Motion of confidence in Joan Burton is passed in the Dáil? {81 to 32 votes}
OPPOSITION TDS WERE VERY CRITICAL OF JOAN BURTON’S RECORD?
The Dáil has passed a motion of confidence in Tánaiste and Minister for Social Protection Joan Burton by 81 votes to 32.
The Government tabled the motion of confidence in response to a motion of no confidence put forward by the Independent Alliance following the appointment by the Tánaiste of David Begg to the position of Chair of the Pensions Authority.
There were fiery scenes in the Dáil as deputies debated the motion.
Labour TD for Kerry North-West Arthur Spring told the Dáil that Independent Alliance TD Shane Ross had sought the appointment of one of his “cronies” to a position.
Mr Spring said it would have been incredible that Mr Ross would have made an appointment, and he asked Mr Ross to name the person in the House tonight, otherwise he would name the person tomorrow.
He said that Mr Ross had just seen his own bomb blow up in his own face.
Mr Spring added that he did not think there was a single member of the public who has a problem with the appointment of Mr Begg.
Mr Ross told the Dáil that he has suggested names of people as an alternative to cronyism and he would not be naming them in the House.
Mr Ross said he has frequently been asked to make suggestions about people who should be appointed.
He said that was because he has “been such a critic of the cronyism”.
He said: “I am not ashamed of it but I am not going to name them all here tonight at the whim of Mr Spring.”
Deputy Ross said they are on the record.
“What I have done is suggested names as alternatives to the cronyism and I will continue to do that because that is my job.”
He said the debate is not about Mr Begg, but asked what divine right he has to bypass the process.
He said it is because he is a supporter of the Labour Party.
Mr Spring this evening said he is satisfied with Mr Ross’ comments that he had suggested names of alternative people for semi-State bodies.
Opposition critical of Burton’s record
Earlier, Sinn Féin TD Aengus Ó Snodaigh said the Labour Party may win the vote of its peers but in the eyes of the public it and the Tánaiste are guilty.
He said to use a ministerial secret clause to bypass an appointment to a State board in the dying days of a Government strikes at the very cronyism that she and Labour objected to.
Sinn Féin Deputy Leader Mary Lou McDonald said the Tánaiste looked after those closest to her, the elite.
She said Ms Burton partakes in the same old parish pump politics, her last hurrah, looking after Labour’s interests.
Ms McDonald said what the Tánaiste did was just plain wrong and sends out the wrong signal.
Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform Brendan Howlin said Mr Begg’s appointment has been welcomed by IBEC.
He said Mr Ross is the “arch hurler on the ditch” and the original advocate of wreckless capitalism.
Deputy Joe Reilly said Mr Spring’s remarks to Mr Ross reminded him of the line let he who is without sin cast the first stone.
He said we should look at the record of the Tánaiste in government.
He said that is what will be assessed by people outside this House rather than cynical posturing.
Minister of State Ged Nash said Mr Ross has never let consistency get in the way of noisy guff.
He said this man is also on record as calling businessman Sean Quinn a genius.
Labour TD Michael McNamara objected to the charge that the appointment of Mr Begg to the Pensions Authority was carried out under a secret clause.
He said it was anything but. He said if you are going to headhunt without going through the public appointments then be open about it, which is what happened in this instance.
Independent TD Clare Daly said she had no choice but to contribute to the debate on behalf of the 15,000 people in the superannuation scheme in Aer Lingus.
She said people were gobsmacked when they heard Mr Begg was appointed.
She outlined details of a number of letters to Mr Begg when he was head of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions during the Aer Lingus pension talks.
She said the trade union and Mr Begg did nothing and that is his record.
Socialist/AAA TD Ruth Coppinger said Mr Begg retired in March and the Tánaiste gave the eulogy.
She asked what kind of cronyism is that – you appoint one of your own.
Minister of State Kathleen Lynch said Mr Ross had made scathing attacks on people in Aer Lingus.
Ms Lynch said the motion should never have been brought.
Independent Alliance TD Michael Fitzmaurice said this debate had come about because of cronyism.
He said the Tánaiste could not say that you made the appointment for the people. He said it was political cronyism.
Deputy Michael Healy-Rae accused the Tánaiste of being a hypocrite.
Anti-water charges group promises Ireland’s ‘largest ever protest’ before general election
THE RIGHT 2 WATER CAMPAIGN SAID IT WILL HOLD THE COUNTRY’S LARGEST EVER PROTEST ON THE WEEKEND BEFORE THE GENERAL ELECTION.
The group is preparing for 30 protests around the country this Saturday, calling for the scrapping of Irish Water and water charges.
Right 2 Water spokesman Brendan Ogle says households are being asked to pay 78% of the bill for water, despite only using 10%.
“90% of the water that we use is used by corporations and agriculture – just 10% is used by households,” he said.
“However, those households are being asked to take onboard 78% of the costs.”
He added: “The last two Irish governments cut funding for our water and sewage services from €839m in 2008 to €289m in 2013 – a cut of 65% in five short years.
“Is it any wonder we had boil water notices in places like Roscommon and Galway?
“But they now have the cheek to come to us and say the system is underinvested and we need water charges.”
An Post offices could offer a no-frills bank facility this year
Little prospect of rural branches surviving unless linked to other services, report finds
A “no-frills, low fees” bank facility could be available in post offices later this year to “fill the gap” left by the country’s banks as they close rural branches, according to a major review.
“There’s an opportunity here for An Post to fill that gap,” said businessman, Bobby Kerr, who chaired the Post Office Network Business Development Group.
The basic payment account would offer debit cards and access to ATMs, along with standing order and direct debit facilities and internet, phone and app-based banking.
