LETTERS to the editor
05 September 2010 IFA response on farming cuts
I refer to your article on the Bord Snip proposals (No saving grace, 29/8/10) and would like to set the record straight on agricultural cuts.
The analysis of the proposals fails to take into account the fact that the government made a preemptive strike and imposed cuts totalling €135 million on farm families before publication of the Bord Snip report.
In the October 2008 and April 2009 budgets, the disadvantaged areas scheme was cut to 37,000 farmers, the suckler cow incentive was halved, forestry premiums were cut by 8 per cent and the early retirement and young farmer installation measures were abolished.
Since then, the REPS 4 environmental programme has been closed, and the replacement scheme saved the exchequer a further €20 million in 2010.
The imposition of these cuts contributed significantly to the collapse in farm incomes last year to historic lows.
The agri-food sector can drive exports and job creation. The government’s food harvest 2020 strategy has ambitious targets to increase output by up to a half. Supporting primary producers through farm investment and restructuring schemes is essential to drive output growth and food exports, which are critical to our national economic recovery.
John Bryan, President, Irish Farmers’ Association
Kildare council controversy
It is naive to assume that council officials are less likely to be corruptible than councillors. They are less amenable to scrutiny, and councillors can’t fire them, as electors can the latter.
In reference toKildare County Council’s Charlie Talbot (Letters, 29/8/10), perhaps the public would be less apprehensive about giving Kildare County Council (KCC) a clean bill of health if it were more open.
For instance:
1.Contrary to the minister’s instruction, KCC’s unauthorised development files haven’t been made public.
2. In 2007, councils initiated prosecutions of one in four suspected cases of unauthorised developments; KCC prosecuted nobody.
3.KCC has breached its obligation not to stay or abandon enforcement proceedings against planning cheats who apply for or obtain retention permission.
4.Cases of irregular development are ‘regularised’ by KCC without penalty.
5. Planning files at KCC don’t record whether planning levies have been paid. In 2008,KCC’s auditor cited uncollected development levies of €88.6 million, €64.2 million being ‘‘unrealisable’’.
6.KCC recently dumped 20 contract planners in a cutback, and planning decisions now rest with unqualified administrators.
7.Administrators who reject line-planners’ recommendations must give written reasons, but that’s not happening in KCC.
8.Councilsmust normally meet publicly, but KCC’s area committees habitually exclude the press when discussing planning matters.
John Colgan PC, Leixlip, Co Kildare
Golf clubs need better signage
Fáilte Ireland has had signposting responsibility for the golfing industry for the last three years, and I have been working vigorously with it on the issue of motorway signage.
The Irish Golf Course Owners’ Association met the National Roads Authority (NRA) at Christmas, and the NRA agreed that golf courses which were given the new Fáilte Ireland certification of approval of national standards framework would be given direct signposting on motorways.
Mount Temple was one of the first to receive this approval, but I was informed by Fáilte Ireland that this direct signposting at junction 7 on theM6 motorway - which carries about 250,000 golfers every year - was not going to be provided.
We originally had Fáilte Ireland signposting on the N6 national route, but our golf course and golf academy have been invisible for the past two years due to the lack of M6 motorway signage.
We are currently proceeding with a €7 million development at the golf course, yet, although tourism is our second natural resource and needs every support, our friends in the NRA don’t seem to understand this. They seem to act in a very similar way to the way banks acted in the past, and appear answerable to nobody.
Michael Dolan, Mount Temple Golf & Country Club, Co Westmeath
Appointment of judges
Though appointments to the episcopate and the judiciary are made in private, these organisations have traditionally been afforded a special status in society in recognition of their role as administrators of their respective laws.
Because of the manner in which these appointments are conducted, we are not made aware of the criteria, if any, used in the selection of those chosen for promotion, leading to the belief that politics play a major role.
One must assume that a sound knowledge of the law is a prerequisite for both - in the case of bishops, with proven spirituality. However, it is fair to ask if there is any vetting of those selected and, if so, by whom it is conducted and the terms of reference.
It is reasonable to expect that the observance of the law by those being considered for appointment has always matched their knowledge of it. If their actions or inaction in their past have damaged others, how have they reacted when confronted by their victims? Have they been honourable and made amends, or used evasive tactics to hide their guilt?
Bishops are being forced to resign because of their failure to carry out their duties. This, however, is rare in the case of judges whose constitutional protection would seem to extend even to their pensions.
Pat O’Connell, Coolock, Dublin 5
Curb needed on ESB cut-offs
The likes of the Society of St Vincent de Paul will doubtless be called on to assist families who will find themselves under severe financial pressure if we have another freezing winter like last year.
What is the ESB going to do to help alleviate the suffering of families?
Padraig McManus, chief executive of ESB, earns about €15,000 a week, a staggering amount. But then again, ‘short of a few bob’ would be the last words you’d use to describe the state of the ESB’s finances.
It recorded pre-tax profits of €580million last year, despite the fact that it cut off supply to around 800 or 900 homes a month. As a semi-state company, the government should exert some control over it.
J Woods, Gort an Choirce, Dun nGall
Tiger terror
The Celtic tiger is by no means dead. It is alive and well in the form of banks, bankers, financial institutions and politicians.
The difference compared to other years is that the Celtic tiger is now eating its young, ie the taxpayer.
Mathew O’Reilly, Canada
Migrants: how many are here?
Last year, more than 2,000 non-EU nationals claimed residency rights in Ireland by virtue of marriage to EU nationals. In the first half of this year, almost 1,200 applications occurred.
The availability of such factual information contrasts, alas, with the dearth of reliable data on aggregate immigration. Do we know how many migrants reside in the state?
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