Is confusion over water charges all part of the plan?

They've done it again. After creating a cloud of confusion around the introduction of the Local Property Tax (LPT), the Government seems intent on ensuring that we are kept in the dark for as long as possible about the full impact of water charges.

This week the issue descended into pure farce, starting with reports that a €100 standing charge would apply annually before a single drop of water leaves our taps. Within 48 hours Government sources were indicating that a figure of €50 or less was more likely.

•The installation of water meters is well underway. FILE PHOTO

Then in advance of today’s Cabinet meeting it was suggested that the average household would be charged around €248 a year for their water usage. There were all sorts of vague promises being bandied about regarding extra allowances for people with special needs and additional children, as if this was bringing a good news element to the story.

The Labour horses were spooked and started throwing their toys out of the pram, with some within the party describing the water charges proposals as “half-baked”. With the Local and European Elections little over a month away, you can understand their heightened interest in the issue. Just imagine the abuse that Fine Gael and Labour candidates are getting on the doorsteps over LPT and water charges. The ongoing uncertainty will not help their campaigns and I would have a degree of sympathy for the candidates, particularly those seeking election for the first time.

The water charges issue is a political time bomb and could well prove to be a tipping point in our fragile tolerance for austerity. The sense of injustice is compounded by the fact that there will be a standing charge in the first place. This gives lie to the fiction that water charges are mostly about conservation and responsible usage and not just another State-led money grabbing exercise.

I personally believe that the €100 standing charge rumour was a stalking horse designed to put the fear of God into us all. The fact that it is likely to be lower – at least initially – is supposed to be met with relief and make having to pay the new tax that little bit more palatable. 

 A cynic would suggest, rightly or wrongly, that the Government is deliberately setting out to cause maximum confusion. I suspect that a similar approach was taken when LPT was introduced. There was so much uncertainty created over payment methods and house valuations that it was easy to overlook the unjust and immoral imposition of a property tax as a matter of principle. Hitting mortgage holders with LPT in the wake of a spectacular property crash is akin to increasing taxes on potato farmers during the blight. 

Like many others, I filed my return last year for property tax due in 2014 and then largely forgot about it until a sizable chunk of my month's salary was sucked out of my bank account in mid-March. This was disposable income, by the way, that would ordinarily have been spent in local shops, pubs or restaurants, helping to sustain employment and keep businesses viable. Correct me if I am wrong, but didn't this Government vow to tackle the jobs crisis?

Fine Gael and Labour may be telling anyone who'll listen that LPT and water charges are a legacy of the last Government and to an extent this may be true. However, this Coalition's ham-fisted handling of both issues remains nothing short of shameful. You really couldn't make this stuff up.

A case of 'much done, more to do' for Sinn Féin

If a week is a long time in politics, it seems that three years is an eternity. Back in May 2011, Sinn Féin (with the exception of the now deceased Mayor of Cashel) decided to snub the Queen of England during her historic state visit to the Republic of Ireland.

In doing so, the party badly misjudged the public mood. The royal visit was widely hailed as a political and symbolic success, cementing relations between our once warring nations. As Queen Elizabeth bowed her head in the Garden of Remembrance and recited her cúpla focal as Gaelige in Dublin Castle, the Shinners were nowhere to be seen. Talk about missing out on a photo opportunity!

•Former Taoiseach Bertie Ahern, then Minister for Foreign Affairs Brian Cowen and Sinn Féin's Gerry Adams and Martin McGuinness pictured outside St Luke's, Drumcondra, May 2003. PHOTO BY DARREN KINSELLA

 

Nothing much has changed in Anglo-Irish relations since the Queen's visit and we continue to get on famously with our nearest neighbours. The peace process, despite attempts by dissidents to derail it, has largely held solid. At the time it struck me as curious that key signatories to the 1998 Good Friday Agreement should boycott a visit from the royals. Deputy First Minister of Northern Ireland, Martin McGuinness, didn't seem to have any problems pressing the flesh with the Queen when she was in Belfast in 2012 so why did he not greet her in Dublin a year earlier? Would this have been a concession too far for the party's grassroots members in the 26 counties?

