The country faces a very serious private pension crisis by 2060 unless immediate action is taken to address deficiencies in the system, according to Fianna Fáil Spokesperson on Social Protection Willie O’Dea TD. Deputy O’Dea was speaking at the launch of a Fianna Fáil discussion paper on Private Pension Schemes today. “We need to start

THREE weeks ago we learned of Enda Kenny’s big plan to take personal charge of reforms at the departments of Health and Social Protection, but what activity have we seen since? Well, not much. This may be down to the fact that the political spotlight has, since the Meath East result, understandably moved from the

Two years ago, Enda Kenny and Eamon Gilmore became Taoiseach and Tanaiste. On the day, an ebullient Enda Kenny announced that he was entering into “a covenant with the Irish people”. Last Wednesday, the Taoiseach and Tanaiste published a progress report on the implementation of that “covenant”. It was, unsurprisingly, covered in gold stars which

HARDLY a day passes without calls from people worried by how the property tax will affect them. They are struggling to pay mortgages; battling negative equity; frustrated by how much they paid in stamp duty; or are beset by all three problems. Their stories are harrowing but, as I have been discovering, they are not

ALMOST three years ago, in the Sunday Independent of May 9, 2010, I argued the case for a radical approach to the then emerging mortgage arrears crisis. Proposing the idea of dividing mortgage debt between the bricks and mortar structure and the plot of land on which it stands, I observed that ” … if

Though normally a staple of the holiday TV schedules, none of the major TV networks ran either the 1981 or the 2010 version of Clash of the Titans this year. Perhaps this explains why two of the biggest egos in the Cabinet have decided to do their own re-enactment of the movie and go to

Next Tuesday Ireland assumes the rotating Presidency of the EU Council. Not only does this mean EU Ministerial meetings being hosted here both, it also means six months of unfettered spinning from the government’s handlers. As we saw from the visits of the Queen and President Obama during this government’s first year in office, both

The Coalition provides obvious candidates for the roles of Scrooge, Heep and Micawber. No matter what age you are, you reach a point around the second or third week of December when the Christmas break cannot come soon enough. This can be due to either a sense of over-excitement or anticipation, or a weariness due

During the June 1983 general election campaign, before he became leader of the British Labour party, Neil Kinnock was participating in a TV debate when the issue of Margaret Thatcher’s leadership during the Falklands war arose. Kinnock was arguing that her arrogance should not be mistaken for strength, when a heckler from the studio audience

One way of assessing what impact the Budget announced last Wednesday might have on the country is to look back and see what last year’s budget had. Last year, the Minister for Finance said: “The core [mission] of this Government is to get Ireland working again.” So, measured up against the yardstick the Government set