Cabinet Reshuffle

@Celtic Phoneix – you beat me to it.

There is more substance to ths reshuffle than meets the eye. If you go back to the famous day when the unions were shown the door 7 cabinet minister rebelled against the Taoiseach and sided with Lenihan. these were believed to be Hanifin, Ahern, Cullen, O’Dea, Harney and the two Greens.
Of these 7, Cullen and O’Dea are gone to be replaced by unknown quantities. Hanifin has been shafted. the balance of power in the Cabinet has shifted to the pro Cowen axis. Moroever, ilness will diminish Lenihan’s powers in the months ahead.

Against this background, the Unions have been ushered back into the tent and are sitting quietly in the corner waiting their turn. I would expect a significant shift in budgetary policy for 2011.

I note that Mary Coughlan did not get Science, I wonder why?

@John McHale

In answer to your question – Does it matter? – YES, it matters bigtime. NO CHANGE is the message. The upper_echelon Kleptocracy who got us into this mess are strengthening their grip on the legislative arm.

On Primetime – listening to Pat Carey praising the board of Anglo-Irish (see all me previous on this) as Anglo-Irish provide pay rises to certain members of its remaining 1200 staff was simply surreal. The Ides of March is passed – and we are essentially DONE. 1789 anyone?

@David O’Donnell – good to see the new man in craggie can defend the indefensible and knows little or nothing about labour markets

@Oliver Vandt:
“The hype about how reorganising departmental responsibilities will inevitably result in massive positive transformation is unrealistic and worse still potentially very damaging.”

How can you be so cynical [allusion alert] when you see that responsibility for greyhounds is to be transferred to the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food?

Is Albert Reynolds still in the government?

bjg

“How can you be so cynical [allusion alert] when you see that responsibility for greyhounds is to be transferred to the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food?”
make lovely pets, im told….

@Brian Lucey:
“make lovely pets, im told….”

Make lovely petfood too.

bjg

Obviously we are looking at export markets like Korea,
Maybe they fit on a skewer better than any other dog?
Good night

@All
“On page 31 of yesterday’s Mail on Sunday is a piece about Frank Fahey. Brian Carroll reports that the Fianna Fáil TD and property developer failed to declare his 50% stake in construction firm Sage on the Register of Members’ Interests published earlier this month. Not alone that, but he had failed to mention it in last year’s Register too.

When Carroll asked Fahey why he didn’t declare the interest Fahey claimed it was a “clerical oversight”, i.e. he forgot about it. He forgot about holding a 50% share in company in which he has invested over €1m during the last five years? A company which still owes his wife more than €900,000?… Seriously? Upon receipt of Carroll’s enquiries Fahey rushed to the the clerk of the Dáil and asked for the record to be amended show he had an interest in Sage.”

http://thestory.ie/2010/03/22/fahey-fails-to-declare-50-stake-in-construction-firm/
Frankly it’s a bit fishy.

@Greg:
“All we need now is “My Lovey Horse” in the Senate.”

You’re inciting at us ….

bjg

One serious change is that PRTLI, which funds university research, has followed Batt from Education to Enterprise & Employment. Previously it came under the HEA. This fits in with the whole innovation bandwagon, of course.
But it cannot be good for much university research, in the humanities, social sciences and other areas, which cannot pretend to have an employment angle. This is a really bad signal to many academics.

The most economically significnat change related to employment services.

The OECD has been scathing in Ireland’s existing services for the unemployed. Too many agencies providing the wrong sort of services. The missing ingredient identified by the OECD is ‘activation’ measures. This means having a system whereby the unemployed regularly meet with advisors who move them onto training programmes or jobs.

Take the UK. People claiming unemployment benefits in Britain have to attend interviews with welfare officials 30 times more that their Irish counterparts. They have to prove they are seeking work, attend job interviews and participate in training courses.

The first step to creating such a ‘one stop shop’ here for the unemployed is a re-configuring of Government Departments. Yesterday took care of that. However this is only the first step. However, the next step of transforming the various social welfare offices, local employment schemes and FAS offices into a cohesive network of offices is a huge task.

@ Ronnie O’Toole,

“Take the UK. People claiming unemployment benefits in Britain have to attend interviews with welfare officials 30 times more that their Irish counterparts. They have to prove they are seeking work, attend job interviews and participate in training courses.”

That didn’t require cabinet change.

@Kevin Denny

“… theres not many jobs in Philosophy.”

