Fine Gael will hold a public meeting on Monday, December 7th to consult residents on the recently published Draft Masterplan for Blanchardstown Village. The meeting will be held in the Crowne Plaza at 8pm and will be co-hosted by Leo Varadkar TD and Cllr Eithne Loftus.

‘I hope that there will be a good turnout. If approved, the Masterplan will be the blueprint for the re-development and re-generation of the village over the next twenty years. I want to ensure that residents have their input into the plan. Blanchardstown has developed in a haphazard and piecemeal way over the past few decade and is not the attractive urban village that it should be’, said Deputy Varadkar

The Urban Design Framework Plan for Blanchardstown Village is a sort of blueprint showing how the village might be developed over the next twenty years or so. The plan proposes:

• A new village square as part of the redevelopment of Superquinn & The Greyhound;
• A landmark pedestrian bridge linking the village to the Centre;
• Envisages how certain sites might be developed in the long-term including the Bell, Ryan’s Garage, Justin’s, the lands behind Springlawn, the JCDecaux site, the Blanchardstown 4×4 site and some other backland sites;
• A pedestrian connection through Summerfield rears its head again;
• Improved signage in the village, access to the Tolka Valley, parking; and
• Bus bays and cycle lanes

The plan can be viewed on-line at http://www.fingalcoco.ie/Planning/PlanningItemsOnDisplay/ Residents can make a written submission to council outlining your views on the plan Senior Executive Officer, Planning Department, Fingal County Council, County Hall, Swords, Fingal, Co. Dublin, or they can be e-mailed to devplan@fingalcoco.ie on or before 5.00pm, Thursday 17th December.

Jobs, jobs, jobs must be at heart of next Budget

Fine Gael Enterprise Spokesman Leo Varadkar TD has warned that Ireland is on the cusp of a long-term unemployment timebomb, which according to the CSO has shot up by 55% in the last 12 months.

“Ireland is already grappling with the return of emigration and widespread joblessness. We are now also facing the return of long-term unemployment, with the CSO revealing a 55% increase over the last 12 months.

“Fine Gael is the only Party to set out concrete and effective proposals on jobs. But Fianna Fáil has ignored repeated calls from Fine Gael to develop a strategy to retain existing jobs and create new ones. The Government has one last chance to make amends by putting jobs at the heart of the next Budget.

“Ireland now has the second highest unemployment rate in the eurozone. That is why the Budget must introduce a comprehensive package of jobs measures, including Fine Gael’s proposal to cut employers’ PRSI, avoid cuts to the capital budget, and freeze all Government-imposed charges on business.”

There was an article in the Irish Time’s last week entitled “Wealthy Pay Most Tax? This simply is not true” by Anne Costello of the Community Platform. I sent a letter to the editor which I include below.

Madam

Anne Costello of the Community Platform makes a valid point when she says that €1 billion could be raised by reforming the tax relief regime which allows many high earners to avoid paying their fair share of income tax. However, the bulk of her article does not stand up to scrutiny and I am surprised it was published.

She says that a third tax band of 48% for single person incomes over €100,000 could raise up to half a billion in 2010. The correct figure is €375 million. She estimates that increasing capital taxes to 30% from 25% could raise another half billion. This is total non-sense. Only €452 million has been raised in capital taxes in the year to October. Receipts have more than halved since last year even though the Minister increased the rate in the Emergency Budget. She then goes on suggest that abolishing the PRSI ceiling, a carbon tax, a tax on land, a wealthy levy and a small increase in corporation tax could make up the remainder of a seven billion package of tax increases. She gives no figures to support this.

She also seems to miss the bigger picture. The budget deficit is not €7 billion. It’s €23 billion. A return to growth might erase some of that, but we would still be looking at a structural deficit of about €15 billion that will have to be closed through tax broadening and lower public spending. Even if Ms Costello’s €7 billion tax package stood up to scrutiny, she would still need to find €8 billion in cuts. An article from the Community Platform on that topic would indeed be interesting.

