BUSRAGE Discussions: Forum: Government and Politics

BUSRAGE Discussions: Forum: Government and Politics - Recent Posts http://busrage.com/forum/ BUSRAGE Discussions: Forum: Government and Politics - Recent Posts en Sat, 30 Aug 2008 09:24:33 +0000 admin on "Hmmmmm." http://busrage.com/forum/topic/5332#post-5343 Mon, 28 Apr 2008 22:58:47 +0000 admin 5343@http://busrage.com/forum/ Yeah, I hear what you're saying. I'm trying to look on it as a positive thing, it should at least make integration a little better, although to be honest there are a few suspect things about it (which will make there way into a front page article soon). The main worry I have is that it is a step towards a UK-style privatisation mess. Oh, and it does of course give the minister cover when things start to go wrong, while leaving him the opportunity to take credit when they go right. Marvelous. Then there is the pensions issue, I haven't heard much from the unions since the announcement. One interesting point, the bill does not provide for this new body to license private operators, that will still rest with the Department of Transport. Something stinks about that I think... Al on "Hmmmmm." http://busrage.com/forum/topic/5332#post-5342 Mon, 28 Apr 2008 20:47:35 +0000 Al 5342@http://busrage.com/forum/ Thanks for the clarification. Imitating anything going on in London is going to be a recipe for disaster. We do not need TfD; TfL is hampered by its own oversized bureaucracy, and DTO will be nothing but layers to insulate against accountability. admin on "Hmmmmm." http://busrage.com/forum/topic/5332#post-5341 Mon, 28 Apr 2008 20:08:27 +0000 admin 5341@http://busrage.com/forum/ The context of Alek's original posting got lost in the migration to the new platform - he was originally talking about <a href="http://busrage.com/2008/04/16/dublin-transport-authority-by-2009/">this story</a>. Al on "Hmmmmm." http://busrage.com/forum/topic/5332#post-5339 Mon, 28 Apr 2008 18:27:13 +0000 Al 5339@http://busrage.com/forum/ Major hurdle towards what, and pension protection for whom? Is Brussels' hand in it? AlekSmart on "Hmmmmm." http://busrage.com/forum/topic/5332#post-5332 Sat, 19 Apr 2008 02:21:13 +0000 AlekSmart 5332@http://busrage.com/forum/ "The Transport (Reorganization of Coras Iompar Eireann) Act 1986" Watch this one prople because buried deep within it could be the first major hurdle.....and it`s all about Pension Fund protection. Anonymous on "220" http://busrage.com/forum/topic/1025#post-4290 Fri, 19 Aug 2005 11:28:43 +0000 Anonymous 4290@http://busrage.com/forum/ try making the 220 route better [posted by: m.c.j.kenny] kevin on "220" http://busrage.com/forum/topic/1025#post-4281 Tue, 16 Aug 2005 17:27:25 +0000 kevin 4281@http://busrage.com/forum/ There are some very very SAD people out there .Try driving the f**king thing,s and see how much you really LOVE them Anonymous on "220" http://busrage.com/forum/topic/1025#post-4280 Tue, 16 Aug 2005 12:36:03 +0000 Anonymous 4280@http://busrage.com/forum/ if you love buses surely the 38 wouldnt be the one to love, would it??? id say the 7,39,46A,123 are probably the best routes to love [posted by: gary] stone dildo on "220" http://busrage.com/forum/topic/1025#post-4277 Sun, 14 Aug 2005 18:05:40 +0000 stone dildo 4277@http://busrage.com/forum/ hug me, i love the 38 god i love buses kevin on "Let down by politicians!(again)" http://busrage.com/forum/topic/3487#post-3494 Mon, 31 Jan 2005 17:57:01 +0000 kevin 3494@http://busrage.com/forum/ They wont release any fund,s to Dublin Bus until they see "How the transport market pans out" Anonymous on "Let down by politicians!(again)" http://busrage.com/forum/topic/3487#post-3488 Mon, 31 Jan 2005 06:15:32 +0000 Anonymous 3488@http://busrage.com/forum/ Road rules!! ---- A ¤760m roads and rail plan will be unveiled by the Government today. Local authorities are also being given half a billion euro today to help wipe out notorious stretches of country roads. Meanwhile, Environment Minister Dick Roche will this morning announce that he is giving local authorities a record ¤500m to upgrade the country's non-national roads. These roads are frequently criticised over inadequate safety improvements, with far greater emphasis on the safety of big inter-urban dual carriageway and motorways. The ¤500m grant to be announced today by Mr Roche in Wicklow is ¤23m more than last year's allocation. The money will be spent by the councils in upgrading regional and non-national roads in their areas as well as helping to eradicate known blackspots. [posted by: Xp] Anonymous on "Let down by politicians!