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THE POPULAR INCH Mile sea swim off the coast of Rathmullan in Co Donegal didn’t happen this August due to unacceptable levels of harmful bacteria in the water.
In fact, Rathmullan Beach was one of the Irish bathing spots hit with a high number of swimming restrictions this year, analysis from Noteworthy has found.
Restrictions range from swimming bans, when water is polluted, to warnings, when the pollution risk is high but the water hasn’t yet been tested.
The Inch Mile swimmers are caught between two points where sewage enters the sea: Rathmullan village itself and from untreated wastewater flowing out from Buncrana across Lough Swilly. Further inland along the coast, raw sewage is also released at Ramelton.
The Donegal event was not the only swimming meet to be cancelled this summer.
While almost 80% of our bathing water was classed as excellent in 2022, a wave of bans have hit swimming spots across the country in recent years due to water quality issues linked to pollution, algae and our changing climate.
Despite legal requirements to improve bathing water quality, there are still 26 spots around Ireland where raw sewage is pumped into the environment and 15 wastewater treatment plants that fail to meet EU standards. Swimmers are especially impacted when these factors are combined with heavy rain.
Noteworthy, the crowdfunded community-led investigative platform from The Journal, supports independent and impactful public interest journalism.
For our RED FLAG investigation, Noteworthy examined over 1,600 bathing restrictions from the last ten years. We limited our final analysis and mapping to the 148 regulated locations across Ireland where testing by local authorities is mandatory.
The number of days on which Ireland’s official bathing spots have been restricted has almost tripled in the past decade – from just over 600 in 2014 to over 1,700 in 2023, our analysis reveals.
“I’m not surprised,” said Gerry Jones, the chairperson of volunteer campaign group SOS Dublin Bay. “I’m massively disappointed by what’s happened. But I’m not surprised.”
In total, over half (80) out of the 148 regulated bathing waters across Ireland had restrictions during this year’s 15-week bathing season. Of those, 20 were restricted for more than a month and an additional 51 were restricted for more than two weeks.
Water quality must be tested at regulated bathing waters at least four times during the bathing season which runs here from 1 June to 15 September.
Precautionary restrictions called ‘prior warning’ notices are issued when there’s a risk of water quality deteriorating, typically following heavy rain. If water sampling has shown water quality deterioration, local authorities issue ‘advisories’ or ‘prohibition’ against swimming.
Much of the increase in restrictions this year was due to the risks from heavy rain.
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) guidance states that people shouldn’t swim for 48 hours after heavy rain. In addition to that blanket advice, local authorities may choose to put up ‘prior warnings’ ahead of heavy rain in specific cases.
They’re issued because local authorities believe their bathing waters to be at particular risk of pollution from sewage overspill or agricultural runoff during heavy rain.
Not all bathing waters get them. It’s a good interim measure as long as local authorities also fix the underlying problems, explained Karin Dubsky of Coastwatch, an NGO with its Irish base in Wexford.
“Heavy rainfall is a key risk factor for transferring bacterial pollution from animal or human waste through the landscape,” said an EPA spokesperson.
The top three reasons for all restrictions are pollution from agriculture (mostly livestock), runoff from surface waters which can include dog fouling (a particularly concerning source according to the EPA) and contamination from urban wastewater.
The last occurs when the volume of wastewater exceeds what treatment plants can handle, or there are no treatment plants. Raw or poorly-treated sewage is then discharged directly into the environment. This happens in almost 40 locations around Ireland.
The number of days with prior warning notices due to rain reached the highest it’s ever been over the summer. Over 1,200 were issued during the 2023 bathing season compared to under 1,000 last year and under 400 in 2014.
Heavy rain also resulted in triple the days that bathing bans – rather than warnings – were in force this summer compared to 2022.
Overall, when all reasons for restrictions are included, the number of days that swimming was banned due to confirmed pollution have remained relatively static for the past decade, despite legal requirements to improve bathing water quality.
The increase in prior notices this year doesn’t say anything about water quality, explained an EPA spokesperson. It means that the local authorities were more proactive or that there was more rain, they said.
In fact, from a public health perspective, the increase in prior warnings could be seen as a positive thing. “They may not always result in a confirmed pollution event occurring,” said the spokesperson.
They are designed to take a precautionary approach to protecting public health
But the notices still put people off swimming.
