Saturday, January 30, 2010
Details emerge of Budget 2010's brutal education cuts
Details emerge of Budget 2010's brutal education cuts
Budget 2010 saw yet another attack on one of our most vital public services, education, and in so doing has again foisted most of the burden on disadvantaged and vulnerable students.
This is not the first time such a savage budget was imposed on the education sector, with previous budgets resulting in higher class sizes, increased third-level registration fees, axing of special needs classes and cuts to schools in the most disadvantaged areas in the 26 Counties.
This time round the school building budget has again been cut, despite the dire circumstances in which many schools find themselves. Third-level grants have also been slashed, which will affect thousands of grant recipients.
An overall cut of just over 5% will be administered by the Minister for Education and Science Batt O’Keeffe this year.
Our education system is already chronically underfunded. Indeed, proper investment was never made even when the money was there. Because of this the 26-County education system ranks bottom of the barrel in the EU in terms of funding with one of the highest class sizes in Europe.
School buildings
Yet again, despite workers crying out for jobs in the construction industry, the government has failed abysmally to invest in a proper school buildings programme and instead shockingly has opted to cut the fund for new school buildings and repairs by a staggering 27%. Across the state schools are desperate for new buildings as well as vital repairs to old ones. They are not being listened to. Children are spending their school days in prefabs which in some cases pose a serious risk to their health as well as greatly affecting the quality of the education they receive.
Special education
A cut of 4% will be made to special education initiatives in primary schools as well as a 21% chop to the National Council for Special Education. These cuts will affect some of the most vulnerable schoolchildren – those with special needs. Already we have seen closures of special needs classes across the state, we now learn that up to 1,200 special needs assistants will be let go this year. This will have a huge and devastating affect on young vulnerable children who deserve an education as much as any other.
Third level
Budget 2010 implements a series of savage cuts to the third-level sector. This makes a mockery of the so-called ‘knowledge economy’, which the government purports to support and is particularly insulting to students considering the excessive salaries of university heads, which is just €4,000 short of what a government minister earns, plus expenses.
Budget 2010 introduces measures for an overall reduction of 4% in provision for institutes of technology and universities. This will see students having to deal with diminished practical and tutorial supports, shorter library opening hours, overcrowded lecture halls and limited access to labs. The recent fiasco in Dublin Institute of Technology whereby labs were cancelled, student services were severely curtailed and libraries services cut shows just how badly an effect a cut like this will have.
The Budget also introduces a 5% cut to the Student Maintenance Grant.
This will come into effect immediately and will affect new and existing grantholders. It is estimated that around 60,000 students per year avail of this grant. With the cost of going to college for a year estimated at being anywhere in the region of €7,000 to €8,000, this will mean that thousands of students literally wont be able to afford to go on to higher education and will end up on the dole queues.
Targeting the disadvantaged:
As has been the general theme throughout the lifetime of this government as far as cuts are concerned, it is the least well off who are the biggest target and this has been maintained in this year’s education budget.
The Millennium Partnership Fund, which provides financial assistance for further and higher education students who are experiencing financial difficulties while attending college, has through Budget 2010 been discontinued. A student applies to this fund to help them with either temporary or ongoing financial difficulties and it has been a lifeline for many third-level students struggling to get by. The discontinuation of this important scheme will result in many pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds being unable to carry on with their studies.
Budget 2010 makes for the removal of eligibility for student support grants for those in receipt of the Back to Education Allowance and Vocational Training Schemes allowances. Far from encouraging young people who are out of work to take up training schemes this measure effectively makes it so that if young people do take up training they will lose all their money. This is a nonsensical measure and will penalise, not encourage, young people to take up training courses. As well as this, allowances to participants in Vocational Training Schemes, Youthreach and Senior Travellers Training Centres will also be reduced.
Other cuts to education implemented in Budget 2010
Reduction of €8 million to Strategic Innovation Fund.
Allowances to participants in VTOS, Youthreach and Senior Travellers Training Centres to be reduced.
Teacher in-service education to be cut by 26%.
The supply teacher scheme at primary level will cease from the start of the 2010/11 school year.
Funding reduced by €1.2 million in 2010 for projects in Local Drugs Task Force areas in Dublin City and County and will be phased out completely in 2011.
CUT: The government has failed abysmally to invest in a proper school buildings programme
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
Googling The Republic - A map of republican blogs
So I though why not map the republican blog community on to Google maps.
The idea is to list each Republican blogger, SF cumainn on line etc and then put it on the map. i.e Sinn Fein Sligo marked in Sligo. Bit of tweaking before its finished. must sort out if there is a way of showing the names on mouse over etc. It'll all come good in the end I hope.
