The bombshell announcement comes at a particularly crucial moment, as boosters and children’s shots are being weighed by the regulator…
..A former senior FDA leader told Endpoints that they’re departing because they’re frustrated that CDC and their ACIP committee are involved in decisions that they think should be up to the FDA. The former FDAer also said he’s heard they’re upset with CBER director Peter Marks for not insisting that those decisions should be kept inside FDA. What finally did it for them was the White House getting ahead of FDA on booster shots.”
GiggidyGoo
That article in the examiner about the vetting of doctors makes worrying reading. Slapstick/slipshod methods of interviewing. No Garda vetting. Lack of a knowledge of english (would be handy to have english wouldn’t you think). Etc.
HSE again.
And a €35m refund not received. (coming to think about it, what ever happened about those ventilators that weren’t approved for use, but paid for by the HSE?)
GiggidyGoo
Anyone remember any previous story about Coveney’s phone being hacked in the past? No? Did he report it to the Gardai? How did the investigation go?
He must think that the members of the Foreign Affairs Committee came down in the last shower.
“Government Minister fails to protect data with a mobile security app, and thinks deleting messages will protect him” That would be some headline alright.
Yeah, right, Simon. Lame.
GiggidyGoo
Also reported. “Mr Varadkar last night said he did not recall having any text message conversations with Mr Coveney over the Merrion event but would have to check.” The usual “have to check” line.
Leo the Liar or Simon the Story-teller?
Does Leo not delete messages from his phone – how will he check?
Looks like Coveney’s efforts to try an unseat Leo now might have taken a bit of a setback
That’s handy
ian-oG
To be honest, I can see this gov going the distance. Unless the Greens take issue with something and pull out.
So yeah, it will go the distance.
As for his ‘my phone could be hacked/storage space’ excuses, to quote Biden ”come on, man!”.
Its quite difficult to hack a mobile, especially an iphone and as for text messages taking up space? They are a couple of KBs amongst what is likely a 128 or even 256MB version. One photo would equate to hundreds of text messages. Now it is possible to hack a phone alright but if you are a senior government minister you have access to high level security experts who can help you harden your device and give you advice on what you can do to prevent you downloading malware which would leave you exposed. So I am not buying his excuse for a second!
I’d say Leo is in great form the last while though.
Agreed
they are in it for the long haul
you could tell they were stuck tight to each other with the vote early on in their term to seal the birth records
that said tho
more time will help Mary Lou – she needs 25 or even more candidates
I know for a fact she is already hoping to unseat two of the out of the blues from GE2020 with tastier parachutes onto their tickets
Bitnboxy
I’d say Pascal is likely the one with the most ambition to dethrone Leo. Steely behind that unassuming exterior. Although, he is not in the best of constituencies.
I agree the government is likely to last than not- the housing crisis has more or less taken any chance away from FF to pull the plug. I certainly would not want to go to the electorate based on their current performance. I suspect FF will get more assertive though re FG as shown by Barry Cowan’s comments on Zappone.
Fergalito
Can you imagine the kind of- next-level tripe that will be trotted out as examples of achievements when we do have a General Election? I’m shuddering at the thoughts of it and the spin – so much spin that it could bounce anywhere, not enough back-spin to take the teeth out of the spin-bowler.
Ugh.
Bitnboxy
Barring something crazy happening, the fate of the government and particularly FF and the GP hangs on housing. All the other stuff is simply noise (and at times an annoying but helpful distraction for the government) and pales in comparison. With now 5m people in the Republic and an outrageously dysfunctional housing and rental market, this issue is not going away anytime soon. I really don’t know what progress they can make in a few years beyond promises and mass shoebox build to rent developments.
Slave to the Rhythm
Agreed and you can see they are literally shovelling money at the problem now.
The thing is once they’ve figured out a bit of strategy on it, the problem will have changed. Hence why they are demanding now that everyone goes back to work.
If they had to service a more dispersed housing market with people working at home etc, that will be an absolute cl(sterf*** and their little brains would not be able for it.
Fergalito
But we’ve been here before with housing, in fact the recent cycle relatively speaking is such that it occurs once in a decade or even less. It doesn’t seem to impact in any way on the election outcomes. For the last ten years it has been housing and homelessness to the fore in terms of issues having a lasting impact and with no sign of any let-up. There have been no tangible, clear improvements, no radical citizen-first policies or policy-outcomes. I think it’s just a persistent rearrangement of deck-chairs on the deck of the same boat that is heading God knows where. As long as citizen-Ireland is on a boat, any boat he/she doesn’t really seem to give a fig.