(again)" http://busrage.com/forum/topic/3487#post-3487 Mon, 31 Jan 2005 06:11:29 +0000 Anonymous 3487@http://busrage.com/forum/ Yet again our "leaders" prove that they have no interest in public transport, why? Because having more cars on the road equals more tax revenue and more money for them to line there pockets! -- -- "DUBLIN Bus is blaming the Government for leaving it drastically short of buses. In private briefings to select opposition politicians, the company says it now lacks 100 vehicles and will need no fewer than 205 new double-deckers from next year. Transport Minister Martin Cullen last week told the Dail it would be "premature" to make any decisions on new investment "until my Department is satisfied that existing resources are being utilised in the most efficient and effective manner." [posted by: XP] Al on "The Divil doesn't wanna quit Transport" http://busrage.com/forum/topic/2575#post-2592 Sun, 15 Aug 2004 13:59:52 +0000 Al 2592@http://busrage.com/forum/ Harney can't do that without paying off SIPTU, NBRU, ILDA...and that would be an immense scandal if the papers were against it. Besides, Brennan himself is/was working towards that very goal. So far, it's led to a net improvement in the negative integers in all facets of transport. Anonymous on "The Divil doesn't wanna quit Transport" http://busrage.com/forum/topic/2575#post-2591 Sat, 14 Aug 2004 20:16:33 +0000 Anonymous 2591@http://busrage.com/forum/ I can Tell You If Harney Gets Handed The Transport Which she 99.9% Probably will She will Privatise the Lot of Our Public Transport Buses Trains you name it,Maggie Thacher 2!!! [posted by: Crazy Driver 2004] Anonymous on "The Divil doesn't wanna quit Transport" http://busrage.com/forum/topic/2575#post-2590 Sat, 14 Aug 2004 09:00:24 +0000 Anonymous 2590@http://busrage.com/forum/ Al i have to say there is nobody better out there to replace brennan . politicians are all the same especially finnna fail ones ! [posted by: Linda] AlekSmart on "McCreevey moved up and out" http://busrage.com/forum/topic/2578#post-2579 Thu, 12 Aug 2004 21:12:30 +0000 AlekSmart 2579@http://busrage.com/forum/ What a load of Bollocks. A fancy sounding job made up for a less than inspiring mid ranking polititian. A huge salary and pension to go with it and no doubt a clothing allowance to cover what will be a rapidly increasing girth. MEANWHILE !......Back at the ranch we who toil at the bottom of His rotten little slagheap are told by the Dept of Trade,Industry and whatever that the MANDATORY 48Hr maximum working week is to be Implimented in full from the 1st of October. So whilst sad political embarassments such as McCreepy are stuffed to their corpulent gills with money,we are told that it is now ILLEGAL for us to seek to better our incomes by legal overtime means.....Democratic ?....Just wait until our African and Eastern European drivers are told that they can`t work their "Normal" overtime any longer...... Al on "McCreevey moved up and out" http://busrage.com/forum/topic/2578#post-2578 Thu, 12 Aug 2004 16:55:13 +0000 Al 2578@http://busrage.com/forum/ From <a href="http://www.rte.ie/business/2004/0812/mccreevy.html" target="_new">RTE.ie</a>... An tUasal McCreepey now holds the office of "EU Commissioner for the Internal Market". Don't know what kind of power that holds, but if it involves meddling with finances relating to transport, then he's got his hands on the wrong button. Hopefully, it will prove otherwise and he'll do what he's told instead... Al on "The Divil doesn't wanna quit Transport" http://busrage.com/forum/topic/2575#post-2575 Wed, 11 Aug 2004 19:13:42 +0000 Al 2575@http://busrage.com/forum/ Article in today's <a href="http://www.irishexaminer.com/pport/web/ireland/Full_Story/did-sgyDsbDeeMkbksgadLjt5C321I.asp" target="_new">Examiner</a> has all the gory details. For those that don't subscribe, here's the text: <blockquote>Brennan does not want to quit Transport By Harry McGee, Political Editor SÉAMUS BRENNAN does not want to transfer from the Department of Transport in September's Cabinet reshuffle, unless he is offered the job in Finance. In an interview with the Irish Examiner, the Minister responded to persistent speculation that he may have to make way for Tánaiste Mary Harney in the autumn by categorically stating that it was his wish to stay in Transport. In what may prove to be the beginning of a spirited rearguard action by Mr Brennan, he says that the one portfolio that might entice him to move is Finance. However, it is now almost a certainty that Brian Cowen will be offered that position. But it puts the number of Ministers who are believed to want to stay in their Departments at six, a situation that may leave Taoiseach Bertie Ahern facing complex choices if he meets resistance from incumbents when deciding on the new Cabinet in September. (A lot of my colleagues have had seven years in their ministries, said Mr Brennan, who returned to the Cabinet in 2002. (Transport is a new department set up only two years ago. When I took it over I embarked on a big agenda. In two years I have achieved a lot. (But there's a substantial amount of work in progress and I would like the opportunity to finish that. (There are big decisions on Aer Lingus and on the metro and motorways. (There are the reforms in public transport. I have started many of these