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THE QUESTION OF whether rank-and-file gardaí should be armed is being debated at the annual conference of the Garda Representative Association this week, as officers meet in Killarney.
It’s a topical issue, coming in the wake of the Paris and Brussels terror attacks – and as a gangland feud continues in Dublin.
Opinion appears divided in the force itself – and when it comes to the wider population, there’s an almost 50 – 50 split between those in favour of arming all gardaí, and those against.
The latest TheJournal.ie/Amárach poll in association with Claire Byrne Live asked, simply, ‘Should all gardaí be armed?‘.
The responses showed 44% in favour and 43% against with 13% undecided.
More males than females answered no: 48% of men were against arming all members of the force, as opposed to 38% of women.
Support for arming the entire force was stronger among younger age groups – with just over half of 18- to 24-year-olds in favour of all gardaí having guns. Among those aged 55 plus, that number fell to 31%.
Note: This poll was conducted before last night’s shooting in Dublin took place.
This would be like making DOB our Taoiseach and believing he was a man of the little guy. Americans fell for it hook, line and sinker.
@john Appleseed: This was one of his election promises. Imagine an Irish politician doing the same.
@Martin Flood: so he promised to be a dick and he’s a dick. Yes, what a guy!
@john Appleseed: I agree with you but I also admire the fact he’s following through on his pre-election promises. I keep thinking of Enda’s “contract with the people” and all the backslapping that was done in the Dáil when he retired. Makes me sick.
@Martin Flood: he actually promised to raise taxes on the rich.
I don’t think the reason the US worker is struggling because Apple’s pile of cash is only $250 billion and not $300 billion.
@Martin Flood: he promised to tax the rich more, and did the opposite.
@john Appleseed: Does it not bring jobs to the little guy? In America the little guy can set up his own company and pay low tax. Its not all just big soulless corporations.
@Bairéid Rísteard:
The top rate of income tax in 1929 was 25% (on people earning $1m+)
The top rate of corporation tax was 11%.
In 1929, the economy shrank almost 26%, and unemployment hit a record high of 25%.
And the kicker is, less than 5% of the country were in a union, and there was no minimum wage!
In the 1950′s and 1960′s, the top rate of income tax was 91%.
The top rate of corporation tax averaged 50%+.
The economy grew faster than 4% a year.
The minimum wage was at its all-time high (adjusted for today’s inflation) of $12. And union membership peaked at 35% of the workforce!
So I guess what I’m trying to say is – you’re a moron and have no idea what you’re talking about.
@Franklin Roosevelt: The post-war American economy had nothing to to with tax or union rates, but everything to do with America being left the only intact industrial power.
@Steven C. Schulz: Aw, nice argument.
So why did the US economy fall into a Great Depression just 11 short years after World War 1?
That totally devastated the European economy. So much so, that Europe began another war 2 decades later.
In fact, Britain went from being the biggest overseas investor in the world, to being one of the world’s biggest debtor nations!
@Franklin Roosevelt: Because initial lack of confidence was worsened by the Fed not expanding the money supply to encourage growth, resulting in deflation.
@Martin Flood: new politics.. a democratic revolution … openness, transparency and accountability .. Paddy likes to know… HOW US THAT WORKING OUT ?
@john Appleseed: well are they not entitled to lower their corp. Tax rate. Ours is very low
@Damien Wallanger: “who could see the corrupt o’barmy and hellary ramping up by trilions the national debt,” -how did Hillary ramp up the debt ? She is some powerful woman…and as for ‘Obama’ ,there was a reason to why he added to the debt..were you asleep ?
@john Appleseed: Slagging off President Trump-how very original.Did you think of that all by yourself?
@Franklin Roosevelt: He promised to cut Corporation Tax and that’s what he’s doing. How can you be missing this point?
@Martin Flood: no, he promised to cut taxes on low and mid income families. That does not happen in this bill. Those families will be out of pocket. Pretty much anyone earning less than $100,000 will pay more.
@Franklin Roosevelt: Well that’s one hell of a funny way to end your spiel…… this old journal has lost its sense of humor with the misuse of the word troll and people jumping down Fiona’s throat.
@Franklin Roosevelt: there was no equivalent of a Marshall plan after WW1 which American used to capitalize on and grow its industrialization and economic output and exports and then create lots of jobs
@Franklin Roosevelt: I think Trump pointed out the fact corporation are legally aloud to avoid taxes by setting up operations in tax havens like Ireland. Lowering the corporate tax rate is exactly what we did and guess what we took in more corporate taxes overall.
I wonder how much money him, his family, and cronies will make from this.
@WinSomeLoseSome: An estimated $1billion.
@WinSomeLoseSome: Now the republicans have their tax cuts (under the guise of Trump) he’ll be thrown to the wolves.
@WinSomeLoseSome: So you haven’t hear that Trump donates his salary to worthy causes ever quarter, you should do some research.! Name any President who has done the same ?