Bitnboxy
I disagree about housing not being determinative in elections. Last election housing and health blew up out of nowhere and I have no doubt the Shinner success (which even took the Shinners by surprise given their lack of candidates) is due in large part to the loaned votes of frustrated young people. Heck, to ward off the Shinners, FG and FF (with their depleted ranks taking FG particularly by surprise) were forced together making history of sorts. Covid just masked the importance of the issue but it is simmering away and will be front and centre next election, if it doesn’t explode before that again.
That being said, we are moving to a fractured European style of politics where no party is likely to ever hold a commanding majority and unhappy eclectic coalitions the norm.
Slave to the Rhythm
What Fergalito said…
People talk about the Big Pharma Conspiracy, the 5G Implant Chip Conspiracy, the whole COVID IS A HOAX Conspiracy… oh my god
You know what the biggest con of all is? And it’s not fake or exaggerated.
It’s the conspiracy that fools people into somehow imagining these elected and unelected super-annuated fools collectively have our interest at heart, and even if some of them did, that they would ever be able to DO anything to improve our lives.
Go on, call me a cynic, I DOUBLE DARE YOU..
SOQ
Agreed Fergalito but there is a certain percentage of the electorate who will only vote for a party which has a chance of winning and this is the first time that SF have been considered to be a serious player.
Strategically, by not going into collation with the rest ,they have played a long game and are offering a clear alternative which is very popular with younger voters.
First of all
there is going to be a reshuffle – probably around the time of the Leo/ MM swappsie
None of them have clean hands on housing
the move to privatise Social Housing goes back to the 90s and the rainbow government
and nobody has stopped it or attempted to change it since
none of them
Regarding the era of industrial absentee landlords, well that’s all Fine Gael
and I can point it directly into the hands of Noonan and his last run as Finance Minister
For it was him that brought Wilbur Ross and the Hedge Fund Cartel in
After that Dublin Firms were rolling out the Red Carpet in front of them
Did ye know that there was actually a Conference here – 10ish years ago?
Hosted by Grant Thornton for all the foreign owned Hedge funds & Equity Managers, specifically on the theme of distressed assets and residential opportunities here
what I wouldn’t give for the signing in logs and the conference agenda
That whole period – 2010-2020 – and it dawned with BoI, with Noonan as the Midwife, has some story to tell
Its a stay tuned btw
But I’ll give ye a bitta’ve spoiler
Putting Eoghan Murphy into Environment/ Housing was no fluke
It was orchestrated from a long ways off
Only person with kinda clean hands over the last 10-12 yrs is in fact Paschal
Otis Blue
Ross bought in to BOI in 2011 and sold out in 2014 with a cool €500m profit. He was on the BOI board around 2012 or so. Think he may still be involved in Cardinal Capital who are still active around the place.
Fair points all – there is a chance that the next GE will be a far more interesting and radical affair than ALL of the other elections that will have preceded it.
We need a social reformation – someone to hammer a nail to the door of the status-quo with a list of new ideals, a new vision. Given that ideals by their nature are just out of reach, it’s always good to have a horizon in sight and ground covered over which we can view and confirm the direction of travelling.
I’m aware of course that waiting for “someone” is the equivalent of complaining about everything while doing nothing about. While i’m not so naive as to expect a radical transformation of the political landscape, i think as citizens we need to take more of an active role en masse rather than watching from the sidelines. Of course it’s all “hope lies in the Proles” territory.
Think i need a cup of tea, i’m tying myself up in knots here…..
ian-oG
Great summation there V, thanks.
Cian
I don’t know where the rest of you are living, but almost *everywhere* I go in South Dublin/Dub Laoghaire there are masses of housing being built. Anything from 2/3 houses on a small plot, through 4-5 apartment block (or possibly those 3-story terrace houses), up to 100+ developments. There are cranes everywhere.
There was a pause in building after the first wave in 2020; but I think most of them are full steam ahead.
Nigel
I’m old enough to remember a time when lots of house-building went on and prices and rents only continued to go up.
Johnny
Link.
Link,link
Backup
Data
Link please
Wtf is “masses” is that a culchie thing ?
Any new houses in ballybrack,masses huh
ian-oG
@ Cian – I live in Lucan and close to where I live (older part of Lucan) there has been massive amounts of building done in the last few years. Very little additional infrastructure but then they are being built for profits only, the societal impact doesn’t matter to either the developers or the current (and ALL previous) governments and I still have to squeeze through the same bottlenecks as before except there are now an order of magnitude (this is not hyperbole, there are at the very least, from a visual check, at least 10 times more vehicles if not more on the same route) more vehicles doing the same run as well.