initiatives and I would like to get the chance to finish them,) he insisted. (Heaven forbid) Transport has responsibility for all the major road and rail infrastructure projects, as well as for aviation and for road safety. There are three major semi-state companies within the portfolio—Aer Lingus, CIE and Aer Rianta. The Progressive Democrats have strongly backed Mr Brennan's policies of breaking up Aer Rianta and introducing competition from private operators on Dublin bus routes. However, after the poor Coalition performance in the local and European election Ms Harney signalled that her party was becoming impatient at the pace of change. The ministers reluctant to move are believed to include Agriculture Minister Joe Walsh and Defence Minister Michael Smith who are the two likeliest to be dropped, as well as Eamon Ó Cuiv (Gaeltacht, Community and Rural Affairs), Martin Cullen (Environment) and Noel Dempsey (Education). Health Minister Micheál Martin has said publicly that he would like to stay in that Department, but colleagues believe the Taoiseach will offer him either the Enterprise and Employment or the Arts, Sports and Tourism portfolios. Mr Walsh's anticipated demotion will leave only one senior minister in Cork. However, it is expected that two backbench TDs will be elevated to junior ministry jobs to join Michael Ahern. Assistant Government Chief Whip Billy Kelleher and Cork South West deputy Denis O'Donovan are thought to be the front-runners.</blockquote> Man, what a mess this guy still wants to make of the country. Face it dude, you're a failure and the country's worse off than when you started—otherwise there wouldn't be any EU fines to worry about related to greenhouse-gas emissions. I hope he goes and someone with more horse-sense gets in...and I hope that my hope is not hoping against hope, too. >:-( Merry Kelly on "Strike Action" http://busrage.com/forum/topic/1877#post-2465 Sun, 11 Jul 2004 14:11:13 +0000 Merry Kelly 2465@http://busrage.com/forum/ What's the situation on July August strike action? Are Aug.23/24 still on for stoppages? Al on "Impact of elections on transportation policies?" http://busrage.com/forum/topic/2384#post-2456 Mon, 05 Jul 2004 19:31:07 +0000 Al 2456@http://busrage.com/forum/ The ironic thing is that all of this route-chopping and rearranging has, according to the new annual reports, resulted in a surplus for DB. Now I'd call it creative accounting, because all of the route-rearranging and renumbering costs money, and there is no way in Satan's black Hell that you're going to see a return on it that quickly, especially if there are losses in patronage. This can of worms has only started to empty out, I suspect... Laura on "Impact of elections on transportation policies?" http://busrage.com/forum/topic/2384#post-2448 Mon, 05 Jul 2004 13:02:33 +0000 Laura 2448@http://busrage.com/forum/ If you want to see the impact of elections on public transport, take a bus to Swords - the mess around the Pavillions is so much a direct legacy of the Ray Burke saga they practically buily a shrine to him on the grounds of the house he lived in. Seriously though, I remember as a student occasionally getting the 13 bus (before they totally destroyed the service about 7 years ago and broke it in two) and was delighted to see that Prionsias de Rossa also was a regular user. Much of the problem of public transport is that the vast majority of politicians from local level upwards represent the better off, well heeled car owning commuters. Its like what Thatcher said: there is a perception that anybody getting the bus after the age of 30 is a failure. I would hazard a guess that horrific damage was done to Dublin Bus in the mid to late 1990s - I certainly saw it when living in both Swords and Ranelagh/Rathmines - routes torn up and rewritten, messy plans that actually detroyed reasonably good services. But what I don't understand most is that lack of coherent planning between Irish Rail and the bus companies - its incredible that companies that are all part of the same company can totally ignore each others plans! Anonymous on "Impact of elections on transportation policies?" http://busrage.com/forum/topic/2384#post-2393 Thu, 17 Jun 2004 18:42:35 +0000 Anonymous 2393@http://busrage.com/forum/ Hmm, have to have a rethink, must do nothing..a bit like Rourkey? [posted by: Ronald Binge (soon to be expatriate] AlekSmart on "Impact of elections on transportation policies?" http://busrage.com/forum/topic/2384#post-2388 Mon, 14 Jun 2004 20:27:38 +0000 AlekSmart 2388@http://busrage.com/forum/ Maybe Al someone in FF will get out the abacus and do some calculations based on the following.... FF Minister for Transport attempts to Force through a deeply flawed Non-Policy on Public Transport which will have seriously negative impact on Both the Transport Regeime as a whole and particularly on Staff wages and conditions. Then let the same electoral genius total up the "Lost" FF votes and