Three years on and we're no closer than we were back then to achieving a united Ireland, yet Sinn Féin seems to have softened its stance and has belatedly come to the royal party. Don't get me wrong, the fact that McGuinness attended the state banquet this week at Windsor Castle was a welcome move and can only but further progress made by Sinn Féin in presenting itself as a legitimate political force on both sides of the border.

Under its present leadership, I believe Sinn Féin is unlikely to make the electoral gains that the polls suggest. For all his new cuddliness and whimsical tweeting, Gerry Adams remains both the party's greatest strength and weakness. He is a symbol of Sinn Féin's Republican ethos but is arguably too close to the party's past for some people's liking.

Unlike Gerry Adams, Martin McGuinness has not denied his previous role in the IRA and is all the more credible for it. Adams has stuck to this mantra for so long now that he's damned if he does and damned if he doesn't.

Mary Lou McDonald will undoubtedly be the heir apparent when Adams eventually decides to stand aside. She performed particularly well during the Dail's Public Accounts Committee hearings into Rehab and her contribution to the recent Garda scandals has been articulate and forceful. She will also appeal to middle-class voters and doesn't have the pre-peace process baggage of some of her party colleagues. And even though Sinn Féin is perceived to be weak on economic issues, the party is starting to find a more coherent voice through impressive Dáil performers like Pearse Doherty.

But to gain a wider acceptance among the electorate, Sinn Féin needs to be unequivocal when it comes to condemning previous acts of violence by the IRA. On a recent television programme, one member of the party refused to condemn outright the murder of gardai by the IRA. He repeatedly trotted out the view that the killing of gardai needed to be seen in the historic context of collusion with security forces in the North, or some old blather along those lines. This is a spurious argument that does a great disservice to the memory of gardai like Jerry McCabe who was killed by members of the Provisional IRA during an attempted robbery in Adare, Co Limerick, in 1996.

Sinn Féin is making strides politically but it might do well to borrow an earlier election slogan from Fianna Fáil - 'much done, more to do'. Martin McGuinness breaking bread with Queen Elizabeth in Windsor Castle was a positive step in the right direction.

Free legal aid for criminals an unsavoury reality

As the Garda controversies drag on, it's difficult to know where to direct your anger. Whether you blame Garda management, successive Governments or politics at large, the thing that galls many of us is the notion of vicious criminals attempting to overturn their convictions in the belief that their telephone calls may have been recorded without their knowledge.

Some of Ireland's most reviled crime figures have already engaged their solicitors. Ultimately it will be up to the courts to decide if they have an arguable case or not. We may not like it, but we will simply have to let the judicial process take its course if an unsavoury ragbag of convicted murderers, rapists and armed robbers look for their day in court, as is expected.

The latest scandal over the recording of phone calls will clog up an already overburdened court system. Cases that are pending will be put back as defendants' solicitors seek to establish if the guards were eavesdropping on their private conversations while in custody. Some of those already behind bars will be having an opportunistic pop at the State as well - even if their guilt has been well established through corroborative evidence presented at their trial. Sure why not? What have they got to lose?

Each appeal will have to be decided on its own merit so it's too early to second guess the outcome at this stage or be able to gauge what impact - if any - the recordings had in securing convictions.

So who'll be paying for these expensive, drawn out appeals? In many cases I imagine that the taxpayer will be footing the bill through free legal aid as thugs without alternative means of income seek to challenge their convictions.

Free legal aid may be a central tenet of our court system but I am personally uncomfortable with the the State providing such a potentially unlimited resource for repeat offenders, particularly those with multiple convictions for offences at the higher end of the scale.

Former hurling legend DJ Carey touched on this issue over the weekend after a relative of his was the victim of a robbery. A national newspaper reported that he lashed out at the millions being spent on "scumbag" thieves through the free legal aid system while at the same time Garda resources have been cut.

On one hand it's easy to have sympathy for this view. Would there be merit in considering a 'three strikes and you're out' approach to free legal aid for certain offences? For instance, if you have had three convictions for armed robbery, should you have to pay for your own defence or represent yourself if you come before the court on a fourth or subsequent similar charge?

