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Continuing my look through the motions ahead of Young Fine Gael National Conference in Tullamore the next motion to pique my interest is one from my own branch in UCC. The motion reads as follows:

YFG believes that a graduate tax should be introduced for all college graduates as a means of funding their education and the present entry fees should be phased out over 5 years. Households with an income of below €45,000 would be exempted

One the issues I always have with USI and FEE is that they do not suggest an alternative to University fees while protesting against them. With the state of the economy at the moment it would be impossible to countenance the continuation of the free fees policy.

A graduate tax is a sensible  approach to this issue and  viable progressive alternative to fees or loans.

This will be an interesting debate at conference especially among members in college or about to start.

The others motions that have been released

• YFG proposes that an incentive for young farmers be introduced by increasing the number of training places in agricultural colleges – Laois YFG
• YFG approves of the process of fracking as can it can prove a viable energy source in Ireland for the foreseeable future – UCD YFG
• YFG proposes that the 1989 Incitement of Hatred Act be updated to include provisions relating to social media and social networking – Kilkenny YFG
• YFG believes that a graduate tax should be introduced for all college graduates as a means of funding their education and the present entry fees should be phased out over 5 years. Households with an income of below €45,000 would be exempted – UCC YFG
• YFG believes that it is imperative that the ECB renegotiates the current promissory note structure with the Government. It is in the best interests of the Irish economy, the ECB, the Euro and the European Union that the structure of the promissory notes system is changed. Failure to do so will create an unsustainable debt burden for Ireland, causing huge barriers to job creation and restricting growth in the Irish economy – YFG National Executive

Related articles

• What the Frack? YFG to discuss Hydraulic fracturing at National Conference (stephenspillane.com)

The motion from UCD YFG reads as follows

YFG approves of the process of fracking as can it can prove a viable energy source in Ireland for the foreseeable future

Clare County Council recently banned the process while in Leitrim and Fermanagh Hydraulic fracturing is being considered as a viable way of extracting gas that has been discovered.

Fracking though is quite divisive and already protest meetings have been held on the issue.

Australian firm Tamboran claims that there is 40 years worth of Gas in the North West of Ireland while opponents claim that that the Shannon Basin will be polluted which would have serious knock on effects for a lot of habitats down stream.

It will be an interesting debate in Tullamore.

The other motion that has been released so far are:

• YFG proposes that an incentive for young farmers be introduced by increasing the number of training places in agricultural colleges – Laois YFG

Related articles

• Anti-fracking demo in Enniskillen (bbc.co.uk)
• Hydraulic fracturing controversy: what a fracking shambles | Michael White (guardian.co.uk)

The Campaign is chaired by Former Supreme Court Justice Catherine McGuinness. Its board also contains some influential people, including Fergus Finlay of Barnardos and Olivia O’Leary.

The Campaign raises very important issues and more importantly has suggestions to how they should be solved.

This organisation will most likely play a leading role in any referendum campaign on Children’s Rights.

So head along and find out more about the campaign.

More info

• Website: http://www.campaignforchildren.ie
• Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/CampaignforChildren
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/#!/YesForChildren

For Part 1 see here

Minister for Finance Michael Noonan TD today announced the rest of Budget 2012. The main points are as follows:

• VAT: Raised by 2% to 23%
• 1.4c increase on Petrol
• 1.6c increase on Diesel
• €17.32 increase on Fuel Oil (to rise in May)
• €14.46 increase on Natural Gas (to rise in May)
• No Carbon Tax on solid fuels
• 25c increase on pack of 20 Cigarettes
• Capital Acquisitions Tax: Up from 25% to 30%
• Capital Gains Tax: Up from 25% to 30%
• DIRT: Up from 27% to 30%
• Corporate Tax Rate: To remain at 12.5%

This side of budget seems a bit more balanced in comparison to yesterdays cuts. While the 2% rise in VAT will hit the price of everything (including Alcohol, Cigarettes and fuel) it is the only swinging tax announced.

The Household Charge being introduced ahead of a Property Tax can be paid in instalments, so that should lessen its impact. Also the rising of the threshold on the Universal Social Charge takes the low paid out of the Tax Net which is a good thing.

Some of the cuts yesterday still leave some bitter taste. But only time will tell if the right medicine is being given to Irish economy.

