House for sale with sky door. Only €1.35 million.

You have to wonder, don’t you?

The pic you see here is of a new semi-detached house down a lane in Rathgar. I think estate agents call them “mews”. It’s been on the market for eight months, and the builder is looking for a cool €1,350,000.

That’s a lot of money, right? But lets face it, if he wants to lodge that amount in his bank account these days he’d stand a better chance by buying a Lotto ticket. The days when builders and developers could command Beverley Hills money for ordinary dwellings in dreary Dublin are gone - and gone for good.

All that boom-time credit had all the real worth of Monopoly money - it was never really in the economy in the first place. And if it was never really there before, you can be pretty sure it won't be coming back. That’s why we have NAMA. But if you're a builder you probably wouldn't see that.

But speaking of builders. Have a look at the picture and tell me do you see anything odd? Bizarre even? Something funny about the door? Yes, that’s it - it’s on the second floor! So the only thing between anyone walking out of it and landing in a bloody, crumpled heap on the ground is the rarified Rathgar air.

There’s been some speculation on The Property Pin about this, much of it very amusing. Is the builder a visionary? Does he anticipate an earlier-than-forecast rise in sea levels? Or is it a special door for unwelcome guests, maybe the worse for wear after a few beers? “No, really. After you, I insist! Go ahead!”.

Or is it supposed to be some form of fire escape that our friend Bob simply has not got around to finishing off? And bear in mind the amount being asked.

€1.35 mill? I don’t think so, Bob. Stairs or not.

Back to Gombeen Nation main page

Make Noise for Free Choice - Abortion Rights Campaign (or The story of Paul and Mandy)

A long time ago, while living in England’s metropolis as an Irish immigrant, I got a phone call from an old school acquaintance. It transpired that Paul had failed to take precautions when fumbling about with his girlfriend, Mandy, and was now telling me she was pregnant.

Funny thing is, my girlfriend and I had seen them only the Christmas before. We had discussed the difficulty of obtaining contraceptives in Ireland at that time, but gave them a few tips on how to get them. Even how to get the morning-after-pill should it ever become necessary.

However, they piously assured us they were not going to have sex until after their big white wedding. “Saving themselves” was the term employed, I think.

Now Paul was on the other end of the phone asking us to us organise an abortion for them.

So, my girlfriend and I – atheists both, who had rejected the Catholic values Paul and Mandy apparently held so dear– found ourselves doing something for them we had ensured we would never have to do for ourselves: phone up an abortion clinic. And all because of their stupidity and hypocrisy.

Over they came, and did the deed. Again we advised them about contraceptives and again we got the same response – as though we were the “immoral” ones. What "happened" to them was a "one-off".

So they went home and we thought no more about it, other than to reflect on the irony of it all. In avoiding contraceptives – but not sex, of course – surely they had committed a greater evil (by their criteria) by plumping for abortion instead? A tough lesson for them, we thought.

Later that week, we were talking to Gary who lived in the flat upstairs. “I heard your mates at it like rabbits in the bathroom”, he said, “you Irish like your bit of the other, don’t you? Eh? Eh?”. “No”, we thought, “Gary’s a shit-stirrer, isn’t he? That can't be true. Can it?"

It was.

A couple of months later the phone rang again. You guessed it: Good old pure-as-the-driven-snow Paul and Mandy looking for another abortion.

“Here’s the number”, we replied.

******************************************************************

The above is a true story, and I tell it because I want to put to you my own personal feelings on the subject of abortion – limited as they are by the fact that I am a male. Namely:

I don’t see it as an alternative to contraception. Contraceptives are readily available now even in Ireland. So if there was an excuse for stupid people like Paul and Mandy in the Eighties, there is none now.

However, there will always be crisis pregnancies for all sorts of reasons. And ironically, the lack of termination facilities in Ireland means that those who seek abortions will, as a result, do so at a later stage of pregnancy abroad.

Crisis pregnancies will always exist. Changed circumstances, foetal anomaly, complications in pregnancy, incest or rape. And who, but who, has the right to insist that a raped woman be forced to have a rapist’s baby?

An organisation called Make Noise for Free Choice is campaigning to make the right to choice available to women throughout Europe.

You can sign their online petition at

MAKE NOISE FOR FREE CHOICE

Back to Gombeen Nation main page

Sean Russell Memorial vandalised… again.

A smashing new memorial statue of Sean Russell - Irish nationalist and Nazi collaborator - went up in Fairview Park just over a week ago. Monuments, by their nature, can usually rely on some kind of public support… at least in the times and places they are erected.

But so unpopular is the memorial to the IRA man who colluded with fellow nationalist fanatic Hitler (during a war in which Ireland was supposedly neutral), that the last one was repeatedly vandalised by anti fascists, most effectively in December 2004 when its head and saluting arm were detached from it.

Supporters of Russell, including Cumann Uaigheann Na Laochra Gael (The National Graves Association) claim we should not read too much into Russell’s little Nazi adventure - which culminated in him dying of natural causes on a U-Boat on the jaunt home - but it’s hard not to, isn’t it? Especially as Russell was looking for a Nazi-backed “free” Ireland, at a time when Hitler’s intentions towards the world’s Jews, including Irish ones, were well known.

