Teknovis

The Irish Government spent today announcing the first part of the budget – the spending cuts. I must admit that I am very disappointed with it. I was hoping for some creativity, some imagination, some willingness to confront the problems. Instead it consisted of minor tinkering. Perhaps this is to be expected from a government that is being lead by a primary school teacher :|

So where does the problem lie? Enda clearly identified it in his speech to the nation the other night (see Full text of Taoiseach’s speech):

Right now, the State is spending €16 billion a year more than it is taking in.

Yes – it really is that simple! The Government is spending too much money that it does not have! Most of this money is being spent on social welfare and the civil service.

So what is the Government doing to address this? Again, let me quote Enda:

The pay and pensions of senior public servants have been cut.

Excellent!

However, the reality of what is happening is very different. Indeed, one only needs to look at today’s media! For example, consider Controversy over pay rise for Govt adviser:

Minister for Agriculture Simon Coveney has said he understood how people might find it difficult to understand how a Government adviser, Ciaran Conlon, could be paid a salary of €127,000 after a €35,000 pay rise following an intervention from the Taoiseach.

Now perhaps this could be justified if Ciaran Conlon was coming from the private sector, and he had skills that were essential to the Government. Unfortunately, his previous employer was Enda’s own party – Fine Gael :(

I will not claim to know if Enda’s actions in this matter are due to simple ineptitude or intended cronyism. Either way, Ireland deserves better!

However, this level of hypocrisy is not confined to politicians within the civil service.

Another measure announced in today’s Budget was a cut to teaching funding. Again, this is designed to try and reduce the excessive amount of borrowing that is being done to sustain an expensive civil service. The Teachers’ Union of Ireland (TUI), amongst others, has publicly denounced these measures (see Live – Budget 2012 and Cut in teacher numbers a disaster for schools – TUI):

The TUI has said a cut in teacher numbers will be a disaster for schools and said they would be “catastrophic” for the life chances of the most vulnerable.

The Association of Secondary School Teachers in Ireland (ASTI) also commented publicly on the cuts (see Live – Budget 2012 and Budget 2012 – education measures and ASTI reaction):

The ASTI says today’s Budget cuts mean the majority of second-level schools will lose one teacher and schools will see a reduction in funding for their day to day running costs.

It all reads very genuinely!

Unfortunately, neither organisation found the time today to comment on the cost to the Government of ensuring that over half their members get pay rises next year (see Pay rises on way for 50 per cent of teachers)!

Almost half of all teachers will receive pay increases next September of €1,000 to €3,615 a year, as guaranteed under the Croke Park agreement.

And:

The salary increments will cost €13.8m for 19,500 primary teachers, and a further €6.4m for 1,000 second-level teachers.

I guess the teachers are really more concerned that their salaries keep inflating at the expense of both the education system, and the private sector tax payers in Ireland. Shameful.

So yes, I am very disappointed that Enda and his colleagues have not taken any real measures to reduce the unsustainable Government spending that is occurring on both social welfare and the civil service.

Tags: Ireland

A nice interactive graphic from the BBC showing who owes what to whom: Eurozone debt web: Who owes what to whom?

It feels a bit depressing for a Friday afternoon :(

Tags: France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Portugal, Spain, UK

Fascinating, if not somewhat scary, visualisations of the US national debt – A Visualization of United States Debt.

I bet it would make people from the PIGS countries feel a lot better if their debts were also shown to scale!

Tags: Greece, Ireland, Italy, Portugal, Spain

I came across the following interesting facts in Ireland on clean-tech high as it sets new wind power record:

Ireland hit a new wind-energy record on Thursday, 6 October at 2.30pm, when the power generated from wind reached 1,341 megawatts (MW) – enough power to supply 870,000 homes.

And:

Wind generation provided 39pc of the electricity being used in the Republic of Ireland at the time of the record on 6 October.

Very impressive!

Tags: Ireland

The EPO Patent Information Conference 2011 is being held in Ireland this year, and it is starting tomorrow.

Patents are certainly getting a lot of media coverage these days (for better or for worse)!

Tags: EPO, Ireland

I read an interesting article about the most influential people in education in Ireland – The 50 most influential people in education.

The two things that surprised me most were:

• A lot of the people in the top 10 are not typically associated with Irish education!
• Brian McCraith, President of DCU, is the only university representative with a leadership role in the top 10 – well done!

It would be interesting to correlate this list with the list cited in Top Educational Salaries in Ireland!

Tags: DCU, Ireland

It has been a busy week of paralysis within the EU! So I thought that I would take some of the more interesting statements, and give my opinions on them!

There was talk of reducing public sector salaries in More welfare and public sector pay cuts urged by top ECB man:

THE EUROPEAN Central Bank is pressing the Government to cut public sector pay in the budget next December and accelerate its austerity drive.

