Email doing the rounds today:

Greetings.

We are writing to inform you of, and invite you, to a meeting to discuss what the “Next Steps” should be for those who are unhappy with the recent evolution of Green Party policy and action.

The Donegal Greens have formally announced an ?independent Green Party? and many members have resigned or just faded away. Sadly, our climate crisis and financial catastrophe show no signs of doing the same.

There is strength in ?numbers? and, although ?dissenters? may feel frustrated and isolated given our current minority status within the GP, 30% of the party is a great platform from which to fight on for our cause. Especially, if we can organise and support ourselves.

The question is what form of organisation.

At the meeting splits, secessions, abandonment, guerrilla tactics and ?long grass? patience will be up for discussion. The meeting is an open forum for Green Party members past, present and perhaps recently departed. There is no hidden agenda and there is no ulterior motive.

The meeting will take place in the Teachers Club, Parnell Sq., Dublin and will start at 11pm. The intention is to have a ?free-form? discussion, with contributions from as many as possible until 1pm. We will have a break for lunch/small discussions between 1 & 2 pm. The afternoon, depending on what ?consensus? has been arrived at in the morning, can move to continue discussions, separate into distinct groups or decide on a single strategy. A vote on this outline agenda and on chairpersons will be taken at the start.

If you are unhappy at the direction the Greens are headed in and questioning your participation in ?green activism? then please consider coming along and hearing what those like you have to say and maybe contributing your perspective. May we also suggest that if you are perfectly content with the ?status quo?, then attendance will be a waste of your time and ours.

Regards
Arthur Doohan & Pat Kavanagh

EDIT: The meeting is Saturday 14th November at 11am in the Teacher’s Club, Parnell Square, Dublin.

It also emerged last night that the Green Party will fill a vacancy in the Upper House caused by the election of Labour’s Alan Kelly to the European Parliament in June. This seat is on the agricultural panel. However, the Greens last night would not comment on the development.

Party whips from Fianna Fáil and the Greens in the Seanad had agreed on alternating replacements for vacancies on non-Government seats.

The names of four possible candidates have emerged in recent weeks: Louth councillor Mark Dearey; Clare councillor Brian Meaney; the former mayor of Galway Niall Ó Brolcháin; and the former county councillor in Fingal, Joe Corr.

That is over a year behind where they wanted it to be. Have a look at Minister Lenihan’s April speech:

Without this supplementary Budget the general government deficit would have been 12¾% of GDP reflecting the large gap needed to fund the difference between spending and revenue….
A difficult balance must be struck between the need to show a credible way forward on our structural problems and the need to protect our economy as far as we can this year. It is the considered view of the Government that a borrowing target of 10¾% strikes the correct balance.

That is the target for end 2009 – a debt to GDP ratio of 10.75% down from 12%.

Now the leaked report of the Pre-Budget Outlook suggests that next years projections from the Dept of Finance have us on a debt to GDP ratio of 12% for 2010. Between that projection and the disaster of revenues, we have managed to get to a stage where the April budget might as well not have happened.

So where the hell have we gotten the more ‘positive’ outlook in the Irish Times headline from?

It appears we are shrinking more slowly, a projected 1.5% in 2010 versus the 2.9% projection in April’s budget. We are still a way off the major budget target hanging over our pols – getting back onside with the EU.

According to FF TD Peter Kelly – that behaviour is not a shock.

While much of what the audience member said was lost in his emotional delivery, he did manage to get the thrust of his message across – that he found Pat Kenny’s pontificating on issues such as social welfare and wage cuts hypocritical in light of the fact that his own huge RTE salary is partly funded by the taxpayer.

Although I was shocked by the sudden manner in which events unfolded on the live show last show last night, I was not wholly surprised. It seems to me that it was only a matter of time before Pat Kenny was challenged on the issue of his salary by a member of the public. The contrast between the current financial position of RTE which is forecasting a shortfall of approximately €68 million this year and the huge sums it pays its top presenters is quite startling by any measure. It was revealed in October that Pat Kenny was RTE’s top paid presenter, earning close to a million in 2007 and 2008. He has since taken a pay cut but is still receiving a very sizeable salary of well over €600,000. Other high earners include Gerry Ryan who was paid close to 700,000 in 2007 and Marian Finucane who was paid 570,000 in the same year for her two weekend shows.

Who is Peter Kelly you say? Well the Longford TD is quite the man – getting Twitter all worked up with his support for RTE audience member Alan O Brien. What does Kildare Street have to say about our character?