Indeed, The Simon Wiesenthal Centre suggested after the last attack that the remains of the monument be left as a monument to why there should be no monument. “It’s a blot on the history of Ireland, but blots have to see the public light”, a spokesman said. And I can see the logic of that.

But Cumann Uaigh.... The National Graves Association, which looks after the (burial) plots of our numerous patriot dead, will have none of it. They are determined we will have a monument to Russell whether we like it or lump (hammer) it.

So determined, in fact, that the lastest version is made of bronze, on the basis that the durable material should resist attempts to hack bits off it. Not only that, the head actually contains a tracking device, in order to facilitate its recovery should anyone make off with it again. I kid you not! I mean, you could hardly make this up anyway.

Sadly, for supporters of the dubious “republican", all this high-techery (as opposed to high treachery) does not protect Russell’s effigy completely. Last Wednesday it was daubed with various uncomplimentary slogans such as “Nazi Scum” and “Hitler’s Friend”.

But you know, I don’t think Russell would have taken offence at any of that.

Back to Gombeen Nation main page

Dermot Ahern's Criminal Justice Amendment Bill

Do you trust the police? Are you one of those people who believe that if you do no wrong, you will never find yourself on the wrong side of the law? Well, there is a tempting simplicity to such a view, but we all know by now that life isn’t temptingly simple.

Take the Birmingham Six, who had 16 years of their lives stolen from them by the police in Britain. They were convicted on the basis of concocted evidence and violently extracted confessions at the hands of the coppers, and it took British Labour Party MP, Chris Mullen, to bring attention to their case with his excellent book “Error of Judgement”, which led to a campaign that eventually saw their release.

Remember too, that high-profile cases like this are the ones we hear about. There must be countless other people in prison for crimes they did not commit - an injustice compounded by the fact that the real perpetrators of the crimes continue to walk free.

And don’t for a minute think that such miscarriages of justice are confined to other countries. The Birmingham Six were convicted under emergency legislation introduced in Britain in the wake of the murder of innocent civillians in the IRA “campaign” of the time. Moral of the story? Emergency legislation, carried on the back of understandable public revulsion, is not necessarily a good thing.

Which brings us to Dermot Ahern. This man seems prepared to stoop to subterreanean levels to distract the public from the real problems his Government have created, and has followed up his recent “Blasphemy Law” with legislation to extend the use of the Special Criminal Court to tackle gangland crime, which is the cause of much justified pubic revulsion here.

The Criminal Justice (Amendment) Bill passed its committee stage in the Dail (the Irish parliament) on July 7th, and will see jury trials “for gangland cases” abolished. It might be argued that any move to get around the intimidation of witnesses in cases of organised crime might be a good thing - so I’m open to persuasion on that one. However, the bill will also allow Gardai of any rank give “opinion evidence” about the existence of such a gang, which will not require corroboration.

There is a letter in today’s Irish Times, signed by 133 defence and prosection lawyers calling on the Government to withdraw the legislation. Their concern is that “opinion evidence from a garda must be understood as simply that – an opinion…… a garda on the beat – who may base it on a person’s previous convictions or from evidence upon which he/she will claim privilage and therefore not have to divulge where it came from – will be able to give and opinion which could result in conviction and sentence for a serious crime."

But maybe it all comes down to the original question: how much do you trust the police?

The Morris Tribunal found extensive corruption and criminal behaviour by gardai in Donegal, who tried to frame members of a family for murder. They also planted “evidence” on people, and hid guns and explosives which they “found” later and claimed as arms cache finds, to aid their promotion. Indeed, Morris himself reported that "The Tribunal has been staggered by the amount of indiscipline and insubordination it has found in the Garda Force.” And does anyone really think all this was a one-off, confined to Donegal? I think they would be naïve if they did.

So, if that is the case, is it really wise to allow the uncorroborated “opinion evidence” of a member of such a police force in a court of law? Could any conviction secured in this manner by considered safe?

It all comes down to how much you trust the police. And Dermot Ahern.

Back to Gombeen Nation main page

Another Lisbon Letter

Do a search on the Lisbon Treaty in Google Images. You'll be treated to a selection of hysterical pictures, each one pretending to be a valid reason to vote "no" to a treaty designed to streamline the running of an enlarged EU.

You will see pictures of aborted foetuses, images of stormtroopers depicting a militaristic "European Army" (which, of course does not, and will not, exist). There's even a swastika in there somewhere - have a look.

As a barometer of the ignorance of the Irish people - and the latest generation of spoilt, nationalistic, Celtic Brats, in particular - it is quite telling. But at least a sizeable portion of that odious genre will be taking the Ryanair emigration plane out of here soon - which is something that makes our economic implosion worthwhile, in my view.

Last week Gombeen Nation featured a letter from a John Hughes of Galway which summed up, for me, the level of debate on Lisbon here in Ireland. See Gombeen Nation: we should not be allowed Lisbon Vote

Contrast that with one of the best pieces of correspondence that I have read on the issue, below. It appeared in the Irish Times shortly after the "no" vote. For me, it shows why people should not be allowed vote on issues they don't - or don't want to - understand. It also shows how a narrow, nationalist perspective can never be a progressive one in an EU context.

