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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u4IHEOjHNiA
YouTube: Dublin SAYSNO
MINISTER FOR PUBLIC Expenditure and Reform Brendan Howlin angrily pushed away a camera as he was confronted by protesters asking about the investigation into the banking crisis earlier today.
A video, released by members of two groups, Rage Against the Regime (RAR) and Dublin Says No, shows Howlin being pursued by a number of people as he walked out of the Department of Finance and walked up Merrion Street at around lunchtime today.
As the cameraman gets in front of him, Howlin is recorded grabbing the camera and pushing it away, at which point the cameraman shouts: “Don’t you grab my hand. If you grab me again… ”
Howlin then says directly to the camera: “Will you please go away”, before walking back towards the Department of Finance, accompanied by an aide.
The protesters continued to pursue him and ask him why there have been no prosecutions relating to the collapse of the banking system. One of the men, Vincent Salafia, asks him about the statute of limitations on fraud.
Speaking to TheJournal.ie this evening, Salafia insisted that he spoke to Howlin in a “very calm and non-harassing way”, adding: “He has asked me who I was, I said I was an Irish citizen and asked him questions and he kept walking back to his office.”
Another member of the group, Paul Madden, said that the Minister was not willing to talk to them at all before he pushed the camera away.
He said: “He [Howlin] asked us to go away politely, but we weren’t having any of that. It was very brief and it didn’t escalate into anything else”.
Madden said he has concerns about the leak of the Anglo Tapes to the Irish Independent which he claimed meant that the garda investigation into the collapse of the bank is at an end.
He said his group is trying to put forward concerns that a bank inquiry will be used for political gain by the government. The protesters submitted a number of Freedom of Information requests in person at the Department today.
“Ministers are quite happy to stand up in the Dáil and make statements in that environment,” Madden said. “But when confronted with ordinary citizens they clam-up. We will persist… every citizen has the right to ask a question.”
A spokesperson for the Departments of Finance and Public Expenditure and Reform was aware of the incident when contacted this evening but the Minister’s own spokesperson did not return a request for comment at the time of publication.
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I worked in Google Dublin (and have visited and lunched in many of the offices including in MTV). although the meals are great it’s a great way of having teams go to lunch and ‘break bread’ with each other on a regular basis. in my opinion it’s that team ethic that makes it worthwhile for these firms. the team ethic is amazing
@tallaght two – ‘team’ in this context is a euphemism for a ‘collective’.
from personal experience I have to say I completely disagree. people flock to work there and it’s consistently named best place to work.
A team is a collective, that’s the point.
Google it.
My point is that all corporations now purposely structure their organisations in a similar manner to the communist collective – where the individual loses his significance and importance by being absorbed into a ‘collective’ (team). – where credit for achievement is re-distributed.
Credit isnt redistributed, employees in Google and other multinationala have their performance measured very closely. Two bad performing quarters and you could be out the door.
You’ve just affirmed my point. Their performance is monitored by the commissar (ie team leader) on a weekly basis. Statistics are then passed around to the team showing how everyone is doing, compared to everyone else in the team. The purpose here being to create an internal rivalry within the team to impress the commissar – who is also part if a collective, one level higher with the other commissar team leaders , where the cycle repeats itself.
And what is wrong with that plantation? If you don’t perform you need to be put out.
It’s a pity the public sector in ireland isn’t run like that. Mediocrity is almost rewarded
great ploy by the company to get them to work crazy hours. well done google
I wonder if all these companies will follow suit
http://xcdn.revolution-news.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/CGSWBztWwAMGchv.jpg?iv=3
A normal price for a lunch is around 7e.
1.25e would be heavily subsidised!
Sure nothing could bate me packed ham and cheese sandwiches!
Next the employees will live on site permanently and raise families there. Soon after that the entire complex will be moved underground and the employees will have no knowledge of the world outside and live to serve the company. George lucas made a movie about that kind of thing happening before he realised making those kind of movies doesnt pay the bills.
How often do Google pay taxes ? Actually less then 1.25% of the time.
Sure multi billionaires and their companies need all the help they can get, unlike orphans, the disabled and the ill; I mean fook them right, this is Ireland!
Take those multi billion companies out of Ireland. Many thousands would be jobless and on the dole and the country would be in much better shape.
I worked in Dublin and ate breakfast and lunch in work every day for free, occasionally dinner as well in the evening.
The google stone is real, but it’s also pretty easy to lose weight if you just put in a bit of effort. In my last 6 months there I was able to lost over a stone by picking the healthy stuff from the canteens, that guy who brings his own food in should just learn to eat chicken and veg instead of steak and potatoes every day.
You clearly don’t know much about nutrition if you think it’s steak and potatoes that make you fat :-) Anyway I agree with your general thought it’s all about choices.
Do the pay BIK on their free lunch in Dublin ?
They don’t need to… An employer can feed their staff with no tax complications…
Also who cares
Well they tax health insurance as a BIK , and that would be cheaper than lunch and breakfast for the year . So I guess anyone who pays BIK on other perks care.
Denis only pays 1.25%
Heard of a lady who worked for Google and had time off for maternity leave and they sent lunch to her house every day she was off
I heard they deliver your baby for you and have the baby working by the age they are 2 and they give free milk to the baby.
Do they do a good breakfast roll?
We order off Deliveroo all the time now to our office in Dublin. Pretty good range of stuff and you’re not often stuck for a healthy option. Saves me queuing for a sandwich somewhere anyway.
I just Googled it,says never
My breakfast, lunch and dinner is free in work; I pay €5 a week for my food and my other half makes my granola breakfast cereal for my supper; I love it!!
Facebook also does free food throughout day for its employees. I suppose it’s all about making you work longer and happier spend more time in the office.
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