IBEC condemned the budget. ISME condemned the budget. The ICTU condemned the budget. Siptu, Aer Lingus, Ryanair, ASH, Hospital Consultants, The Irish Hotels Federation, Focus Ireland, Barnardos --- every last one of them criticised your budget. Companies, unions and interest-groups who have never before agreed, found themselves unified in universal and total rejection of a budget.I couldn't believe that not one...
The following excerpt from the Minister for Finance's Budget speech has inexplicably been torn from the draft and "leaked" to Of Laws and Men.At the outset of my speech, I referred to the fact that our overheads - the costs not directly related to output - have gotten out of proportion with the realities of our income position, both for the economy as a whole and for the public sector in particular. I have already outlined measures for dealing with this in the various departments of government and for encouraging adjustments in the private sector.Sadly, I must say to you, my colleagues here in the Dail, that the extent of the mess that an-Iar-Thaoiseach agus a Thanaiste have left us, means that the cost of running this House must also be subject to scrutiny on the same basis.In our...
Via The Angry Hedgehog and Breakingnews.ieSo we are going to have an early budget. October 14th to be exact. Is Brian Lenihan going to take a different tack to Darling in the UK (BBC Link) and actually try to talk positive about the economy and by doing three things that Fine Gael have outlined that will help the economy?- Cutting waste- Cutting tax- And promoting substantive reform across the public sectorIn ists statement the Government finally admitted our over dependence on the Construction industry which has been long evident to economists and non-expert alike!Domestically we are also faced with a contracting construction sector which is suppressing economic growth rates and a rising cost base is eroding Ireland’s competitiveness. In addition, the slowdown has resulted...
Now that we're back, and we know how much we actually spent (as opposed to what we had budgeted for) I can publish the finances for the trip. I've taken out some details - in particular the home running costs which vary for everyone (and in any case are none of your business thank you ;-) ). Before clicking on the link, which will bring you to a Google spreadsheet, there are a few things to note about how we organized the budget.The first page of the spreadsheet is the most interesting one. The main section shows our predicted breakdown of costs by country and category. Then to the right there are the more sobering columns: actual expense and difference between it and the budgeted amount.The bottom line? We spent EUR 58,400 (US$85,700/GBP46,800), not including costs of keeping things...
We're going. And as my father would say, to hell with poverty.The whole trip will cost about 2 weeks' worth of Australia but will last just three nights. But in the end it was a no-brainer - and all the nicer that the poll results back us up (I should point out that things were neck-and-neck on Letizia's blog's poll, with the 'si' camp shading it). We both feel that if Uluru provides anything like the level of lasting impact that Fraser Island gave, then it will have been worth blowing the budget for (sorry, re-allocating funds - thanks Andrew).Duncan, better start working on those blow-up...
if you plan to travel to either China or Australia with children, you'll find both places very accomodating, but in different ways. It's worth understanding these differences up front, to help with your budget.
In China, the only places where we each of us got a bed to ourselves was the train to Xi'an and the boat on the Yangtze. In very other case, if you have more than one child, and don't want two rooms, you'll end up putting one of them in the extra bed (for which you'll pay something like 20% on top of the room rate) and the other (or others!) into the double bed with you. Very romantic. The alternative of two rooms means moving up the price bracket. For us it wasn't an option.
Very many attractions in China have a reduced rate, or no fee at all, for children under 1.2 meters. It's...
Back to the theme of the budget, specifically with regard to transport.
A few months back, I was looking into the choice between renting a car for 12 weeks in Australia, and actually buying and reselling a car over the same period. The Rough Guide suggests that 8-10 weeks is the threshold over which buying and reselling starts to make economic sense. According to AutoBarn, the cutoff point is more like 6 weeks. But there are certain inherent risks involved as well, that rental doesn't entail:
Breakdowns are at your own expense, and will delay you more;You may not get the resale price that you expected, especially if you have a plane to catch;There is a lot more paperwork and additional expense involved in becoming the owner of a car rather than the renter.
But renting in Oz is not...
We have to go now. Just spend most of the SSIA on the RTW ticket. Came in a few hundred shy of 10 thousand Euro for the 4 of us, and that includes the Australian visas which the travel agent has offered to organize.