Further Reading:

• Budget 2012 (budget.gov.ie)
• Budget Information (www.revenue.ie)
• Budget 2012 Day 2 Keypoints (RTE.ie)
• Budget Day 2 – The Main Points (theJournal.ie)

Related articles

• Budget 2012: Howlin kicks off two-day cuts and taxes plan (independent.ie)

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Today we got a look at the first part of Budget 2012 . Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform Brendan Howlin today announced a series of measures that add up to the €2.2bn in cuts.

The main points that I took from today’s announcements:

• Government will reduce the size of the public service to 282,500 by end 2015
• €250 added to the Student Registration Fee
• Student Support funding cut by 14%
• Student Maintenance Grant cut by 3%
• No new post Graduate Maintenance Grants
• Community Employment Scheme: The training and materials grant will reduce from €1,500 to €500 per participant per annum
• Disability Allowance Cut to €0 for those aged 16 and 17
• Disability Allowance for under 25s cut from €188 to €100 if under 21 and €144 if under 24. Now same as jobseekers allowance
• Drugs Payment Scheme increased to €132
• The frequency of the grant for hearing aids will change from 2 years to 4 years.
• Winter Fuel Allowance reduced to 26 weeks from 32

There are plenty of other cuts and changes announced, see the links at the end for them all.

To me what stands out from this budget is the Disabled. Above I highlighted the cuts to young people with Disabilities, but on top of that there are cuts to the Equality Tribunal, Equality Authority and the Budget for Equality Proofing is completely gone. This is not how we are going to look after people in our society and allow them to live their lives with dignity.

The cuts also focus on students with an increase in Registration fees and grant cuts. We cannot tax our way out of the recession but we do need a knowledge economy we we want to get out the recession so cuts in Education make very little sense.

In these times it is understandable that the Government faces tough choices, and these cuts were probably hard to make. No one is ever 100% happy we a budget, and very few people will be close to that after today’s announcement. But as An Taoiseach warned us in his National Address, these are tough times and tough measures are needed, but they too need to be balanced. The problem with the cuts announced today is that these same people will be hit tomorrow in any announcement of an increase in indirect taxation, especially a VAT rise.

The Minister for Finance will deliver his Budget statement at 3:45pm tomorrow.

Further Reading:

• Budget 2012 (Budget.gov.ie)
• Budget 2012 Welfare Fact Sheet (Welfare.ie)
• Budget 2012 Summary (Citizensinformation.ie)
• Budget 2012 (pt 1): the main points of Brendan Howlin’s announcement (thejournal.ie)

Related articles

• Budget cuts announced in Republic (bbc.co.uk)
• Taoiseach’s ‘State of the Nation’ Address – “Difficult choices are never easy” (irishelection.com)
• Living beyond our means (irishexaminer.com)

He has resigned over the issue of the closure of Columb Barracks in Mullingar which is within his constituency.

He has issued this statement (from Politics.ie

)

It was regret that I tendered my resignation as Minister of State at the Dept of the Environment today.

Over recent weeks and months, I had made my clear unstinting opposition to proposals to close Columb Barracks in Mullingar, so arising from a decision that was made at cabinet today, I had no alternative but to take this course of action.

I fully appreciate that difficult decisions have to be made by the Govt if we are to get out of the economic mess in which we have found ourselves, but I was not prepared to stand over a decision that was not backed up by the facts and figures.

In the context of collective cabinet responsibility, and given my vociferous opposition to this proposal, I could not continue in Govt, and so have tendered my resignation to the Tanaiste, the Taoiseach and the Labour Whip.

I understand and appreciate that significant efforts were made by my Labour colleagues in Govt, who fully understood the depths of my feelings in this regard, to resolve this matter, but to no avail.

While I will no longer hold the Labour whip, I will continue to serve the people of Longford Westmeath as an active and vocal public representative.

While this will not make much of an difference to Government numbers, it may be a wake up call to Labour Ministers that at the end of the day its their constituencies that matter and with €3.8bn worth of cuts to come, it will be a hard time for them at home.

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Tonight at midnight Mary McAleese finishes her Presidency after 14 years as President of the Republic of Ireland. While I do not remember much of her election or the campaign preceding it, I do have a memory of much of her years as President as I was 11 when she was elected and have grown a lot since!