cross reference that figure with the CIE "Influenced" Votes. If you were a polititian of any sense you would be going "Hmmmmmmm........have to have a rethink here...." Since Mr Brennan appears not to be too well endowed in the thinking department it is unlikely he could manage a RE think,BUT...there are others in FF who are not so enamoured of the "Half-Finished" Minister and It is to be hoped they will prevail !! Al on "Impact of elections on transportation policies?" http://busrage.com/forum/topic/2384#post-2384 Mon, 14 Jun 2004 19:54:07 +0000 Al 2384@http://busrage.com/forum/ There are a lot of blanks to fill on my end, so I'm asking in general as to what this will mean. So far, all I've gleaned from the WWW is that Sinn Fein "won big"...but I don't know what that's going to mean, also that Ahern will be "shuffling" his cabinet come September. What's going to come out of this...? Al on "Not Another Strike!" http://busrage.com/forum/topic/1974/page/2#post-2321 Sun, 30 May 2004 01:50:23 +0000 Al 2321@http://busrage.com/forum/ Yup, you're a gobs**te all right. Anonymous on "Not Another Strike!" http://busrage.com/forum/topic/1974/page/2#post-2320 Sat, 29 May 2004 18:10:17 +0000 Anonymous 2320@http://busrage.com/forum/ yar, you're all a bunch of hypochondriacs! To eat glitter is a foolish thing to do but if you must chew the preverbial potato then you will suffer the consequences whe the strange u-boats pierce through the nuns and attack you toilets! but you must all realize that you are all slanted frog spawns... to call a nun a gobs**te is to admit that your retinas are dialated like a large pie dish! [posted by: A Gobs**te] Al on "Not Another Strike!" http://busrage.com/forum/topic/1974/page/2#post-2053 Sat, 20 Mar 2004 14:16:43 +0000 Al 2053@http://busrage.com/forum/ Another question about the unions: the way it seems, the officers can call a strike without the majority consent of the membership. That the case or not...? because it seems that their negotiation skills are non-existent. ollie on "Not Another Strike!" http://busrage.com/forum/topic/1974/page/2#post-2044 Fri, 19 Mar 2004 18:01:26 +0000 ollie 2044@http://busrage.com/forum/ yes i can see both sides of the arguement here,i as an nbru member(and driver) was glad that this strike was called off,not for the usual nbru/siptu spat reasons,but because i think it would have done us no favours at all!the irish travelling public arnt slow and i dont treat them as such,i do realise they are what keeps me in a job,you do have to admit that the three cie companys are improving there lots slowly but surely you have to remember how seriously underfunded they were for years,our seamy keeps whining about the state subsidy handed to cie every year,but fails to mention its one of, if not the lowest subsidy handed to state bodies in europe!(many consultants reports to prove same!)so why now when the companys are making the irish exchequer money not costing try and break the momentum?nasty smell here ,but this lunatic of a minister has to be shown for what he is,a plonker(bloody dangerous one at that!)he seems to be shooting himself in the foot quite a lot recently,he keeps trumpeting this fair competition lark about,nothing wrong with that(its all around us if people just looked!)not as much in the city!but how in the name of god can he hope to improve things by following the british example?never mind letting them sneek in here ready to pounce,what hope has an irish company got of competing against that?there are problems that badly need sorting,i would be the first to admit that,but privatisation (or whatever he's calling it)wont solve anything!(makes his and berties job an awfull lot easier but!) Ray on "Not Another Strike!" http://busrage.com/forum/topic/1974#post-2034 Thu, 18 Mar 2004 17:40:54 +0000 Ray 2034@http://busrage.com/forum/ Interesting article. i'm not sure that you can believe anything put out in the media as journalists tend to go for the easy option and don't seem to be able to research their subjects well. Especially TV. Did you know that some drivers didn't show up for work? It affected the evening 39X services, YES, I said the EVENING services. They had all day to show up for work and yet they still arsed around and managed to muck up the schedules in the evening. These mavaricks and their union turkey heads will manage yet to let the Minister for Stupid Statements To the Gobs**te Press have his way. We'll all end up much worse as a result. Al on "Not Another Strike!" http://busrage.com/forum/topic/1974#post-2030 Thu, 18 Mar 2004 03:22:25 +0000 Al 2030@http://busrage.com/forum/ Calm down now...for all bus and rail service shall operate normally on St. Patrick's Hangover Day. According to <a href="http://www.rte.ie/news/2004/0318/cie.html" target="_new">this article</a> on RTE's web site, the strike has been called off by those shower of nice lads at SIPTU (the general officers in particular). Ye may breathe a sigh of relief...