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ENDA KENNY HAS insisted the government will not attempt to win re-election by being populist in the forthcoming Budget despite more positive growth figures today.
The Taoiseach said the government would not do anything “in a populist fashion” to disrupt what he said was the government’s “competent management” of the economy.
His comments followed the publication of new figures showing growth of 6.7% in the Irish economy the first six months of this year.
“These are very strong figures and they’re very encouraging,” Kenny said today.
He warned that external factors like the Chinese economy and the situation in the Middle East could still be destabilising.
Kenny said that despite demands for more spending from various government departments the coalition intended to stick to extra spending of between €1.2 billion and €1.5 billion in the October Budget announcement.
He added: “So we’re conscious that while the figures are encouraging and growing very strongly in the right direction we have a duty and a responsibility
“Because the people are concerned that just because you’re in an electoral period that the politicians might blow this in terms of populist opportunities, we’re not going to do that.
We’re not going to put the country in hoc and the decisions we make are all based on securing the recovery for everybody.
Kenny was speaking at the start of Fine Gael’s two-day think-in in Adare, Co Limerick today.
TDs, Senators and MEPs are expected to be briefed on the Budget and Fine Gael’s preparations for the general election, which Kenny indicated would be in 2016.
https://vine.co/v/etYeKAvDgJ7
Speaking to reporters earlier in the day, Health Minister Leo Varadkar said the Budget must ensure everyone benefits and begins to feel the economic recovery.
Varadkar said that meetings over the course of today and tomorrow would focus mainly on the economy and making sure “that the recovery is secure”.
Ensuring the recovery is spread to all parts of the country and that everyone benefits from it in terms of tax reductions, increases in the minimum wage, some increases in child benefit for example and also expansions in public services.
He added: “It’s very important that now that the economy is growing very fast again that we don’t lose the run of ourselves and we don’t make the mistakes of previous government by injecting too much extra cash into the economy.”
On the upcoming election, Varadkar said that Fine Gael has retained support “in the high 20s” which meant that “roughly four-out-of-five who voted for us last time are still with us”.
The Dublin West TD said an electoral pact with Labour “makes a lot of sense”.
We’ve governed well together for the last for years and I think it would give people a clear choice. On the one hand to elect and re-elect the current government, and keep things on track, or take a risk on a very divided opposition that really offers no clear alternative.
Kenny struck a similar note this afternoon saying that voters face a choice at the next general election.
“They’re going to have a clear choice and the choice that they will have to make will be between government or chaos, between stability or financial instability.
“For our part we are prepared to work with the Labour party, to continue the good solid work that is being done as a government in hauling back our country from the catastrophic economic situation which we inherited four-and-a-half years ago.”
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300 and odd cheaper than the iPhone 6 plus rip off
465euro on Piximania for SIM unclocked Samsung S5.. why anyone would pay 55euro a months for a 24month contract its silly. That’s well over a thousand euro for the phone… costs half that to buy Sim free, granted you might get free calls,free texts and internet.. but you can get all that with SIM only plan for 20euro a month.
20 per month, over the next 24 months is 480, added to the near 500 upfront for the device means you pay a grand either way… except you don’t have to shell out half a grand at the start… As the missus might say, why are you so afraid of commitment?
@Pinel g if your buying your phone not to make phone calls or texts , you are correct in saying sim free is half the price
@Sean Delaney – comparing this to the iPhone 6 Plus? Did you read the article? 4.7″ screen.
To me, it seems like Samsung made some odd choices. Loses the plastic crap and keeps the replaceable battery, good, but no SD card?
Maybe they should have just waited to launch a S6 Alpha version and made it an attractive proposition to Galaxy fans.
Eh pinel it’s not much of a savings and u spread the cost over 2 years
Fair play if u can afford it up front some can’t
@Ciaran Ó Fallúin Yes, 20 per month is 480. but you are not tied down to any contract, so you do not have to top up every month, (these days i think you need to top up at least every 6months to keep it active on the network was 12months before) therefore it does save you money, instead of being tied down to a contact where you always pay more. like when you go over your internet usage a month. What annoys me is Meteor offer Unlimited Data for €10 a topup. yet this “Unlimited Data” is subject to Fair usage allowance of 7.5GB, To me this is not unlimited data…. capped data more like.
7.5gb is more than you should ever need for your phone.. if your steaming buck loads of netflix, would you really enjoy any of it watching it on a phone. It’s meant for internet browsing and yes video playback but not watching season after season. It still is a phone after all.