I know a guy who is renting one of these new homes, over 2K a month for a rather tight space with one parking space that he has had quite a bit of grief over with people taking it even though it is clearly marked with his house number on it. So yeah, lots of houses, feck all infrastructure but someone is making lots of cash and others are shelling out ridiculous sums for a rather basic unit with barely room for one car to park.
But hey, so long as the narrative is BUILD BUILD BUILD that is all the Irish Times,Indo and the government want to talk about. Ignore the inconvenient facts and just blame SF for ‘blocking developments’.
I personally have no issue with these new homes outside of the lack of proper infrastructure, the more the merrier I say, I’ve even got a few benefits in the form of a new supermarket that has become my regular and some of the older roads have been resurfaced but try to access the N4 now from where I live and it takes anything from an additional 5 to 15 minutes to do so, used to be on the N4 in about 5 mins or less about 2-3 years ago, not anymore.
I can tell you by year end 2021
Dublin 12 will have circa 1500 new residential units from Crumlin Drimnagh and down into Ballyfermot on the Kylemore Road
And not one will be made available for sale
Fergalito
I’ll believe it when the housing and homelessness issues are solved or at least tangibly on the way there. The explosion of cranes on the skyline and building sites hither and tither are meaningless. We’ve been here before, a high CSO crane count means money hand over fist for developers based on my experience. It is not commensurate with affordable homes or rents that bear a sensible relationship to the average industrial wage, for example.
This year we saw whole apartment blocks and housing estates hoovered up by vulture funds. One story so far a few days ago about a 90% profit margin on a flipped social housing unit. It’s not a great benchmark.
Resolving the issue or at least improving it is not the problem, the solutions are all out in the open and don’t have to be complicated.
Wilbur sold the bundle he bought from the Minister for Finance in two tranches Otis
there was a period of 6 maybe 8 months there where the Minister made two very significant u-turns on court actions taking place in the UK at the time
and after that we were screwed
Regarding the insider trading – yep he did have information only privy to a Board Director that can be tied to the timing of his second disposal, absolutely
but then loads of Directors hold shares that they buy and sell
The Minister at the time being one himself shur
so it was never going to go anywhere
other than a repeated grudge amongst the BoI former shareholders and many of their wounded debtors who they pursued in the Courts
I’ll be writing it up – been promising to get it done all Summer
anyway
stay tuned I suppose
Otis Blue
Cheers V. Look forward to it.
Slave to the Rhythm
Cheers V I am also looking forward to reading this, thank you
Your RTE stuff is always great as well btw.
Cian
@Johnny,
There is some stuff in Ballybrack – where church road meets Wyatville (at St Johns school) there is a 47-home development.
Further up Church Road, nearer the Graduate, there is another site for 42 apartments .
At the other end of Wyatville Rd you have the new Cherrywood village and 2,400+ planned homes.
goldenbrown
lol, that deleted messages excuse is a pile of excrement
although he could say whatever he wants here as he (and his personal device) are not the subject of a criminal investigation
I expect this to be the way forward now for all politicians if he’s let away with this guff
damaged credibility though
Mr T
Should be standard practice in this day and age that any “work” phones need their texts etc backed up externally – for FOI purposes.
ian-oG
You can get lots of centrally managed software platforms that will do just that. They also come with advanced encryption, remote control options, locator software and so on. They have been around quite a while as well.
You can take a full back of the phone at specified intervals and remotely wipe them (this is also available freely with most phones anyway). The only reason you would not want to be using a platform like this is if you wanted to get up to stuff and not have your actions be visible or recorded. But for a senior government minister, as you rightly say, FOI is incredibly important if not mandatory I would have thought, although I would not be up to date on whether or not that is true?
Mr T
Something like that needs put in place for transparency in any public office (incl gardai)
Sho9uld be no more “I lost my phone” excuses from commissioners
Liam Deliverance
+1
Otis Blue
On the hacking issue Coveney probably took advice from his constituency and current Ministerial colleague, Michael McGrath. Just to be safe like.
