The Government is really a travelling Circus

Since Monday's strange incident, when a door fell off an Aer Corps helicopter in mid-flight over Co. Kerry (see my entries of March 2nd & 3rd), the eyes of many Irish people have been opened to the strange and scandalous travel habits of our government ministers.

It appears that Martin Cullen's extravagant helicopter trip from Waterford to Dublin via Killarney, which cost the taxpayers at least € 8130 and created additional costs of around € 35,000, was not at all unusual. Most of our ministers are using the Aer Corps' aircraft regularly for all sorts of trips and don't mind what it costs, because for them it is all free.
In fact, our government has become a real travelling circus, with each minister trying to out-do the others in extravagancy and waste of taxpayers' money.

But since Monday the nation is aware of that and has shown remarkable feats of vigilance and observation.

It has been reported - and meanwhile confirmed by a government spokesperson - that the Tánaiste (Ireland's Deputy Prime Minister) Mary Coughlan (photo), who is also Minister for Enterprise, Trade & Employment, took a flight in one of the government's two main jet aircraft from Dublin to Shannon last Friday.
There she was met by her ministerial Mercedes car, which her Garda chauffeur had brought empty from the capital to Shannon earlier.
Coughlan, who is Ireland's answer to Sarah Palin and nicknamed 'The Cow', was driven over a very short distance from the airport to a nearby industrial estate, where she officially announced the creation of a few new jobs.

Not that this will make any difference to our current recession, as unemployment in Ireland has just risen to a record 10.2%. But the government is now so beleaguered and desperate that every single new job is announced with pomp and circumstances (while job losses are treated rather with a deafening silence).

After a brief stay at the industrial estate, and having performed her PR job as bland as usual, the Tánaiste was driven back to Shannon airport, where she boarded the government jet again and returned to Dublin Airport. There presumably a second state Mercedes was waiting for her, and the one used at Shannon was driven back to the capital, once again empty.

What this bizarre escapade has cost the taxpayers could not be specified at this time, but using the government jet alone for a single flight creates expenses in the range of € 25,000 to 30,000.
At least that was the information received when the same jet was used last year to transport the Taoiseach and three of his ministers - Willie O'Dea (Defence), Batt O'Keeffe (Education) and the ever-present Martin Cullen (Arts, Sport & Tourism) - from Dublin to Shannon. They were then driven in two state cars to Limerick, to watch a Rugby match.

If the government, which keeps telling us now on a daily basis that "we have no money" and that "we all will have to make sacrifices", would be serious, these extravagant journeys would cease. As Ireland is a small country, most places can be reached by car in acceptable times. And when a flight is really necessary, local transport at the airport of arrival could and should be used.

But there is an even better - and much cheaper - way to handle ministerial addresses, speeches and announcements. After all, we live in the 21st century and modern communication technology is available to every government department.
Instead of having ministers rushing around the country like a travelling circus in order to give a string of usually boring speeches to equally boring gatherings of all kinds, these addresses could be given by video link from the minister's office.
This would cost a small fraction of the amount clocked up each year by ministerial journeys. The same message would get across, and the government would also be seen as being serious when it comes to saving money. On top of that it would also show the government as a modern entity that can and does use the latest available technology.

There is no need to provide a separate state car - each with a Garda as full-time chauffeur - for every minister and junior minister. In most of the other EU countries - many much larger than Ireland - there is a government motor pool with a limited amount of cars, which are shared by all ministers. Ireland should follow those examples.

But so far there seems to be no will to reduce the lavish travelling circus. While ordinary people are going to face ever higher taxes and levies, the government continues to behave like a bunch of medieval princes.

Meanwhile another - and even more bizarre - case has been reported. According to information received by Ireland's national broadcaster RTÉ a ministerial car and its driver were used for the purpose of transporting a minister's private dog over a distance of 250 miles. This apparently occured "during the Christmas holidays" and it has not yet been established which minister was responsible. (But given the current political climate and public mood, it might well be revealed soon. If so, I will of course tell you.)

However, the attitude alone speaks for itself. And so does an official statement, issued today by the Department of Justice. It says plainly that "any minister is free to do with the official state car whatever he - or she - likes".
On that basis one has to presume that the government's official fox is in charge of the nation's hen houses...

The Emerald Islander

RTÉ transmits misleading Radio Ads again

In my opinion there is generally way too much advertisement in this world, but especially here in Ireland, which is highly over-commercialised in every possible way.

This goes so far that public service vehicles used by Waterford City Council carry stickers advertising the private company they are leased from. Ornamental standing stones with the names of town lands and housing estates always carry the name of a private company that paid for it, and there are - believe it or not - even public rubbish bins in our parks and on the streets that sport a small plaque, saying "sponsored by..." followed by the name of a local business.

One of my regular annoyances is that Radio Telefis Éireann (RTÉ), which is the sole recipient of the compulsory national TV licence money (currently € 160 per household per annum), also fills its programmes on both Radio and TV with a large amount of advertisement.
The whole purpose of having a TV licence is to give a broadcaster financial independence from vested interests, in order to make proper and independent programmes free of advertisement.

The BBC does that very well, but RTÉ does not. It takes the licence money, whose payment is actually enforced with drastic measures, including the arcane and almost Dickensian 'TV Licence Inspectors' who apparently "visit 18,000 premises every month". (That alone is a ridiculous and outrageous waste of money, energy and resources and deserves a separate article at some other time.) Watching TV in Ireland without having a TV licence is actually a criminal offence, and each month there are numerous people dragged into court rooms and fined for it. And a few, who do simply not have the money to pay either the licence or the fine, end up in prison, for nothing else than watching television.