It's an e-ticket, which is handy - one thing less to lose/get stolen. Letizia had a bit of a brainwave at the last minute. If the ticket allows, we'll take a flight from Sydney to Cairns and drive down from there to Brisbane, rather than driving from Sydney. There were a thousand miles or so left over on the ticket so this seems like a good way to use them and see a bit more of Oz.
Sinéad in ForeignAFares in Carrigaline did a great job. Really knows her stuff and has been very available to us.
Easiest 10 grand I ever...
I was glued to the radio this afternoon like many people in the country listening to the Minister for Finance, Brian Cowen, announce the new budget. Also like many people I’ll be better off next year as a result of some of the changes he made.
The budget was great for pensioners and first time buyers, of which I’m one of the latter. The news isn’t so good if you’re addicted to nicotine. Still, the price of a pint hasn’t gone up. You might also be able to pay for those cigarettes with the 1% that was knocked off the top rate of tax. That extra €10/month in the children’s allowance could come in handy too.
Anyway, the country is glowing with smiles all-around, except for the opposition of course who complain that not enough was done or done in the right...
Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny has accused the Government of using the Budget to deal with the incompetence of the past rather than planning for the future.Speaking in the Dáil this morning, Mr Kenny said the Taoiseach and his ministers are simply subsidising problems rather than solving them.He said the Government had spend the last 10 years wasting billions of euro in public money, as well as squandering opportunities to make real improvements to people's lives.Mr Kenny also accused the Government of failing to use the Budget to deal with Ireland's energy needs and problems and of failing to introduce any measures to tackle homelessness.Source:...
The Irish Medical Organisation says the €25m allocated to mental-health services in yesterday's Budget doesn't go far enough.The organisation is welcoming the extra money, but says it won't make a huge difference to waiting lists.Almost €8m has been specifically designated for the development of child and adolescent services, but the IMO says around €50m is needed to fully improve that service alone.Meanwhile, the Minister of State with Responsibility for Mental Health says he is not happy with delays in treatment services for children.Tim O'Malley was responding today to further questions arising out of last Monday night's TV documentary on services for children with psychiatric problems.He confirmed that he had been in contact with one of the families involved in the documentary...
A LOT more could have been done in the Budget to make a real difference to the lives of Ireland’s poorest children and pensioners, campaign groups claimed last night.Social Affairs Minister Seamus Brennan said his €1.4 billion budget package — €300 million more than last year — was focused on eliminating child poverty and increasing pensioners’ incomes.Mr Brennan said all child dependent allowance rates would be increased to a new maximum rate of €22 per child per week from January, and child benefit would be increased by €10 a month from April.Mr Brennan said he was also delivering on the Government commitment to bring State pensions to €200 a week, with the contributory pension increasing to €209.30, an increase of 16 and the non-contributory pension increasing to...
THE provision of an estimated €25 million in mental health spending was described as inadequate and “a mere sop” by the Psychiatric Nurses’ Organisation. Spokesman Seamus Murphy expressed his disappointment with the gesture by Finance Minister Brian Cowen.There were also uncertainties about where the money would be spent and if the €25m mentioned in yesterday’s Budget was additional to the €21m provided in the estimates for 2007.Mr Murphy said he posed that question because €25m alone would be far from adequate to restore proper supports and services.He said that €46m would also fall far short of a realistic spend on mental health.The mental health budget had dwindled from 11% of the overall health budget in the 1990s to about 7% today.In an European context the scenario...
Pressure groups working in a range of areas have given a mixed reaction to the Budget measures announced by Minister for Finance Brian Cowen yesterday.The National Women's Council and the One Family support group for single parents both say they are unhappy with the lack of measures to make childcare more affordable.Elsewhere, groups representing the elderly say they are disappointed with the increase in the old-age pension.The Society of St Vincent de Paul has welcomed the pension increases, but says it is unhappy with the €4 increase in the fuel allowance for older people and low-income families.The housing organisation Threshold has said an increase of €30 per year in the tax allowance for people renting their home is derisory and insulting given the high rents across the...
