July 18 (Reuters) - Ireland may not have the political will to bring its budget deficit in line with EU rules as planned by 2014, the chairman of the smaller governing coalition member Green Party was quoted as saying on Sunday. .... Green Party Chairman Dan Boyle told the Sunday Tribune it was "probably a heresy" for a government party to question whether the deficit could be cut to 3 percent of gross domestic product by 2014 from more than 14 percent in 2009. "It is certainly doable if you want to be draconian every year," Boyle was quoted by the newspaper as saying. "But is it politically feasible and is it socially possible?" Boyle said he still expected the cabinet to deliver the 3 billion euros of savings planned for the 2011 budget in December and then the government could "take stock". "I do not see the public appetite continuing," Boyle said. "It could be that we have neutral budgets for a period." The Green Party last year debated quitting the alliance with Prime Minister Brian Cowen's Fianna Fail party due to the strains of the fiscal tightening and bank rescue programme, but its members ultimately decided to stay on board.
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Green Party Chairman Dan Boyle told the Sunday Tribune it was "probably a heresy" for a government party to question whether the deficit could be cut to 3 percent of gross domestic product by 2014 from more than 14 percent in 2009.
"It is certainly doable if you want to be draconian every year," Boyle was quoted by the newspaper as saying. "But is it politically feasible and is it socially possible?" Boyle said he still expected the cabinet to deliver the 3 billion euros of savings planned for the 2011 budget in December and then the government could "take stock".
"I do not see the public appetite continuing," Boyle said. "It could be that we have neutral budgets for a period."
The Green Party last year debated quitting the alliance with Prime Minister Brian Cowen's Fianna Fail party due to the strains of the fiscal tightening and bank rescue programme, but its members ultimately decided to stay on board.
Which perhaps led to this: Moody's has a Monday morning downgrade for Ireland FT Alphaville
Can we blame Moody's Monday downgrade of Ireland -- from Aa1 to Aa2 -- on this man? (FT Alphaville cites the above cited Reuters article quoting Doyle, notes that the Greens previously considered resigning from the coalition government and then cites Moody's statement:) Frankfurt, July 19, 2010 -- Moody's Investors Service has today downgraded Ireland's government bond ratings to Aa2 from Aa1. .... Moody's has changed the outlook on the ratings of the government of Ireland to stable from negative as the rating agency now views the upside and downside risks as being evenly balanced at the current rating level. Moody's has also affirmed Ireland's short-term issuer rating of Prime-1 with a stable outlook. .... Moody's has also downgraded to Aa2/stable outlook from Aa1/negative outlook the rating of Ireland's National Asset Management Agency (NAMA) .... . . . Moody's expects that Anglo Irish Bank may need further support.
(FT Alphaville cites the above cited Reuters article quoting Doyle, notes that the Greens previously considered resigning from the coalition government and then cites Moody's statement:)
Frankfurt, July 19, 2010 -- Moody's Investors Service has today downgraded Ireland's government bond ratings to Aa2 from Aa1. .... Moody's has changed the outlook on the ratings of the government of Ireland to stable from negative as the rating agency now views the upside and downside risks as being evenly balanced at the current rating level. Moody's has also affirmed Ireland's short-term issuer rating of Prime-1 with a stable outlook. .... Moody's has also downgraded to Aa2/stable outlook from Aa1/negative outlook the rating of Ireland's National Asset Management Agency (NAMA) .... . . . Moody's expects that Anglo Irish Bank may need further support.
Moody's has changed the outlook on the ratings of the government of Ireland to stable from negative as the rating agency now views the upside and downside risks as being evenly balanced at the current rating level. Moody's has also affirmed Ireland's short-term issuer rating of Prime-1 with a stable outlook.
Moody's has also downgraded to Aa2/stable outlook from Aa1/negative outlook the rating of Ireland's National Asset Management Agency (NAMA)
. . . Moody's expects that Anglo Irish Bank may need further support.
Well, if Doyle can do nothing but swear to inflict eternal pain on the Irish people without being set upon by US ratings agencies, perhaps he might consider cutting his party's losses, claiming credit for bringing down a corrupt government which was sacrificing the Irish people to protect Fianna Fail cronies and preparing for the next election. His party is likely to only be further damaged the longer he stays in government. This doesn't mean the Greens will decide to leave the government, however.
Fianna Fail is a traditional party in Ireland and I would only note that corruption is a traditional value. As the Dutch said while fighting the Spanish: "It is not necessary to have hope in order to persevere."