So if your cumainn has a blog or your local rep etc then maybe you could post a comment with the link and the address (town, county). I will then put them into a database and load them onto the map.
So the idea is to have an easy way for people to see what republicans are blogging near their area, what cumainn are in their area etc.
It'll also mean that anybody searching for Sinn Fein on google comes across republican sites more frequently etc.
I am sure there are many other ways we could use the internet and these new collaborative programmes.
Does anyone have any other ideas?
View Republicans ONLINE in a larger map
Monday, January 25, 2010
The Whip hand - eroding labour rights in response to the crisis.
Today is a day of fairly significant industrial action across the public sector.
Over 300,000 trade unions members are going to be involved in protest actions over the government cuts. This move has enraged the Health Service Executive which said its worried about the effect of any action on patient safety and services. Many many thousands across this country must be amazed to hear and I can attest that I am one of them. My locality is now done to a part time ambulance services. Little worry from the HSE or the govt. about patients or service then nor about the running of the HSE which is all Chiefs and few Indians.
The HSE attack on the very idea of even striking is one that's appealed to others it seems. The Irish Exporter's association wants air traffic controllers to have a no strike clause in their contracts. Famously in the US Regan took on and beat the Air traffic unions and then proceeded to continue with every other union.
And whatever about the merits or the demerits of any particular case the need for stronger union representation is more pressing than ever.
The Govt. is waiting to hear from the Labour Court about the lowering of the minimum wage in the hospitality, retail and construction sectors. Mary Coughlan who rather laughably holds the brief for enterprise, trade and employment, says the lowering of the minimum wage in these sectors "would only apply where employees agreed to the measure in order to keep their jobs". Well that means pretty much every job then doesn't it. Still rather than apply pressure on wages at the top its more fun to do it at the bottom.
A perfect example was the recent rowing back on the pay cut, or should that be deliberate mess-up, of salaries of the top civil servants. Whose supposed pay cut was 15% but that pay cut was based on their base salary plus bonus and everybody who applied for the bonus got the bonus. As a result their salary cut is only a few per cent. Tough times at the top.
Share the pain is the principle at stake here and its what people want to see happen. As wealth is not shared then neither is pain though..
While the need for Unions has never been more critical the unions have continued to decline in strength. The latest CSO figures for 2007 have only 31% of all employees reporting to be union members with that figure much higher for the Public sector than the private sector. Private sector unions now come courtesy of your HR division or Human Remains division as a friend of mine calls them.
Saturday, January 23, 2010
Liam Mellows -
Liam Mellows’ Republic
Liam Mellows led an extraordinary life. He was born in 1895 and executed by the Free State Army in 1922. During his short 27 years he was an IRB member, na Fianna organiser and a republican volunteer. He was a veteran of 1916, the Tan War and the Civil War, and was imprisoned in Britain, the United States and Ireland.
But Mellows was not just a military organiser and activist. He had an acute sense of the political and social dimensions of republicanism. He was one of the 57 TDs who rejected the Treaty during the Dáil debates on 6 January 1922 and he led the anti-Treaty forces into the Four Courts.
After his arrest, and reflecting on the war of independence and the subsequent victory of the pro-Treaty forces, Mellows wrote what remains his most important contribution to Irish republicanism, the ‘Jail Notes’.
His conclusion was that “Ireland does not want a change of master. It would be folly to destroy English tyranny in order to erect a domestic tyranny that would need another revolution to free the people. The Irish Republic stands, therefore, for the ownership of Ireland by the people of Ireland. It means that the means and process of production must not be used for the profit or aggrandisement of any group or class.
“Ireland, if her industries and banks were controlled by foreign capital, would be at the mercy of every breeze that ruffled the surface of the world’s money-markets. If social capitalism flourished, a social war such as now threatens practically every country in Europe would ensue. Ireland, therefore, must start with a clean slate. The Irish Republic is the People’s Republic.
“In our efforts to win back public support for the Republic we are forced to recognise, whether we like it or not, that the commercial interests and the gombeen man are on the side of the Treaty. We are back to Tone – which is just as well – relying on that great body, ‘the men of no property’. The ‘stake in the country people’ were never with the Republic. They are not with it now and they will always be against it – until it wins! We should recognise that definitely now and base our appeals upon the understanding of those who have always borne Ireland’s fight.”
For Mellows, the political, social and economic dimensions of the republican struggle must be intertwined.