“On the one hand, yes, if this is a short term public health warning, I welcome it,” said Dubsky of Coastwatch. “But it also brings a huge obligation to act.”
“People need information but it must not be seen as a get out of jail free card,” she said.
We asked the EPA how often heavy rain leads to pollution. It told Noteworthy that in 2022, 186 prior notices were put up and in 16 of those cases, subsequent testing showed that the water quality was impacted by the heavy rain that was forecast.
This question is likely to become more urgent. Met Éireann warned in June that Ireland should prepare for much heavier rain due to climate change.
This “may lead to an increase in the number of Prior Warning notices at our bathing waters,” said the EPA spokesperson. Local authorities can reduce the risks by “implementing measures in the catchment areas of the bathing waters to prevent pollution from runoff”, they added.
While a prior warning may not necessarily lead to pollution, “there’s a total link between the weather and the amount of sewage issues,” said Dubsky. “The issue is what action should be taken because we know that there will be more extreme weather.”
Further Noteworthy analysis shows that many of the worst beaches are beside areas where raw sewage is pumped into coastal waters. Dublin Bay, parts of Donegal and other areas on the west coast are particularly affected.
As with the example of Lough Swilly, such raw sewage comes from towns and villages which are unconnected to treatment plants or from wastewater treatment plants which are unable to deal with the volume of sewage that they have to process. These pump untreated sewage straight into the sea when they reach capacity.
The almost 40 areas around Ireland where raw or poorly-treated sewage is discharged include 15 wastewater treatment plants that fail to meet EU-required standards and two areas that occasionally discharge untreated wastewater, affecting bathing water quality. The rest pump raw sewage directly into the sea.
+ Is your local area discharging raw sewage? Find out here >>
In some of these cases, Uisce Éireann projects to address the problem are nearing completion.
Ivana Bacik, Labour Party leader and TD for Dublin Bay South, told Noteworthy that heavy rain is the “absolute bane of the lives of swimmers” in her constituency and that Dublin Bay is particularly affected by sewage.
The two beaches with the most swim bans in 2023 were in Dublin Bay: Dollymount Strand (53 days, 50% of the bathing season) and Sandymount Strand (49 days, 46% of the season).
Despite so many days of bans, the beaches are still classed as having ‘good’ overall water quality. Noteworthy analysis found that bans were in place on days when Dublin City Council (DCC) reported samples showing ‘excellent’ quality water.
Restrictions “require an end of incident sample to confirm the event has ceased or no longer poses a risk to bather health, before being lifted,” the DCC spokesperson said. They added that it takes time for water sampling results to come through, which further explains the discrepancy.
Both beaches are located close to the Ringsend Wastewater Treatment Plant which is operating over capacity in violation of EU standards.
Billions of litres of untreated wastewater have been released into Dublin Bay in the past number of years. A €500 million upgrade to the plant is due in 2025.
DCC acknowledged the increase in restrictions over the summer. A spokesperson told Noteworthy that this was “primarily linked to the unseasonal and at times extreme weather events experienced”. They noted that July 2023 was the wettest on record with five rain and thunderstorm warnings for Dublin.
In addition to the “significant pressure” from urban wastewater, bird and dog fouling as well as polluted rivers “contribute significantly to temporary deteriorations in bathing water quality”, the spokesperson added.
“We are confident that our performance record presents evidence that we take our professional responsibilities seriously, especially with regard to protecting public health.”
“There’s an acknowledgement by the government that infrastructure is not good enough”, according to Bacik.
The EPA has classified all of the spots where untreated or insufficiently-treated sewage flows into the environment as ‘priority areas’ for Uisce Éireann to deal with quickly.
Some, like Ringsend, are underway. Of the 26 towns that release raw sewage into the sea, construction work has started at 15, according to an Uisce Éireann spokesperson. Many of these will be completed later this year or early in 2024, they said.
In June, Uisce Éireann and Donegal County Council began work on a new Rathmullan, Milford and Ramelton Sewerage Scheme, due to be finished in 2025.
This “will finally bring to an end the decades-long practice of discharging raw or poorly treated sewage into Leannan Estuary, Lough Swilly and Maggie’s Burn”, said the spokesperson.
No plan is in place for the remaining 11, but Uisce Éireann told Noteworthy that it is “progressing design and planning” and expects to have the majority of the sewage discharge ended by 2025.
This includes well-known tourist spots like Lahinch and Kilkee in Co Clare.