Yours etc

Leo Varadkar TD
Leinster House
Dublin 2

• Dog licence costs more to administer than it raises in fees
• Money could have vaccinated 20,000 girls against cervical cancer

The dog licence administered by John Gormley’s Department actually cost taxpayers more money than it raised last year, representing a net loss of some €2.9 million, Fine Gael Enterprise Spokesman and Dublin West TD Leo Varadkar has revealed.

Deputy Varadkar has called on Environment Minister John Gormley to explain why it costs almost €3 million more per annum to administer the dog licence than is currently raised in fees.

The information was provided to Deputy Varadkar in a Parliamentary Question, which confirmed that dog licences cost €5.7 million to administer in 2008, but raised only €2.8 in fees in the same year, representing a net cost of €2.9 million per annum.

Re\ Castleknock Gate to Phoenix Park

Dear Councillor,

I wish to inform you that the County Council has been advised this afternoon that the Castleknock Gate to the Phoenix Park will be re-opened to traffic on Sunday next 22nd November 2009 at approximately 3.00 p.m.

Yours faithfully,

Tommie Mc Manus

Administrative Officer

Fat cats win again

Fat Cats

The fat cats have won again as Brian Cowen announced in the Dáil this morning that he has rubber-stamped the appointment of AIB insider Colm Doherty for the bank’s top job, according to Fine Gael Enterprise Spokesman Leo Varadkar TD.

“This isn’t regime change, it’s business as usual for the banks. Brian Lenihan is working for the banks, not for us. He’s presenting himself as a strong man by defending the salary cap. But he’s giving in on the most important issue: the fact that an insider is getting the top job.

“We were promised a change in corporate culture and proper regulation of the banks. Instead the corporate governance guidelines which were supposed to herald a new era in finance have been abandoned. The CEO and Chairman will be the same person. This is corporate governance at its worst. The fat cats have won again. But this is exactly the sort of ‘success story’ that we have come to expect from Fianna Fáil.

“Mr Doherty was on the board of AIB when it transformed itself into one of Ireland’s most reckless lenders. He was also in charge of the Capital Markets section of AIB which dealt in its own shares and routed money through tax havens in the Pacific and the Caribbean. Mr Doherty, like the rest of AIB’s board from that era, should be long gone by this stage.

“This is further confirmation that Brian Lenihan is the banker’s man in Leinster House.

“The sobering lesson from this experience is that in any showdown between this Government and the banks, it’s the banks that win. The banks have been guaranteed, recapitalised and NAMA’d by Fianna Fáil. With Fianna Fáil in Government, the banks will continue to get an easy ride, but in the process, they are riding roughshod over taxpayers.

“I don’t accept that AIB was unable to find an outside candidate. If Anglo Irish Bank was able to find an outside candidate, AIB should be able to. The bank could at least have advertised the vacancy in the international press.”

Lenihan: the bankers’ man in Leinster House

AIB is giving two fingers to taxpayers and the Fianna Fáil Government by ignoring the €500,000 salary cap for its new boss Colm Doherty and reportedly paying him €633,000, according to Fine Gael Enterprise Spokesman Leo Varadkar TD.

Deputy Varadkar also accused Brian Lenihan of being the bankers’ man in Leinster House by agreeing to almost every demand and request from the banks since the crisis started.

“AIB is giving two fingers to the country: one finger to taxpayers and one finger to the Government. The ink has not even dried on the NAMA legislation and already Ireland’s largest bank is behaving like a law unto itself. The banks are showing that in spite of being bailed out with billions of euros from taxpayers, the fat cats are still putting their own greed ahead of the country’s need.

“AIB’s decision to appoint Mr Doherty as managing director, and for Chairman Dan O’Connor to take on an executive role, is little more than a special purpose vehicle to get around the salary cap. It is also bad corporate governance to combine the executive and Chairman’s roles. This scenario gave rise to problems at Anglo Irish, DCC and FÁS.

“I note that Mr Lenihan claims he has not approved these arrangements. However, he has accommodated every demand from the banks to date, from the bank guarantee onwards. Brian Lenihan is the bankers’ man in Leinster House. He must now refuse the appointment and the salary level.”

A constituent sent me on an email last week, which I thought I’d share with you. Its a humorous take on taxation.