In an ideal world, perhaps. However, the latest controversies have shown that gardai don't always behave the way we expect them to in the administration of justice. I still believe that the majority of the force are ethical, dedicated servants of the State. But history has taught us that the Garda Siochana is not above scrutiny.

Thanks to the practice of recording phone conversations in certain Garda stations and in prisons, our courts will almost certainly have to consider related applications for free legal aid. Law abiding members of the public and victims of crime will simply have to stand by and watch through gritted teeth.

Proper enforcement - not disapproving looks - needed to protect children from smoking in cars

I once pulled up alongside a car at traffic lights, glanced over at the driver next to me and shook my head disapprovingly. She hadn't engaged in any reckless behaviour per se. There was no sudden braking, swerving, lack of indicating or speeding involved.

•Pic posed by model

But she was smoking and there were two young children sitting in the back, one of them in a baby seat. A rear window may or may not have been open a couple of inches.

I caught her eye briefly and she extended a single digit gesture in my direction. She knew what I was getting at. In fairness, I had been far from subtle and it probably wasn't any of my business. After all, even though she was inflicting her secondhand smoke on two innocent kids, she wasn't breaking any laws.

Had we confronted one another, I'm certain she would have questioned my right to judge her parenting skills. I had no reason to doubt that her children were the centre of her universe; that she adored them and provided for most of their needs. So did I consider her to be a bad parent for smoking in a car with children? The truth is I did.

Predictably, smokers' group Forest Eireann have rejected a call by the Royal College of Physicians of Ireland for a ban on smoking in cars with children. 

Their spokesperson John Mallon said: "We don't condone smoking in cars with children because it's inconsiderate at best. People shouldn't do it and by and large they don't. 

"The overwhelming majority of parents who smoke wouldn't dream of lighting up in a car carrying a child so why do we need a law that will have almost no impact? It's heavy-handed and extremely patronising." 

He added: "We urge the Government to focus on education, not legislation. That's the mature way to change people's behaviour."

Unfortunately, self regulation doesn't work well in this country. Even where smoking bans are in place - such as within the campus of Beaumont Hospital - I have seen them blatantly breached by patients and visitors, despite the best efforts of staff and management.

The only thing that works in Ireland is proper enforcement. Imagine trying to introduce a voluntary ban on smoking in the workplace in this country? One of the few things we can be grateful to Fianna Fail for is the introduction and policing of the smoking ban in pubs, which came into effect 10 years ago. It was one of those rare occasions when Ireland led the way by seeing through such a progressive health measure. Many other countries have since followed our lead.

The workplace ban has reportedly saved thousands of lives, reduced the level of heart attacks and led to a marked decline in the number of people smoking. Savvy publicans rose to the challenge by reinventing themselves as a thriving food business. Families can now enjoy a quality meal in their local pub without exposing their children to the risks associated with passive smoking. Those who still want to smoke can put on their jacket and head out to the beer garden.

The Minister for Health, James Reilly, has now promised that legislation will be published within weeks to deal with the issue of smoking in cars when children are present. He noted that while gardai would be able to enforce the issue, they probably wouldn't have to due to peer pressure from other motorists. With respect, I have to disagree with Minister Reilly on such a naive assumption. If the disapproving looks of responsible parents was enough of a deterrent, we wouldn't need legislation in the first place.

Parents who smoke in cars when their children are passengers need a short, sharp shock to change their irresponsible behaviour. A combination of penalty points and hefty fines will be required to show them the error of their ways. But legislation will only be effective if proper Garda resources are provided to enforce the measure - just look at the amount of drivers you still see using their mobile phones behind the wheel on a daily basis.

This Government once again has a golden opportunity to be progressive when it comes to reducing the impact of smoking on public health. Politicians will need to pull out all the stops to get the measure through urgently because this time the protection of our children is involved.

Would 'Fr Ted' have escaped a Twitter backlash?