Quite! Never do to teach the serfs to think now – would it? Or to highlight the inability of the political class to think, or the inability of the ‘trained’ economists to figure out ontology, or the inability of humanities to discourse with engineering/technology to discourse with the arts to discourse with psychology to discourse with political science to discourse with business to discourse with the democratic process to discourse in languages other than English with the rest of the world ……… a complex world demands inter-disciplinarity and philosophy provides, if in part, a suitable foundation ……. in layman’s terms ‘joining the dots’ ……….

Without a base in philosophy, and a fundamental understanding of epistemology, ontology, and method – it doesn’t matter how many doctorates one has – imho – one is not educated. Read Ferdinand’s [DCU] letter in yesterday’s IT and in previous thread here – and Google Humboldt’s idea of the University. For far too long Philosophy has been subject to far too many ‘mental reservations’ around here due to the influnce of yet another set of hierarchical upper_echelons – and it shows in the narrowness of thinking in all walks of life, with a few exceptions …

Roll Over Risk Sarah O’Connor FT LEX

A lovely irish woman now on US TV.

http://www.clipsyndicate.com/video/play/1359574/ft_s_lex_columnist_o_connor_on_europe_sovereign_debt_video

@ Mickey Hickey

And a fine English accent on her.

Irish roll-over risk could be a problem then if markets get jittery again.

@ DOD

“Without a base in philosophy, and a fundamental understanding of epistemology, ontology, and method – it doesn’t matter how many doctorates one has – imho – one is not educated.”

Can I have fries with that!
Al

@Al

French existensialist, American pragmatic to go, Kantian germanic, Classical Ciceronian, Bog Skhins an all, Antrim Aristotelian, Offaly Roman, …….. just look up Al – they are all on the menu (-;

@Al

We fried all the managers Al. Cost cuts – you know – the smart economy and all that – we don’t need managers anymore. Like to try a little bulguggi while waiting …. lightly done … fresh, we only fried him this afternoon (-;

@ DOD
I am taking my custom to another innovative food company
with equally qualified employees.
(-:

@ALL
Homer Cowen may have pushed them too far this time. From highly reputable poster on another forum:

“To say that FF TDs are seriously p-d off is an understatement. They are friggin’ furious with him.

They believed that he had to do a major reshuffle for two reasons:

– The party desparately needed the cabinet to perform better to stave off a disastrous defeat. There is talent on the backbenches. But the cabinet is jaded and under-performing, with their only first class performer seriously ill.

– If they lose power and have a very large number of losses, they may be too far back to come back in one go, especially if Labour and FG get on and stick together, SF remains in single digits and the Greens are wiped out. In effect there would be no other party to make up the numbers to bring them even close to forming a government. So in a worst case scenario a two-term spell in opposition is possible. If so, most of those in their fifties and older will have retired, or be too old for cabinet after two periods in opposition. So it was vital, they believed, that some younger ministers be appointed, so that if they were out of power for a prolonged period there still would be people around with cabinet experience in the thirty-third Dáil.

Cowen did neither of these things. FF TDs despair of Harney, but she is still in place. They see Coughlan as a disaster, yet she is still in a key position. They see Éamon Ó Cuiv as mediocre, yet he got a promotion. They see Hanafin, though not personally liked, as someone who is competent. Instead she gets shafted and demoted.

They saw the reshuffle as the last chance Cowen had to rescue the government, and are right royally p-sed off that he made a balls of the reshuffle, somehow managing to increase the average age of an already jaded and old cabinet.

They are so fed up with the situation most could not even bother to turn up for the PP meeting.

Will there be a heave? The odds suggest something is happening. Journalists spotted a number of TDs tonight congregating ‘off campus’ in a city centre hotel for what looked suspiciously like a meeting. TDs who could be relied upon, when approached by the media, to deliver ‘I support Brian’ messages were suspiciously silent. TDs’ staff were grumbling about the reshuffle – if the TD loses a seat, so does his secretary and PA. So they too were desparately hoping the reshuffle would kickstart a revival. They don’t believe it will.

FFers seem to have been hoping that, out of character, Cowen would seize the moment and radically rebuild the cabinet and boost the party again. They seem to be a mix now of the furious, the resigned-to-defeat and the despairing. This was, they believed, his last big chance to save them, and he blew it. And they are not happy campers.

So I will not be the least surprised if moves are made against him.

The only thing that might save Cowen is the paucity of the alternatives in the party. The obvious person, their ‘dream leader’, is seriously ill with cancer. Martin has the reputation as a ditherer who commissions endless reports and does nothing. Coughlan would be even worse than Cowen. D Ahern is detested as arrogant and obnoxious. Hanafin is able but also arrogant and school marm-ish. Never before as FF found itself so lacking in terms of alternative leaders at a time when a lot of the party feel they desparately need an alternative. Previously there would be at least 3 or 4 potential leaders.”