Tony Hooligan and Co now really pushing this idea that it is the unvaccinated who pose a threat to the vaccinated, which is anti science BS. In the IT, the headline with “Delta variant likely to circulate ‘extensively’ among unvaccinated, Holohan warns”. The Indo even heads its article “Threat: Counties with the lowest Covid vaccination rates revealed”. They are very clearly and obviously seeking to demonise and vilify those of us who choose to decline vaccination as is our right. If the respiratory season swings back in and the vaccinated start dropping like flies, they will ramp up this demonisation campaign to place the blame squarely on those who refused to submit to their authority. It is Tony and Co who pose a clear and present danger to those of us who value our individual rights and freedoms. It also now seems clear the vaccinated are strong vectors for the virus, carrying much higher viral loads in some cases than the vaccinated which flies in the face of Tony’s propaganda campaign against us. One wonders whether this winter will see things turn really ugly, just as they sell us their latest hopey message. It always follows this same pattern. A period of seeming rising hope, before they crush it once again with a new variant, or mutant strain as they liked to call them last Christmas. This is a well known psychological tool to induce psychosis in a group. You lift their hopes and then crush them in repeated waves until they become so demoralised they accept whatever it is they are told by the ruling authority and follow obediently. I really really hope we see things open up fully in October but fear we are simply being lined up for another big hit before being plunged into a dark winter…let’s hope not…
scottser
delta is so 2020 – we’re all about the mu now.
Rosette of Sirius
All I can say it must really suck to be antivax these days….
Slave to the Rhythm
All I want to say is
They don’t even care about us
SOQ
Really? What with the emerging injuries and now talk of a booster which will soon become every six months- I am quite happy not to be on that pharma merry-go-round.
I’m not anti vaxx of course- just safe vax and if I am wrong then I can always get it later. If I am right however and some form of say ADE emerges- what are you going to do?
John
Is that you Bodger? Your anti-vax misinformation and downright lies appears to be very similar to the ridiculous “just saying” Bodger posts on on BS that are of course total BS!
Bodger
No. I only comment under this name.
SOQ
What I have expressed above John is my personal opinion- I have not presented it as anything other than that.
That you perceive such as ‘misinformation’ says very little about me, but a lot about you.
scottser
did you get the jab yesterday bodger, is that why you were late with the usuals this morning? how’s the arm, have you tried the magnet yet?
ian-oG
@Scottser – Bodger is now Bogcutus of Borg.
His first of many implants are complete, soon he will be one with the vaxxed collective. This place will be renamed Borgsheet and the mascot will be a little robot doggy.
Strangely though, the non ferrous alloys in his implants are not generally magnetic, many are made from carbon bucky tubes and ceramics. Ironic, don’t you think?
;)
E'Matty
Sure Rosette, let’s see how you get on when your vaccine begins to wane and you meet the wild virus. Signs of ADE with Pfizer in Israel when waning. I remain perfectly healthy, with no Covid, and no vaccine in my system. You have a potential time bomb ticking inside your body.
Enjoy your soon to arrive booster shots. And if you don;t take them, all previous vaccines received will count for nothing. You too will be treated like an anti vaxxer so be careful what kind of an environment you help create against such people.
scottser
the graveyard is littered with smug idiots like you.
E'Matty
@Scottser – oh right, so tell me, how many fit and healthy 40 year old males with no underlying conditions and a healthy immune system supported by regular exercise and a good diet have died in this pandemic? The country is littered with low IQ gullible idiots like you.
Nigel
E’Matty, have you actually looked up the answer to that question, with data on how many ended up on ventilators and with long-term injuries to supplement it? Because it’s defninitely non-zero.
i’m just sick of smug bottomhats on both sides gigs, that’s all.
my comments are still valid – do what you want with the vaccine or not, just keep your stupid opinions to yourself and leave others be.
esmuggy up there is a case in point, just can’t keep his gob from slobbering all over the comments here.
Micko
We know exactly how many have died in Matty’s age group. (Which is also my own age group)
35 people since March 2020. With no data on their previous health status. But let’s say they were all super healthy.
Personally I would still class that as minor risk. But to each their own.
And yes, they should publish official data on any long term injuries, because without it it’s just a combination of conjecture and hysteria.
Slave to the Rhythm
I agree with Scottser on this particular poster and their comments which, in general, I do not find particularly pleasant, interesting or helpful –
GiggidyGoo
You’re very aerated today Scottser. You’re no stranger to giving your tuppence worth, which you think if worth more that anyone else’s. You like to try shut up discussion that you don’t agree with. Other posters have the manners to let you do so, and don’t call for you to shut up.
I posted a link where you were complaining about posters going to and fro, yet here you are doing the exact same thing. Poy, kettle, black as I say.
Nigel
I think in order to understand the full risk, figures from other countries should be taken into consideration, especially since there seems to have beeen a certain amount of pandemic-truther consensus advocating for under-45s not to get vaccinated, since they would acquire immunity better via infection. Numbers that went on ventilators and suffered long-term injuries would also be relevant. If we’re just playing the odds, for some daft reason.
scottser
‘ You like to try shut up discussion that you don’t agree with. ‘
well now gigs, now youre just full of poo.
Slave to the Rhythm
Again, I agree with Scottser also on this particular poster and their comments which, in general, I do not find particularly pleasant, interesting or helpful –
Also, just on the point of who shuts who down etc.