TAX CODE EXPLAINED

Suppose that every day, ten men go out for beer and the bill for all ten comes to €100. If they paid their bill the way we pay our taxes, it would go something like this:

The 1st – 4th pay nothing (poorest people)
The 5th would pay €1.
The 6th would pay €3.
The 7th would pay €7.
The 8th would pay €12.
The 9th would pay €18.
The 10th would pay €59. (the richest person ).

So, that’s what they decided to do. The ten men drank in the bar every day and seemed quite happy with the arrangement, until one day, the owner said “Since you are all such good customers, I’m going to reduce the cost of your daily beers by €20″. Drinks for the ten now cost just €80.

The group still wanted to pay their bill the way we pay our taxes, so the first four men were unaffected. They would still drink for free. But what about the other six men – the paying customers? How could they divide the €20 windfall so that everyone would get his ‘fair share’? They realised that €20 divided by six is €3.33, but if they subtracted that from everybody’s share, then the fifth man and the sixth man would each end up being paid to drink his beer. So, the bar owner suggested that it would be fair to reduce each man’s bill by roughly the same percentage, and he proceeded to work out the amounts each should pay. And so:

The 5th now paid nothing instead of €1 — (100% saving).

The 6th now paid €2 instead of €3 — (33% saving).

The 7th now paid €9 instead of €12 — (25% saving).
The 9th now paid €14 instead of €18 — (22% saving).
The 10th now paid €49 instead of €59 — (16% saving).

Each of the six was better off than before and the first four continued to drink for free but, once outside the bar, the men began to compare their savings.

The 6th man declared “I only got €1 out of the €20 but the 10th man got €10″.
The 5th man declared “I only saved €1 too. It’s unfair that he got TEN times more than me!”
The 7th man declared “Why should he get €10 back when I got only €2? The wealthy get all the breaks!”
The first 4 men yelled “We didn’t get anything at all. The system exploits the poor!”

The nine men surrounded the tenth and beat him up. The next night the tenth man didn’t show up for drinks, so the nine sat down and had beers without him. But when it came time to pay the bill, they discovered something very important…..they didn’t have enough money between all of them for even half of the bill!”

And that, boys and girls, journalists and college professors, is how our tax system works. The people who pay the highest taxes get the most benefit from a tax reduction. Tax them too much, attack them for being wealthy, and they just may not show up anymore. In fact, they might start drinking overseas where the atmosphere is somewhat friendlier.

And so it came to pass…..!

Earlier this year, Fingal County Council approved an application for work to be carried out on a triangle of land between the Clonsilla Road and the Clonsilla Link Road. This involves developing a mixed use residential and neighbourhood center which includes 2,3,4 and 5 storey apartment blocks and retail outlets. In common with many of the residents in the area, I have considerable concerns about this development which has been appealed to An Bord Pleanala by the Portersgate Residents Association. Therefore, myself and the local Fine Gael councilor Kieran Dennison made a submission in support of the appeal, the text of which can be accessed below.
…[more]

Need for broader job creation approach

The poor take-up of the temporary employment subsidy scheme and the Tánaiste’s announcement that the criteria will be widened for the second round proves that Fine Gael was correct in its initial criticism of the scheme, which only benefits a small number of employers, according to Fine Gael Enterprise Spokesman Leo Varadkar TD.

“The fact that the number of redundancies reported to the Department of Enterprise rose to 6,561 in October, from 6,012 in September and 5,888 in August, is further evidence of this.

“The Government’s approach to job creation and retention is flawed. All businesses in all sectors need to be supported in order to maintain employment and create new jobs. That is why we need a National Competitiveness Action Plan to cut the costs of doing business and make Ireland attractive to investors once again. This must include:

• Reductions in the cost of utilities such as electricity;
• A freeze or reduction in Government charges and local authority rates;
• A freeze or reduction in employers’ PRSI, which is only a tax on employment;
• Red tape must be slashed;
• Reform of the Joint Labour Committee system, which sets minimum rates in the retail and leisure sectors among others.

“There is also considerable merit in redistributing the welfare budget to support more people to stay in short-time employment.”