…

Mr Stark, the top German official in the ECB, argues that public sector pay in Ireland is too high by euro zone standards and should be cut to help restore order to the country’s public finances.

Any such move would bring down the Croke Park deal, which obliges the Government not to cut public pay. However, Mr Stark says the Government should consider from a political point of view that civil service pay in many of the countries supporting the Irish bailout is considerably lower than in Ireland.

I strongly agree with Mr Stark! It is inequitable that one section of society has it salaries protected in such a manner, especially when these people enjoy so many other benefits. Furthermore, it is inequitable that the majority of workers are being asked (through higher taxes) to support inflated salaries for so few workers. I wish that the Irish Government would stand-up for the majority of workers, instead of those who complain loudest!

It is also surreal that the Irish Government is borrowing money from other countries so that it can pay its civil servants substantially more than the countries who are lending the money pay their civil servants. Frankly, I do not understand why this is not a condition of the loans.

The Frankfurt-based institution wants social welfare entitlements reviewed and is also calling for greater efforts to facilitate pay cuts in private employment contracts.

Again, this is surreal! For example, we are borrowing money from Germany so that we can pay unemployment benefits that are over twice as high as German unemployment benefits!

Then there was the controversial suggestion about flying the Irish flag at half-mast, as reported in Half-mast flag idea for debt draws ire.

In his comments, Mr Oettinger referred to “deficit sinners” who needed “unconventional” treatment to help them mend their ways – possibly through officials appointed by Brussels and imposed in recalcitrant capitals.

“There has been the suggestion too of flying the flags of deficit sinners at half-mast in front of EU buildings. It would just be a symbol, but would still be a big deterrent.”

I have no problem with this situation. Ireland is in a bad place at the moment, and everybody shares a collectively responsibility for this indirectly for electing the successive governments. I think that a shameful treatment like this would encourage everybody to fix the mess sooner rather than later.

Furthermore, I heard a lot of politicians objecting to this idea, but I did not hear a single one express a good reason!

I read more discussion this week than ever before about the prospect of a federal EU, as described in Barroso urges ‘federalist’ integration as sole solution.

Seeking to take the initiative amid wild market volatility driven by concerns over a Greek default, Mr Barroso called for much closer political integration and said the EU needed a “new federalist moment” to confront the most serious challenge for the union in a generation.

…

“The only right way to stop the negative cycle and to strengthen the euro is to deepen integration, namely within the euro area,” he said. “This is the way to go. It is also the only way for the euro area to really play the role that investors and global partners expect it to play. What we need now is a new, unifying impulse – a new federalist moment. Let’s not be afraid of the word – a federalist moment is indispensable.”

I strongly favour a strong EU federal government for two reasons. Firstly, Ireland has time and time again shown that it cannot manage its own affairs (ranging from national finances, healthcare, and policing). I am not sure if this is due to ineptness and incompetence, or corruption.

Secondly, I think that the EU needs to express a stronger, more singular, voice on the international stage.

Of course, such a federal government would need a lot more public credibility compared to the “appointments” system currently favoured in EU political circles. (Where is President of the European Council, Herman Van Rompuy, hiding these days?)

Finally, the crisis has truly become an international issue, as described in Greek reform more essential ‘than ever’.

China added its voice to US concerns over Europe’s apparent inability to stop debt contagion spreading, while Indian and Brazilian officials said major emerging economies were discussing increasing their euro sovereign holdings. US treasury secretary Tim Geithner urged European leaders to act more forcefully to solve the escalating crisis, saying they had the economic and financial capacity to do so.

This is just plainly embarrassing that the US and China are having to become so involved in helping Europe fix its own problems!

Yes, it was an interesting week!

Tags: Ireland

It is great to hear some positive news in a week that seemed full of bad news – VMware is to create 250 new jobs in Ireland over the next three years. See Cork to get 250 new technology jobs for more details.

Tags: Ireland, VMware

I never knew that an Irishman and UCG graduate, Michael O’Shaughnessy, was involved in naming the Golden Gate Bridge! He was the city engineer in San Francisco at the time!

Cool trivia!

Tags: Ireland, UCG

I am very enthusiastic about wind energy, and I believe that it is likely to be the most sustainable source of energy in Ireland. Indeed, if I was starting my carer again I think that I would probably look at opportunities in that area.

Anyway, I read an article recently about an Irish green energy company called Gaelectric teaming-up with a Chinese turbine manufacturer called XEMC. The article is Three new wind farms planned for Ireland, totalling 13.6MW.

This represents a significant investment, and it is a really good example of globalised technology transfer :)

Tags: Gaelectric, Ireland