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Renewable energy not high enough on Cowen's agenda - DurkanToday's Budget barely paid lip service to the need to end Ireland's unsustainable dependence on foreign oil and will do little or nothing to help Ireland meet its Kyoto commitments according to Bernard Durkan TD, Fine Gael Spokesperson on Communications and Natural Resources.'Thanks to the lack of any political will from the Government Ireland's CO2 emissions have risen by twice the allowable level under the Kyoto protocol since 1990. As a result, we now have to engage in expensive carbon emission trading while remaining one of the highest oil-importing countries in the world.'I welcome the Government's take up of Fine Gael's policy to reform Vehicle Registration Tax (VRT) through a system of energy efficiency labelling for...
Complete lack of childcare measures in Budget ‘07- StantonFine Gael Social Affairs Spokesman, David Stanton TD, welcomed some of the increases in today's Budget but said that Minister Cowen missed major opportunities by all but ignoring childcare and once again, neglecting spouses who stay at home.'There are few surprises in today's Budget but the lack of innovation from this Government, especially when it comes to childcare provision, is profoundly disappointing and highlights just how quickly the Government is running out of steam.'While the introduction of some measures that Fine Gael has long been calling for, particularly pensions increase and providing a half-rate for carers, is welcome, major opportunities have been missed particularly in the areas of childcare, carers and child...
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Fine Gael Health and Children Spokesperson, Dr Liam Twomey TD, has said that if the Government is serious about making real improvements to the lot of patients in A&E it should adopt Fine Gael and Labour's proposals in its forthcoming Budget. Dr Twomey said that in particular the alternative Government was proposing investment in 1,500 step down facilities to free up acute beds and the development of 15 Urgent Care Centres to provide an alternative to A&E."This Government has consistently failed to make a difference to A&E because it has failed to recognise that bed capacity and the placing of patients in inappropriate beds is at its heart. The occupation of acute beds by patients who no longer need acute care creates the bottleneck that sees hundreds of patients on trolleys in A&E...
Ernst and Young have an excellent budget website set up at www.budgetforum.com/Theres access to budget submissions from various organisations (in .doc format)I found it on...
‘Time to focus on education Have-Nots,’ say studentsThe Union of Students in Ireland (USI), today launching its pre-Budget submission, said its proposals are informed by “the needs of students and young people from all walks of life”.Central too, said USI, are the needs of those “who have never been to college but deserve every opportunity to do so”.USI’s pre-Budget submission sets out students’ spending priorities for Third Level, as well as measures to address the health and welfare needs of young people. These include measures to support people:• On Low and Fixed-income Backgrounds: USI calls for a fairer, higher, Maintenance Grant that reflects the actual costs of studying at third level.• Returning to Education: USI calls for the extension of Free Fees and...
Young FG Launch Pre- Budget Campaign on Youth Rip Off.Young Fine Gael (YFG) will today Monday 5 December launch a poster campaign to highlight the Rip Off of young people in Ireland. The poster entitled “The Grinch that Stole Christmas” depicts Bertie Ahern (as Santa), Mary Harney and Brian Cowen (as reindeers) removing rather than delivering gifts.YFG will also launch a cost of living survey based on goods and services consumed by the 18-30 year old age group throughout Europe. Across every sector of consumer spending, Ireland finds itself at the top of the European rip off league. All the main commodities associated with socialising and entertainment in this country are completely over priced using the Eurozone average consumer price index. For example, •Ireland is the second...
It’s that time of the month again when I have to do a VAT return, so my attention is drawn towards accounting software for Linux. Having just got the latest and greatest version of GNUCash installed on Ubuntu I’d like to share how I did it:
Open http://www.yourfilelink.com/get.php?fid=151771 and http://www.yourfilelink.com/get.php?fid=151772 and download gnucash-common_2.0.1-1_all.deb and gnucash_2.0.1-1_i386.deb from there. (via)
Install the .deb files using the following command: sudo dpkg -i gnucash-common_2.0.1-1_all.deb gnucash_2.0.1-1_i386.deb
You may get an error like this:
dpkg: dependency problems prevent configuration of gnucash:
gnucash depends on g-wrap; however:
Package g-wrap is not installed.
dpkg: error processing gnucash (–install):
dependency...