POLITICAL REVIEW
Christmas 2014
A sense of entitlement has eroded belief in state bodies ARTICLE TAKEN FROM THE IRISH INDEPENDENT – 21/10/2014 As Chairman of the Public Accounts Committee and as a politician who has expressed grave doubts about the creation of Irish Water, the only thing that surprises me about where we are now is that it has taken so long. The argument put forward every time the State puts its hands into the pockets of our people to pay for public services is that it is necessary and for the general good. It is certainly true that services have to be paid for, but what is never said is that an astounding amount is spent on covering up waste, inefficiency, lack of professionalism and incompetence at the highest level. The general good; the welfare of the citizens of Ireland; the careful and professional handling of money given to the State by its people; the obligation on the State to be responsible, all seem to me to come a long way behind the lust for power, position, pensions and perks by more than a few in our quangos and state and semi-state bodies. Let’s stop beating around the bush money taken by the Government is a tax and there seems to be more of them every day. Water charges are a tax. Tax comes from hard-earned salaries and the people who pay it expect it to be spent well. In many cases it is not, and in a lot of cases those responsible seem not to care. The stench of entitlement is not only beginning to damage those in our public service who do not deserve it, it is now significantly undermining our citizens’ confidence and respect for the institutions of the State and the politicians who, each and every one of them, promised to make a positive difference to the lives of our people. We have to face the fact that a large number of our state bodies are not fit for purpose. They lack the leadership and professionalism to meet the challenges of a modern economy and society. They are stale, bloated and complacent. And politics has lost its way, or has been lead astray by weak leadership. Look at Irish Water, now a lightning
rod for the feelings of people who are beginning to see that to the State, they are nothing more than wallets to be emptied. Irish Water was conceived in haste, born in turmoil and will spend its life, if allowed, demanding more and more money from our people, because it’s overstaffed and badly led. It was created out of a weak government’s desire to deal with a bad problem quickly, confident that the public would pay for any mistakes it made. But then the HSE, local government and some of our many semi-states and agencies are all badly run. They too will devour money until we go back to the drawing board, design and trial what we believe might be the best system, and drag them into line with best practice and governance. Some chance of that happening. If Irish Water, a new company, is anything to go by, the State hasn’t a good brain at its disposal. There is certainly a great absence of common sense. Our State is out of control. In the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) over the last few weeks we were investigating tens of millions in taxpayers’ money which has gone down the drain, again. If the money the committee has seen
wasted over the last four years had have been saved, we might now be able to pay people to drink the water instead of charging for it. But neither the State nor this Government want to admit that. They want to drown out the noise the committee is making and avoid the questions we are asking. They want to smother all dissenting voices, including those who have been heard loudly at parliamentary party meetings over the past few weeks. It’s shoot the messenger time again. But that’s not easy anymore, Taoiseach, because the people have had enough of jobs for the boys and the door for those who object. You promised change and went on to make matters worse. The board of Irish Water is going to be replaced next month anyway, but they should all go now. They have already lost the confidence of the Irish people, indeed it seems to me that they did their best to do so. When their term ends next month they should be replaced by professionals who are vetted by an appropriate committee of the Oireachtas. We need strong governance in this country and it’s high time the Government that promised it delivered it.
Kilkenny Housing Crisis must be resolved Deputy John McGuinness has called on the Government for ‘immediate intervention’ in Kilkenny’s housing crisis, stating that homeless services are at capacity and Kilkenny County Council is forking out huge sums of money to put homeless housing applicants in emergency accommodation. According to Deputy McGuinness, the past 12 months have been the busiest yet in terms of people presenting themselves as homeless to Kilkenny County Council. Amber Women’s Refuge and the Good Shepard Centre are full and both have extensive waiting lists. Many people claim to be living out of their cars or ‘couch surfing’ to get by. “One woman arrived at my Clinic at O’Loughlin Road on Saturday to ‘warm herself up’ and to seek assistance after spending the night on the back seat of her car. Another constituent telephoned me from Kilkenny Library where she spent most of the day trying to keep warm,” said Deputy John McGuinness. “I know that Kilkenny County Council are inundated with homeless applicants seeking emergency accommodation and the reality is that huge money is being spent on providing emergency accommodation in local hotels and bed and breakfasts. There is not enough funding to replenish the housing stock and the funds that they do have are being spent on alternative accommodation,” he said. The main reason for the current housing crisis is the fact that the cost of private rented accommodation is increasing rapidly and the rates of rent allowance are not meeting the demand. “The average cost of a 3 bed home per month in the private rental sector is upwards of €650. Rent allowance will only cover up to €540 per month and will not provide assistance if the accommodation costs more than that. That is an impossible situation for anybody seeking help and is the main contributor to Kilkenny’s homeless crisis,” said Deputy McGuinness. “Many landlords and housing applicants are forced into criminalising themselves by paying cash under the table on top of their allocated rent allowance in order to secure a home. This in turn feeds into illegal money lenders and forces families into very vulnerable positions. Its simply not good enough and must be dealt with as a matter of urgency,” he said. “The Government needs to go back to constructing small schemes of social housing or taking over ghost estates to make use of housing that is lying idle for years in order to meet the needs of single mothers, single men, families that have found themselves homeless after struggling with huge mortgages and so on, the list is endless. This would create jobs and create homes,” he said. “Every week I see heartbreaking cases where families are being torn apart by a system that is failing them desperately. The Government must react immediately and resolve this issue before it gets any worse than it already is. This is a crisis and should be treated as such,” concluded Deputy McGuinness.
CELEBRATING KILKENNY’S ALL IRELAND VICTORY OUTSIDE CROKE PARK, DUBLIN
MAYOR ANDREW MCGUINNESS OFFICIALLY LAUNCHING THE BASKETBALL SEASON AT THE WATERSHED, KILKENNY, WITH KILKENNY BASKETBALL CLUB
DEPUTY JOHN MCGUINNESS & MAYOR ANDREW MCGUINNESS WITH THE KEEP KILKENNY BEAUTIFUL COMMITTEE CELEBRATING THE TIDY TOWNS 2014 VICTORY.
MAYOR MCGUINNESS & CLLR. PETER CLEERE LIGHTING KILKENNY CASTLE UP GOLD TO RAISE AWARENESS TO CANCER IN CHILDREN
DEPUTY JOHN MCGUINNESS, MARY O’ROURKE AND MAYOR ANDREW MCGUINNESS LAUNCHING THE NEW BOOK: BRIAN LENIHAN – IN CALM AND CRISIS
LAUNCHING ‘FREE SPIRIT’ BY JANE O’MALLEY AT STONE HOUSE BOOKS, KILKENNY
MEMBERS OF KILKENNY’S LIFELINE COMMITTEE AND MAYOR ANDREW MCGUINNESS AT BUTLER HOUSE, KILKENNY.
PRESIDENT THE PEOPLE OF THE YEAR AWARD TO KILKENNY’S CITIZEN INFORMATION CENTRE
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“Poverty is not an accident. Like slavery and apartheid, it is man-made and can be removed by the actions of human beings.” NELSON MANDELA
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, McGuinness Andrew KI NY EN LK MAYOR OF
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