Several commentators who still post here I recall relatively recently calling for people with whom they disagreed to be banned, or otherwise were gumming for it
Helpful hint: at least one of them has the letter g appearing more than once in their user name
Micko
I would disagree Nigel
Too many variables in different countries to make any real sense of the numbers. And since we are varying numbers across countries there’s no consistency.
Things like general health of the nation, state of healthcare, population density etc
Better to face the issue currently faced by Ireland.
And with 0.1% of people currently infected with Covid in ICU, that situation is not an emergency.
Nigel
You would certainly need context on data from other countries but there is no way you can claim to understand the virus properly by focusing on just one country, which has its own context, which is itself subject to change.
Micko
Are Denmark wrong to remove all restrictions in a few days then?
Should they cancel it because a different country is doing poorly?
I would think that is a pretty silly approach.
GiggidyGoo
Not full of poo at all Scottser. In this thread alone you tried it. You said “do what you want with the vaccine or not, just keep your stupid opinions to yourself and leave others be.”
I don’t think I or anyone else has said similar to yourself.
Nigel
Micko: I think there’s a sensible middle ground between responding to conditions in other countries as if they were occurring in this country and receiving useful data on how the virus behaves from other countries in order to prepare our own responses. It’s a bit weird that I would need to say so, but, well, here we are.
Bitnboxy
@Scottser Lol. GiggidyGums is such a narcissistic dose. Totally delusional in relation to his own shortcomings and hypocrisy. I will admit to enjoying Giggz when he is in full crazy mode though!
GiggidyGoo
Ah bless! The kellys baby rears his little head. And another dose of echopraxia kicks in.
Scan the code
Bitty
Slave to the Rhythm
@boxy
After the first 3 years or so, the morbid fascination wears off…
Trust me…
GiggidyGoo
Well if you can’t trust yourself eh?
Bitty
Bitnboxy
@GiggidyGums: You mean EchopraxiHahaha! Might I remind you this was first levelled against you. Love it.
@Slave: Giggz is kind of fascinating though. It’s as if one’s father or grandfather had a secret life as a mad out of it internet troll. Bizarre but GiggidyGums is worthy of an auld wind up or two.
Micko
Nigel
I guess the Danes would disagree
They currently have 0.2% of their current infections in ICU. We have 0.1%.
But then maybe they’re taking their superior healthcare service into account.
Again, variables. Lots of them.
Not helpful to compare countries.
Slave to the Rhythm
I think it’s kind of sad actually Boxy
I’ll be the first to admit I’m not one to talk either as they annoy the fupp out of me at times too, but I do think your baiting goes a bit over the line at times… anyway
E'Matty
Can I ask the strongly pro vaxxers a question? Is there a limit to how many vaccines you would accept getting? Maybe once a year, or twice a year, forever more? Is this something people are prepared for? Should you at any point decline the booster, it seems likely you would lose your vaccinated status no matter how many you’ve recevied already at that time so be careful what kind of demonisation of the unvaccinated and second class citzenship policies you support now. You might very well find yourself in that club, albeit inadvertently, at some point in the future.
Johnny
…they will do whatever they are told,but you are not allowed ask if the ends justify the means.
SOQ
Are you following what is kicking off in NYC now Johnny with the passport thing? The angle they are taking is straight down the line civil rights / anti big pharma and the POC communities are very represented.
Nigel
Probably the same limit as, say, the flu vaccines that come out every year. People like you demonise yourselves. You see people who really are victims of inequality and prejudice and you think, if I co-opt their language, then I can appear justified.
Slave to the Rhythm
Let’s worry about that when the time comes, eh?
In the meantime can we please enjoy our relative freedom in some peace and quiet without the screeching?
Please?
Lilly
What’s the latest mess The Irish Times has walked itself into. Trans writers union urging boycott until they withdraw and apologise for their recent article on conversion therapy. Artists set to perform at fringe festival piling on saying IT critics not welcome at their shows. Fight!
Nigel
‘Up to half of world’s wild tree species could be at risk of extinction’
https://endpts.com/breaking-in-a-major-blow-to-vaccine-efforts-senior-fda-leaders-stepping-down-report/
“Two of the FDA’s most senior vaccine leaders are exiting from their positions, raising fresh questions about the Biden administration and the way that it’s sidelined the FDA…The news, first reported by BioCentury, is a massive blow to confidence in the agency’s ability to regulate vaccines.