@All
It sounds like Homer is facing a leadership challenge.
http://www.breakingnews.ie/ireland/fianna-fail-rebel-calls-for-others-to-join-him-451367.html

@David O’Donnell
Fully agreed. We need a general election and a new administration that gives us the complete blunt truth, bank resolution legislation and a referendum before another cent is put into the zombies, Anglo/Nationwide.
We have already lost THIRTEEN THOUSAND MILLION on Anglo alone (4 by the government plus 9 of the 10 put in by the central bank). We are now about to lose another NINE THOUSAND MILLION. So we will have lost TWENTY TWO THOUSAND MILLION, 22,000,000,000 on Anglo with thousands of millions more to lose on the other banks. This madness must stop. The senior bondholders must share the losses (as they would do if it was wound up) and the subordinates must be totally wiped out.

@ALL

Anyone got a link to those DDDA Reports?

Just wondering if my 95% stat sig*** on Corporate Governance Yesterday = Corporate Governance Today might need to be updated?

@ Oliver Vandt & David O’Donnell,

Absolutely correct on the Anglo Repo of €10bn with the Central Bank.

If memory serves the ECB as pawnbroker has €30bn of Anglo Repo crap.

Now, I think the ECB gets its wad back in NAMA bonds and the Government knows in no uncertain terms that a debt owed to the ECB is National Debt.

The simple question that neither Fine Gale, Labour or Sinn Fein are asking is this….

Will the Central Bank of Ireland be repaid if Anglo get a further €9bn of cash from the State?

The answer of course is they won’t.

So, are Fine Gale, Labour & Sinn Fein just too stupid to ask the question or do they want Fianna Fail & the Green Party to do the dirty work, finish their term and then say “Ah sure there’s not a thing we can do about it in the whole wide world, no pay up peasants”

@Joseph
Brian Cowen is the Unreal Taoiseach.

@Joseph
RTE ignored the O’Dea story until almost the final hour. They may be doing it again with the spiralling discontent with Homer. Poster Tommy O’Brien again on another forum:

“”I thought McGrath entering the fray would have added legs to this story. However, there is no mention of it thus far on RTE.

Is this a similar situation to when at the height of the Willie O’Dea controversy RTE just decided not to cover that story….until they had to??!!”

That is all-too-typical RTÉ.

For example, earlier this week Cowen insisted that the Government could not intervene on the issue of pay increases to senior Anglo staff. When challenged by Enda Kenny, he replied by saying “as you know, or should know” the government cannot intervene.

His usual abuse however, was misleading. Kenny replied by quoting the relevant section (section 50) of the Statutory Instrument that explicitly empowered the government to intervene. Cowen was caught out, and stumbled badly, deciding when he couldn’t win the argument, and was shown to be spoofing, to make personal attacks. Gilmore returned to the issue in his question, with another law which would allow the government to intervene. Cowen again was obnoxious and abusive when caught out.

Everyone in politics saw the one minute clip of Cowen being abusive and saying that he could not intervene, and Kenny replying “you are wrong” and quoting section 50, as a classic example of Cowen being caught cold. Even FF TDs saw it as a disastrous performance by Cowen, and his complete demolition on Kenny, who kept his comments tight, focused and blunt, quoting chapter and verse of the SI.

So how did RTÉ cover it?

On the One O’Clock News they showed it, and Gilmore’s later clip referring to another Act.

On the Six-One News, Kenny’s gutting of Cowen using the SI miraculously disappeared, with the clip showing Cowen attacking Kenny, and then a different comment by Kenny that edited out the meat of Kenny’s response.

By 9’O Clock, all that was shown was Cowen’s abusive attack on Kenny. The fact that Kenny quoted the SI to demolish Cowen mysteriously disappeared entirely. So did Gilmore’s quoting of another Act. So viewers watching the 9 were left with the impression that Kenny called for Cowen to act, Cowen said in an abusive manner that he couldn’t, and that was the sum total of the discussion. That Cowen’s comments were disproved by two different leaders using two different pieces of legislation, was missing.

That is common with RTÉ. Either deliberately or through incompetence, the key fact shown in Leaders Questions, that Cowen was proven wrong, had disappeared.”

p.s. I also suspect that there’s an actual FF unit that goes round nobbling the media. This is something I’m currently looking into and will drop a note on this blog if I find the proof.