“The pace at which essential improvements in wastewater treatment are being delivered is too slow,” wrote the EPA.
When we put this to Uisce Éireann, the spokesperson said that it is responsible for over 1,000 wastewater treatment plants and had inherited a system that suffered from decades of underinvestment. When it was set up in 2014, there were 50 locations where raw sewage was being discharged, 24 no longer do.
“Since then, we have made very strong progress in ending the discharge of raw sewage, improving wastewater plants and protecting the environment,” said the spokesperson, adding that 65% of raw sewage discharges by volume have been eliminated.
“In general, it’s not a good idea to be putting sewage into water where people are swimming,” said Dearbháile Morris, Professor of Antimicrobial Resistance and One Health at University of Galway.
“If you’ve got raw sewage going into a designated bathing water, really testing that for faecal contamination is pointless, because you know there’s faecal contamination.”
Even when tests show good bathing water quality, experts are concerned that these may not capture the full risk.
Ireland tests its bathing water in line with European standards: as a proxy for all bacteria we test for E Coli and intestinal enterococci.
“Just looking at the total E coli and saying, ‘Yes, there’s just this amount of E coli, this water is of excellent quality,’ doesn’t necessarily cover all of the potential public health risks,” explained Morris.
Current testing, for example, results in paradoxes such as at Keeldra Lough, where its bathing water was classed as ‘excellent’ all season but it wasn’t safe to swim for a lot of that time.
This lake is the only regulated bathing water in Leitrim and tops our list for most number of days closed to swimmers this year.
A toxic algae bloom meant swimmers were advised not to swim from mid-July until past the end of the bathing season in mid-September. The lake was also restricted for prolonged periods in 2021 and 2022 for the same reason.
Leitrim County Council told Noteworthy that it is working with Inland Fisheries Ireland and the local community to fix the problem using barley straw to control algal growth in the lake. A spokesperson for the council said:
There is an ongoing problem with algae in Keeldra lake.
The water quality at most Irish bathing waters “meets or exceeds the appropriate standards”, according to the latest EPA bathing water report which found that 79% of bathing sites have ‘excellent’ water quality while 97% meet the minimum standard.
But this ignores some important gaps in reporting.
Throughout the duration of the swimming ban due to algae, the testing results reported to the EPA and published online showed that the water quality at Keeldra Lough was ‘excellent’.
This is because the Bathing Water Regulations don’t require testing or reporting of toxic algae, explained the council spokesperson. Leitrim County Council tests for algae independently.
Noteworthy found similar discrepancies at other bathing waters.
Local authorities are only legally obliged to sample once a month, when they’re notified about pollution risks, and following a prior warning notice after the rain has passed. Some do sample more frequently.
Samples might miss pollution, and local authorities are also allowed to discard samples as long as they meet the minimum once-monthly requirement. This is a concern, according to Dubsky of Coastwatch.
Another issue is that testing can also only tell if a bacteria is E Coli, not if it’s antibiotic resistant.
Morris’ team reported the first instance of serious and hard-to-treat superbugs, Carbapenemase-producing Enterobacterales (CPE), seven years ago. CPE is so serious that it was declared a public health emergency in 2017 – the last one before the Covid-19 pandemic.
Their research found “CPE in waters that were defined as sufficient, good or excellent quality”.
People have told Gerry Jones of SOS Dublin Bay that they have become sick after swimming in Dublin Bay. However, he acknowledged that it’s difficult to prove.
The HSE estimated that most (up to 96%) gastrointestinal illness caused by water pollution is likely to go unreported.
The Irish Society of Specialists in Public Health Medicine “feels strongly that more needs to be done to keep the water in our rivers, lakes and beaches clean,” a spokesperson told Noteworthy.
The two areas most sorely failing the swimming public are the ailing infrastructure that sees raw sewage and untreated wastewater enter our bathing waters; and hit-and-miss testing which is not up to the job of properly pinpointing the risks for swimmers in a timely and accurate manner.
When it comes to testing, technology in the area is improving and becoming more affordable all the time. It is hoped that recommendations to upgrade testing that would identify more types of bacteria, more quickly and more consistently, will be introduced if the EU Bathing Water Directive is updated.
It is currently under review and the EU Commission will soon decide whether it is still fit for purpose or an update is needed.
The Irish Society of Specialists in Public Health Medicine is also calling for more popular bathing spots to be added to the current list of designated – and therefore regulated – swimming waters.
