How do you feel about Brian Cowen being the highest paid politician in the Western Wo

C

cjh

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This thread may belong in Letting Off Steam - no doubt it'll be moved sharpish if it does!!

But I'm just wondering how people feel about the salaries of our politicians compared to those of politicians in much more responsible roles in Europe etc??

Issue was raised here:
http://www.thepropertypin.com/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=13800
Quote:
"We can congratulate him for giving himself the largest salary of any politician in the Western hemisphere.
We can congratulate him on the fact that his salary is bigger than the salary of premiers in the United States of America, the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Spain. All countries that have populations massively greater than our own."
 
Re: How do you feel about Brian Cowen being the highest paid politician in the Wester

This topic has been discussed a number of times before, so isn't really 'news'.

Can you clarify what you mean by 'much more responsible roles in Europe' - are you referring to heads of european state such as Sarkozy, Brown and Merkel, or organs of the EU?
 
Re: How do you feel about Brian Cowen being the highest paid politician in the Wester

Are you comparing like with like (i.e. included benefit of residence and other facilities supplied)?
 
Re: How do you feel about Brian Cowen being the highest paid politician in the Wester

If the Brown referred to by rmelly is Gordon Brown, I should point out that he is not a head of state, just a prime minister.
 
Re: How do you feel about Brian Cowen being the highest paid politician in the Wester

If by Prime Minister you mean what we call Taoiseach.

And for that matter Merkel isn't the head of state of Germany either

or Cowen, Brian that is, of Ireland. :)
 
Re: How do you feel about Brian Cowen being the highest paid politician in the Wester

Apologies to all concerned for my poor choice of wording.
 
Re: How do you feel about Brian Cowen being the highest paid politician in the Wester

Er, haven't we lost the point of this thread? It is about the ridiculous amount of money being paid to Cowen regardless of whether he is head of state or has his head stuck up a cow's ass. Whether rmelly considers it 'news' or not, it is still something that it worth a rant every so often. Go for it cjh!
 
Re: How do you feel about Brian Cowen being the highest paid politician in the Wester

+++ Breaking News +++
Public sector in waste of money shocker.


What would surprise me would be if an article was published that declared that the tax payer actually got value for money from any facet of the public sector.
 
Re: How do you feel about Brian Cowen being the highest paid politician in the Wester

DeclanP said:
Er, haven't we lost the point of this thread? It is about the ridiculous amount of money being paid to Cowen regardless of whether he is head of state or has his head stuck up a cow's ass. Whether rmelly considers it 'news' or not, it is still something that it worth a rant every so often. Go for it cjh!
Click to expand...

Why don't we hold off until cjh can provide a like for like comparison as flagged by Complainer - although the role of taoiseach does now have an official residence where it previously didn't - is it being used?
 
Re: How do you feel about Brian Cowen being the highest paid politician in the Wester

leghorn said:
+
What would surprise me would be if an article was published that declared that the tax payer actually got value for money from any facet of the public sector.
Click to expand...

same chance as an article was published that declared that the moon in the sky was blue, and pigs were flying past it. Lets face it, from the top down, we the taxpayer do not get value for money from the public sector.
And it does not suprise that we - a couple of million taxpayers in a little island in the atlantic - are paying our teeshock a vast amount of money by international or any standards.
 
Re: How do you feel about Brian Cowen being the highest paid politician in the Wester

rmelly said:
.. although the role of taoiseach does now have an official residence where it previously didn't - is it being used?
Click to expand...

Are you sure that it is an official residence ?

I recall mention being made of a residence in the ground of Farmleigh that the Brian Cowen could use, but not of it being an official residence. Rather that it was somewhere the security services could secure if he needed to stay over in Dublin. He has/had his own property in Dublin but this was deemed unsuitable, from a security perspective.

The more significant aspect of the Taoiseach being so well paid is that many other salaries cascade out of that rate. So, is the Irish 'Cabinet Secretary' more highly paid than his equivalent in the UK ?
 
Re: How do you feel about Brian Cowen being the highest paid politician in the Wester

TarfHead said:
Are you sure that it is an official residence ?

I recall mention being made of a residence in the ground of Farmleigh that the Brian Cowen could use, but not of it being an official residence.
Click to expand...