I have lots of memories of President McAleese, from her national address the  day after the September 11th attacks to the visit of Her Majesty the Queen Elizabeth II this year. But I have a personal memory of President McAleese which I will always treasure.

During my time a s a Scout Leader, President McAleese paid a visit to the Family Resource Centre in Togher. It was an emotional and exciting day for the centre as the woman who was in charge had grown up in the same area as President McAleese and was overjoyed at the visit. President McAleese spoke will and with conviction and she received a massive applause.

My great memory though is when she was leaving I was given command of the Guard of Honour being given by the 37th Togher, my unit and the local Guides Group. After giving the commands the President thanked me. She was so genuine and it is a moment I always treasure.

President McAleese has served this country well and she can look back on the last 14 years  with much pride. I wish her and her family all the best in the future.

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On Morning Ireland this morning Fianna Fail TD Dara Callaery suggested that the Government had a series of referendums planned for next year. The question is what will these be on?

Two we know of. They are the long awaited Children’s Rights Referendum and of course a referendum to abolish Seanad Eireann. But what else can we expect?

I asked for suggestions on Facebook and Twitter. There was some interesting answers.

Most people wanted a Children’s Rights Referendum but some other ideas also.

A referendum on Abortion was suggested. This could be two ways, one to allow it, or two to bring Ireland into line with ECHR ruling in ABC V Ireland and the X Case.

Another suggestion was to reform the Presidency. Reduce the age limit and the term of office.

Also suggested was removing all mentions of God from the Constitution.

A look again at Oireachtas Investigative Powers was also suggested.

So what do you want a referendum on?

Related articles

• Oireachtas Powers Referendum deserved to be defeated (irishelection.com)
• Blame game (irishexaminer.com)
• The Forgotten Referendums? (stephenspillane.com)

Image by Getty Images via @daylife

Its all over. The candidates can lie in this morning as its now the turn of the political hacks who all across the country will be turning up to the count centres across the 43 constituencies to start tallying the Presidential Election.

The boxes will be opened at 9am when the votes will be sorted and tallied. Then the Votes for the presidential election will be sorted. Once sorted the votes will be counted and the result sent to Dublin. We wont have a first count result until all constituencies have reported. We then move on to the second count etc until a President is elected.

Once we have a President elected, the attention will then turn to the referendums. I am assuming they will do in numerical order with the 29th Amendment on Judges Pay (#JPREF) first followed by the 30th Amendment on Oireachtas Investigations (#OIREF).

After the referendum results have been announced the count in the Dublin West by-election will get under way and bring the counting to a close.

I myself will be in the Concert Hall in Cork City Hall helping out with the tallying in Cork South Central (#CSC) and Cork North Central (#CNC).

I will be posting updates on twitter! So keep an eye on the #aras11 and find your constituency tag here

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After thinking about all the tweets and facebooking from the Irish Presidential Candidates, I decided to ask them if they would contine use Twitter/Facebook if they were elected President of the Republic of Ireland.

I asked the question on Twitter initially, but then posted it also on the candidates Facebook to give them all a fair chance of responding.

These are the respons in the order I have recieved them and on what medium they responded on.

Mary Davis - Facebook

Hi Stephen, when I am elected I will definitely ensure that social media is a key part of my Áras an Uachtarán communications.

Sean Gallagher – Facebook

Certainly Stephen. I was using both Facebook and Twitter well before I announced my intention to run for the Presidency. Social media and new technologies mean that I can reach people and hear what you, the people of Ireland are saying more clearly than ever before. Best wishes, Seán

Michael D Higgins – Twitter

@spiller2 if elected I hope to continue using social media Stephen #aras11

Martin McGuinness – Twitter

@spiller2 I do indeed Stephen

UPDATE 20:25

Dana Rosemary Scallon - Twitter

@spiller2 I’m still learning, but I will keep it up while I’m in office. It’s a great way to connect with the people. #aras11 #dana

Senator David Norris (Team) – Facebook

Hi Stephen, I have asked your question and can confirmed a David Norris Presidency would certainly be using Social Media to make the Office of President even more accessible while continuing on the fantastic dialogue David Norris has enjoyed throughout his campaign. Admin (Ronan)

I have yet to recieve a response from Gay Mitchell. When I do I will update this post.