Madam, - The supporters of a No vote in the referendum campaign have continually expressed outrage that people in other countries were not given the chance to vote on the Lisbon Treaty in their own referendums. Declan Ganley, Patricia McKenna and Mary Lou MacDonald have expressed the belief that other countries would have voted the same way as the French and Dutch did some time ago and the Irish did last week. Surveys in Germany have been quoted to support this view.

I have little reason to doubt this is true. However since, Sinn Féin prides itself on its insular "all-Ireland" perspective, Mr Ganley's business interest seem to lie largely in the UK and the US and Ms McKenna is no longer an MEP, these advocates of plebiscites may be less au fait with the reasons why other countries might vote No. I would like to acquaint them with some of the reasons why the Germans, for example, would have voted the Treaty down.

The majority of Germans are no different to the French, the Dutch and the Irish and look at this issue purely from a particularist, nationalist perspective: what's in it for me or us? Had they been asked to vote they would have said No for one or all of the following reasons. They are unhappy:

1. That Germany has been the paymaster of the EU for decades and massive funds have been transferred to other countries (such as Ireland, which has now even shown itself ungrateful for all this support), when Germany needed the money very badly herself to deal with the financial consequences of re-unification.

2. That some German banks have left Germany with the loss of hundreds of jobs and are taxing their profits in other countries (such as Ireland). The German government has done little to abolish these tax imbalances.

3. That a country of 82 million people like Germany is represented at Commissioner level in the post-Lisbon Treaty EU in the same way as a small country (such as Ireland, with only 4.5 million people).

4. That so little German is spoken in Brussels, although the German language community is actually the largest in the EU.

5. Given last week's events, that a country of 82 million people should be bossed around by a small country (such as Ireland) and be stopped from implementing its own policies, whatever they are.

All this is extremely simplistic of course, but the German electorate is no more and no less sophisticated in these matters than the Irish is. How fostering self-centred nationalist opinions such as these in Germany or in other EU countries can in any way be beneficial for Ireland and the Union as a whole is a riddle only the advocates of plebiscites can solve for me.

Thank God there are still parliamentarians, politicians and civil servants who take a broader view of European and world politics and inhabit the real world of political interdependence and extremely complex negotiations in order to keep every country and its interests somehow on board. If they work in Brussels they are usually denounced as Eurocrats. As to the view of another advocate of referendums, Mr Joe Higgins, that any No is also an expression of a deep unease about the neo-liberal, globalised, capitalist agenda increasingly taking hold of the world, I fully concur with this assessment.

It is, no, doubt as true for Germany as it is for France and the Netherlands. But this particular road map is being designed in Washington, Bejing, Moscow, Delhi and Abu Dhabi as well as in Brussels, with the EU arguably being among the less ruthless of the new superpowers. This brave new world is not a very pleasant one and it is very understandable that the electorate would like to wish it away by saying No and return to the certainties of a cosy, capitalist pre-1989 world where at least India and China knew their place.

But this is cloud-cuckoo land. Then again, electorates in all countries love to have their heads in the clouds and some at times even parade their ignorance. As some members of the "sophisticated" Irish electorate put it: I don't know what this treaty is about and don't understand the issues [as I did not bother to read a booklet with eight pages of text in plain English] and this is why I vote, and it's No.

Referendums such as these do not bring out the best in people, and certainly not the best thinking. If more than 80 per cent of the elected politicians agree on a point, especially if they comprise both government and opposition, who love to be at loggerheads, they could actually be right.

- Yours, etc,

JOACHIM FISCHER,

Ballina,
Co Tipperary.
Wednesday, June 18, 2008

Back to Gombeen Nation main page

A nice, relaxing drive on the Military Road

Somewhere in the Manor resides a copy of "The Military Road", by Michael Fewer. I say somewhere, because I've been looking for it for the past half hour but can't find it anywhere, inspired as I was earlier by a spin out in that direction.

The Military Road runs from the foothills of the optimistically named Dublin Mountains right into the wilds of Wicklow, over the boggy shoulder of Kippure on to the Sally Gap and out to Laragh (near Glendalough) before twisting on towards Glenmalure and beyond.

If I could find the book I could sound very authoritative here and give you some interesting little snippets, but sadly it is not to be. A quick google tells me it was constructed by the British military between 1800 and 1809 to flush out the remaining participants of the 1798 rebellion who were hiding out in the wilderness of the Wicklow uplands at that time.

It's not often that I can say many positive things have been achieved by rebellions in Ireland over the years, but the Military Road is one worthwhile consequence. Many were the times in my youth I'd head out that way on my trusty old mod scooter and be gobsmacked by the isolation of it all. Even now, after years living away, it still holds a fascination of its own, both for the vistas it reveals at every turn and for marvelling at the feat of engineering of its time that it was.