In tescos “unlimited” sim only plan you get 10,000 mins, 10,000 texts and 15Gb data for €25 per month and its only a 30day contract.
I’ve held this phone in my hands. It feels fantastic. Unbelievably light. Tough decision between the alpha and S5.
Looks great! Samsung’s biggest fall down was the quality of its plastic!
Nah. Samsung biggest downfall is Touchwiz. I’m typing this on the S5. Brilliant phone. I’ve no problem with the plastic back.
I had a look at the Alpha in a shop during the week. It is very fekin light.
That touch wiz thing is a nightmare, constantly crashed or froze my Note 3. Samsung just tell you to connect it to Kies which didn’t work. Tried all of the suggestions on forums but to no avail. Last system update caused my phone to crash completely had to do a hard factory reset which was a pain but on the positive side no more touch wiz errors.
Had a note 2 and loved it. But I hated taken the back cover off because it would stay out of shape.
I’d you don’t like touchwiz Michael, install an alternative. Dozens of options available. Next Launcher is my personal favourite
That doesn’t change the fact that it’s still running on touchwiz, which is laggy as hell. If 2.5GHz quad core lags it means that there is something very wrong with the system and its optimization. Samsung insane hardware is always held back by that atrocious system. If they only developed something new and light, they would gain a lot of new consumers.
Yup. That’s the advantage of Android. Touchwiz is awful. First thing I do after a factory reset is install Apex.
Biggest reason I stick with Samsung is the replaceable battery and huge support from third party ROM distributors.
Have not plugged my Note 3 into its charger ever. Three external batteries and a battery pack and I’ve never been let down.
Apple are great for their fans, or have been, each to their own. A phone is a personal choice. If Apple fans want the experience they’re getting, that’s their choice. I actually admire Apple for being able to command such brand loyalty in the face of better alternatives (in my opinion). I know many Apple to Android converts but I don’t know any of the reverse.
Again, each to their own. It’s not as if those Apple fans don’t know of any alternatives. If I knew there was a better CAR than a Toyota for the budget I had for buying a car, you can bet that no matter how loyal I was to Toyota, I’d be buying the better bang for my buck.
Yep I use Nova Launcher. Still only a half measure. I rommed an S4 worth the Google edition rom. That runs better than my S5.
If Samsung sold their phones with the Google edition is buy that version every time. Their hardware is brilliant (on some models).
@dave davis
I am an apple fan but would be very happy to move because of the increasing privacy-invasion by Apple.
I was really hoping the article would compare the two but strangely it didn’t!
What is your view on how this new SS compares with the 4s ?
@gareth – touchwiz isn’t the issue.. just like when running any pc, it gets full up with crappy programs, files left behind etc. A factory reset is recommended oncè every 6 months to clear all the crap we install and remove and install again from the playstore. The days of the nokia 3210 are gone.
I’m a big fan of Android but would never even contemplate buying a Samsung phone given the amount of bloatware and horrible skins they put over Android. Samsung seem to just saturate the market with absolute tripe and in very few cases do they ever focus on quality (bar maybe the Note and Galaxy lines). They have a new phone out every 2 months,, it gets boring very quickly.
Darragh,
What phone do you use ?
LG Nexus 4. I don’t think that pure Android can be bettered by any third party skins and extra apps!
I love these articles… They highlight the radio silence from Apple users that are too busy enjoying their technology to flock like the squeaking seaguls from finding nemo to desperately convince the world their cheap Korean plastic is the greatest…
This is unknown, risky territory for Samsung. Starting from €549.99 SIM-free, the Samsung Galaxy Alpha is priced like a flagship phone, but it’s technically out-specced by the Samsung Galaxy S5.
ultra power saving mode? dosent stop you from having to charge it EVERDAY!
Eh yeah it does. That’s the point.
Had a similar feature in htc one – it lasted over 3 days. But then again, phone is stripped from majority of its features so this isn’t a solution. We need new batteries that will handle the smartphones as they are, not software that will dumb them down big time to preserve their power.
Ultra Power Saving mode is a fantastic feature that works very well.
Pinel g. Yes it does. I think u need to read things and have a little think before u post
Review? This is a pay ad from 3.
Looks great. Would love to see this kind of build and design on future devices from them. The S5 is as fantastic phone and would be even better with this kind of build.
Samsung has already won the race. They hold the leading market share.
People go on about it “looking great”. If the functionality and general browsing on the usual samsungs is anything to go by, I’d steer clear
have your say