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A SINN FÉIN delegation will meet with officials from the European Commission, European Central Bank and International Monetary Fund in Dublin today.
Party leader Gerry Adams has said that he intends to discuss possible alternative measures to the austerity programme being implemented by the coalition government.
He will be joined by deputy leader Mary Lou McDonald, finance spokesperson Pearse Doherty and the party’s economic advisors Joanne Spain and Eoin O’Broin for the talks.
Troika officials arrived in Ireland last Tuesday to complete the fifth review of the government’s adherence to the bailout agreement.
“We will tell the Troika that an urgent policy change is needed,” said Adams. “The government tells us that there is no alternative to the austerity programme, but we will explore with the Troika how much room for maneouvre there is.”
Adams will not, however, be meeting with Ajai Chopra – deputy director of the IMF’s European department and head of the task force in Ireland.
The IMF has confirmed to TheJournal.ie that the very public face of the Irish bailout will not be in Dublin for the review.
A spokesperson said the mission team will continue to be led by IMF assistant director Craig Beaumont.
Mr. Chopra remains engaged with the IMF’s work on Ireland and works closely with Mr. Beaumont, but he will not be joining this mission.”
It is understood that the focus on this week’s meetings between Troika officials and the government will be on the implementation of measures to meet targets set under the loan agreement, Ireland’s unemployment levels and negative growth in the last quarter.
Yesterday the Sunday Business Post reported that the sale of state assets will be an important element of the talks.
The Government has said that it wishes to keep some of the profits made from any sales to put towards employment creation. Previously, the Troika has said that any such windfalls must be allocated to debt reduction.
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SF are proving to be a much more vocal and capable opposition than Fianna Fáil. They are at least attempting alternative avenues, and costing their proposals. Will be interesting to see how this actually goes on.
‘Interesting’ is one word for it. It wasn’t too long ago that SF wanted to increase corporation tax to 17%! They have a very simple economic policy which is ‘tax the rich’ to solve all problems.
They are making ground as a natural opposition but they need to get real on economic matters before the electorate fully trust them.
Would you want a SF Minister for Finance? I’d be booking tickets for Australia!
It wasn’t too long ago that Enda Kenny said that it was ‘morally wrong, unjust and unfair to tax a persons home’. Moreover, I think it’s far too disingenuous to bring up the usual canard that they just want to ‘tax the rich’ to solve all problems. They wanted to see fairer burden sharing, and seem to be the only ones questioning the continued payment to non-secured bondholders. They also understand that we simply cannot tax our way out of this recession – and that we need growth, something which the current Government has been incapable of facilitating.
There are a number of capable young SF TD’s. Peadar Tóibín has a degree in economics, and Pearse Doherty and Padraig Mac Lochlainn always come across as very capable and inspiring politicians. Give me them, over the likes of a condescending Brian Hayes any day of the week. And to be fair – I think the ‘economically illiterate’ ad hominems are past their sell by date to be fair. And what exactly is there to get real about? Because Fine Gael and Labour are such economic champions, right? The country has dismal growth, and no jobs and is trying to kill any incentive for buying in the local economy by taking every piece of disposable income out of our pockets, and taxing the rest. Where exactly is the economic reason in that?
Maybe taxing the rich might be a good idea Winston. Because the poor don’t have as much money. Doh!
The blunt truth is that all the countries that are bailing us out have economic views that are inline with SF. Parties likes FG who bankrupted the country once, and FF who have bankrupted it 3 times, have no real economic view about from the same corruption and gangsterism that they have always done. Winston – ff/fg are the party of emigration, putting the status quo above the good of the country, the economy and its people.
Can Ireland survive another FG or FF Govt. frankly I doubt it.
Does nobody seem to realize our government may as well not have been elected for it has very little power left. While Sinn fein may or may not be in power in four years time at least they are asking the troika if there is any other way and by suggesting alternatives. Austerity has never and will never bring a country out of a economic quagmire, if anything we will sink further into depression. The way fine gael and labour have just sat back and not done anything for the people makes me sick. They where voted in to government under a banner of change/reform. Yet at this stage they have implemented all of the same policies that the previous shower wanted. So come the 25th of jan we the people will have to pay up another 1.25billion to bondholders that are the ones that speculated and thus are interest rate rose to 8% while our government sat on it hands and did nothing. This government is doing the exact same thing sitting back while a select few get rich off this fraud and the poorer lose there jobs and are left on the bread line. So best of luck to Sinn fein I hope they have a bit more balls in helping the Irish people as the idiots we voted in have let us down by being a spineless bunch of lapdogs.
V well said !!
Tbh, it still shocks me that people expected fg/lab to do any different. They weren’t even pretending that they would do any different. I wish people would stop giving out about them as if they suddenly broke all their promises. This was their policy you know. I hope you didn’t vote for them, not that it matters.