But hold on... this sounds too much like a Bord Failte article for comfort. So let me add that you are best going up there in winter time - as there are still far too many natives about in summer, despite the Redcoats' best efforts. If you venture up there on a day like today, you can be sure it will be populated by half-wits capable of spoiling the Zen-like composure of the Dalai Lama, inducing in that personage mouth-foaming fits of road rage akin to the ones I suffered earlier.

Examples? Try the following...

Pretend 4x4s coming around blind corners in the middle of narrow roads at breakneck (literally) speed, where two cars can hardly pass without sampling the flora and fauna of an obliging ditch.

Other "drivers" doddering along at 20 km/h with a serpentine trail of cars behind them, either oblivious to their presence or simply not of a mind to let them pass.

Cyclists going along two abreast - subjecting one to prolonged observation of their sweaty, male, lycra-clad arses (fine, if that's your thing, but it's not mine... Gwen Stefani's lycra-clad arse might just be about tolerable).

Verminous little brats spilling out of MPVs onto the road ahead of you, forcing you to test your anti-lock brakes (my car's work very well, by the way... and so does the horn, showing no signs of fade even after constant use).

And why, oh why, do the authorities insist on locking the carparks shut, so that people have to park on the narrow roads instead? And what does the guy driving around in the Jeep that says "Ranger" actually do?

A relaxing drive in the countryside? Don't get me started.


Back to Gombeen Nation main page

We should not be allowed Lisbon vote

It's a vacuous boast often made by the Lisbon "No" voters. How "lucky" we are to be allowed vote on the Lisbon Treaty - unlike the rest of the EU's poor, unfortunate, citizens.

The thing is, I sincerely don't think the Irish should be allowed to have a veto on the development of the expanding EU - and I don't think that people should be allowed to vote on subjects they don't understand. It's a betrayal of democracy.

I think that the Irish electorate have consistenly made wrong decisions over the years by voting "yes" to Fianna Fail in general elections, and "no" in the abortion, divorce and Lisbon referendums. I don't think they can be trusted to vote on anything, to be honest.

Also, it's embarrassing enough having a half-wit Irish commissioner in Europe who pockets his substantial pay cheque and brags - yes, brags - about not even bothering to read the Treaty. But that's the calibre of politicians we produce in this country.

However, it will be even more embarrassing if the same half-wit populace come out and vote "no" to Lisbon 2 - even after their imaginary "fears" about European Armies / enforced abortion / immigrants taking over the country / losing the aforementioned half-wit commissioner / tax harmonisation have been addressed.

In true gombeen style, the only issue seems to be "what's in it for me?".

If you are looking for an illustration of the intellectual level of the Lisbon debate in Ireland, look no further than the following letter in yesterday's Irish Independent:

HOLIDAY HOMES TAX BETRAYAL

The new holiday homes tax [€200 a year per holiday home] is another bungling fiasco from this 'bull in a china shop' Government.

It equates the tax due on a full-time, rented Dublin 4 luxury apartment to that on a cottage or mobile home holiday-let in Connemara with maybe a three-month letting window if the season is good.

It is a totally iniquitous situation. The writing is on the wall for holiday-lets in the countryside as this tax will undoubtedly be ramped up perennially, like motor tax.

It is a total betrayal of all of us who have invested our time and money in this economy instead of buying homes abroad, where such owners are now scot-free of this tax.

With this knife in the back, I have to say that one bad turn deserves another, so here's to you Mr Cowen - I am voting "No" in Lisbon 2.

John Hughes, Galway.

If this was a joke letter, it would be funny. But it is not. This guy is voting "no" to the Lisbon Treaty because he is being asked to pay a €200 tax by on his investment property/properties by the Irish Government!

Well , John, you've got a vote and I'm sure you're going to use it - more is the pity, as I don't think you deserve it.

And doubtless, you won't be the only Irish person deciding his/her vote on the basis of every half-baked issue in their head, rather than on the Treaty itself.

Back to Gombeen Nation main page

Bill Cullen - Greens' VRT killed Irish motor industry

It’s a long way from penny apples for some, and it will be a long time before the Irish motor industry picks itself up from the floor.

Bill Cullen, the Irish businessman who heads up RTE show “The Apprentice”, blames the Green-inspired VRT changes for sounding the death knell for the Irish motor industry.

“You’ve killed the motor trade. People can’t buy a new car and it’s all because of the Greens”, he said in a debate with Green senator Dan Boyle on yesterday's Pat Kenny Show . Cullen maintains that the VRT changes were "unnecessary" as the EU has already required car manufacturers to reduce CO2 emissions by 2010.

While it’s doubtful that changes in the way VRT is inflicted are soley to blame for the stagnancy in the car market (the bursting of the bubble and the end of easy credit have to be primary causes) some might maintain that the tax changes were mere tokenism - and an attempt by Government to give some green credulity to what is essentially an unfair, uncompetitive and anti-EU tax.

Successive Irish governments have forced Irish motorists to pay substantially more for their cars than most other EU citizens, by as much as up 40% more in some cases. They have also denied motorists living in Ireland the right to import their cars into this country without paying what is effectively excise duty.