It also strongly suggests that testing of waters happen outside of the current bathing season structure (1 June to 15 September). By law, local authorities do not have to test officially designated bathing waters outside of the designated bathing season.
Minister Darragh O’Brien, whose office oversees local authorities, tacitly acknowledged the limitations of the current testing regime in the Dáil last year. He said that increasing testing beyond the bathing season might give results that we don’t want.
“If we extended the EU directive designated bathing water season into the winter, it increases the potential for adverse results and may unnecessarily put summertime designations in jeopardy.”
However, he had stated two months before this that he didn’t “see any reason the testing of water cannot be done and published on a year-round basis” and his Department “was working towards that”. He said that they had “engaged with the three coastal Dublin local authorities in that space”.
A National Bathing Water Expert Group is also currently exploring ways to protect swimmers year-round.
When it comes to fixing the problem of pollutants themselves, the solutions are more complicated and complex.
Problems due to agricultural runoff, because they happen over widespread areas, will be more challenging to fix. Urban wastewater issues may be more straightforward, although time consuming and costly.
However, in 2022 the EPA estimated that it will “take a multi-billion-euro investment and, based on current investment levels, at least two decades to get all treatment systems up to standard.”
Politicians like Bacik have also introduced legislation that may also help improve bathing water.
We’re swimming in water and we can’t stand over the quality.
She said there are currently multiple authorities responsible for managing Dublin Bay. Her Dublin Bay Bill hopes to streamline regulation to address a clear “lack of joined up thinking”.
—
The Inch Mile swim was reorganised for the end of September but then had to be totally cancelled due to a forecast of poor conditions at sea.
One of the organisers from Gartan Open Water Swimmers told Noteworthy that when it was first postponed back in August due to pollution, it “was a big disappointment because of the months of planning” but that the decision to protect people’s health was easy to take.
Rathmullan’s sewage problem will hopefully be fixed in 2025.
Until then, the 190 swimmers who signed up to take part will have to hope pollution doesn’t ruin their chance next year.
Is swimming off Ireland’s coast under threat from pollution?
Reporter: Alice Chambers ● Data Analysis: Alice Chambers & Maria Delaney
Noteworthy is the crowdfunded investigative journalism platform from The Journal. This investigation was proposed and funded by our readers alongside significant support from our investigative fund.
What’s next? Pollution is impacting the air we breathe and numerous delicate habitats across Ireland. Help us investigate >>
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It is disgraceful that self employed are treated so badly when people who haven’t worked a day in there life receive benefits
I don’t know if it will make you feel any better but, it’s actually very rare to get benefits if you’ve LITERALLY never worked a day in your life, most schemes require over 100 prsi contributions since 2013.
Disability is now where most of the fraud is, people abusing it claiming depression and addiction but not in active treatment for those conditions (which is very suspicious). Jobseekers is very low on fraud ATM because you’ve to give them so much info about your job search and it they pull you off for all kinds of courses even if you’ve already got a degree. The number of Jobseekers who have literally never worked is around 57,000, the estimates of those defrauding disability are around the same..that’s a lot of people. They are all the same type, clustered in the same areas, and all know the system better than the staff. There should be a consecutive and nonconsecutive total lifetime time limit on welfare, and a requirement that if you’re on disability you have to be in ACTIVE treatment.
Yeah, tricky, right on cue. We all see you for what you are – give it up. This Government belatedly wants to do something for the self employed? Fair f*cks to them – pit they didn’t think of it before a general election loomed. You actually make me sick.
Yeah sheik, it’s not like they were busy the last few years picking up after the most incompetent government in the history of the state. Let’s forget what FF did. Let’s forget what this government have had to fix.
57,000 people on SW that have never worked is a huge number. I wonder what the cost to us is?
This is hardly going to cost the state a lot since the economy is on the up and up.
Equality? What they deserve is BETTER benefits than those of us in employment for taking a risk, contributing more to our tax system, even possibly creating the odd bit of employment here and there!
These people should be lauded as heroes, not treated like welfare frauds when they need it!
Harold
I did not think the government was that large, it needs some pruning, it would help if they worked for their hand outs.
Rubbish. You can claim money in some shape or form. Even illegals and asylum seekers can get welfare of some sort. And homeless cant nor can Self employed. Country is a joke.
Dont fall for this self employed people. Its more candy with a flashy wrapper for GE. They will hand it to you in one hand and rip it out of the other.