The failure of the war of independence to create a real republic was, in Mellows’ view, a consequence of a failure on the part of republicans to adequately integrate the socio-economic and political dimensions of struggle into a coherent programme that spoke to the needs and aspirations of the Irish people.
Sinn Féin today must continue to learn from Mellows. We must at all times combine the political demand for an Irish republic with a coherent social and economic programme that seeks to end inequality and poverty; produce and redistribute wealth; and provide every citizen and every resident with the means to live a full and prosperous life.
How can a people be politically independent if they are denied the social and economic means to fully and equally participate in society?
For Mellows, the only republic worth struggling for was one that establishes the ownership of Ireland for all of the people of Ireland. Mellows called this a people’s republic. Today we call it a democratic socialist republic.
Friday, January 22, 2010
Insider Trading In The Banana Republic
Insider Trading In The Banana Republic.
One of the key challenges that the progressive left must tackle is the issue of corporate regulation, oversight and standards in the south. Cowboy standards in the south have indebted ordinary workers massively, and created a business environment where half a million people are jobless while insolvency rates for businesses are going through the roof. Carrying the can for all of this is regular Sean citizen.
Just recently we saw a good example of how sloppily we allow our businesses environment to be run – to the detriment of honest businesses and their workers and ultimately to the state.
Back in February 2000 the DCC company, a well established Irish company sold of €108 million in shares of Fyffes, the banana company. This proved to be incredibly lucky for DCC because about a month later the Fyffes shares fell by about 25% when Fyffes updated the market on its trading situation. Somebody in heaven must have been looking out for them. Back on this mortal coil though it turns out Jim Flavin, head of DCC, also sat as a non-executive director on the board of Fyffes. (If we had a functioning media that examined who sat on what boards then we would see many interesting things wouldn't we. Just look at the Dublin Docklands Authority and Anglo-Irish).
Anyway as Jim sat on both boards and managed to sell the DCC shares just before things bottomed out there seemed to be questions to answer. The Fyffes shares fell 25% and a fall of 10% is regarded as enough to examine if there was insider training.
Fyffes made a complaint and An Garda, the Stock Exchange and the Director of Public Prosecutions all had a look in. But the wheels of justice move slow and more so when it comes to company wrong doings. The case did not get to the high court until 2007 when the High Court commented "To trade on the use of inside information is recognised for what it is. It is a fraud on the market. The insider who exploits his access to the special knowledge he enjoys for the purposes of the company in his capacity as executive or director of a company commits a crime."
But the High Court found in DCC's favour. On to the Supreme Court then and a different view of things. The Supreme court found that a serious offence had taken place. The law had been broken. DCC paying out €44 million emphasised the fact.
This would appear to be a clear cut case then surely? Well no of course not. In murky waters nothing is clear. A High court inspector was appointed to review things and his report has just been issued.
The Inspector's report confirms the law was broken, but only by accident. The key idea was that DCC had advice to the effect that their actions were within the law. This was good enough for the Inspector. The Irish Times noted that "If – as now appears the case – the paid-for advice of a lawyer replaces the onus on an individual to act in a moral fashion, then corporate law will continue to be broken as long as there is a lawyer prepared to venture an opinion."
Further noting "The Supreme Court has found that a very serious offence has taken place, but the various agencies of the State, ranging from the Garda through the Director of Public Prosecutions, the Financial Regulator and now to the ODCE can't or won't seek any sanction against the company or the individuals involved."
And sure why would they?
But what about this Director of Corporate Enforcement guy - Appleby. Is he a toothless wonder or someone stymied by the rule book from doing good. Who knows? But documents revealed under the Freedom of Information Act to RTÉ in 2007 showed that he had been seeking more resources since 2005 and considered the staffing he had to be "wholly inadequate". He wanted 20 more staff, including more gardaí.
When the matter was raised in the Dáil, the grafter in chief, Bertie Ahern, seemed to become annoyed. "It is not that Mr Appleby's work is not considered important . . . He has 36 , so it seems extraordinary that he could want another 20 . . . One would not receive such an increase in any department . . . He will have to wait his turn." And while he got a few extra positions shortly thereafter did he receive the amount of folks he needed. Considering the free wheeling culture in Corporate Ireland it would appear that no he did not.
How free wheeling this state's corporate world acts is further shown by how DCC sold off the Fyffes shares. The used a foreign based shell company to sell off 31.2 million shares. This little trick allowed them avoid €17 million in taxes on its profits. But the High Court inspector said no Irish laws were broken in the process and Appleby's criticisms were misguided
And what about that Euro 17 million in unclaimed taxes. Is there a job there for revenue?