Postmasters would have to sign up, however, to new targets: “Commercial reality is where I come from. We’re going to have to look at this business with our commercial binoculars on. Sales targets are a reality. Performance of branches will be checked and measured,” he said.
The existing post office network is overly dependent on two State contracts – the Department of Social Protection social welfare contract and the NTMA State Savings contract, which provide 55 per cent of their revenue.
A seed funding is needed?
Minister for Communications Alex White said the Government backed the creation of the new accounts and had offered seed funding to get the project off the ground: “This is not about sentiment.
“It’s not about maintaining the network just for the sake of it. It is about building and continuing to build a sustainable business in the community for people who need it,” he said.
Welcoming the proposal, An Post chief executive Donal Connell said: “A banking product like this, I think, is going to be very interesting and very attractive. I think it’s going to be really good value, with low fees and transparent.”
Saying post offices have little prospect of survival unless they co-locate with services such as existing shops, the report said they must handle motor tax renewals and sell telephone, energy and financial services.
It recommends An Post develop a formal structure with the credit union movement to explore scope for link-ups between the two organisations.
Smaller post offices should not handle large sums of cash: “Evidence from the UK shows that there is no increased risk of theft or robbery as the safes preclude large amounts of cash to be withdrawn quickly,” the report states.
A lifeline for older customers?
Postmaster Paddy McCann, from the small Fairymount post office and shop in Castlerea, Co Roscommon, said the rural network provided a lifeline for older customers.
“There’s somebody to talk to. The financial institutions are closing their doors against the customer. They don’t want to know them. They want them pressing buttons,” said Mr McCann.
“You have to recognise your customers, respect them. They’re vitally important, whether they’re coming in just for a stamp, or whether they’re coming in for their pension or their transactions.”
IMO rejects Varadkar plans to encourage GPs to work in rural areas
Minister proposed changes aimed at retaining doctors outside of towns and cities.
THE IRISH MEDICAL ORGANISATION HAS REJECTED THE MINISTER FOR HEALTH’S REVISED PROPOSAL TO ENCOURAGE GPS TO WORK IN RURAL IRELAND.
The Irish Medical Organisation has rejected the Minister for Health’s revised proposal to encourage GPs to work in rural Ireland.
Following months of negotiations, Leo Varadkar said last week the revised supports would qualify almost additional 100 GPs for the rural practice allowance, worth about €16,200.
The IMO issued a statement on Wednesday night after a meeting with theHealth Service Executive (HSE) and Department of Health. It said the proposals did not address the current crisis and negotiations would continue.
Dr Padraig McGarry, chairman of the IMO’s GP committee, said the union had put forward “realistic solutions” to retain doctors in rural areas.
He said the proposals would ensure patients would not be referred to the hospital where the costs were higher for the State.
“General practice around the country has suffered draconian cuts in recent years with over €160 million being taken out of the service. There are significant problems in rural areas,” he said.
The HSE has previously denied that the number of GPs in Ireland is falling. A spokesman said the number of contracts the HSE had with GPs increased by 400 in the last six years. The Government proposals came after a number of counties held public meetings on saving their local GP services.
The “No Doctor, No Village” campaign in Co Clare has confirmed its intention to run Dr Michael Harty in the upcoming general election to fight for GP supports and rural services.
Dr Harty said groups in Galway and Mayo were also considering nominating a candidate.
Global temperatures set record for the second straight year in a row
A NEW VISUALISATION RELEASED ON JANUARY 20 SHOWS EARTH’S LONG-TERM WARMING TREND IN ROLLING FIVE-YEAR AVERAGES BEGINNING IN 1880,
Climate experts have announced that 2015 was the warmest year worldwide since reliable global record-keeping began in 1880, easily surpassing a record set in 2014.
If official predictions for the year ahead prove true, the average global temperature in 2016 also will rise to record levels, driven in part by one of the strongest El Niño currents in modern times.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, which announced their finding at a joint news conference Wednesday, independently track temperature worldwide, using slightly different analytical methods to calculate annual climate trends to guide government policy makers.
By their scientific reckoning, Earth is inexorably warming in response to rising concentrations of carbon dioxide, methane and soot, as well as deforestation and other land-use changes.
During 2015, the average temperature across global land and ocean surfaces was 0.90C above the 20th-century average, NOAA officials said. This was the highest among all 136 years in the 1880—2015 record, surpassing the previous record set last year by 0.16C and marking the fourth time a global temperature record has been set this century, they said.
Gavin Schmidt, director of NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies in New York, said “2015 was by far the warmest year in the records we have put together.”
All told, 15 of the 16 warmest years on record occurred since 2001, NASA scientists said.
Scientists at the UK’s Hadley Centre for Climate Prediction and Research and the University of East Anglia’s Climatic Research Unit, which independently track global climate trends, said Wednesday that global temperature in 2015 reached 1C above pre-industrial levels for the first time.
An El Niño, which was in effect for most of 2015, occurs periodically when sea surface temperatures in the equatorial Pacific Ocean warm up. The increased ocean surface temperatures influence air and moisture movement around the globe, sending temperatures higher and shifting rain patterns by affecting how winds and air masses circulate air around the planet.
At the same time, average global concentrations of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, which are considered by most scientists to be a key driver of rising temperatures, surpassed 400 parts per million for the first time last March, NOAA officials said.
While overall global average temperatures set records in 2015, regional temperatures varied widely.
It was the warmest year on record in Asia and South America, NASA and NOAA officials said.
Overall, 2015 also was the second-hottest year on record in Europe and the warmest on record in Spain and Finland. Temperatures in 2015 were slightly cooler in Northern Europe and Ireland, while much of Eastern Europe was hotter than usual, according to the World Meteorological Organisation.
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