Have you evidence for that? How have you established the most of the fraud is in disability payments
Drunk drivers take risks too, maybe we should pay them extra?
@commonsense you’re not talking to someone who was born in 2009…I remember what FG and Labour policy on economic s was back then, they did not warn of misused property revenue, they did not warn about banking deregulation, they wwanted even higher spending and riskier property practices…they were no diff to FF and if they’d been in govt in 2007 we’d be talking about how FG wrecked the country and sure wasn’t it better with Bertie in power….so lets not delude ourselves.
@Harold that’s €9,776 per person per year 557,232,000 that’s haf a billion euro a year and it’s probably a good 100m or so more than that when you take into account the allowances for kids and whatnot.
To put that in context the entire Garda budget for a year is 1b, we could give everyone free college for that amount, we could begin the Free Gp care plan covering maybe 20% of the population…
@Karen you don’t get welfare now without a secured chip ID that requires positive proof of ID, the days of fake pps numbers are long gone, refugees don’t get welfare at all they get €30 a week to live on. Homeless people are entitled to massive state supports, it’s a broken system but they do get a lot of support.
@Sarah DSP estimated fraud reports from the recession days. The level of fraud was actually 3billion a year for a while until it was knocked down. You can get disability now for “a general feeling of being unwell” as long as you can somehow convince your GP, and it’s not always simple for the GP to say you’re full of crap because a lot of mental health stuff is subjective, but for example there is no requirement that a psychiatrist concur with the GPs assessment, no requirement that you enroll in treatment or medication, they do ask for an estimated time period that your condition will last, but that’s about it.
@commonsense they haven’t fixed anything. FF on realisation of the shite hole they opened went to Europe and said ‘bail out please’ – FG/Lab have done nothing but draw down the loan and look after themselves in the meantime. In fact FG are recreating the exact same property bubble and still doing nothing about it. A load of indirect taxes causing mayhem instead of direct taxation, yeah they’re doing a great job alright.
Dear Ryan. You are highly mistaken. Failed asylum seekers on appeal get Welfare payments and rent allowance and i never said anything about fake pps. On top of that pps numbers were being sold by the load few years back by people who obtained them and then left. Illegals get welfare payments from the local social welfare officer.
The ones who havent appealed and get 30 quid a week also get medical services( roma have a private clinic for god sake) They get welfare and never paid a penny in any country. Not to mention free food free clothes free education and facilitated for their ramadan, easter or what ever the celebration is.
Homeless in Ireland if no fixed abode get no steady income from state.
They get support from me donating money with focus and the likes.
@Karen you’re entitled to your own opinions but not your own facts. Stop spreading hysteria and misinformation there is enough of that about the welfare system as it is.
You don’t get welfare as an asylum seeker especially if your application has been rejected, you get €30 a week and direct provision of food and medical services.
You are confusing a REFUGEE with an asylum seeker. If you have been accepted and given refugee status you can claim ”on the same basis as an Irish citizen”…which means you will need to meet the PRSI contributions.
You can APPLY if you get ‘leave to remain’ which is a special circumstance that has to be authorized by the Minister while you appeal, and their application is treated the same as an Irish citizens which means they have to meet the PRSI conditions.
There is no system whereby a non citizen and non permanent resident has rights that exceed the rights of an Irish national, that would be insane.
Neal, maybe you should shove your big yellow head into a big yellow bucket.
Lol
Ryan do you have a link for the estimate of 57,000 who have never worked. Not doubting just can’t find it.
Haven’t achieved anything?
They have reduced the budget deficit from 30% to 2.7%.
Borrowing costs are no €4 billion less then FF left them.
National bond yields down from 10.35% (so high we got a bail out under ff) to under 1%.
They have saved €10 billion with reduced interest rates.
Likely to get back over €25 billion of the €53 billion plus that has been put into our banks.
Increased economic growth from -6% under FF to 4.7% last year. The highest growth rate in Europe.
Those are some of the things the government has had to do to fix what FF did. Makes me sick to hear people defend that incompetent corrupt party. I hope people never get fooled by them again.
@sheik lol I’m glad my comments cause you to feel sick,that’s my good deed done for the day
Homeless can and do get social welfare at the same rates as everyone else.
They would sell their mothers for a vote
I fully agree there should be benefits for the self employed, it is totally inappropriate for this group to be penalised so appallingly
which party are you talking about there is no difference between f.g and f.f.