@Ursula Scanlon Doyle: no he doesn’t. He gives it to a government dept. That lunatic devos Recently got a cheque to continue running an already disgraceful education system.
@Ursula Scanlon Doyle: FAKE NEWS
Tax cuts for billionaires whilst his applauding support base will be told theres no money to fund their needs.
@Honeybadger197: more or less what FG did since 2011 .. sold the country on the cheap to vulture funds, while at the same time took medical cards from terminally I’ll children. Priorities!!!!
@Ian Kavanagh: “More or less”. I suggest you examine the details of what Trump is doing and reassess your statement. Ffs.
@Honeybadger197: FG told dying children .. “sorry kiddies, it’s tough but no medical cards for you .. now please fu#k off” ..
then turned around to vulture funds and said “everything going half price … and while your at it, you don’t have to pay any more than say 1% tax” ..
Amazing how people can see Trump do his crap and ignore what FG did. FFS indeed.
@Ian Kavanagh: Christ. Theres plenty of FG articles to sink your teeth into. If you’re happy to run with a false equivalence go ahead. Will we do a quick compare and contrast between how FG treats it people versus how the Trump administration does?
@Honeybadger197: the think is Honey .. you get so worked up when Trump does it .. but when it happens closer to home, you say NOTHING.
COWARDS do nothing, fail to speak up when the see wrong. It makes my blood boil to see so many cowards in this country.
But hey .. Continue to point out Trump’s mistakes if which there will be many .. and ignore those at home.
@Honeybadger197: BTW.. YOU think FG didn’t removed medical cards from terminally I’ll children while at the same time allowed sweet heart tax deals for vulture funds? I haven’t a tally seen you deny it occurred.. or expressed any outrage over the difference in their treatment .. OK look over there .. it’s Donald Trump !!!!
@Ian – nice try,but no cigar! Honeybadger has you by the short and curlies.There is absolutely no comparison to what Trump is doing..
@The Lad: honey stated that Trump is giving tax breaks to tell rich while telling ordinary people to fu $k off … it’s basically what FG did since 2011 … substitute the rich for vulture funds …
It’s amazing how people can’t see this? Maybe they have list their curlies as you like to call them … but hey, screw those dying children… right? More important to keep the vulture funds happy.
@Sean: yes I am. But at least I speak the truth .. better to be a moron than a coward. Right ?
@Honeybadger197: is the same in Ireland
Corporation tax 12%
Self employed 42% poor self employed kill yourself
Pay back time! Happy Christmas capitalism! Wait till his minions wake up in the New Year and find out it’s all at their expense…
@Polly Dolan: wepl put Polly!
@Polly Dolan: There’s little Capitalism anymore, it’s the free market.
@William Grogan: There never was a capitalism. It’s a Marxist straw man. There has been a free market, to a great extent. A free market is a good thing, and has nothing to do with rigging by government, protectionism and downright cronyism.
@Polly Dolan: welfare claimants dont pay tax. His base is not going to lose anything.
11 months in office and first legislative victory – big win? NOT
@John Flood: but for him…. it’s probably the only reason he ran, that and his mega ego.
@Jack O’Connell: has it ? What happens to the little peoples taxes in 2027 ?
@Jack O’Connell:
Yes great for humanity , the rich get richer and the poor get poorer.
I wonder what he is doing for the people who elected him.
@Jack O’Connell: he’s only a patsy for the republicans
@Jack O’Connell:
Nothing the Don does impresses me I despise that man so much.
Just think of the size and wealth in America and then think of little tiny Ireland . We are hardly a big threat to the most powerful country in the world.
When will this madness end? When will the super-rich have enough to satiate their obscene greed?
@Fifty Shades of Sé:
Time to do a Weinstein on the rich. Name and Shame the most greedy of them.
Why does anybody need Shedloads of money anyway. Can’t bring it with you when you die.
@Fifty Shades of Sé:
Generally when capital tax rates fall, overall yield to state increases, as there’s more transactions/buy,sell of assets.
Falling CT rates in USA, should leave more cash in the hands of Entrepreneurs for further business investment, including in staff training, plant upgrade, R&D, higher staff wages, marketing, corporate entertaining etc.
It should also boost overall yield, from higher profits in firms at home plus it should encourage MNC’s to repatriate untaxed profits
currently resting in bank accounts in tax havens around the world.
Everybody wins under this measure by The Donald.
Ireland’s Charlie McCreevey, himself an experienced bizman like Trump, got CGT tax reduced to 20% around turn of the century, resulting in overall yield improving many fold.
@Rory J Leonard: High taxes and their spinoff paid idleness is one of the most destructive illness of present day welfare rather than working states.
He’s winning big every day, The fake news and faux SJW outrage isn’t making one bit of difference he will be elected again and then we will see huge social change.