However that, too, is changing, and intolerance of theft by those in positions of power is growing. For someone who grew up in a rural Ireland where respect for any sort of authority was marked by its absence, the change in recent years to a more compliant culture has been quite amazing. Index of Frank's Diaries
a move from a tribal to a bureaucratic order.
But it is also more than that: Call for end to 'cute-hoor' politics - The Irish Times - Tue, Jul 20, 2010
Fine Gael backbencher Lucinda Creighton has revived tensions within her party with a sharply-critical speech at the MacGill Summer School arising out of the presence of a Cork property developer at a fund-raising event.Mr Michael O'Flynn is company chairman and managing director of Cork-based O'Flynn Construction, which transferred debts approaching €1billion to the National Asset Management Agency (Nama). He was recently reported as attending as sponsor of €1500 fourball at a golf fundraiser at the K Club, organised by Fine Gael.Ms Creighton said: "There can be no room in Fine Gael for cute-hoor politics. These are the politics which have defined and tainted Irish public life like an incurable cancer."We cannot be satisfied with low standards in high places. Fine Gael in government must be much, much more than simply `Fianna Fáil Light'."We cannot, on the one hand, condemn Fianna Fáil for entertaining developers in the Galway tent, while on the other hand extend the biscuit tin for contributions from high-profile developers, who are beholden to Nama. The Irish people expect more from Fine Gael; they demand more, and they are right."Fine Gael cannot equivocate about the standards we wish to bring to the running of our great Republic. We need a real `New Politics'- of substance rather than sound-bites."We need a politics that is about serving the people of Ireland, not simply about replacing Fianna Fáil."It is time for a politics built on courage, integrity and truth. That is the politics which I signed up for and the sort of public service which the Irish people so desperately need and so badly deserve," she said.
Fine Gael backbencher Lucinda Creighton has revived tensions within her party with a sharply-critical speech at the MacGill Summer School arising out of the presence of a Cork property developer at a fund-raising event.
Mr Michael O'Flynn is company chairman and managing director of Cork-based O'Flynn Construction, which transferred debts approaching €1billion to the National Asset Management Agency (Nama). He was recently reported as attending as sponsor of €1500 fourball at a golf fundraiser at the K Club, organised by Fine Gael.
Ms Creighton said: "There can be no room in Fine Gael for cute-hoor politics. These are the politics which have defined and tainted Irish public life like an incurable cancer.
"We cannot be satisfied with low standards in high places. Fine Gael in government must be much, much more than simply `Fianna Fáil Light'.
"We cannot, on the one hand, condemn Fianna Fáil for entertaining developers in the Galway tent, while on the other hand extend the biscuit tin for contributions from high-profile developers, who are beholden to Nama. The Irish people expect more from Fine Gael; they demand more, and they are right.
"Fine Gael cannot equivocate about the standards we wish to bring to the running of our great Republic. We need a real `New Politics'- of substance rather than sound-bites.
"We need a politics that is about serving the people of Ireland, not simply about replacing Fianna Fáil.
"It is time for a politics built on courage, integrity and truth. That is the politics which I signed up for and the sort of public service which the Irish people so desperately need and so badly deserve," she said.
Michael O'Flynn has committed no crime and for all I know was a bona fide developer who got in over his head when times were good. His business went bust. It happens. What Lucinda Creighton - one of a new generation of quite articulate if conservative politicians appears to be saying is that Fine Gael shouldn't associate with people like that because developers have traditionally congregated around Fianna Fail and influenced Fianna Fail policies favouring speculative building and banking practices.
What galls most people is that Michael O'Flynn is probably still quite wealthy personally even as the taxpayer has been forced to take on a Billion of his dodgy debts. Its the privatisation of social gains - increase land values due to rezoning or state infrastructure development - and the socialisation of the losses of people like Michael O'Flynn that people object to.
The whole basis of limited liability, contract law, and the right of private banks to play key roles in the public infrastructure of the state which is being called into question. In this context it IS the liberal values of capitalism which are seen to be the corruption of the more traditional moral order where your word was your bond and your liabilities were personal. Index of Frank's Diaries
That is what Boyle is alluding to - the fact that there is no political will for the further 3 Billion in Govt. spending cutbacks which are expected to be required to meet budgetary requirements and foreign "investor sentiment".
But as of now the Greens are fully tied in and will lose whatever they do - support unpopular cutbacks or be seen to have no bottle and cut and run. The principle of the cutbacks has already been agreed. The question to be decide is where they will fall. If the greens get their carbon taxes, water charges, recycling charges, and token taxes on bankers etc. they will probably continue to cave... Index of Frank's Diaries