Oh No Ryan Anth…. you are so wrong… check the facts
The scary thing is that you actually sound like you know what you are talking about when in fact you could not be more wrong.
Specifically if you have never worked a day in your life, you receive benefits, if you need help to find out how to do it contact the Citizens Information. There are so many ways it is beyond this reply, it is a running joke in welfare offices that the parent bring the kids down on their birthday because they need to get their own book, as the parent loses payment for them. Single parent payments is a joke.. a new type of industry that is only now being looked at decades after it was addressed in UK/US
The simple reality is even if you are defrauding the system you get benefits and payback a tiny repayment for the discovered fraud, if you are not entitled to payment you go to a different agency and get paid, then when that runs out you resume with Social welfare and start getting paid again until it refused. There are many tax funded agencies that will explain how to do it and how to claim. You can always be in receipt of payment from some source or other. Even when not in the country.
You are wildly wrong on the 57.000 but I know where you got the figure from, it is a LOT more.
The direct provision side step was neat but unwarranted, with your mis-information you were already shooting fish in a barrel with this audience.
Certain categories will not be stopped payment no matter what.. – no matter what. !
The level economic migration and abuse is staggering . Literally plan loads off foreign nationals arrive in every few weeks to receive their payments..
Very handy that staff working in the area are handcuffed by the official secrets act, the managers are career driven and will not rock the boat, the minsters are clueless beyond belief and the media could not investigate a hole if they fell into it.
Finally we have many people like your good self, that really believe they know how the system works and have no real idea and authoritively spread mis-information as gospel, balanced by the rest of the population that don’t know don’t care, I am alright Jack and I don’t care about you…
Not true. Go then tests via consultants, x-Rays, scans, ECG, EEG, bloods, urine etc. then surgery when found necessary. Very hard to claim anything after many years work and accident too. Assesses 6-monthly.
Bit late now when most of them have emigrated
Prepare to be bought, people.
I’m always prepared, and I ain’t expensive – bring on the bidding!
€1
And that’s being generous Egg.
You wanna know the IRONY of all this? What are they buying us with? Fulfilling their promises before the last election for abolishing college fees, bringing us UHI like every other developed country? Abolishing water charges? Nope….tax cuts…cheap tried and tested trick they used to curse FF for every single year…
Cheap trick? Dad left this country in a financial shambles. Now we are seeing tax cuts. That’s called progress. I don’t agree with many of the governments measures but I don’t see how you can argue with the progress they have made on state finances. We are in a much better position than we were.
Ha FF left this country it should read………:)
Is your father Bertie or Brian ? lol
I don’t think there a correct answer:), smoke and fire etc…… :)
Common sense your dad has a lot to answer for
It’s a cheap trick because it’s a lie, it’s irresponsible to lie to the electorate and promise them their cake and eating it too, we can’t have tax cuts and meet the spending commitments the people say they want at the same time…it can’t be done.
I’d hold an ordinary referendum and make the electorate make choices with this stuff. We will eventually be able to erase USC and do things like UHI and go back to free college fees (with a graduate tax so it’s somewhere close to revenue neutral) but were not really there yet..and it’s cheap to lie to people just for political purposes to say were all recovered…were not…the EU govts did their best to kill growth for 10 years that’s gonna have it’s effect
I look at it as being paid, rather than being bought.
My vote is not buyable at all.
However, it would be great if they equalized the dole for self employed, it’d give us all another option of employment..
Oh yes please, buy us pensioners and disabled cos we were sold down the river years ago. Plenty of suicides around here. The rivers have had several poor souls just given up as it has become just too much to try and cope.
Something must be done and quickly, please……..
I will listen too!
Anything that helps the self-employed and the people of enterprise is a good thing, as these are the people who create employment and wealth for the nation.
But I have to take issue with the inappropriate use of the word “equality” in the headline. “Equality” is one of the most absurd (and abused) concepts in Irish life today.
“It’s the latest in the pre-election extravaganza…”…oh dear…we really have learned NOTHING have we…these are the people who complain that FFs giveaway budgets were short term thinking on extra tax cuts and welfare hikes when we should have been doing strategic investments…yet ONCE AGAIN we have a govt thinking about the next election instead of long term national interests like infrastructure …it’s taken them 4 years to get as corrupted by power as FF did in 15.