Despite all this, the complete output of RTÉ - on both Radio and TV - is heavily commercialised and filled with constant advertisements. On top of that many programmes are also specifically sponsored by a company or product which is mentioned in extra trailers several time throughout the transmission of this programme.

I have turned my back on TV many years ago and only listen to Radio, so I cannot say in detail how much worse it is with RTÉ's TV programmes. But the advertisement content on RTÉ Radio is bad enough and higher than that of some commercial stations, which have no other income than advertisement.

Not enough that listeners are constantly bombarded with unwanted commercials which are even used to interrupt news bulletins, many of the ads transmitted by RTÉ are strictly speaking in breach of broadcasting rules as they are peddling clear lies or make incorrect statements about a company or product. But no-one (except me) seems to care or feel bothered.
Actually, as things are here, anyone can broadcast a complete tissue of lies and get away with it, as long as the last words of the ad are "terms and conditions apply". And it is quite telling that this phrase is the most common in Irish advertising, appearing in about two thirds of all adds I hear on RTÉ Radio. Most significantly they close all ads for banks, insurance companies and all sorts of other financial services.

But the crooks in the big multi-national companies and their henchmen (and women) in the large lying factories known as 'advertisement agencies' do not stop there. Now they even produce ads with clear and plain lies without attaching any verbal safety net at the end.
Not that this is the first time RTÉ has transmitted misleading ads. It happens ever so often, and one wonders if there is any control of the content at all before it goes out on air. Or perhaps it is all the same for RTÉ, as long as they get paid for peddling rubbish and spreading lies.

The latest example of that is a new ad for Opel cars, which I have heard on RTÉ Radio 1 today for the third time. It indicates that at least some US companies have by now realised that their uncritical support of the criminal Bush administration over the past eight years and their overall imperialist approach to marketing are doing some damage to their international sales figures, especially in Asia and Europe.
So now they have decided to use even obvious lies to win over the uninformed and truly gullible elements of the Irish population, which are quite significant in numbers.

This new ad opens with introducing Opel as "a German company", and that is a clear and plain lie. But for many it sounds alright nevertheless, because Opel started as a German company.

Let us look at the facts: The Opel GmbH was indeed founded in Germany 146 years ago, on January 21st, 1863. It first produced various household goods, but soon specialised in sewing machines. By 1895, the year company founder Adam Opel died, they were the largest maker of sewing machines in Europe and also produced each year 2000 bicycles, then a novelty form of transport that was gaining popularity.
Three years later Opel began also building cars, first in partnership with a German inventor and then with a French engineering company. In 1906 they developed their first own model, and by 1913 Opel was the largest car manufacturer in Germany.

After World War I things looked more dire, even though Opel was still the leading car brand in a devastated Germany. But the economic crisis of the late 1920s with hyper-inflation and political instability ruined many a German business forever.
In 1929 Opel was taken over by General Motors of Detroit, USA, the largest car maker in the world then and now.

So even though Opel began as a German company and still has production facilities there, it is actually a 100% American firm and has been for the past 80 years. To call it now "a German company" in an ad for the Irish market is at best misleading, at worst a plain lie. It has not been done in the past, as long as US cars were seen as somehow desireable here. But now, that many people have turned their backs on the USA and anything American for various reasons, suddenly General Motors declares Opel "a German company", hoping to cash in on the fact that Germany has a long, unbroken and exceptional reputation for engineering excellence.

Well, I do not wish to influence anyone here, and I believe that people make up their own minds in any way they see fit. Personally I would never buy or drive an Opel car, nor any other US car, knowing of the way General Motors runs its business (and has been supporting George W. Bush and other leading Republicans for many years with vast sums of money). And though GM is the worst of the lot, Ford and Chrysler are not much better than their larger rival. However, it is not for me to tell you what car to buy and drive. I just hope you know what you are doing and whom you support with your money.

But I strongly resent the fact that RTÉ, our national broadcaster, is offering itself as a willing accomplice to another deliberate tissue of American lies. I am certain that before this current crisis is over we will see many changes in many areas, including broadcasting. And I can assure you - and RTÉ - that I have an excellent memory.

The Emerald Islander

New Car Tax rewards low CO2 Emissions

Significant changes to Ireland's Vehicle Registration Tax (VRT) came into effect on Tuesday, July 1st. The main difference is that cars producing more CO2 emissions will be taxed higher than more environmentally friendly vehicles. Up to now the amount of VRT was based on the engine size of a car: the smaller the engine, the less VRT was charged.

The new VRT rates range from 14% to 36%, depending on the amount of CO2 per kilometre emitted by a vehicle. It means that more fuel-efficient and lower emission cars will be cheaper to buy, and so-called "gas guzzlers" get more expensive.

The cost of annual road tax for a car will also be based on this model, so less environmentally friendly cars will be charged higher road tax.

A full list of the new rates is available on the website of the Irish Revenue Commissioners at http://www.revenue.ie/index.htm?/leaflets/vrt-new-tax-regime.htm

These new regulations are among the first "green laws" developed and introduced by the Irish government as a result of the participation of the Green Party in the ruling coalition that was formed after the 2007 general election.

In the first half of this year, in the run-up to the change-over date of July 1st, a significant number of Irish people have bought and registered large cars under the old system, including many "gas guzzlers" (among them five Rolls-Royce limousines, 37 Porsches and eight massive Hummer vehicles). The new tax law only applies to new registrations after July 1st and does not effect earlier registrations.

Thus we will have to live with many of the heavily polluting cars for another while, despite the best efforts of the Green Party and its leader John Gormley (above right), who is as Ireland's Minister for the Environment responsible for the new law.

The Emerald Islander