Imagine if Twitter had been around back in 1995 when the first ever episode of 'Fr Ted' was broadcast. If I remember correctly, it was the one featuring the Craggy Island fairground, with its crane of death, pond of terror, spinning cat, tunnel of goats and freak pointing. It still makes me laugh.

I can vividly recall watching it from the comfort of my one-bedroom flat in Ranelagh and realising that this was going to be something special. If I had been able to tweet back then, I'm sure I would have been fulsome in my praise.

•Writer Graham Linehan pictured (centre) with the cast of 'The Walshes'

Those were the dark, backward days of the last century when writing to the equivalent of Arthur's Mailbag or whoever opened the post at TV stations was the only way to vent your spleen if something on the telly box irked you. Never in our wildest dreams could we have predicted a time when you would be able to directly tell the creators of a show - and the world at large - exactly what you thought of it within seconds of the opening credits.

But almost two decades on that's where we are now. Social media, for all its benefits, has given bullies, cowards, creeps, begrudgers - and yes, morons - a variety of outlets for their nastiness.

'Fr Ted' co-creator, Graham Linehan, is the writer behind BBC/RTE's new co-production 'The Walshes', which got the equivalent of a schoolyard hiding on the Twitter machine as the first episode aired. You had to marvel at how so many of the Twitterati managed to multitask with such venomous efficiency. Some balance was brought to the debate by more seasoned commentators who cautioned against a rush to judgement and urged the detractors to give the show a chance. Linehan himself rose to the provocation, advising one tweeter to just try watching the show before calling him a f****** moron.

I knew Graham Linehan briefly in 1987/88 when we were both in Colaiste Dhulaigh in Coolock doing post-Leaving Cert media courses. The Castleknock native was an easygoing, likeable and approachable guy. When I went on to do my work experience in Hot Press, Linehan was already a rising star at the music magazine. His insightful, witty and offbeat film reviews, in particular, raised the bar for critics everywhere. It was during this period at the magazine that he met his 'Fr Ted' co-writer Arthur Matthews. The duo eventually moved to London to ply their trade and through sheer hard graft and not inconsiderable talent ended up creating some of the most memorable comedy in television history.

Linehan is also the brains behind 'The IT Crowd' and 'Black Books'. It took me a couple of episodes to get into the characters in these sitcoms but my conversion didn't take long and I am now a committed devotee of both shows.

And this was indeed the case with 'The Walshes'. There was a lot more of Linehan's wacky form on display in the second and third episodes but it probably wasn't enough to placate the Twitter whingers (Twingers?). It takes more than 140 bitchy characters to be a writer, folks, particularly one that is respected and successful. If social media had been around in 1995, one hopes that Linehan would have tweeted back at critics of 'Fr Ted' with a simple 'FECK OFF!'

Are gender quotas the way forward for Irish politics?

Eyebrows were raised when it recently emerged that the BBC was to ban all-male panels on popular shows such as 'QI', 'Mock the Week' and 'Have I Got News For You'. Top brass at the broadcaster ruled that future shows would have to feature at least one woman. 

Political correctness gone mad, tokenism or a step forward for gender equality in the male dominated world of television? It depends on your viewpoint really. There are some incredibly talented female comedians in the entertainment business although it is still an area dominated by men. A bit like politics.

Fianna Fail's European candidate for Dublin has now called on the Government to show a real commitment to gender equality in Irish politics by dedicating 50 per cent of seats in the upcoming local elections on May 23 to females.

Mary Fitzpatrick, a Dublin city councillor since 2004, knows well what it's like to be a female candidate in a testosterone-fuelled business like politics. She famously took on the might of the so-called Drumcondra mafia to stand in the 2007 general election, losing out to Cyprian Brady on transfers from Bertie Ahern.

•Cllr Mary Fitzpatrick pictured with Fianna Fail leader Micheal Martin after being announced as the party’s Dublin candidate for the European Elections. PHOTO: CONOR McCABE PHOTOGRAPHY

She has been an active and effective public representative on Dublin City Council - not because she's a woman but because she's a hardworking, honest and able politician. As Fianna Fail seeks to rebuild its damaged brand, she is a sensible choice for their European Election campaign.