Our property boom and bust were not so much because of tax breaks by FF but rather a lack of regulation in the industry paired with excessive credit.
If this (or any) govt want to give me tax breaks because they tax take is up then I will welcome it.
I know the property boom wasn’t a tax break thing…but there were two distinct phenomenons that came together in Ireland:
-Banking deregulation worldwide (inc here) led to insane risks with depositors and savers money and eventually a house of cards got built that collapsed around the same time of our property crash
-Our property crash came because it was a giant bubble…and all speculation bubbles burst, they don’t have ‘soft landings’…we got a load of temporary revenue from that bubble which our politicos did not understand was TEMPORARY and they spent it on long term things like extra 10 on Children s Allowance and whatnot…instead of say banking it for future emergencies and spending some of it on say finishing Transport 21..so when the crash and property crash came together POOF the revenue vanished but the state had committed to a bill of things it could not afford – cue the cuts and the rage ….
Now the policy seems to be leather, rinse, repeat….
The unpopular thing to say is that because of the growth killing policies the last 10 years were not yet in a position to give bigger tax cuts and we’ve as many spending commitments but the elections coming up (and they won’t tackle waste for same reason…election…afraid of PS workers)
Except we are shedding the services that the country provides as our tax take is not surplus!
They are buying the election so that they can stay in power and begin cutting again immediately
I can’t wait for Fianna Fáil’s election promises.
May the best man win.
Who are they?
Harold
They are the ” other half ” of FG. They both do a great Laural and Hardy act.
About bloody time aswell for the self employed..but the fg/lab cretins still wont get my vote
It is truly bizarre that they increased taxes on the self employed last budget. When the previous budget the ‘corrected’ the unfairness of extra tax on the self employed. That is what they called it a correction. Then uncorrected the following year.
When I went from an employee to self employed my new tax payment was 8 times my previous year. When worked dried up I was due nothing from the state. Mean while a neighbour who never worked a paid day in Ireland got rent allowance, medical cards, childrens’ allowance, Jobseeker’s Allowance, household benefits etc…
It is frustrating to see that first hand.
I don’t know the solution but this should go some way to help. The problem is I would not trust many tradesmen to be honest about their work and pay.
Very glad for self employed as they have paid in too and have been treated so unfairly.
My business, built by me from nothing, has had mixed success and it’s sometimes been a struggle. What I do know is that in the last 10 years we have paid over 2 million in various taxes (corporation, VAT, PAYE, PRSI etc.) to the Government. Taxes that they would never have gotten if I didn’t take a chance and start a company and become an employer.
If my company folded tomorrow I would get nothing. I repeat – nothing.
It would be a welcome and overdue safety net for the backbone of the economy but there is no way in hell that I’m ever voting for FG/FF/Lab – EVER.
Who would you vote for? No agenda, just genuinely curious…
It really shows how fearful this government must be that when they announce a proposal that I think the majority of people would welcome they still have to throw digs at the opposition party’s.
Yeah your right. We should just completely forget the damage that Fianna Fáil did to our country. Their corruption and sheer incompetence. Lets go further than that, let’s elect them again. What could possibly go wrong?
FF and FG are cheeks of the same a**e, with LAB in the middle.
Commonsense
Its what FG/Lab is proposing, that we forget everything they have done to destroy the country and give them another chance to make more cuts, its just common sense, they lied to get into government in the first place. They are lying again to get another chance to work for the IMF/Bankers.
I’m no fan of the government. But I have to say i think you need your head examined if you are saying FF destroying our country’s finances with a mixture of incompetence and corruption is in any way comparable to the current government not delivering on pre election promises.
@Commonsense FF-FG and Labour had nearly IDENTICAL economic policies during the boom, they used to BRAG about this through the IDA saying it was a sign of stability that no matter who got in we would not be radically changing anything, they would have done the exact same thing…if you doubt that look at what they’ve done since….
-FF was against free college fees…..so have FG and Labour
-FF put 50cents on the medical card…they jack it up to 2.50
-FF is for banking deregulation…they’re for banking deregulation
-FF was for bailouts…they’re for bailouts
-FF bought elections with tax cuts and giveaway budgets…they’re doing the same
-FF made no effort to limit the bailouts to depositors money or to write down the bank debt…neither did FG or Lab
-FF made no effort to regulate the financial sector at home or EU level to stop this happening again…neither have FG or Labour
-FF were opposed to universal healthcare…FG say they are in favor but have done NOTHING…
..starting to see a pattern yet?