Depends what you read:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Farmleigh


In 2006 it was announced by the OPW that the Steward's Lodge which is located in the grounds of Farmleigh has been renovated. It is believed that the house will become the official residence of the Taoiseach, and any official engagements will be carried out in Farmleigh or Government Buildings.[1] In 2008, it was reported that Brian Cowen may use it as his official residence.[2]
Click to expand...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taoiseach


However, it has been reported that former Steward's Lodge at Farmleigh in the Phoenix Park will shortly be made into the official residence of the Taoiseach.[7]
Click to expand...


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taoiseach's_residence


There is no official residence for the Taoiseach (prime minister of Ireland).
Click to expand...




BRIAN Cowen is about to become the first taoiseach to have an official residence.

Mr Cowen confirmed yesterday that he intends to use the refurbished Steward's House in the Phoenix Park -- if it is given security clearance by the gardai.
Click to expand...
 
Re: How do you feel about Brian Cowen being the highest paid politician in the Wester

Shouldn't the Gardai have given their opinion on whether it could be made secure enough for the leader of the Irish against all the many threats he faces before a fortune was spent on refurbishing it.
 
Re: How do you feel about Brian Cowen being the highest paid politician in the Wester

GeneralZod said:
Shouldn't the Gardai have given their opinion on whether it could be made secure enough for the leader of the Irish against all the many threats he faces before a fortune was spent on refurbishing it.
Click to expand...

The Brits bought Marlay house, spent millions on it, and then found that it didn't cut the mustard on security; we're not alone on that one.
 
Re: How do you feel about Brian Cowen being the highest paid politician in the Wester

leghorn said:
+++ Breaking News +++
Public sector in waste of money shocker.


What would surprise me would be if an article was published that declared that the tax payer actually got value for money from any facet of the public sector.
Click to expand...

Given the billions being blackmailed out of governments all round the world this week to bail out the excesses of the banking (i.e. private) sector, it's not a great time to be whinging about public sector value for money.

GeneralZod said:
Shouldn't the Gardai have given their opinion on whether it could be made secure enough for the leader of the Irish against all the many threats he faces before a fortune was spent on refurbishing it.
Click to expand...
It appears from the context of the article that the fortune was spent on the refurbishment long before Cowen bumped Bertie off.
The four-bedroom Steward's House, which was refurbished by the [broken link removed] at a cost of around €600,000, has lain idle for 18 months.
Click to expand...
 
Re: How do you feel about Brian Cowen being the highest paid politician in the Wester

Complainer said:
It appears from the context of the article that the fortune was spent on the refurbishment long before Cowen bumped Bertie off.
Click to expand...

Bertie chose to retain his modest demesne in Dublin instead of moving across town to the Steward's House. It was [broken link removed] long before the heave against him so we can't pin this one on Cowen. Oddly enough this article says it was selected for security reasons.
 
Re: How do you feel about Brian Cowen being the highest paid politician in the Wester

Complainer said:
Given the billions being blackmailed out of governments all round the world this week to bail out the excesses of the banking (i.e. private) sector, it's not a great time to be whinging about public sector value for money.
Click to expand...
Glad to see your objection to emotive generalisations is selective.
 
Re: How do you feel about Brian Cowen being the highest paid politician in the Wester

Purple said:
The Brits bought Marlay house, spent millions on it, and then found that it didn't cut the mustard on security; we're not alone on that one.
Click to expand...

Two wrongs do not make a right. Besides, who would want to attack an Irish taoishock ( apart from a stressed up Irish commuter / taxpayer lol ) ?
UK ambassadors have a history of being attacked , and have a higher profile from terrorist threats because the UK is and has been at the cutting edge against the war on terror internationally.
 
Re: How do you feel about Brian Cowen being the highest paid politician in the Wester

rabbit said:
... the UK is and has been at the cutting edge against the war on terror internationally.
Click to expand...

Now you sound like a politician yourself Rabbit ;)
 
Re: How do you feel about Brian Cowen being the highest paid politician in the Wester

rabbit said:
Irish taoishock
Click to expand...

am I the only one who finds the intentional mis-spelling on this word offensive on a number of levels, regardless of who the incumbent is.
 
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