No need for lobbyists until budget is finished

This was a rough week. I had to get a fill of kerosene. Eight hundred and seventy one litres at €1.21 per litre. Do the math and the bill comes to just short of €1,200. Included in that, of course, is VAT at 13.5% which comes to €142. The poor old pensioner is again harassed to keep the politicians in the comfort to which they have become accustomed. A few months ago that fill of kerosene would have cost around €800. Thank you Mr Netanyahu, architect of the Iran war.

Our legislators wring their hands and make comforting noises and lay the blame for the increased cost of living and fuel prices on the international situation and the war in Iran and the blocking of the Strait of Hormuz by those infidels with their missile launchers attacking the tankers carrying the oil. No mention of who started the war. No mention of the Israelis who conned the gullible Donald into believing that the Ayatollahs could all be decapitated in one fell swoop and the Iranian people would swarm onto the streets to effect regime change. But that’s just me and my anti-Semitism!

No mention of the obscene and unseemly profits being made daily by the oil magnates who are thriving and benefitting from the war at the expense of the poor pensioners. And that’s not to mention the presidents and politicians and investment bankers who are laughing all the way to the bank. There’s no criticism of the oil distributors who are milking their customers and, of course, no suggestion that the rate of VAT applied might be cut. The hospitality industry are now enjoying a VAT rate of 9%. You would think that the cost of a meal in a restaurant might reflect the reduced VAT. But no.

These trifling issues pale into insignificance when viewed through the prism of the horrific collision that claimed the lives of five teenagers as they drove the wrong way on the motorway and left four others in hospital fighting for their lives. No matter how you look at it this particular tragedy leaves a lot of families grieving. The background of the dead kids provide an opportunity for the haters to rant and rave about the Traveller community and force grieving mothers to take down death notices because of vile comments about their children. Oh! There’s no doubt we are a caring, Christian community.

Naturally our esteemed legislators will bolt the door after the horse has galloped away and take the social media companies, who carry some responsibility for the reckless behaviour that resulted in such carnage, to task. That will not ease the suffering and pain of all the families involved. But something needs to be done. Something has to be done.

I appreciate I am a bit of a Luddite when it comes to Facebook, TikTok, Instagram and the like but hardly a day goes by when social media companies are not in the firing line for some failing or other. It seem to me that they have created a monster and are unable to control it or themselves. And, if we think things are bad now, wait until AI takes over.

There is something our esteemed government could do and I would suggest that the first step they might take would be to ban all lobbyists from the Dáil until such time as the budget has been finalised. It is a fact of life that the politicians are easy fodder for the lobbyists. Tell me of any politician who will tell a lobbyist that they can’t get what they are looking for.

Danny McCoy of IBEC, Francie Gorman of the IFA, Chambers Ireland, representatives of insurance companies, the Construction Industry Federation, builders, Galway Tenters, charities, sports organisations, the GAA, the IRFU, the FAI, non-governmental organisations (NGOs) Concern, Trócaire, Dublin Simon, Focus Ireland, St Vincent de Paul, Irish Cancer Society, Amnesty International, Pieta and Barnardos should all be barred from coming within 10k of the Dáil until such time as the budget is passed. Let them take their piece of the cake without going begging for a bigger share than they need or deserve.

There is a big racket going on with these NGOs. There’s over 34,000 NGOs in this country. That’s roughly one for every 200 citizens. These NGOs employ more than 160,000 people and the cost to the taxpayer (you and me) is estimated at more than €6 billion. Yes, that’s correct €6 billion, six with nine noughts. Some of these NGO executives are on salaries in the region of €250,000 and they contribute little to society generally other than pursue increased allocations from Government which the taxpayer is lumbered with.

And they probably are not the worst. There are highly paid professional lobbyists with their snouts in the trough too. These fellows and ladies are particularly obnoxious. They have no particular skills but have their influence from having worked in government or with TDs. They are, very often, people with pensions (paid for by the taxpayer) who use their insider knowledge to boost whatever cause they are paid to represent.

There is no good reason why these people should have access to any Taoiseach, Tánaiste, Minister or TD while the important business of deciding a budget is under way. Do they not understand that the cake is finite? If they are to succeed in getting more than their due then what they get is at the expense of some other worthy enterprise. They are robbing Peter to pay Paul. For better or worse, we have a government that is well paid to do the job as best they see fit. They do not need the added problem of having to refuse a case put forward by some lobbyist. Keeping the lobbyists out of the Dáil for the next couple of months makes sense.

Once the budget is agreed the lobbyists can invade the Dáil to their heart’s content. They can bend the ear of any Minister foolish enough to listen. And I suspect that once they see they have no power to influence decisions and secure favours they won’t bother to bother the legislators.

So to matters less contentious. Mr Trump, it seems, is on his way to Doonbeg where he would like to present the trophy to the winner of the Irish Open which is due to be played from September 10 to 13. The presentation of the trophy is a matter for the tournament organisers but if Mr Trump insists, I think he will not be denied.

There is the bigger question of the security issue surrounding a visit by an unpopular US President and already his critics are drawing up plans to create mayhem, if possible. As we have seen Mr Trump can be pretty inventive where his security is concerned. He hijacked a food truck in Turkey on the advice of his Secret Service minders who thought there was a credible threat to his life. If he wanted to put on a Mickey Mouse disguise he could probably follow the golf in a buggy.

His presence in Doonbeg will present a major headache for the Gardaí. While there are many genuine protestors who will make their presence known in a lawful way, the reality is there are numerous actors out there who will be intent on causing trouble and in such situations it is the Gardaí who will be in the firing line. And no matter how the Gardaí perform, they will be subject to criticism both in traditional media and online. We are very good at criticising others even when there is little or nothing to criticise.

We had an example of that recently when the Gardaí were deployed to manage the Justice for Joe (Deacy) Walk near Swinford. The Justice for Joe Walk was peaceful, as would be expected. But it would only take one to create a fuss, so the Gardaí were correctly present. The simple truth is the Gardaí would have been subject to criticism if they were not in attendance and something, even something minor, happened.

I support the right of the people of Palestine to their homeland. I deplore Israel’s genocide in Gaza and their settlements in the West Bank. I won’t go to Doonbeg to protest. I wish the protestors well but I fear that genuine protestors will not be in control.

A senior moment 

I attend a memory loss support group. The host always begins: “Good evening. I suppose you’re all probably wondering why you’re here."

- From the Long and the Short of It