Fianna Fáil Spokesperson on Social Protection Willie O’Dea has published legislation to crack down on big bonuses for senior bank staff over the next five years.   The Bankers Bonuses Bill (Credit Institutions Stabilisation Amendment Bill 2012 – see full text of Bill below) would restrict bonuses of over €1,000 paid to bank employees on

Fianna Fáil Spokesperson on Social Protection, Willie O’Dea TD, says that the suggestion by Minister Joan Burton that people earning over €100,000 should pay tax on any child benefit they receive is just “gesture politics of the worst kind”. “The idea that you could have both parents earning over €90,000 each and still not have

AS we have seen time and again since it came into office, this government is absolutely obsessed with communications. Its capacity for announcements, reannouncements and repackaged repeat reannouncements has been something to behold. But they would perhaps do well to remember that being obsessed with communications is not the same thing as being good at

A few months ago I wrote about how ministers in this Government could be divided into three distinct categories: the High Flyers, the Passengers and the Weak Links. At the time I identified Phil Hogan and Alan Shatter as two of the Government’s weakest links. I also noted that they were not the only ones.

IN Switzerland they managed to find a particle so infinitesimally small that it once only existed in theory; while in Ulster Bank they cannot find their customers’ lodgement details. The ongoing chaos in Ulster Bank reminds us how dependent we are on the banks, not just for the services they provide, but also for how

THE publication of the new Dail constituency boundaries had TDs and commentators transfixed for most of last Thursday. The fact that the report was due was one of the worst kept secrets in Leinster House. If you believe the “informed sources” the report had been finalised before the fiscal treaty referendum, but that the Government

FOR the past few weeks political debate has focused on bank debt, bond rates and the future of the euro. These are all vitally important for our future, but they do not have the immediacy or impact of the ongoing job crisis. I say ongoing, but the reality — as figures from the Central Statistics

What a difference a week makes, or in this case doesn’t make. Last week I was reflecting on how the people decided to pass the fiscal treaty despite the actions (or should that be inactions) of the Taoiseach. In the seven days since that, we have heard several senior EU figures ruling out relief or

At the start of the referendum campaign, Enda Kenny declared that the Fiscal Treaty vote was more important than a general election. Fine words, but as the campaign got under way he failed to match them with equally fine judgement and leadership. He also failed to follow through on his intention to run the campaign

Brian Farrell’s 1971 book Chairman or Chief was one of the first major political works to analyse the role of Taoiseach. It categorised the holders of the office as either consensus-building chairmen or more autocratic chiefs. Published just four years before Enda Kenny entered the Dail, Prof Farrell could never have imagined that some 40