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1. #DENIAL: As Italy’s 10-year bonds hit record levels today, Silvio Berlusconi has taken to Facebook to deny rumours he intends to resign. He is expected to face two key votes tomorrow, one regarding the budget and the other concerning a confidence motion on his position.
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2. #RICH TAX: New figures show that just five people have paid taxes under the Domicile Levy introduced last year to target wealthy Irish tax exiles who earn over €1 million a year and have over €5 million in assets. Labour TD Gerald Nash says the levy has proven “totally ineffective”.
3. #DRINK PRICES: Minister for Justice Alan Shatter is calling for people to submit their views on the effectiveness of the voluntary code for the sale and display of alcohol. The minister, who just launched a report detailing how difference traders have adhered to the code, is preparing to review the code.
4. #BIN LADEN: A new book by former Navy SEAL commander Chuck Pfarrer has cleared up some of the misunderstandings that arose in the wake of the US raid which killed Osama bin Laden in Pakistan earlier this year. Pfarrer interviewed members of the SEAL team behind the raid and says that bin Laden was referred to as ‘Bert’ while al Qaida’s current leader Ayman al-Zawahiri was called ‘Ernie’.
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I wish Alan Shatter and his nanny state colleagues would piss off and mind their own business about how much we drink. I like most others can make my own mind up and don’t need some pompous windbag of a TD telling me when to drink and how much …….personal responsibility ,parental responsibility, repeat 20 times Alan now piss off and get on with your job and sort the justice system out i will look after myself.
Given that alcohol abuse is a huge drain on the health service, maybe it should be James Reilly.
Or maybe given road deaths, it should be Leo Varadkar.
But it probably falls to Alan Shatter too, due to the huge volume of violence and vandalism caused by drunks, not to mention the random puke and piss all over our streets. Perhaps it’s a tourism and trade issue, or even an environmental issue too, come to that.
I agree with personal responsibility. I agree wholeheartedly with the assertion that education goes a long way to mitigating alcohol’s damage and cost to society as a whole. However, I do not believe that government should stay out of it, as it is government’s job to regulate, and to legislate for bad behaviour, and not many people are at their best when drunk.
Private gain at public cost has been to the forefront of our thinking lately, and this is no different.
You’re right, you don’t need Alan Shatter and co to tell you how much to drink – the cynic in me thinks this move is more a case of the publicans needing their politician friends to tell us WHERE to drink.
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