Sophrosyne
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Didn't young Simon Harris do well or has he been given a poisoned chalice?
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New Government
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Sophrosyne
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Yes. The Environment Dept. is gone.
Its functions have been spread across 3 new departments:
- Climate Change, Communications and Natural Resources,
- Housing, Planning and Local Government, and
- Regional Development, Rural Affairs, Arts and the Gaeltacht.
Some simple things which are within their power that I would like to see the new government achieve.
1. Allow the courts to order that fines and court judgements be deducted from income on a weekly/monthly basis
2. Allow court awards for damages to be paid monthly over a lifetime rather than in a lump sum where appropriate
3. Make proper repairs to rural roads, allowing water to drain away where needed, rather than the patch jobs favoured at present
4. Review, (yes just review) the operations performance and costs of local authorities
5. Make broadband >10mbps available everywhere in the country
6. Require mobile phone companies to improve their signal to all parts of the country as a condition of renewing their licence
What have I forgotten, remember only things that can be delivered by government decision. Thus pt 4 is just a review.
1. Allow the courts to order that fines and court judgements be deducted from income on a weekly/monthly basis
2. Allow court awards for damages to be paid monthly over a lifetime rather than in a lump sum where appropriate
3. Make proper repairs to rural roads, allowing water to drain away where needed, rather than the patch jobs favoured at present
4. Review, (yes just review) the operations performance and costs of local authorities
5. Make broadband >10mbps available everywhere in the country
6. Require mobile phone companies to improve their signal to all parts of the country as a condition of renewing their licence
What have I forgotten, remember only things that can be delivered by government decision. Thus pt 4 is just a review.
Really disappointed with the appointment of Shane Ross. No sooner than he was offered the job and he ran to tell all his media colleagues, even before it was announced in the Dail. I don't know how the Cabinet will suffer such a self-opinionated, self publicist who clearly will struggle with Cabinet confidentiality. Now Ross will have even more to write in his Sindo column. An utter plonker.
I take it you would be in favour of a significant increase in local services charges in rural areas to pay a little towards this or do you expect urban dwellers to subsidise their rural counterparts even more?
There are many things like uneconomical railways that I would object to subsidising but a basic standard broadband for the whole Country is not one of them.
thedaddyman
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It goes both ways, after all there are large parts of urban infrastructure that also are subsidized by taxation, Dublin Bus being a case in point, as is the Luas extension. Did all of the people living in Cabra who will benefit from the Luas extension subsidise it?. No.
Growth and improvements in rural Ireland will help the country overall by creating jobs and increasing the tax take whilst reducing social welfare costs. If it also make it more attractive for people to live in other parts of Ireland, that should reduce some of the pressure on services in urban areas.
What about all the roads with only a few houses on them which in other countries would be dirt tracks?
On the bright side the Unions will eat him alive !
Ross is a populist so he'll buy off the Unions with other people's money, just like Bertie did.
Sophrosyne
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I accept the findings in both reports but I can’t help but think there is a catch 22 situation in rural Ireland.
The high cost of infrastructure is due to sparse population. Sparse population is due to lack of employment opportunity. But businesses will not locate there because of poor infrastructure.
In terms of geographical size Ireland is tiny. The greatest road distance from the furthest points – Malin to Mizen is only 345 miles.
We ought to be able to do better.
Plenty of dirt tracks in rural Ireland too. Broadband is fast becoming more than a luxury. It is becoming an essential utility like Electricity. Companies are moving online. Public services are moving online. Communications is now online. Everyone should be able to access basic broadband. They might never be able to illegally download the latest movie but they should be able to go online and send an e-mail.
thedaddyman
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I wouldn't say a report from Dublin County Council printed in a Dublin centric newspaper is an unbiased review.
One of the reasons I am in favour of water charges is so urban dwellers pay their share for a service rural dwellers have had to pay for for years. It's all lies, lies and statistics, give me a few months and a grant and I could provide a paper that would prove that rural dwellers subsidise the Pale and have done for years
Do you dispute; "Dublin city has been allocated €5.06 per person through the Local Government Fund for this year, compared to €260.47 per person in Leitrim"?
I am in favour of them as I think the user should pay for services and that payment should be linked to how much of the service they use.
No you couldn't.give me a few months and a grant and I could provide a paper that would prove that rural dwellers subsidise the Pale and have done for years
Remember that property tax is higher in Dublin as well as property prices for new builds being higher and so more VAT is paid.
The one big thing that rural Ireland brings to the table is the EU CAP hand-outs so in effect a great deal of the welfare they receive comes from the EU so that's a big benefit to the exchequer.
thedaddyman
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You can extrapolate individual statistics to prove whatever you like. For example, did you know that in 2016, Leitrim county council plan on spending €182 more per head of population on roads then Dublin City but Dublin City plan on spending €228 more on environmental services per head of population then Leitrim.? If you want to approach this from a cross-funding perspective, perhaps Western counties should charge Dublin for their water from the Shannon which Dublin want to pipe up to them.
I'm talking about the massive net transfer from Urban to rural. There's no denying that's the case.
Everyone in an urban area subsidises those in rural areas in all sorts of indirect ways as well. If the cost of electricity was tied to the cost of providing it then households in rural areas would be charged far more and those in urban areas far less.
As for water from the Shannon, how else do we provide water for all the people from the Shannon region who move to the Dublin region?
We need to put structures in place for decent treatment of rural Ireland.
I believe - that regional authorities should replace the county councils.
We need to start thinking in terms of regions with regards the provision of services.
Broadband in rural Ireland is patchy. But even within the cities - it can also be poor.
I believe - that regional authorities should replace the county councils.
We need to start thinking in terms of regions with regards the provision of services.
Broadband in rural Ireland is patchy. But even within the cities - it can also be poor.
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