@Dean Burroughs: Never.Ever.Inject.The.Cherry.Flavoured.Kool-Aid.
It’s Lethal stuff.
@Dean Burroughs: you idiots are starting to sound like him now.
Anyone watching the documentary on CH 4 Trump-An American dream. The man is off his head and possibly one of the most narcissistic people your ever likely to come across.
@john-Doe: Let’s hope Trump does not watch
C4….Britian badly needs a trade deal with the US post Brexit….
@john-Doe: I would expect nothing less from the leftish Channel 4!
@Ursula Scanlon Doyle: are you saying he’s not a narcissist? He puts his name on everything!!
Trump represents the interests of the billionaire class who had him elected. The Mercer family funded the weaponisation of social media for this purpose.
It is time for Trump to look after his backers.
@Fiona deFreyne: Actually Trump was only presidential candidate who funded much of his campaign in a generation….One of the reasons Hilary lost is that she trusted too much in big data and social media….She spend much more on big data computer analysis….Social.media and mainstream media was almost totally on her side…..
@John003: fact check – Once Trump got the republican nomination his self funding dropped dramatically. His personal contribution to the presidential campaign amounted to about 7% . He was funded mainly by small donations of less that $200 but also by several billionaire backers, including Robert Mercer, Sheldon Adelson and the WWE. These tax cuts will screw the former and massively benefit the latter. On inheritance tax alone it has been estimated that the Trump estate will benefit by up to one billion from his tax bill.
Look at the activities of Cambridge Analytica a company run by Robert Mercer, his biggest backer (13.5million). They helped target his social media spend (5000 data points on every US citizen used to target message and advertising)
@Damien Wallanger: you are very wrong on this. You can still visit his campaign website and see the big DONATE button on the top right corner, that’s where all the folk he was fooling with his BS gave their small donations. These are the people he is now in the process of shafting with these tax reforms. His corporate backing is also widely documented. Not on the level of other politicians.It is an utter fallacy to say that he was self funded. There is no media spin here – the facts are in black and white here – http://classic.fec.gov/disclosurep/pnational.do. But dammit – truth doesnt really seem to matter for much these days. You probably think that was the biggest inauguration crowd in history too.
So Trump ran for president and changed the law to reduce his tax bill on his companies.
Wow.
Well we will get to see over the next few years are companies setting up here for the fantastic highly educated workforce or is the main reason corporation tax a perfect storm may hit us over the next couple of years. Best hold off on buying that house and forget the frenzy times are just uncertain for that level of investment as we depend to much on other countries.
@Wayne Walsh: European countries are also reducing employment destructive taxes.
This is a guy, who was voted in ’cause he said he’d do certain things, and now that he’s doing them, he gets slated? The only people who spread hate about Trump, are the people he’s out to break, who have raped his country for years.
@Paul Culligan: who are the people that have raped his country for years ? Be specific..
@The Lad: don’t expect sense after that bs.
@The Lad: Agencies like the National Security Agency that was kept hidden from the public, or the National Reconnaissance Office that remained a secret for 30 years before it was revealed by Snowden, or as far back as the 1918 NY Mayor Hylan, quoted as saying: “The real menace of our Republic is the invisible government, which like a giant octopus sprawls its slimy legs over our cities, states and nation with its coterie of powerful international bankers running the United States government for their own selfish purposes”. Those agencies, The Lad, and more recently revealed ‘The Press’, owned by the very bankers that Hylan spoke about all those years ago, and not forgetting WikiLeaks recently blowing the lid on Hillary and all the corruption. Those type of agencies!!
@Paul Culligan: What an absolute pile of shyte
This is huge. The Democrats will not like this at all if the bill gets through. America’s corporatipn tax is among thw highest which makes no semse when you consider all the large corporations that have left the country.
The standard deduction for a single person is doubled to 12,000 and 24,000 for a married couple. This is huge. Obama raised the national debt by 13 trillion over 8 years.
@Joe Caulfield: “Obama raised the National debt by 13 trillion over 8 years” = Bull sh.it
I’ll bet you $13 trillion dollars that you couldn’t put up the policies of Obama that “raised” the National debt by $13 trillion ..are you on mr “debater”? :-)
Tacked onto the bill is the right for oil companies to drill for oil in the alaskan national park. The man is a disgrace.
Just get rid of tax all to getter.
Change the whole system to many imagery jobs to many consultant fees etc…
Then Like the way some countries have road tax paid through petrol.
Put a tax on every thing, then like the UK have your NHS contributions for health care.
So where’s the 15% shortfall going to come from for a debt ridden country then? Oh yeah the little people will cover that
@Stevie Doran: not his supporters though. They don’t work.
This fool has hundreds of businesses outside the USA. His daughter gets all her stock from sweatshops in China.
The ultimate hypocrite is Donald
@Jack O’Connell: as if the device you both just posted with
@Jack O’Connell: Richard ceann
have your say