The bombshell announcement comes at a particularly crucial moment, as boosters and children’s shots are being weighed by the regulator…
..A former senior FDA leader told Endpoints that they’re departing because they’re frustrated that CDC and their ACIP committee are involved in decisions that they think should be up to the FDA. The former FDAer also said he’s heard they’re upset with CBER director Peter Marks for not insisting that those decisions should be kept inside FDA. What finally did it for them was the White House getting ahead of FDA on booster shots.”
That article in the examiner about the vetting of doctors makes worrying reading. Slapstick/slipshod methods of interviewing. No Garda vetting. Lack of a knowledge of english (would be handy to have english wouldn’t you think). Etc.
HSE again.
And a €35m refund not received. (coming to think about it, what ever happened about those ventilators that weren’t approved for use, but paid for by the HSE?)
Anyone remember any previous story about Coveney’s phone being hacked in the past? No? Did he report it to the Gardai? How did the investigation go?
He must think that the members of the Foreign Affairs Committee came down in the last shower.
“Government Minister fails to protect data with a mobile security app, and thinks deleting messages will protect him” That would be some headline alright.
Yeah, right, Simon. Lame.
Also reported. “Mr Varadkar last night said he did not recall having any text message conversations with Mr Coveney over the Merrion event but would have to check.” The usual “have to check” line.
Leo the Liar or Simon the Story-teller?
Does Leo not delete messages from his phone – how will he check?
Looks like Coveney’s efforts to try an unseat Leo now might have taken a bit of a setback
That’s handy
To be honest, I can see this gov going the distance. Unless the Greens take issue with something and pull out.
So yeah, it will go the distance.
As for his ‘my phone could be hacked/storage space’ excuses, to quote Biden ”come on, man!”.
Its quite difficult to hack a mobile, especially an iphone and as for text messages taking up space? They are a couple of KBs amongst what is likely a 128 or even 256MB version. One photo would equate to hundreds of text messages. Now it is possible to hack a phone alright but if you are a senior government minister you have access to high level security experts who can help you harden your device and give you advice on what you can do to prevent you downloading malware which would leave you exposed. So I am not buying his excuse for a second!
I’d say Leo is in great form the last while though.
Agreed
they are in it for the long haul
you could tell they were stuck tight to each other with the vote early on in their term to seal the birth records
that said tho
more time will help Mary Lou – she needs 25 or even more candidates
I know for a fact she is already hoping to unseat two of the out of the blues from GE2020 with tastier parachutes onto their tickets
I’d say Pascal is likely the one with the most ambition to dethrone Leo. Steely behind that unassuming exterior. Although, he is not in the best of constituencies.
I agree the government is likely to last than not- the housing crisis has more or less taken any chance away from FF to pull the plug. I certainly would not want to go to the electorate based on their current performance. I suspect FF will get more assertive though re FG as shown by Barry Cowan’s comments on Zappone.
Can you imagine the kind of- next-level tripe that will be trotted out as examples of achievements when we do have a General Election? I’m shuddering at the thoughts of it and the spin – so much spin that it could bounce anywhere, not enough back-spin to take the teeth out of the spin-bowler.
Ugh.
Barring something crazy happening, the fate of the government and particularly FF and the GP hangs on housing. All the other stuff is simply noise (and at times an annoying but helpful distraction for the government) and pales in comparison. With now 5m people in the Republic and an outrageously dysfunctional housing and rental market, this issue is not going away anytime soon. I really don’t know what progress they can make in a few years beyond promises and mass shoebox build to rent developments.
Agreed and you can see they are literally shovelling money at the problem now.
The thing is once they’ve figured out a bit of strategy on it, the problem will have changed. Hence why they are demanding now that everyone goes back to work.
If they had to service a more dispersed housing market with people working at home etc, that will be an absolute cl(sterf*** and their little brains would not be able for it.
But we’ve been here before with housing, in fact the recent cycle relatively speaking is such that it occurs once in a decade or even less. It doesn’t seem to impact in any way on the election outcomes. For the last ten years it has been housing and homelessness to the fore in terms of issues having a lasting impact and with no sign of any let-up. There have been no tangible, clear improvements, no radical citizen-first policies or policy-outcomes. I think it’s just a persistent rearrangement of deck-chairs on the deck of the same boat that is heading God knows where. As long as citizen-Ireland is on a boat, any boat he/she doesn’t really seem to give a fig.
I disagree about housing not being determinative in elections. Last election housing and health blew up out of nowhere and I have no doubt the Shinner success (which even took the Shinners by surprise given their lack of candidates) is due in large part to the loaned votes of frustrated young people. Heck, to ward off the Shinners, FG and FF (with their depleted ranks taking FG particularly by surprise) were forced together making history of sorts. Covid just masked the importance of the issue but it is simmering away and will be front and centre next election, if it doesn’t explode before that again.