Numerology

Please note that numbers do not measure quality. Also, representatives may do other things not currently covered by this site. (More about this)

* Has spoken in 12 debates in the last year — well below average among TDs.
* Has received answers to 7 written questions in the last year — below average among TDs.
* People have made 0 comments on this TD’s speeches — average among TDs.
* This TD’s speeches, in the printed record, are readable by an average 17–18 year old, going by the Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level score.
* 2 people are tracking whenever this TD speaks — email me whenever Peter Kelly speaks.
* Has used three-word alliterative phrases (e.g. “she sells seashells”) 51 times in debates — below average among TDs. (Why is this here?)

It isn’t a ringing endorsment for our budgetary strategy that this extension is unsolicited and the plan to get things under control by 2013 is already €2.75bn behind target only six months after the April budget. Fix that Brian.

Senior consultant surgeon Peter O’Rourke has revealed he and two colleagues were being paid to sit around doing nothing while operating theatres were lying empty at Letterkenny General Hospital, Co Donegal.

“The Government is paying me a large sum of money to sit around doing nothing,” said the bored surgeon, who earns around €225,000 a year, almost eight times the average industrial wage.

Despite lists of people in pain waiting for hip and knee replacements, the hospital has put off all so-called “elective” procedures until at least next year in a drive to save money. It has budget overruns of €2.7m.

Dr O’Rourke, who candidly pointed out that the patient was the real victim, said he was “frustrated and depressed” about the situation.

“I’m sitting here in my office looking out my window at a digger piling up clay on the site of the new emergency department when I should be at work in an operating theatre.”

Dr O’Rourke said he could still perform day surgery every three weeks but was told there would be no elective surgery until the new year.

The rest of his story is over at the Irish Indo. Its an insight into the manner in which cuts to budgets directly impact on the provision of services despite the claims to the contrary. Whatever he was getting paid, it would be the service provision that gets curtailed before other avenues are followed through.

Increasingly the spokesperson for glib, trite statements -, Mary Harney our unsackable Minister for misery Health, offers this solution:

“There are waiting lists for outpatient appointments at Letterkenny Hospital, perhaps that consultant and others could apply themselves to seeing those outpatients,” she said. “I would appeal to the consultant in question to talk with the hospital, his colleagues in the hospital and hospital management to resolve whatever issues arise on the ground.”

She said people needed to be pragmatic about the approach they adopted. “I would urge everybody in this time of huge economic challenges to look at solutions and not to be always identifying problems,” she said.

Ms Harney said there was no more money for the health service this year and there would be less money next year.

“Over €1 billion in reductions will be required in the provision of the public health services next year,” she said.

Yup, shut your whingeing about patients who won’t get procedures next year let alone this year and get your shirt sleeves rolled up. But really, all in all, it isn’t Harney’s problem.

“I can’t impose a solution from Dublin… only the people that work in the hospital can solve those problems within the budget that is available this year,” she said.

The Tanaiste Mary Coughlan has said the Government will be having further talks with Ryanair over the ten euro travel tax.

The airline has repeatedly called for the tax to be abolished warning its resulted in less numbers travelling.

Oops. As Dept of Finance indicate:

The Department of Finance has indicated its surprise at remarks by the Tánaiste Mary Coughlan – that the Government will be having further talks with Ryanair over the €10 travel tax.

Ryanair has repeatedly called for the tax to be abolished warning its resulted in less numbers travelling.

This morning, the Tánaiste seemed to suggest that the tax is still up for discussion, but the Department of Finance has said Brian Lenihan has no plans to review the tax as it’s already raised €67m for the State.

You can get the twitter stream here

The protests are due to kick of today at 2.30 in Dublin and elsewhere around the country – we will be keeping an eye out for flickr, twitter and qik coverage. I am curious as to how many of our readers will venture out to say they don’t approve of the government’s handling of the budget and fiscal position.

Today’s speeches:

You will be familiar with Michael Taft’s breakdown of the current position and his calls for measures to alleviate economic hardship while today the debate is joined again by Jim O Leary making the claim that public pay was already at a premium to the private sector before benchmarking in 2003.

What is interesting about today is that the protest takes place in the middle of delicate social partnership talks – with fractures already visible between the union leaders. Today might see large numbers on the streets – but in support of which faction? And how long can the govt string it out before they get to play one side of the other?

It is also worth noting that Fintan O’Toole has a point – the issue of public pay (€1.3bn out of €4bn of measures) has overshadowed all other issues. There is plenty of discussion needed on community cuts ahead of Dec 9 as well as cuts to services and efforts to get the economy going.

No awards.

Indeed none of our MEP’s were shortlisted.  Now you might be asking why I am pointing this out. But I am sure if we did win one we would hear about it.