This may sound bitter, but i gave up on caring about the countries politics and finances when I saw how much moaning people did yet still went on to vote for the exact same policies as Fianna Fail. I realised that we’re just not ready yet to take a chance and change policies. We’d rather carry on passing on massive chunks of our tax money to debt interest and wealthy bondholders than using it to invest in employment.
Winston, the current government has a policy of taxing the poor, could Sinn fein be a whole lot worse?
Yes
Torpedo
How?
The reality of it is they really couldn’t be any worse !! In fact I think they will put the Irish people first instead of banks and big business ….. As FF , FG / labour have done .
The probably just need to explain things a bit slower to SF, based on their prebudget submission. It’s the political version of the teacher getting you to stay back after school because she needs to go through fractions with ou again because everyone else it it the first time.
Here is some figures for ya http://youtu.be/ep6GdbIX2Ww Sin ag h-oibre leis Na Uimhrithe ??
Didn’t the IMF agree with SF’s analysis that their should have been burden sharing by bondholders. Didn’t the head of PIMCO, the largest bond holding co. say that what the Govt. here was doing was morally wrong and economically unsustainable. Most leading economists and investors think that this Govt. or the last one is not acting in the best interests of our economy and country.
But shure you couldn’t a toss, your looked after, so screw everyone else. They can get the boat again and fuck off. Let the country fall apart, shure aren’t you ok, so why change anything. Vote FG/FF and wait for the next economic collapse in 20 years.
Why would the IMF meet with SF? They are not in government and only have 14 seats in the Dail.
Unless, after reading their pre-budget submission they read things that might be of interest to them now.
See comment above ? maybe they see the wood from the tree ?
& realise there is no difference between tweedle dum tweedle dee ??
Probably because the Troika realise they will have to deal with Sinn Fein in four years time when they are involved in governing this country in some capacity.
“The Government has said that it wishes to keep some of the profits made from any sales to put towards employment creation. Previously, the Troika has said that any such windfalls must be allocated to debt reduction.”
So more or less sell all our taxpayers state controlled companies like ESB Bord Gais or any state sponsored bodies to be sold off on the cheap to private investors and throw all that money down the hole to Pay off French and German bank debts let along interest in a few years time will be 10billion a year on our bailout for the bondholders.
We the Irish people haven’t a peep a say about anything going on,we are completely controlled from the outside.
I voted FG/LAB last year feeling great about a change in governance and politics in this country but I was fooled.Will never vote FF anyway but won’t vote FG/LAB again their all the same.
Sinn Fein please try and fight for the Irish people as no one else in our corrupt system has the bottle or won’t because too many are over paid and given a pension to fit a king.
Good Luck Sinn Fein.
Eugene
I am like you .it is up to you now . I Never voted FF, gave my preferences to FG AND Lab. I will never vote for them again. Sinn Fein , it is up to you now . I will support you.
Eileen
Just hope theirs more people out there Iike you and I that woke up from being lied to all the time.Just hope if SF get into government that they stick to their promises.Yes I will vote Sinn Fein next time or when the government collapse.
Actually heres one of interest, the spanish king is paid less than Enda. So its more than fit for king what our lot get!
Chopra: So Gerry, what do you want or what ideas have you?
Gerry: Ahhmmm not sure…none really, ahhmmm tax the wealthy. Increase Social Welfare.
Chopra: That’s it.
Gerry: Aye. Did I tell you I own a gun.
Chopra: that’s 2 minutes of my life wasted, good bye.
Rocky, you’re hilarious! You should do stand-up comedy. Why didn’t you host the Golden Globes last night with crackers like that?
And yes, that was sarcasm.
Unless a new party is created in the meantime it looks like SF will play a major role in a new government. There is room in Ireland for a new party with new ideas. The current lot only believe in taxing.Severe austerity won’t work.
Fair play to SF. They have proved that they are a force to be reckoned. They are provided a better alternative then other opposition parties and I feel that for the next election they will have massive gains.
They are growing as a party and slowing moving away from their militaristic views and replacing them with implementable political views.
I am saying now that I will actively consider voting for SF for the next local elections.
I honestly don’t understand the seemingly pathological hatred some commentators have for Sinn Fein! Ffs the whole world agrees Ireland should not be paying unsecured bondholders and Sinn Fein are the main political party saying they would stop this rape of Ireland. Perhaps your vitriol should be aimed at the sleepwalkers in FF/FG/Lab who obviously think the rest of the world are the ones out of step.
There is a clique here that has everything to loose if Ireland is run for the benefit of the country rather than the benefit of a few. SF don’t have the entrenched in the system outlook, the gombeen men and women that make up FG/FF who would join the Moonies if they got money and power out of it. The Shinners would drag Ireland in to being a modern, equitable state. FG/FF could not survive in a country like that.
A small few might hate them because of the war in the North, but they are a lot fewer than you think. Look at the difference that they look upon the UVF/UFF with.
Agreed.
I can’t see the Troika lads lasting more than a few minutes with the shinners, especially when Mary Lou McDonald starts speaking.
