Joan Burton Must Go!

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mathepac

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Just how mind-numbingly stupid is our Tainiste Joan Burton? Judging by her antics at Farmleigh recently I think she is neck-and-neck with the likes of Sarah Palin in the stupidity stakes.

Just what was on her mind when she allowed herself to be photographed beside a mock-up giant “reefer telescope”? Most assuredly not affairs of State despite the comments in the Sunday Worst. Our second most senior politician, Inda’s under-study Gawd help us seemed to think, or not as the case may be, it’s OK to do a drugs promo.

Would Joan have allowed herself to be photographed beside a mock-up of a bottle of poteen or would that be a step too far as poteen is illegal and dangerous and costs the State money in lost excise duty & VAT? And then there’s the small matter of that enormous drink problem we have as a nation.

Would Joan have allowed herself to be photographed beside a mocked-up syringe of heroin or a plaster of paris line of coke or amphetamine? Or a “legal high”? Of course not because we have a serious drugs problem in this country.

Would Joan have allowed herself to pictured with a giant cigarette or would this be seen to undermine the Government's anti-smoking policy and to disrespect the thousands of citizens who die each year from tobacco-related illnesses?

So why is it OK for Joan to pictured with the “maga-spliff telescope”? I can’t answer that but my view is that it’s not and because Joan also broke the law. It is illegal for any citizen of the State to take part in an activity that could be construed as promoting the sale or consumption of an illegal substance.

Goodbye Joan. Do the decent thing and resign. We won’t miss you and no doubt Inda won’t miss you either.

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I cannot think of anything she has accomplished in all her years in the Dail.

I remember her giving out constantly about means testing the child allowance. As soon as she got to power, she basically said it cant be done because of the IT setup or some such waffle.
 
mathepac said:
Just how mind-numbingly stupid is our Tainiste Joan Burton?
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Well, she's probably sufficiently informed to be able to spell Tánaiste correctly :p.

Looks like a stunt on the part of the photographer. Not on the scale of stupidity of Willie O'Dea allowing being photographed while pointing a gun :rolleyes:.

If every politician resigned every time they did something foolish ..
 
I think she's one of the best ministers in the government. She reduced welfare fraud significantly in a way that previous Ministers for Social ran away from. I don't agree with her left-wing anti-work and anti-business economic policies but she's a capable and intelligent woman, far more capable than most of the cabinet.
 
I think when in opposition - She was a political opportunist. Seeing the the banking crisis as a political opportunity.

As a Minister - She is better than a lot of them.
 
She has maintained social protection rates at more than double those obtaining in SF run NI. Not good economics, not good politics (SW recipients either don't vote or else support the nihilists), but something she can be proud of morally.
 
Duke of Marmalade said:
She has maintained social protection rates at more than double those obtaining in SF run NI. Not good economics, not good politics (SW recipients either don't vote or else support the nihilists), but something she can be proud of morally.
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Did Joan not hammer people with disability needs and also stand by taking medical cards of terminally ill children whose parents had/have no money??

If people had not have revolted then she would taken alot more off them.

Joan is no saint at all,far from it be the case.
 
flowerman said:
Did Joan not hammer people with disability needs
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I presume you are referring to the reduction in the carers respite grant

Carers allowance in pre-boom times was paid 52 weeks a year, then the idea of carers getting a holiday was introduced and an extra (2 or 4?) weeks allowance was paid. This was the carers respite allowance.

When this was cut the media reported it as a 100% cut in the respite allowance, whereas a more truthful reporting would have been that the carers allowance was reduced from 56 weeks a year to 52.

I would be grateful if anyone can correct my recollection on this matter, but I think I am substantially closer to the correct version than "Joan hammered people with disability.


flowerman said:
..also stand by taking medical cards of terminally ill children whose parents had/have no money??
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I think it was children whose parents did have money. No one who was eligible for a medical card on financial grounds lost it.

Certainly it was a poor decision to take medical cards from terminally ill children, but terminally ill children whose parents were financially eligible did not loose the medical card,

To my mind reducing jobseekers allowance for younger claimants from €188 to €100 a week was a much more radical decision, with much greater impact, but as the people affected are not as well organised as the disability rights movement or as telegenic as terminally ill children very little fuss was made about that
 
Expecting Joan Burton to resign or be sacked in the near future is like waiting for the dreadful staff of Bungalow-3 to be awarded Mayo-Persons-of-the-Year outright.

Joan Burton is the minister and while the buck stops at her table, she is not one of the stupid people contacting seriously ill medical card holders suffering debilitating illness and asking if the illness has just gone away. Joan Burton is one of the people who was involved in the correcting on the wrongs done. It would be the same with anybody else as minister.
 
leper said:
expecting joan burton to resign or be sacked in the near future is like waiting for the dreadful staff of bungalow-3 to be awarded mayo-persons-of-the-year outright.

Joan burton is the minister and while the buck stops at her table, she is not one of the stupid people contacting seriously ill medical card holders suffering debilitating illness and asking if the illness has just gone away. Joan burton is one of the people who was involved in the correcting on the wrongs done. It would be the same with anybody else as minister.
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+1
 
She brought down the rent allowance which had been artificially inflating rent prices.

I think it was she who scrapped Mortgage Interest Supplement, which was not a good move.

I find her annoying as a person, but I think she is a good minister.
 
Brendan Burgess said:
She brought down the rent allowance which had been artificially inflating rent prices.

I think it was she who scrapped Mortgage Interest Supplement, which was not a good move.

I find her annoying as a person, but I think she is a good minister.
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Lack of houses being built,a lack of properties on the market and also the banks inability to give people a mortgage is also a problem there.
Now factor in the Central Banks 20% deposit required rule and the problem will only get worse.

People will only be able to rent and that will push up rental prices and also house prices too.


Also the rules that the RAS scheme make a landlord abide by also is a bit of a joke,hense why there is a lack of housing available to people who get rent allowence.
Why would a landlord give their property over to the RAS scheme for 5 or 10 years when its so far out of date and out of touch that alot of landlords wont touch the scheme now.
 
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