In the next general election at least 30 per cent of the candidates will have to be female. Cllr Fitzpatrick describes this requirement as "a conjuring exercise". She believes real gender equality can only be delivered if it is first introduced at local authority level and applied to seats - not just names on electoral tickets. 

"In reality we have a de facto male monopoly in Irish politics at present," Cllr Fitzpatrick says. "Less than 16 per cent of our elected representatives in the Oireachtas are female. Women represent 52 per cent of the population but make up just 15 per cent of elected representatives."

Cllr Fitzpatrick points out that Ireland is currently ranked 89^th in the world for female political participation. She is concerned that political parties and groups will find a way around the 30 per cent female quota in the next general election and will select candidates in areas where they know they have little chance of winning a seat. So rather than bringing about any seismic change in gender equality, she feels that the Government's quota system may only make a bad situation worse. That's why she wants 50 per cent of seats in the upcoming local elections dedicated to women.

While there is some merit to her proposal, I am not completely convinced that it is the way forward. In a democracy we are entitled to vote for the candidates who we feel will best represent our interests. They get our votes based on an expectation that they will be effective public representatives - not on the basis of their gender.

We certainly need to make it easier for women to participate in politics. I would favour a system, for example, that requires a 50/50 gender split in terms of candidates selected to run for all local and general elections. This would give the electorate a clear choice in who they want to vote for and would undoubtedly increase the numbers of women councillors or TDs.

In addition, I believe there should be an equal gender split in terms of ministerial appointments. I don't accept the argument that ministerial portfolios should be solely based on experience - just look at some of the clowns that have sat around the cabinet table over the past number of decades.

Mary Fitzpatrick's proposal is a welcome contribution to the debate on gender equality in politics. But like the BBC's rule on women panelists on its shows, is it a step too far? 

Government has undermined gardai by closing stations

I visited my local Garda station recently to get a passport application signed. When I say local, I mean of course the station located closest to my village. You see, our little part-time station was closed down in 2012 as part of the Government's fight against crime.

But we're one of the lucky areas. Our former Garda station isn't being sold-off - at least not yet - and will be handed over to two deserving local groups for community use. So every cloud etc.

But I digress. The guard dealing with my passport application was a decent fella and probably represents the majority of hardworking, dedicated members of the force in this country. There's little doubt that the whistleblower's allegations and the suspected bugging controversy have had a major impact on rank and file morale. How could they not?

The Taoiseach himself said at the Fine Gael Ard Fheis over the weekend that those who seek to undermine the gardai should hang their heads in shame. But it seems to me that the Government is doing a pretty decent job of undermining the Garda Siochana themselves by closing rural and urban stations, reducing opening hours and starving the force of vital resources such as patrol cars.

The guard I spoke to said the lack of cars within the division - and specifically at his station - had gone beyond a joke and was seriously impeding their ability to react to crimes. It means, for instance, that they often can't respond quickly to reports of burglaries, unless they happen to occur within walking distance of the station. Sometimes the gardai themselves get so frustrated that they even consider using their own private cars but are precluded from doing so by the regulations.

The Dail heard a claim recently that 300 patrol cars could have been purchased had penalty points not been cancelled. When you speak to gardai on the ground, you realise how much of a difference this funding would have made had it been channelled back into Garda resources.

The Dublin village I live in was once considered to be semi-rural but saw a population explosion during the building boom of the Celtic Tiger. If anything we now need more policing to reflect this new reality, not less. There has been a spate of burglaries in my immediate area since the Garda station closed. Maybe it's just a coincidence but I don't remember break-ins in our estate on such a scale before then.

Neighbours resorted to looking out for each other, particularly when they were going to be away from their homes overnight or for long periods during the day. Some were forced to go to the expense of updating their alarms or installing expensive CCTV equipment. Local Facebook pages became virtual crime prevention sites.

In some cases the same houses were repeatedly targeted. Those responsible felt they could rob with impunity. Because if you're a low-life criminal intent on ransacking a stranger's home, a town with no Garda station is a good place to start.