€17 millions is a significant sum. The average price of school books in the south is €390. 17,000,000 in tax is free books then for 43,589 kids. Roughly the poorest 10% of pupils could have the costs of their books covered for them for a year with that money. Money which poor regulation, weak company law, and ineffectual oversight cost the southern state.
I believe that for progressive parties it is as equally important to focus and innovate policy on Corporate law, Company Law, strengthening regulatory guidelines etc. as it is to focus on issues like council charges etc. They cannot be separated.
As a left Republican party we have to be as well known for promoting responsible financial regulation, effective corporate oversight and a more coherent company law in the south as we are for being a party of community activists defending communities at council level.
In my opinion both Labour and the further left focus too much on one at the expense of the other, albeit from different sides. That's a mistake that means Labour has lost its activist vigour and desire for real change while the further left fatally weakens it ability to create change rather than just provide opposition.
But in order to be effective agents of change a progressive party must excel at both.
Friday, January 15, 2010
A Master class in spin
Today was a fairly normal day in Ireland. Nothing of note really happened did it!
Certainly nothing happened in comparison to the terrible news thats coming out of Haiti.
On every newspaper, television and radio station there is going to be wall to wall focus on the disaster. And we will all watch it. Not out of a morbid desire or some strange car-crash voyeurism but because as normal people we will watch this and feel a deep empathy and sorrow for the suffering of other people.
You'd think that most people would think the same. Well unfortunately they dont. Some people look at this as a useful disaster and they think every cloud has a silver lining.
Looking at BreakingNews.ie I was struck by a series of related posts.
At 12:25 Minister Mary Harney "announced the roll out of a bowel cancer screening programme which kills around 930 people here every year."
Hmm! Fair play the Govt. Doing the right thing. I am impressed.
But wait...there is more:
At 12:32 Mary Mary strides once more across the media like a colossus with another missive:
"The Health Minister has today announced that she is reversing the decision not to roll out the cervical cancer vaccine for secondary school students."
Oh! So they climbed down did they. But at least they are also doing the right thing. And so rather than this being a craven climb down we know have a positive cancer detection strategy. Rather than caving we now have Harney the leader. Aint she the bomb.
That this "leadership" was on the 1:00 news did no harm to Harney or the govt. A climb down became a positive and a problem was neutered. Best of all nobody was going to focus on this too much. Because of Haiti it was just accepted and the news moves on.
Next it was the turn of fellow Fianna Failer John Gormley.
No sooner was the 1:00 clock news show over than John boy was ready to roll. There was just enough time to make the tea and do the dishes after Dinner before he started his bit.
At 14:23 modernising John confirmed that "Dubliners will directly elect a Mayor this year.Environment Minister John Gormley has announced the capital's citizens will go to the polls in June. The job will command the same salary as a Government minister."
Who could not be impressed. This was the Greens as they want us to see them. The party modernising the southern state's dated institutions by coming up with a trendy Mayor idea. I was in awe but John didnt stop there. He was on his bike ...
At 14:46 decisive, honest, reforming John came out "to limit junkets for Councillors. Green Party leader John Gormley says he is determined to end the "abuse" of Councillors attending too many conferences."
Thats the kind of Greens we wanted to see. The Greens we once believed in etc etc. I could almost see myself voting Greens at the next election. Their story was beginning to get some traction at some level.The Greens love pretending they are a modernising force. And today they piled it on trying to get that message into our head.
But the coup de grace was at 18:25 because at that hour Breakingnews.ie reported that "Ireland is sending 80 tonnes of emergency supplies to Haiti following Tuesday's devastating earthquake.The aid will be distributed to 8,000 families through charities Concern and GOAL who are working on the ground there."
And thats only right and good to see but wait whats this at end:
"Some 35 members of the Government's Rapid Response Team are also on standby to travel to the stricken region."
The Governmant's Rapid reaction force? Excuse me? Who the hell is that? Or do they instead mean the southern Irish state's rapid reacion force. Because by christ whats it got to do with the those parasites sitting around the cabinet table. Still, pile it on! If it makes the govt. look good they'll do it.
Today Mary Harnney and John Gormley took advantage of a disaster to stack their messages so as to command attention at news time. Nothing could compare with Haiti but by stacking the messages they could command some air time and sell their messge to the people. Mary turned a negative into a positive and Gormley used today to reboot his parties image and once more push out the message that the Greens are reforming and modernising.
Is this nasty. Yeah of course it is but by god they are slick operators.
Today was a master class in media and ultimately voter manipulation.
Link Backs: Political Messages