But now they disguise it as a “green” tax. In fact, they might have us believe they were world-leading visionaries in saving the planet, as they were taxing us blind before green issues were ever on the agenda. But we all know we don’t do visionaries here.

Bill Cullen is a rich man. So instead of discussing the finer points of tinkering with a tax that is contrary to EU principles, perhaps he should use his influence and wealth in a campaign to have it abolished altogether.

Back to Gombeen Nation main page

Quinn Direct Insurance – with the right address

There is a BBC sitcom entitled "Keeping Up Appearances" which features a woman by the name of Hyacinth Bucket (she pronounces it "Bouquet") who is an insufferable snob. The kind of person, you suspect, who might hold great store on someone having the "correct" address. A bit like Quinn Direct.

There was an interesting report in The Herald last week about an experienced driver with a full no-claims bonus who phoned up Quinn Direct to ask for a quote. “As soon as I said where I was from, they would not give me a quote”, said Michael Burns from Tallaght.

It seems that the company has a policy of excluding people with particular addresses from cover, on the basis of “high claims frequency” in “certain areas”. Mr Burns persisted in his request for insurance - no doubt pointing to the evidence of this no-claims discount - and Quinn Direct very kindly relented somewhat, saying that they “hoped to accommodate him”.

However, Quinn Direct continue to judge risk on the basis of postcode - rather on the more logical basis of someone's driving record. Witness the following from their website:

“…there are certain areas that have very high claims frequency and we are therefore faced with the choice of continuing to offer cover in these areas, which will have to be subsidised by other consumers, or stop offering cover. Having tried to resolve the problem for some time we feel we had little choice but to take the latter option at this time.


As an Irish Company we would clearly much prefer to see a solution whereby the level of claims reduces in these areas and in that regard we are very happy to interact with any relevant interested or representative bodies to see if a satisfactory outcome can be achieved whereby we recommence offering cover in the very small number of affected areas.”

It’s a risky business, insurance. But you don’t need to be an actuary to work out that someone with no insurance claims is probably a safe bet. And remember that insurance is compulsory in Ireland, so if an insurance company wishes to operate in the Irish market, surely they should be obliged to provide cover to all locations within that market? But all that aside, it’s typical that a company that boasts about its Irishness demands that your Irish address must not be an undesirable one... in their eyes.

I personally would not give my business to a company that operates in this manner. After all, my address might be a desirable one for Quinn Direct today, but will it have gone down in their Mrs Bucket-like estimation by next week?

Back to Gombeen Nation main page

Near fatal road accident - and speed not a factor.

A recent AA survey revealed that 70% of Irish motorists admitted to breaking the speed limit during the last year.

That’s a shocking statistic. Shocking, that is, to think that 30% of our motorists are so anally retentive and unthinking, that they stay religiously within the speed limit, no matter what, and no matter how inappropriate it may be for the conditions.

Maybe that will explain the many instances of inattentive, sloppy driving seen on our roads. These fundamentalists of the highways are too busy scrutinising their speedometers to see what’s going on around them… including the queue of fifty cars stuck behind.

Noel Brett of the Road Safety Authority quango, speaks with unshakable certainty when he cites the above statistic as evidence for the continued existence of road deaths (which have been on a steady downward trend for years, by the way). “Speed is the most common contributory factor in road accidents", he will tell you. But the very act of driving a car is a contributory factor, if you want to be like that, Mr Brett.

Tell it to the Germans, who have no mandatory speed limits on the majority of their motorway network, but have fewer road fatalities than we do. So, it’s not speed – it's inappropriate speed. And then you have inappropriate speed limits, like 60km/h on some of our dual carriageways and 80km/h on side roads a donkey could hardly walk down. Mr Brett, please put a sock in it.

It's all a bit lazy too. The authorities like to preach to us about our responsibilities… but what about theirs? Look at the picture above. It is of an unguarded level crossing in Ballymote, Sligo. A car has just crossed the path of an oncoming train and narrowly avoided a fatal accident.

Where are the automatic barriers? How, in this day and age can we still have level crossings that rely on someone getting in and out of their car to open and close a cow gate every time they cross a railway line? What does the Road Safety Authority have to say about this?

What does it have to say about uncut hedgerows on dangerous junctions that obscure the view of motorists? What about roads that don’t have any footpaths, where pedestrians take their lives in their hands every time they walk home on them - particularly at night. What about badly surfaced, dangerous, pot-holed roads?

In my opinion any State-sponsored spokesperson whose stated aim is to improve road safety, but fails conspiciously to mention the primary factors in our road accident statistics doe not deserve our tax money.

Mr Noel Brett and Mr Gay Byrne, go and find something else to bleat about, instead of acting as cheerleaders for the companies that will fleece us with their privatised speed cameras.

Back to Gombeen Nation main page

IMF, Merril Lynch, Standard and Poor report on burst bubble.

"The economy is in the midst of an unprecedented correction. The stress exceeds that being faced currently by any other advanced economy and matches episodes of the most severe economic distress in post-World War II history."

International Monetary Fund report, 24th June, 2009.