Labour voted against the bank guarantee. No other party did.
Fg wouldn’t have engaged in social partnership. (They would have been damaging in other ways methinks.).
No party had FF’s ties to big business. Their policy were influenced by special interests like no other party ever has to the same level.
It seems clear that FF was full of ambitious incompetents who put their party before their country. What we’ve seen since they left has been the opposite.
@commonsense
Is your username an oxymoron?
Shaka troll much?
It’s Shakka btw – it was your last line in your post that got me more than anything:
“It seems clear that FF was full of ambitious incompetents who put their party before their country. What we’ve seen since they left has been the opposite.”
THEY ARE ALL THE SAME – PARTY FIRST, PEOPLE LAST.
Nah Ryan they were every bit as corrupt, we just hadn’t experienced it.
fastest growing economy in europe its time to give back to the people, well done enda :)
Every time i see a comment from you, the tune ‘pop goes the weasel’ goes through my head.
The FG Cyber-Shills aren’t even trying with the zombie twitter usernames anymore.
Big effin’ schwing. Your photos are so apt – money devouring monsters. So, we are to assume that the people who would see the untermenschen dead in the streets from starvation – under normal circumstances – are suddenly moved to lend a hand to those who are very much down on their luck. This has nothing at all to do with the fact that there will be a General Election, no later than spring of 1916, but is more likely to occur much earlier? These people, yet again, demonstrate their utter contempt for the Irish electorate (or the lower orders as they are usually known) if they think that this blatant, election buying, move will be seen for anything other than what it is. For example, Noonan is old and now has more money than God – what’s it to him? Has he become so drunk with manipulation and power that he must hang on by any means – does it become an addiction? ‘Tis passing strange. Any road – don’t be fooled, folks – see this for what it is.
2016, of course.
Fantastic idea.
Yes, it’s a fantastic idea – that has been bandied around for ages. It’s not FG/Lab’s idea.
Journal why don’t you ever report on both sides of the story? How can even the government trolls on this site defend this!??
Self employed should get help definitely, but first get rid of this crowd they just want to buy votes this year.a no in endas referendums and mass nonpayment will force a GE,it will bring them down and it has to be done.
Another bit of spin
Stop wasting money and fund Dart Underground instead.
Roll up roll up buy your votes here.
Would almost certainly give people little more confidence to start their own business. Knowing that should the business fail that safety net, no matter how meagre is there
Sure they can say anything before an election……..ask Pat Rabitte
How about less USC. The USC makes self employed people wish they were unemployed…
Doley cow? I think I may need to see a doctor after the impact of the face palm that hashtag just caused!
How can a folded business have assets? Do you not cease to be self-employed if you de-register your business?
Correct me if I’m wrong….
I thought the problem is that you are judged on the previous years earnings (and assets), so that if your business did great last year, but you make nothing now – then you cannot get social welfare.
Farmers, afaik, have a different position. They can predict how much they make and have it adjusted on an ongoing basis. They can also do top-up here-and-there jobs in a legal way.
Gordon Lucas, true if it’s a limited company but not true if you’re a sole trader (on the assets)
Absolutely ridiculous decision, a self employed person who passes a means test already can get social welfare based on their own accounts.
Buying your way to power. I love deMOCKracy!
I’m self employed, well I’m a director, secretary, bookkeeper, good inwards, credit controller, sales manager, IT dept, cleaner, receptionist, etc of my own small Limited company. I tried to get SW back in 2009 because I didn’t have enough work and had too many bad debts to pay myself a wage. I paid myself less then 10,000 p.a. for about 2 years but the social welfare rep called to the house,(passed a comment about how nice my house was), went through the personal and business accounts, mortgage statements, business financial statements, and everything else. Got back to me a week or 2 later to say I was entitled to €0 because my wife made too much(€34,000!!!!). I have worked since I left school, paid tax and have not signed on one day in my life. At that pint I had my own business for about 4 years. It makes me sick that I tried to make a go of it and got nothing, whereas all around me I see people “earning ” plenty on SW who wouldn’t know a days work if it bit them. Anyway I struggled on and am still in business, with 2 employees (who always get paid, even when I can’t pay myself). This would be good news if it happens but it is sick that they are just using to try to win the election
Must be an election soon…..
Very soon, find out by May?
About bloody time unless they have to do an obstacle course to get it?
have your say