Cowen goes back to school!

What has how he spends his money got anything to do you at all?

em ... he presided over the mess we're in now and he walked away with a large gratuity in my name and your name and every other Joe & Josephine Soap's name.
 
Where, in the statute books, is it defined ? You can't be tried for a concept.

It may not be a concept for much longer,in 2010 a private member's bill to define the crime of "economic treason" in the Constitution was introduced (purely as a result of the catastrophic mismanagement of the State by Clown and Aherne)
 
em ... he presided over the mess we're in now and he walked away with a large gratuity in my name and your name and every other Joe & Josephine Soap's name.

What has that got to do with his right to do some study without some rubbish tabloid newspaper trying to make a story out of it.

Start a thread about his (and every other politicians) pension entitlements if you want but that story is complete tripe and I was even more shocked to see the other papers pick it up this morning. Really is ridiculous.
 

+1

Total non-story
 

Maybe you should start your own thread on it.
 
It may not be a concept for much longer,in 2010 a private member's bill to define the crime of "economic treason" in the Constitution was introduced (purely as a result of the catastrophic mismanagement of the State by Clown and Aherne)

And has now lapsed.

Looks more like as attempt by Trevor Sargent to score a few populist points in the hopes of keeping his seat if you ask me...
 
Maybe you should start your own thread on it.

Well therein lies the nub of this - The fact that you (and I, as it happens) believe that his pension is way OTT is irrelevant to the matter. Brian Cowen is no longer an elected official, and he can spend his own money however he chooses, just like any other citizen.
 
And has now lapsed.

Looks more like as attempt by Trevor Sargent to score a few populist points in the hopes of keeping his seat if you ask me...

I doubt it would take much encouraging to get Joe Higgins or his posse to reintroduce a something similar.
 
Encourage away so.

But I'd say you'll find it very difficult to find any politician who aspires to ever be a Cabinet member, willing to approve a Constitutional Amendment that would allow them to be criminally liable if they made a bad judgement call.
 
I doubt it would take much encouraging to get Joe Higgins or his posse to reintroduce a something similar.

So you're pinning your hopes on the unlikely event of the ULA getting something on the statute books ? Including retrospective culpability ? Assuming that's Constitutional ?

And how far back should it go ? 5 years ? 10 years ? The 1977 FF election manifesto and the Department of Economic Planning ?
 

You cannot legislate retrospectively I'm afraid Tarfhead ,Cowen is off hook on that one,however is it too much to ask that there would be something along those lines put in place in order to focus the minds of future leaders.

This is why parties like SF and a lesser extent the ULA etc are on the rise and I suspect they will have no problems putting such legislation in place when they form part of the next Govt in a few years time.
 

Yes, a politican will always be rushing to put legislation in place where they do could end up in jail if they make a bad decision. Asking for it in opposition is completely different to doing it when in government. Ask FG and LAB about the difference.
 
Yes, a politican will always be rushing to put legislation in place where they do could end up in jail if they make a bad decision.

Well if it were in place,maybe Cowen would have not rushed feet first barely consulting with his own cabinet before rubber stamping the bank guarantee scheme,a decision that my great grand children will be paying for...but he did so safe in the knowledge there was no come back on him.

Our system of Govt is broken beyond repair frankly,we really should be looking for a way to fix it in order to prevent future Taosigh from pulling a "clowen"
 

Ah will ya pull yourself together - our great grandchildren will have bigger worries than a few quid we got yonks ago. Toxic environment rather than toxic debt for example.

And I'm pretty sure no country's system is perfect Knuttell, but it's not the "system" that keeps electing Lowry in Tipp... Everyone is responsible. I think we should all get 20yrs in Mountjoy!
 
And I'm pretty sure no country's system is perfect Knuttell, but it's not the "system" that keeps electing Lowry in Tipp...

Mandatory IQ tests at 18 before you are let loose with a pencil and ballot paper would solve the Lowry/Flynn problem immediately!!
 
I am amazed that the most tabloid expenditure of a political pension is on education. Surely there is some politician blowing their pension in Vegas.
 

http://thestory.ie/2010/02/07/the-closure-of-one-mans-tax-relief/
retrospective legislation not constitutional you say.....get out of here, this is Ireland....where there's money to be made for one's friends and it's only the taxpayer losing out, we can go back at least 12 years!!!

http://thestory.ie/2010/09/08/ronan-and-bertie/
'keep fighting the good fight for us'
 

Of course you can make a tax relief retrospective, that's effectively the State just giving money to a certain group individuals / companies. Big difference between that and retrospectively making something a criminal offence.

(But wow about the Ken Rohan story, had never heard that one before!)