That being said, we are moving to a fractured European style of politics where no party is likely to ever hold a commanding majority and unhappy eclectic coalitions the norm.
What Fergalito said…
People talk about the Big Pharma Conspiracy, the 5G Implant Chip Conspiracy, the whole COVID IS A HOAX Conspiracy… oh my god
You know what the biggest con of all is? And it’s not fake or exaggerated.
It’s the conspiracy that fools people into somehow imagining these elected and unelected super-annuated fools collectively have our interest at heart, and even if some of them did, that they would ever be able to DO anything to improve our lives.
Go on, call me a cynic, I DOUBLE DARE YOU..
Agreed Fergalito but there is a certain percentage of the electorate who will only vote for a party which has a chance of winning and this is the first time that SF have been considered to be a serious player.
Strategically, by not going into collation with the rest ,they have played a long game and are offering a clear alternative which is very popular with younger voters.
First of all
there is going to be a reshuffle – probably around the time of the Leo/ MM swappsie
None of them have clean hands on housing
the move to privatise Social Housing goes back to the 90s and the rainbow government
and nobody has stopped it or attempted to change it since
none of them
Regarding the era of industrial absentee landlords, well that’s all Fine Gael
and I can point it directly into the hands of Noonan and his last run as Finance Minister
For it was him that brought Wilbur Ross and the Hedge Fund Cartel in
After that Dublin Firms were rolling out the Red Carpet in front of them
Did ye know that there was actually a Conference here – 10ish years ago?
Hosted by Grant Thornton for all the foreign owned Hedge funds & Equity Managers, specifically on the theme of distressed assets and residential opportunities here
what I wouldn’t give for the signing in logs and the conference agenda
That whole period – 2010-2020 – and it dawned with BoI, with Noonan as the Midwife, has some story to tell
Its a stay tuned btw
But I’ll give ye a bitta’ve spoiler
Putting Eoghan Murphy into Environment/ Housing was no fluke
It was orchestrated from a long ways off
Only person with kinda clean hands over the last 10-12 yrs is in fact Paschal
Ross bought in to BOI in 2011 and sold out in 2014 with a cool €500m profit. He was on the BOI board around 2012 or so. Think he may still be involved in Cardinal Capital who are still active around the place.
https://www.businessinsider.com/wilbur-ross-accused-of-insider-trading-with-irish-bank-stake-2017-12
Fair points all – there is a chance that the next GE will be a far more interesting and radical affair than ALL of the other elections that will have preceded it.
We need a social reformation – someone to hammer a nail to the door of the status-quo with a list of new ideals, a new vision. Given that ideals by their nature are just out of reach, it’s always good to have a horizon in sight and ground covered over which we can view and confirm the direction of travelling.
I’m aware of course that waiting for “someone” is the equivalent of complaining about everything while doing nothing about. While i’m not so naive as to expect a radical transformation of the political landscape, i think as citizens we need to take more of an active role en masse rather than watching from the sidelines. Of course it’s all “hope lies in the Proles” territory.
Think i need a cup of tea, i’m tying myself up in knots here…..
Great summation there V, thanks.
I don’t know where the rest of you are living, but almost *everywhere* I go in South Dublin/Dub Laoghaire there are masses of housing being built. Anything from 2/3 houses on a small plot, through 4-5 apartment block (or possibly those 3-story terrace houses), up to 100+ developments. There are cranes everywhere.
There was a pause in building after the first wave in 2020; but I think most of them are full steam ahead.
I’m old enough to remember a time when lots of house-building went on and prices and rents only continued to go up.
Link.
Link,link
Backup
Data
Link please
Wtf is “masses” is that a culchie thing ?
Any new houses in ballybrack,masses huh
@ Cian – I live in Lucan and close to where I live (older part of Lucan) there has been massive amounts of building done in the last few years. Very little additional infrastructure but then they are being built for profits only, the societal impact doesn’t matter to either the developers or the current (and ALL previous) governments and I still have to squeeze through the same bottlenecks as before except there are now an order of magnitude (this is not hyperbole, there are at the very least, from a visual check, at least 10 times more vehicles if not more on the same route) more vehicles doing the same run as well.
I know a guy who is renting one of these new homes, over 2K a month for a rather tight space with one parking space that he has had quite a bit of grief over with people taking it even though it is clearly marked with his house number on it. So yeah, lots of houses, feck all infrastructure but someone is making lots of cash and others are shelling out ridiculous sums for a rather basic unit with barely room for one car to park.
But hey, so long as the narrative is BUILD BUILD BUILD that is all the Irish Times,Indo and the government want to talk about. Ignore the inconvenient facts and just blame SF for ‘blocking developments’.