It’s no surprise to any of us who were observers of the “boom” years, based on property tax breaks and credit that was not backed up by real money. The IMF expect the economy to shrink 13.5% in the period 2008-2010, and forecast 15.5% unemployment by the end of next year. The only surprising thing is that anyone could be surprised that it’s come to this.

Many was the time I walked around Dublin 15 and saw cars sitting in the driveways of houses that only a few years before were cheaper than the vehicles they now harboured. And no wonder… people were taking out mortgages to buy their wheels.

Anyone who was not caught up in the “feelgood” mood could see there was no logical basis for building apartments and houses that people did not want to live in. The boom was based on dodgy foundations (sometimes literally) and it was evident long before it was flagged on this, and other, blogs. And really, did American multinationals such as Microsoft setting up here really mean that the resultant increase in employment would make everyone a millionaire? Of course not. They’ve had jobs in other countries for decades and you didn’t see the same levels of ostentation that were evident in Ireland.

Finance firm Merril Lynch, at the height of the “can do / positive thinking” mood in 2006, predicted that Ireland would have 25,000 “millionaires” in 2009. At the time they made that forecast, there were supposedly 18,000 “millionaires” in the country. I use quotation marks because the term “millionaires” included the inflated prices of peoples’ homes.

In view of the correction to the inflated market that has already taken place – and I can tell you from experience that it is well over 40% in some parts of Dublin already - Standard and Poor have said that property prices will fall 13% this year alone, and 10% the next.

That means there will a lot less “millionaires” in the future.

Back to Gombeen Nation main page

James Hardie set up in Ireland. Asbestos fund fears.

There is much trumpeting in the media today that Boston Scientific is to create 45 new jobs in Galway, having announced closure of its Donegal plant sometime in 2010. But that’s enough for the Government to create a gloss on things these days.

There has not been so much about the announcement by Australian building materials manufacturer James Hardie to set up here in order to reduce its tax liability; a fact brought to the attention of Gombeen Nation by a friend based in Australia.

The company, which was heavily involved in the manufacture of Asbestos-based products is currently paying into an Australian fund to compensate people who have suffered from Abestos-relelated illnesses, including cancer.

In 2001, the company shifted its headquarters to the Netherlands to reduce its tax payments, leaving behind a depleted compensation fund. Now even that’s not enough, and it is to come to Ireland to take advantage of the superior corporate tax avoidance opportunities on offer.

President of the Asbestos Diseases Foundation of Australia, Barry Robson, is concerned about the latest moves impact on compensation payments. "Hardies are always looking to find a safe tax haven, so this is nothing new," he said. "What we are very concerned about is, in all of this moving around the world, moving from country to country, it eats into the profits, and also makes it less likely that they can put money into the fund."

According to reports, it will cost the company between $51m to $71m to set up here.
Isn't it great that we can still attract the cream of world corporations to our rotten little land.

What next? Union Carbide?

Australian news report

Back to Gombeen Nation main page

Pig-headed gardai and compo claim skangers

Picture the scene. Driving along, minding your own business, when you stop close behind the car ahead at a roundabout in Blanchardstown. Suddenly, the occupants of the car notice your proximity, and have a brief chat before emerging to accuse you of back-ending them.

Shocked, you get out and look, but can see no damage to your car or theirs. But you are understandably intimidated as it is a two-on-one situation, and the people involved are quite obviously lacking in honesty and integrity being, as they are, out for a compo claim.

So. Two skangers are shouting the odds, and demanding your insurance details, even though you have not touched them. So rather than give your name and address, you make them up to keep the skangers at bay. Then you leave the scene, shaken, and resolve to report the incident at the Garda station the following morning.

Morning comes, and in you go. You engage the attention of the disinterested copper behind the desk. However, he does not seem to think your case is too important and does not even take down your details. A week or two later, you get a letter from the skangers’ solicitor (the coppers gave them your address) suing you for “injury, emotional distress and trauma”. Loss of earnings are not being sought… draw your own conclusions on that one.

You get in touch with your insurance company and an assessor examines your car and the compo skangers’, before concluding that you are not responsible for any of the numerous bumps and scrapes on their car. You go back to the cop shop to give a statement to one of Templemore’s best. Sadly, she doesn’t seem to be one of the more intelligent ones (it’s all relative), but you point out that the insurance accessor maintains you did not damage their car, and has advised the insurance company not to pay out. This backs up your contention that you never touched the skangers’ car.

So that’s that, you think. Until 10 months later plod knocks at your door to give you a summons for fleeing the scene of an accident. “But there WAS NO ACCIDENT”, you say again. You phone up the insurance company once more, only to discover that the ban Garda (not ban in the English sense, unfortunately, but Gaelic for female I think) has not even bothered her fat arse to contact the insurance company to see their accident report. If she had, she would have seen there was no accident scene to "flee".

The above happened to a friend of mine recently. Now she has to go to the trouble and expense of hiring a solicitor to point out the obvious in a court of law.

Any chance of the coppers pursuing the skangers for making a false-claim?
Not a chance. Too pig-headed you see.

