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OPPOSITION TDS HAVE hit out at Finance Minister Michael Noonan as he still plans to go ahead with the selling off of AIB shares, despite the Dáil yesterday passing a vote to delay the move.
The motion to prevent the sale of 25% of AIB was proposed by Labour yesterday. As campaigns for the Fine Gael leadership got underway, it seems the government forgot all about it.
The result of this was the Labour motion to delay the sale passing.
However, in a statement yesterday, the Finance Department yesterday said it would not be recognising the vote. As it was on a Private Members Motion, it was “not legally binding” the Department said.
In a statement last night, Labour leader Brendan Howlin said Noonan’s decision showed “a worrying contempt for Dáil Éireann”.
“If the Government wants to override a decision of parliament, then they should table a new motion, and seek majority support,” said Howlin.
Their disregard for the views of parliament amounts to the final nail in the coffin of this do-nothing Dáil.
Speaking this morning on RTÉ’s Morning Ireland, Howlin said the move “really underscores the complete impotence of the current Dáil”.
His statements were echoed by Social Democrat TD Catherine Murphy.
“Instead of respecting the democratic process, Minister Noonan is showing contempt for the Dáil,” she said.
He is trying to justify running roughshod over our parliamentary democracy by saying that the Programme for Government allows the sale of AIB shares.
Labour said it wanted assurances sought to ensure that the money would be used to pay for new homes, schools and hospitals.
In an article over the weekend, Howlin said that the sale would “reduce our debt-GDP ratio by just 1%”.
He said that the estimated €3 billion that the government would get from the sale of the shares must be kept in AIB “until such time as we know we can use it”.
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Labour party showed nothing but contempt for the Irish people when they were in government with fg.brendan has a short memory,the public don’t.
@@mdmak33: If it is one thing the Irish electorate have… it is indeed a very short memory.
@@mdmak33: They helped turn the country from a bailout basket case to fastest growing economy in the EU. They made tough decisions but they were clearly the right ones. Would you rather be like Greece?
@Carl Nolan: Tough decisions?? Do you know what a tough decision is?
A tough decision would be to let the bankers pay their own debts. Let bankrupt developers pay their own debts. Let the bondholders who gambled suffer their losses.
Instead they took the very EASY DECISION and forced those who never owed those debts pay for them.
@Carl Nolan: the Greece shod have exit it there own doings
@@mdmak33: But FG has been doing the same with FF backing them?
@Dave Doyle: well said Dave Doyle!
Place on the AIB board for the soon to be retired Mr. Noonan?
@Yenreit: still a sitting TD so no.
@Paul: Do you honestly think that would deter someone like Noonan?
@Yenreit: And Kenny
Cue the interchangable FG accounts explaining how the government are in the right to ignore our parliament…..
@The Risen: private members bill, they ignore them all the time. If they didn’t there would be crazy laws passed daily.
@Paul: Waste of time and money having them so.
@Paul: It was a private members bill that was PASSED by a vote. That does not equate to “crazy laws passed daily”
Not much point in having a parliament if the government ignores the democratic vote it provides…..
@Paul: It was a private members motion, not a bill. As such it has no legal effect.
Such is “democracy” in the country. Dail votes mean nothing.
@Dave Doyle: Neither does democracy…
It’s best they hold onto them for now. I’d prefer someone more capable and competent than noonan to make the financial decisions for the state.
Please hire a proof reader
The banks and Noonan, two of the greatest evils ever to beset the Irish people. The last kick in the goolies from Noonan from him.
10,000E is the minimum needed to but in.
I just want to tell commentators here that I am not a fianna Gael supporter. Like most people here I continually called out Fianna Gael lies and propaganda as I saw it. This site is riddeled with indoctrinated ultra conservative right wing clones who parrot off Fianna Gael lies and use fake statistics to support arguments. I simply highlighted this every chance I got because we are bombarded by their lies so I saw it as duty to do this.
Yesterday the Journal did something that banned me from commenting. I got no email or was not informed why this happened. I can only deduce that the Journal does not allow any criticism of Fianna Gael. Be very careful what you say. The Journal may as well be called the Irish Independent and it is not democratic or allow freedom of speech in the public sphere. I can only make this comment now as I signed in with a Facebook account otherwise you would not be able to read it. I dispise Noonan and Fianna Gael for the lies they continually peddle and for betraying the Irish people but I see now that the Journal is incapable of handling what real Irish people think. I can only guess that a report or a phone call was made to ban my comments. I used to comment on other sites but I noticed this dubious censorship and control creeping into public debate. Now that this has happened I will be finishing any comments and won’t be contributing here anymore. It is clear that expressing honest opinions openly in a public online forum is no longer acceptable to the Journal. They have become part of the nanny establishment in government. Fair play to those who challenge the daily lies here put up by Fianna Gael liars who try to twist the truth simply because they know we know the truth and they are terrified that we might just inform the public. I think the public already know about the governments lies well and truly so they need not bother. But what is disturbing is the amount of control the media has at the behest of Fianna Gael. This comment section is controlled by Fianna Gael and that is clear. The editor and the articles here are right wing in the majority so they do not reflect Ireland today but only the vested interests. I apologise for the long comment but I may be blocked again so its my last.