Agree, SF say they are going to Tell the troika what they want, idiots. Surely they know a thing or two about negotiations and 1st rule is to shut up and listen, if they went to the meeting said little and asked a few probing questions they may find out some useful information for the Irish people, such as – on a scale of 1 to 10 how likely is Ireland to need a second bailout, what is there assessment of Nama, by how many do we have to ruduce our civil service, etc….
This is the party that went into the Good Friday negotiations with the goal of bringing back a United Ireland and instead all they got was a Food Safety Authority! I think that given SF’s track record on negotiations I’ll stick with our own political leaders.
Hang on a minute … the Sinn Fein delegation will include Joanne Spain and Eoin O Broin as the party’s “economic advisers”! Am I missing something here? Joanne Spain is a former journo with An Phoblacht who was the defeated SF candidate in the 2007 general election in Dublin Mid West. Exactly what qualiifcations does she have in economics? Likewise, Eoin O Broin … another SF candidate in Dublin Mid West defeated in the last general election. And again, someone with no qualifications in economics that I’m aware of. Other than them both sharing the dubious honour of having run and failed as general elecltion candidates in Dublin Mid West, what conceivable qualifications would these two bould fenians have to act as economic advisers for a meeting with the IMF and EU?
Desmond speaking of qualifications. ……. Kenny is a TEACHER Noonan…..is also a TEACHER!
Thanks for pointing that out, Yvonne. You may not be aware, but there are no qualifications for election to public office in this country other than your ability to secure the support of your fellow citizens. SF OTOH are taking two people with no formal economics experience or training whatsoever into discussions with the IMF and EU as “economics advisers”. I don’t know about you, but I’d like a straight answer as to why SF thinks that Spain and O Broin should be brought into that meeting in the role of “economics adviser”. Any takers?
@Yvonne
Very well said.
Kenny a primary school teacher by trade has been a TD since 1975 so only took him 36years to be leader of this country.
Same with Noonan a secondary school teacher by trade a TD since 1981 another St.Patrick’s student that’s finance minster.
Teacher’s in Finland have to have a Masters in teaching to be a teacher but in Ireland politicians can have no certain experience or education to reach into a minsters job?
I think its tragic that nearly all the seats in the dail are kept by the same people for nearly a 20 year period and probably took over the seat from their dad or uncle or aunt.
The dail is one of the most expensive,useless building’s in the country in the way the system works.
Maybe Enda Kenny went into the Dail at age 24 full of eager and courage,Kenny was left in the backbench’s for over 10 years and that would only break your spirit.Its still done to this day and produces worn out politicians that are only institutionalized and not in the real world.
The real problem with Kenny and Noonan, and the gombeen Brians, Cowen and Lenihan is not that they were teachers or practicing law. It is that they have no real concern for the ordinary person and are all about protecting the people at the top.
FG/FF have worked hard for decades to keep their bent friends in luxury, they have had to break the country repeatedly to do so, and drive out 40% of all people born here since 1921. They have set global records for the speed of crashes, their depth, the largest bank crash per capita, probably the largest property crash as well, they have set records for the pace of debt growth.
Their incompetent no doubt, but they do not look after or have concern for the Ireland that 90% of us live in and that is why FG/FF destroy the economy like clockwork.
You said it in your first paragraph Tim. It’s not like have to do every bit of paperwork for their depts etc. If they fucking cared we’d be 90% way there.
@ Yvonne; Despite Noonan being a teacher he did study Economics in UCD to my knowledge. so its still more than those 2 guys with SF going to this meeting have to be fair
For people who have cost our country and the british more than the amounts they are discussing it is alarming that they are entertained. I suggest they abolish everything being done twice in our country in terms of the Irish language. It is a real luxury and should it be treated as such,we could cut our cost of all things in Irish and reduce our administrative costs by 40%. All the subsidies and all the translating, printing in duplicate, signage,heritage projects, official documents duplicated,etc.etc. did anybody ever calculate the costs as it make us uncompetitive. I expect the language to live on as it has survived just fine to date in certain areas. Also out schools should focus on giving our children a language that will travel as our kids are going to be travelling for for all over the world as a result of our overspending and wasted years of throwing away money by our governments.
That’s the stuff Frank, rear the children like Cattle for export. Don’t ever try to change anything. Don’t ever get off your knees. Just ask your local FG/FF TD for a spot of tar on the road, and don’t you ever dare to rise above your station.
Is it any wonder that the state has been down so many times when we have people thinking like this.
Sinn Fein are another left party that thinks shovelling cartloads of money into the public sector is the way forward. It has been tried, and the result has been underwhelming.
What answers have you Human
An investigation into the original scandal in 2008 is needed as it has never been made clear how and who caused this crisis and what can be done to stop this from happening again. Instead we are continuing on the same path. What could be done in ireland is investment in future technology such as innovation in areas such as green/clean energy. Further development of our own natural resources for are own use. Are some of the ideas although I don’t have all the answers.
have your say