Back to Gombeen Nation main page

Britney Spears, the baby-boom and my pension

Readers of the blog will be familiar with Gombeen Man’s struggle to move house, which has been going on for many years now. The sad thing is, although first-time buyer homes have dropped from the Beverly Hills prices of a couple of years ago (and still have some way to go, I’ll wager), it appears that anyone with a somewhat “grawnder” house in Dublin 15 seems to think we are still in 2006 – the height of the boom.

So, in a bold move, I’ve been looking to buy closer to my roots near town. There was a nice little place in Ringsend which attracted my attention, so being familiar enough with the area many years back, off I went to check it out.

With that in mind, I turned off Bridge Street (Ringer’s main street) onto Thorncastle Street, where clusters of Ringsend’s less socially adjusted denizens used to gather in the distant past – if only to shout abuse/throw things at an embryonic Gombeen Man as he went through the territory on his Vespa scooter in his mod days.

Imagine my surprise when I was confronted not with a hostile gathering of ne’er-do-wells, but a battalion of advancing Britney Spears lookalikes – every one of them vying to outdo their heroine in the economy of their apparel.

After the palpitations had eased, it occurred that the surreal phenomenon was only a temporary one, being the result of a concert by Ms Spears in the nearby O2 arena, and not a result of a radical shift in the social demographic of Ringsend. But I still looked at the house, all the same.

Which brings us on to demographics. Britney Spears, like the rest of us, has gotten older and matured (relatively speaking) with her fans, who ten years ago had just put down their Barbies. It’s a necessary part of the pop star’s career – move with the times, re-invent, and avoid having to pick up an early pension.

But what about the teeny-boppers of the future? It seems in Ireland there will be no shortage of this commodity. Ireland’s population of young children is the highest of any country in the EU, according to last week’s CSO survey. 7.4% of our population were four years old or under, and 6.9% were aged between five and nine, concentrated mainly in the commuter belt of Dublin.

So what awaits them in the Ireland of the future? What are the Government's responsibilities? For one, it is incumbent on the authorities to break the habit of the State’s lifetime, and ensure that each of these children (15% of under-four’s families are new arrivals in our country) are given access to relevant, inclusive and effective English-language-medium education.

This is particulary important given successive governments’ failure to tackle their long-standing record of educational disadvantage in working class areas, where one-third of children are reported to have “severe” literacy problems. If young people leave school able to read and write, they might have some hope of functioning to the best of their potential in an economic and a social context.

That would mean that those of us who aren’t Britney Spears might have some kind of pension to fall back on when our working careers come to an end.

Back to Gombeen Nation main page

Bord Gais leaks customers’ bank details.

Whenever a gas bill drops onto the Gombeen Manor doormat, you will hear the exclamation “gosh!!!” reverberating around the corridors. Well, maybe not “gosh!!!”, but something a bit more expressive. Gas bills are very expensive at the Manor, you see.

However, “gosh!!!" is quite appropriate - even if lacking in some impact. “Bord Gais” is the makey-up Gaelic name for our semi-state gas board, and “Gais”, you see, is pronounced “gosh!!!”.

“Gosh!!!” (or something more expressive) is what many of the company’s customers exclaimed this morning when they heard news that Bord Gosh!!! - sorry, Gais - “leaked” their confidential bank details to third parties, thanks to what can only be mind-numbing incompetence.

It seems there was a break-in at the company’s offices on June 5th, during which four laptops were stolen. One of these laptops contained the unencrypted bank details of 75,000 customers who had recently switched from the ESB (Electricity Supply Board) to the gas company to avail of the latter’s “Big Switch” campaign, which offered to supply gas and electricity in one package.

That’s bad enough, you may think. But the truly stunning thing is that it took 12 days for the public to become informed of the at-risk status of their bank accounts, and even then only through media reports. Its seems that Bord Gais is now advising that customers check their accounts, presumably to see if there is anything left in them.

Customers can expect an official letter from Bord Gais to drop onto their doormats sometime next week “informing” them of the situation.

Well, we are taking semi-state body here, after all.


Back to Gombeen Nation main page

Fada love of God - signs spell no Gaeltacht funding

Unemployment is our new growth industry. Tax revenues are plummeting. Cutbacks are being made across the board on infrastructural projects. Hospital beds are lying empty while people wait for vital operations, as the Government cuts back on public spending. Only the most truly vital and noble causes, such as civil servants’ and politicians’ State pensions, will continue to enjoy undiminished funding as before.

Exemplary use of public money by Mayo County Council, too. It seems that a former Raidio na Gaeltacheata journalist, Sean O Healai, spotted some Irish Language road signs were misspelt in that county – 33 to be exact. And we thought all that news of economic meltdown was bad! This is shocking stuff altogether.

But it’s a very serious matter you see, as according to an Irish Times report O Healai noted that the Gaeltacht status (and the resultant subsidies) of three areas in Mayo could be lost as a result of these Gaelic orthographic inaccuracies, so all of the signs are to be replaced forthwith.

It’s just as well Mr O Healai was on hand to spot the errors, otherwise nobody might have noticed.

Can we really afford to squander public money on such utter nonsense?

See also Belmullet to be painted out of the Gaeltacht?

