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



## cjh (27 Sep 2008)

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."


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## rmelly (27 Sep 2008)

*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?


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## Complainer (27 Sep 2008)

*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)?


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## BillK (27 Sep 2008)

*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.


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## GeneralZod (27 Sep 2008)

*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.


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## rmelly (27 Sep 2008)

*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.


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## DeclanP (28 Sep 2008)

*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!


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## z103 (28 Sep 2008)

*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.


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## rmelly (29 Sep 2008)

*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!


 
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?


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## rabbit (29 Sep 2008)

*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.


 
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.


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## TarfHead (29 Sep 2008)

*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?


 
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 ?


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## rmelly (29 Sep 2008)

*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.


 
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]


 
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]


 

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




> There is no official *residence for the Taoiseach* _(prime minister of Ireland)_.


 





> 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.


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## GeneralZod (29 Sep 2008)

*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.


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## Purple (29 Sep 2008)

*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.



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.


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## Complainer (29 Sep 2008)

*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.



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.


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.


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## GeneralZod (29 Sep 2008)

*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.



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.


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## Purple (30 Sep 2008)

*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.


Glad to see your objection to emotive generalisations is selective.


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## rabbit (30 Sep 2008)

*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.


 
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.


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## Caveat (30 Sep 2008)

*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.


 
Now you sound like a politician yourself Rabbit


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## rmelly (30 Sep 2008)

*Re: How do you feel about Brian Cowen being the highest paid politician in the Wester*



rabbit said:


> Irish taoishock


 
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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## Purple (30 Sep 2008)

*Re: How do you feel about Brian Cowen being the highest paid politician in the Wester*



rmelly said:


> 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.


+1
No, you're not.


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## rabbit (30 Sep 2008)

*Re: How do you feel about Brian Cowen being the highest paid politician in the Wester*



rmelly said:


> am I the only one who finds the intentional mis-spelling on this word offensive on a number of levels


 
Apologies if I accidentally spelled a word incorrectly - Irish was never my strong subject at school, and perhaps anymore I should call the *Taoiseach* our prime minister. I have met a lot of Americans etc who wondered what a "*Taoiseach*" was. ( never mind why he was paid more than the leader of the US, UK, Germany, France etc...all much larger, more industrialised countries etc ) Incidentally, I wonder if the p.m. of New Zealand was called some maoiri ( hope I spelt that correctly ! ) word like say Wongawonga, would the rest of the world say the "wongawonga" of New Zealand, or the prime minister of New Zealand ?  New Zealand has the same approx population as Ireland, and the rest of the world can speak the native New Zealand language as well as they can speak Irish.

To those who may be offended at the mispelling of a single word, I am personally much more offended at now seeing so much negative equity , stock market and pension decline, loss of business confidence + turnover. Our " *Taoiseach* " grew the property bubble over the years, continuously extended the section 23 / 27 tax reliefs, and awarded themselves massive pay + pensions in the process. The mismanagement of our economy, how the country squandered the EC handouts, is a huge lost opportunity.


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## Purple (30 Sep 2008)

*Re: How do you feel about Brian Cowen being the highest paid politician in the Wester*

I'm much more concerned with the wasted billions than the extra thousands... I'd happily see him getting ten times his salary if he and his government did a good job.


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## rabbit (30 Sep 2008)

*Re: How do you feel about Brian Cowen being the highest paid politician in the Wester*



Purple said:


> I'm much more concerned with the wasted billions than the extra thousands... I'd happily see him getting ten times his salary if he and his government did a good job.


 
Do you think any politiician , anywhere in the whole world, is worth ten times his salary ?


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## room305 (30 Sep 2008)

*Re: How do you feel about Brian Cowen being the highest paid politician in the Wester*



rabbit said:


> Do you think any politiician , anywhere in the whole world, is worth ten times his salary ?



Nothing to do with his "worth" but I'd have to say €2.7M would be a small price for the country to pay in exchange for a competent government that avoided squandering our taxes at every turn.


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## room305 (30 Sep 2008)

*Re: How do you feel about Brian Cowen being the highest paid politician in the Wester*



rabbit said:


> Do you think any politiician , anywhere in the whole world, is worth ten times his salary ?



Nothing to do with his "worth" but I'd have to say €2.7M would be a small price for the country to pay in exchange for a competent government that avoided squandering our taxes at every turn.


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## rabbit (1 Oct 2008)

*Re: How do you feel about Brian Cowen being the highest paid politician in the Wester*



room305 said:


> Nothing to do with his "worth" but I'd have to say €2.7M would be a small price for the country to pay in exchange for a competent government that avoided squandering our taxes at every turn.


 
That does not answer the question.   "Do you think any politiician , anywhere in the whole world, is worth ten times his salary ?" 
Increase Cowens pay / benefits / pension package to 27 million and we would not have a better govt.   Do you think Cowen should be paid more than the President of the U.S., or the leader of UK, France, Germany etc ...all much much bigger, more industrialised nations.   Him paying himself that and the rest of us facing the realities we face reminds me of Haughey telling us to wear hairshirts in the 80's, while he shopped for the worlds most expensive shirts with his mistress in Paris.


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