The Irish budget or how not to run a country
From the 2009 Irish Budget
Yeah no one could see that coming! No one could see the housing bubble in Ireland for what it was. No one could see the ridiculousness of the banks offering 120% mortgages. Believe me Lenihan, if you didn't see it coming, then you weren't paying attention.
All they know how to do is tax
21.5 % VAT. Is there anyone who can still afford to live in Ireland? I certainly can't.
Petrol will go up 8 cent per litre. That's some cheek when the public transport system is in shambles and the government increases the price of petrol.
Air travel tax of €10 per passenger departing from Ireland, €2 for shorter journeys
Air travel tax? Air travel tax? Those bastards. I am livid. As an Irish expat who hopes to be able to make it home at least once a year, I am truly disgusted at Brian "the idiot" Lenihan who puts $10 of an air travel tax to leave the country.
Cambodia, on of the poorest countries in the world, has a US$25 tax to leave the country. And the Celtic tiger wants to emulate this strategy. A strategy that makes it difficult to leave the country.
Since 1997, the Fianna Fail government has done nothing but squander the surplus. When this global financial crisis loomed, Ireland should have been sitting pretty. In 2008 the government proposes a air travel tax, in one stroke killing tourism and alienating the Irish abroad.
And I know I'll hear "erra it's only 10 euro". Yeah it's only 10 euro every single time to fly to London, Paris, New York, Bangkok, Glasgow... How many people can only barely afford to travel on budget airlines anyway? With the price of petrol and this new air travel tax, it has become very expensive to come home. 10 euro each time adds up. It is a considerable fee to have to pay.
Welcome back to the 80s where we have Brian Cowen instead of Charlie Haughey. Bloody wonderful
Yeah except the builders. There was plenty snuck in for them.
All citizens will have to tighten their belts because of reckless spending and mismanagement by a government more concerned with destroying our cultural heritage and pandering to their interest groups.
I'm too pissed off to write more at the moment.
*shakes her fist at Fianna Fail*
But nobody foresaw the speed with which the global and the domestic downturn would gather pace. In the past few months, the world financial system has been turned upside down. Household names in global finance have been rescued by governments and blue chip companies have either failed or been subsumed into other institutions.
Yeah no one could see that coming! No one could see the housing bubble in Ireland for what it was. No one could see the ridiculousness of the banks offering 120% mortgages. Believe me Lenihan, if you didn't see it coming, then you weren't paying attention.
All they know how to do is tax
I am increasing the Standard Rate of VAT by ½% to 21½% from 1 December. There will be no change in the zero rate which applies to food, children’s clothes and footwear, oral medicines and several other products. The 13½% rate which applies to new houses, labour intensive services, gas, electricity and home heating fuel will also remain unchanged.
21.5 % VAT. Is there anyone who can still afford to live in Ireland? I certainly can't.
Petrol will go up 8 cent per litre. That's some cheek when the public transport system is in shambles and the government increases the price of petrol.
Consistent with moves by other EU Member States such as the UK and the Netherlands, I intend to introduce an air travel tax from 30 March 2009; the tax will apply to all departures from Irish airports. A rate of €10 per passenger will apply, with a lower rate of €2 on shorter air journeys. This new tax is estimated to yield €95 million in 2009 and €150 million in a full year. Further details are contained in the Summary of Budget Measures.
Air travel tax of €10 per passenger departing from Ireland, €2 for shorter journeys
Air travel tax? Air travel tax? Those bastards. I am livid. As an Irish expat who hopes to be able to make it home at least once a year, I am truly disgusted at Brian "the idiot" Lenihan who puts $10 of an air travel tax to leave the country.
Cambodia, on of the poorest countries in the world, has a US$25 tax to leave the country. And the Celtic tiger wants to emulate this strategy. A strategy that makes it difficult to leave the country.
Since 1997, the Fianna Fail government has done nothing but squander the surplus. When this global financial crisis loomed, Ireland should have been sitting pretty. In 2008 the government proposes a air travel tax, in one stroke killing tourism and alienating the Irish abroad.
And I know I'll hear "erra it's only 10 euro". Yeah it's only 10 euro every single time to fly to London, Paris, New York, Bangkok, Glasgow... How many people can only barely afford to travel on budget airlines anyway? With the price of petrol and this new air travel tax, it has become very expensive to come home. 10 euro each time adds up. It is a considerable fee to have to pay.
Welcome back to the 80s where we have Brian Cowen instead of Charlie Haughey. Bloody wonderful
This Budget serves no vested interest. Rather, it provides an opportunity for us all to pull together and play our part according to our means so that we can secure the gains which have been the achievement of the men and women of this country. It is, a Cheann Comhairle, no less than a call to patriotic action.
Yeah except the builders. There was plenty snuck in for them.
All citizens will have to tighten their belts because of reckless spending and mismanagement by a government more concerned with destroying our cultural heritage and pandering to their interest groups.
I'm too pissed off to write more at the moment.
*shakes her fist at Fianna Fail*
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2 comments:
I honestly believe Ireland was heading for recession before the credit crunch. The signs were there. Secondhand properties had stopped selling and were falling in value in autumn 2006. Manufacturing jobs )including where I worked were being lost and exports were suffering.
BUT we were "protected" from visibility of it because property development jobs were still in place even though they were unsustainable.
Yes the credit crunch accelerated it but it didn't cause it
the credit crunch is not the cause of Ireland's problems. Yes it exacerbates it but since 2002 our economy has been built on building houses to meet demand created by an influx of workers to build houses. See anything wrong with that? It was an economy feeding on itself while exports and manufacturing suffered
Our democratically elected government deliberately fueled that false economy to win the election in 2007.
All the credit crunch has done is exposed their incompetence
I agree with you Crazy Budget. Since the banks stated offering 120% mortgages in 2005 I've been thinking about recession. For Brian Lenihan to stand up and declare that nobody saw this coming is to claim criminal negligence.
But as usual Fianna Fail do nothing except pander to their cronies in development.
I don't think people needed the credit crunch to expose our government's incompetence. They do that nicely all by themselves.
We do have to blame ourselves as well. After all the majority voted them in time after time.
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