Back to Gombeen Nation main page

We’re not a low-tax economy, Part ∞. End VRT now!

It’s been said before on Gombeen Nation – we don’t live in a low-tax economy. Not unless you’re Microsoft, Bono or one of our many millionaires who avoid paying tax to our cash-strapped exchequer through perfectly legal means. But someone has to pay it, right?

Step forward the PAYE worker, who pays top-rate tax on earnings over €36,400– not to mention the income levy. (PAYE workers paid €10 billion of the total income tax take of €13.5 billion in 2007). Step forward VAT, at 21.5%. Cheque book tax. DIRT tax. Insurance premium tax at 2%. Credit card tax.

Possibly most criminal of all – as it contravenes the principles of free trade within the EU - is VRT (Vehicle Registration Tax). Again, it is not the first time it has been mentioned on Gombeen Nation (do a search to confirm). But a look in the motoring section of today's Sunday Times brought it fresh to the surface here like a recurring cold sore.

Jeremy Clarkson has a review of the Mini Cooper S convertible in that paper. It might be a car you are interested in, or it might not. But never mind that, it's a subjective thing... but the same applies to any car you might be interested in. The Mini's not a gas-guzzler, it’s pretty cute, and it’s a fun vehicle by all accounts. And it's not even a real Mini – so you shouldn’t have to push it. In fact Clarkson says its as near to being a mini as “Julie Andrew’s (Sound of Music) nun frock.” So that’s good news all round.

What isn’t good news, however, is the Irish price for such a vehicle. Across the water, or across the border, our counterparts only have to pay £21,205 (€24,885) whereas we have to pay €40,350. That’s a staggering €15,465 more that the Irish motorist has to pay in tax to buy this car.

When the Irish politicians knock on your door in the next few months looking for your Lisbon Two ‘yes’ vote, ask them when they are going to be good Europeans and honour repeated EU requests to scrap VRT.

Back to Gombeen Nation main page

Illegal dumps and Gombeenimbyism

It really is a nation of gombeenimbyists. In case you're wondering, that's a synthesis of gombeen and N.I.M.B.Y (Not In My Back Yard).

We've a chronic waste disposal crisis in Ireland. Years of planning objections mean it's practially impossible to build an incinerator - no matter how remote the location - and we are running out of landfills (if you exclude our beaches on a hot summer afternoon).

So what do we do? Dump illegally. Or, more accurately, some shyster with a truck and a trailer will do it for you. Witness the craze for illegal dumps in Wicklow some years back, which were crammed with hospital waste and God know's what else. But of course you can only have so many illegal dumps. So what then? Dump it over the border, of course!

According to RTE News the taxpayer will have to pay at least €3 million to clean up 20 illegal dumps in Northern Ireland, containing waste from the Republic. In fact, the bill could be far higher as it will include 80% of the costs of extracting the waste from the sites, and then making them presentable again, so more speculative estimates put the cost in tens of millions. So what will we do with it then, I wonder?

Sadly, it seems to be a very Irish trait: ignore reality long enough and hope it might go away. It's time for us to accept we have to take responsibility for our own rubbish disposal, whatever that may entail.

Even if it upsets a few nimbies.

Back to Gombeen Nation main page

Sinn Fein in Dublin disarray - Burke quits

It gets worse for the Shinners in Dublin. Hot on the heels of Mary Lou McDonald's ejection from her little-used EU parliament seat, and the party’s poor showing at local level in Dublin where it lost four seats – comes news that Christy Burke is quitting the party, citing lack of support in the by-election campaign.

Burke managed to hold on to his North Inner City seat, but now the head of the Shinner’s Dublin branch, Aenghous O’Snodaigh, wants him to hand it back, arguing that it was won under "the Sinn Fein banner". This seems to ignore the point that many people in working-class areas of the capital chose not to "vótáil" for the Shinners, including neighbouring Fingal where - despite a major effort - they did not get one solitary seat.

O’Snodaigh, of course, is no stranger to foot-shooting statements. Back in 2007, he opposed Conor Lenihan’s plans to aid immigrants’ integration into the workplace by relaxing the Irish language requirement in areas of State employment. Of course, far from seeing this as a progressive measure, O’Snodaigh and the Shinners saw it as an “attack on the Irish language”. See Gombeen Nation, August 2007.

Then as now, it might well suit O’Snodaigh better to keep his mouth shut, as Burkes’ popularity after 25 years of local activism is quite likely independent of old party affliations.

Back to Gombeen Nation main page

Congrats to Joe Higgins, MEP.

Congratulations to Joe Higgins on his election to the European Parliament. Joe has been a tireless worker locally in Dublin 15 for many years, and it was a great disappointment to many in Dublin West – Gombeen Man included - that he lost his seat in the last General Election.

Even those who would differ with Joe on some points (such as Lisbon) would agree that he is a force for good, is 100% genuine, and really is “the best fighter money can’t buy”.

Gombeen Man is sure he will use his new position as an MEP in a positive way, hopefully from within a strengthened European Parliament post Lisbon Two, to fight for workers’ rights from within.

Back to Gombeen Nation main page