@Nointerest Here: those who incessantly accuse others of lies, while having no evidence other than their warped imagination and misconceptions, are most often themselves prolific liars.
perhaps your lying and baseless fantasist accusations are what got you deleted yesterday?
@alphanautica: FG, FF =. Lies.
@Nointerest Here: Maybe blue Hugh is back at the journal to protect FG by banning comments.
Your option can never be silenced and things always seems darker before a new dawn. Don’t let the privileged who have corrupted politics on this island win.
Pick yourself up and prepare for another battle, the world would not be the same without your personal vision.
Never let them know the pain there actions cause, a day will come when this fight against corruption will save us all.
@Nointerest Here: Well written it only hurts them when people like you tell the truth
Keep commenting please
Noonan showing true blueshirt colours. AIB so blue (pun)
It’s a non-binding vote against a clear decision already made by Government. Howlin’ is Spoofin’.
It would be foolish not to cash some portion in now and put the money given to AIB back where it came from.
@alphanautica: the opposition see the sale as a blank cheque which it is not.
@Paul: the same opposition that were whining that money should not have been put in to support the Irish financial system, are now whining when the money is to be taken out.
Lefty lunacy at its useless best.
@alphanautica: Oh here we go more Left Lunacy. You forgot Looney left. You like L’s don’t you. So clever.
Maybe Sinn Fein could ask their ‘old friends’ to advise on how to extract maximum value from a banks cash deposits.
@Honeybadger197: They don’t rob banks anymore, the staff do it now and leave them bankrupt.
@Christopher Treacy: You’re evidently hurt and triggered. The donkeys are their voters.
@Honeybadger197: wow never saw that SF comment coming from you..what a surprise.You are a complete knob.
@Gus Sheridan: Are you a SF voter?
@Honeybadger197: So what if he is. Last I checked we still live in a democracy. Though judging by your Blueshirt parties antics of refusing to accept a democratic Dail vote . If we don’t get rid of you soon our democracy will be eroded.
@Just Me: Another triggered supporter lol.
@Honeybadger197: Maybe Noonan might ask Sinn Fein for lessons on how to calculate fiscal space.
@Honeybadger197: Where is the money there?
Michael Noonan has been shown contempt to the people of Ireland throughout his whole political career, so why in his final days would it be any different?
This is right wing conservative vested interest news commentary. Those with editorial control will make sure those who call out Fianna Gael lies are blocked and removed yet Fianna Gael trolls can spew whatever venon they want unrestricted. The Journal should rename itself The Irish Independent/.
But I thought Noonan was a great fella ?
Needs to be sold and debit needs to drop not spend spend spend Labor.
What do you expect from the party of Property and Security? Sure it’s now high on Property and low on Security. Bankers are revered by FG, no matter what sins committed. FF are but cheaper versions of FG.
€20.8 billion invested to bail them out. €3.3 billion paid back so far. €3 billion expected from sale of shares. €6.3 billoin return on investment. 70% haircut. Hmmph
Howlin had his chances when in government, Noonan was right to put him back in his box where he belongs. There is absolutely no reason for the state to own AIB any longer than it has to once it is showing a healthy profit.
@Chris Kirk: I have no time for Howlin , but Noonan’s judgement is suspect. The selling of the Nama portfolio to vulture funds at a huge loss to the exchequer was and is damaging to our economy. Take as one example Batersea power station sold for 700 million and resold 8 months later for 1.2 billion, that’s hardly good management of our finances.
This man has some cheek to call out fg when he was worse when he was minister their all the same
Why would you sell anything back to them robbers
Noonan’s behaviour is traitorous to Ireland. The hep c monster deserves nothing but contempt
@Nointerest Here:
I concur. …you hit the nail on the head
Example from a real journalist
Retweeted Gemma O’Doherty (@gemmaod1):
The grovelling eulogies to @EndaKennyTD in recent days illustrate the glaring disconnect between the media and the Irish public
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