@Sophrosyne, the old maxim that if you can’t measure it you can’t manage it still holds true.
Those guys are still in the hospitals though, I know of one hospital that employs their own grounds keepers but still need a private contractor to come in every week and do the "heavy work", . Of course those permanent jobs are allocated by nepotism not ability, one guys wife is a senior administratorI worked briefly many years ago in one of the Universities. The University employed teams of maintenance staff and grounds keepers. Each group had their own uniforms. The restrictive practices were a joke. Two guys came to paint my small office one day, set up ladders dust covers etc. disappeared for a week, came back and finished the job in 2 hours. I understand they did nixers in the time they were allocated to my office.
The university never challenged this directly, they simply brought in outside contractors and paid them a contract price. They bought off the existing staff with pay rises and generous redundancy packages. Today the University employees very few maintenance staff and those are on revised contracts.
SF's magic money theme also risks backfiring since (hopefully) most voters are smart enough to know that the government has limited means to combat inflation. If I was SF I'd just keep talking about the housing crisis where FFG are responsible for one of the biggest policy failures in post-war Western Europe. On that count alone FFG deserve enteral political damnation.And you're never going to be able to out bribe \ out spend the parties of the magical money tree, losing game to get into.
Why do you think that? Have you absolutely no idea what's going on in most of the rest of the developed world?the housing crisis where FFG are responsible for one of the biggest policy failures in post-war Western Europe. On that count alone FFG deserve enteral political damnation.
But look at how good the numbers are. January-April tax receipts were roaring ahead:They must not have read my article. The irresponsibility continues.
Tax revenues of €3.9 billion were collected in April, up by €0.9 billion, or 28 per cent on April 2021 (figure 2A), with the bulk of the increase driven by income tax receipts. Total tax receipts for the year to date now stand at €21.1 billion, which is €5 billion or 31 per cent higher than the same period in 2021.
Total gross voted expenditure to end-April amounted to €25.3 billion, which was €1.4 billion or 5 per cent below the same period in 2021 and €0.1 billion, or 0.4 per cent, below profile.
The cost of renting in Dublin in relation to incomes is vastly higher than in almost any other comparable city accross the developed world. I don't understand why there are still those who are trying to sugarcoat it.Why do you think that? Have you absolutely no idea what's going on in most of the rest of the developed world?
There are plenty of more expensive cites, especially when adjusted for purchasing power parity.The cost of renting in Dublin in relation to incomes is vastly higher than in almost any other comparable city accross the developed world. I don't understand why there are still those who are trying to sugarcoat it.
The government isn't even picking the low-hanging fruit. There are tens of thousands of unauthorized Airbnbs that could be pushed into the long-term rental sector but aren't. There is rampant dereliction & vacancy even in prime city locations and again nothing done about it. Same story with crazy HAP rents which crowd non-social welfare recipients out of the market and create perverse incentives for people not to seek work. Why is all this happening? Because the government's priority is to drive up property prices no matter how horrifying the social cost.who thinks this is mainly down to government policies in the last 10 years is an idiot.
Why is that their only priority? Please please don't come back with some crazy Shinner-bot conspiracy theory.Why is all this happening? Because the government's only priority is to drive up property prices no matter how horrifying the social cost .
How many thousand and how could they force them into the long-term rental sector?There are thousands of unauthorized Airbnbs in Dublin which could be forced into the long-term rental sector but aren't.
Dereliction rates have dropped in recent years but without a meaningful property tax there's not much that can be done about it and people are against higher property taxes, in fact the opposition want to abolish them (because they are populists, not socialists).There is incredible dereliction & vacancy even in prime city locations and again nothing done about it.
I agree. That is certainly one way in which the government has made things worse but the political lobby groups pretending to be homeless charities keep pushing for more of the same and our pseudo-left wing media champion their cause.Same story with crazy HAP rents which crowd non-social welfare recipients out of the market.
Because of the last crash, quantitative easing which has resulted in a massive increase in money supply, low bond rates which have cause a huge flow of capital into property, inept Public Servants and structures who can't get projects through, a totally inept construction sector which is grossly inefficient. We live in a democracy where the State has limited power and the government of the day is constrained by laws and precedent and can't rule by dictate. Yes, there's more they could do and there's certainly things they could do better but blaming them for the whole mess is silly and ill-though out.Why is all this happening?
The primary goal of any government is to stay in office. Sorting out the housing shortage would keep any government in office. Why would they not do it?It's not crazy Shinner conspiracy theory to argue that vested interests influence government policy and that a preponderance of influential vested interests wants high rather than low property prices.
Two main reasons:Sorting out the housing shortage would keep any government in office. Why would they not do it?
So why have the government introduced legislation to make it harder to object to planning applications as well as fast tracking the process?Two main reasons:
1) More voters own property than are looking to buy or rent and politicians generally bet on voter selfishness (though that bet might not pay off this time as even middle class offspring are forced to emigrate for lack of housing).
2) To make a significant dent in the housing crisis Dublin requires thousands of 10-15 storey apartment blocks like they exist in cities across Europe. Counting on voter selfishness, politicians are scared of nimby backlashes, aggravated by the constituency-based electoral system that makes them vulnerable to local pressure groups. Moreover, the electoral cycle is shorter than the planning & construction cycle, promoting short-termism rather than medium-term planning.
If the government really wanted to circumvent this they could bring in foreign contractors & work crews from places like Turkey and China (which in turn would be a wake-up call to their Irish counterparts). Other countries (esp. In the Middle East) have a lot of their infrastructure built that way.Unfortunately the construction sector is even more incompetent and inefficient than the State and so they are unable to build them at a price the market will bear
No they couldn't. That's just ridiculous.If the government really wanted to circumvent this they could bring in foreign contractors & work crews from places like Turkey and China (which in turn would be a wake-up call to their Irish counterparts). Other countries (esp. In the Middle East) have a lot of their infrastructure built that way.
I agree but that just illustrates my point. If the government & bureaucracy *really* wanted to drastically boost housing supply they could but they just don't want to. Where there's a will strong enough it can conquer any amount of resistance & incompetence.No they couldn't. That's just ridiculous.
They could buy factory built homes from the mainland, the USA or even the UK but that would require a change in existing building standards and the unionised staff in the Department of the Environment couldn't be bothered doing that. Okay, in fairness, they probably don't have the skills or resources to do it either, just on the off chance they could be bothered.
Not in a democracy.I agree but that just illustrates my point. If the government & bureaucracy *really* wanted to drastically boost housing supply they could but they just don't want to. Where there's a will strong enough it can conquer any amount of resistance & incompetence.
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