I personally have no issue with these new homes outside of the lack of proper infrastructure, the more the merrier I say, I’ve even got a few benefits in the form of a new supermarket that has become my regular and some of the older roads have been resurfaced but try to access the N4 now from where I live and it takes anything from an additional 5 to 15 minutes to do so, used to be on the N4 in about 5 mins or less about 2-3 years ago, not anymore.
But no for sale signs
Or sales brochures Cian
No queues or booking deposits
I can tell you by year end 2021
Dublin 12 will have circa 1500 new residential units from Crumlin Drimnagh and down into Ballyfermot on the Kylemore Road
And not one will be made available for sale
I’ll believe it when the housing and homelessness issues are solved or at least tangibly on the way there. The explosion of cranes on the skyline and building sites hither and tither are meaningless. We’ve been here before, a high CSO crane count means money hand over fist for developers based on my experience. It is not commensurate with affordable homes or rents that bear a sensible relationship to the average industrial wage, for example.
This year we saw whole apartment blocks and housing estates hoovered up by vulture funds. One story so far a few days ago about a 90% profit margin on a flipped social housing unit. It’s not a great benchmark.
Resolving the issue or at least improving it is not the problem, the solutions are all out in the open and don’t have to be complicated.
Scoiety first, everything else after that.
Wilbur sold the bundle he bought from the Minister for Finance in two tranches Otis
there was a period of 6 maybe 8 months there where the Minister made two very significant u-turns on court actions taking place in the UK at the time
and after that we were screwed
Regarding the insider trading – yep he did have information only privy to a Board Director that can be tied to the timing of his second disposal, absolutely
but then loads of Directors hold shares that they buy and sell
The Minister at the time being one himself shur
so it was never going to go anywhere
other than a repeated grudge amongst the BoI former shareholders and many of their wounded debtors who they pursued in the Courts
I’ll be writing it up – been promising to get it done all Summer
anyway
stay tuned I suppose
Cheers V. Look forward to it.
Cheers V I am also looking forward to reading this, thank you
Your RTE stuff is always great as well btw.
@Johnny,
There is some stuff in Ballybrack – where church road meets Wyatville (at St Johns school) there is a 47-home development.
Further up Church Road, nearer the Graduate, there is another site for 42 apartments .
At the other end of Wyatville Rd you have the new Cherrywood village and 2,400+ planned homes.
lol, that deleted messages excuse is a pile of excrement
although he could say whatever he wants here as he (and his personal device) are not the subject of a criminal investigation
I expect this to be the way forward now for all politicians if he’s let away with this guff
damaged credibility though
Should be standard practice in this day and age that any “work” phones need their texts etc backed up externally – for FOI purposes.
You can get lots of centrally managed software platforms that will do just that. They also come with advanced encryption, remote control options, locator software and so on. They have been around quite a while as well.
You can take a full back of the phone at specified intervals and remotely wipe them (this is also available freely with most phones anyway). The only reason you would not want to be using a platform like this is if you wanted to get up to stuff and not have your actions be visible or recorded. But for a senior government minister, as you rightly say, FOI is incredibly important if not mandatory I would have thought, although I would not be up to date on whether or not that is true?
Something like that needs put in place for transparency in any public office (incl gardai)
Sho9uld be no more “I lost my phone” excuses from commissioners
+1
On the hacking issue Coveney probably took advice from his constituency and current Ministerial colleague, Michael McGrath. Just to be safe like.
https://www.independent.ie/business/technology/angry-ffs-michael-mcgrath-says-facebook-was-hacked-after-it-was-linked-to-image-of-semi-naked-woman-29763913.html
hahaha expressed disgust
Does he not like pictures of semi-naked women?
Pull the other one,micky
Tony Hooligan and Co now really pushing this idea that it is the unvaccinated who pose a threat to the vaccinated, which is anti science BS. In the IT, the headline with “Delta variant likely to circulate ‘extensively’ among unvaccinated, Holohan warns”. The Indo even heads its article “Threat: Counties with the lowest Covid vaccination rates revealed”. They are very clearly and obviously seeking to demonise and vilify those of us who choose to decline vaccination as is our right. If the respiratory season swings back in and the vaccinated start dropping like flies, they will ramp up this demonisation campaign to place the blame squarely on those who refused to submit to their authority. It is Tony and Co who pose a clear and present danger to those of us who value our individual rights and freedoms. It also now seems clear the vaccinated are strong vectors for the virus, carrying much higher viral loads in some cases than the vaccinated which flies in the face of Tony’s propaganda campaign against us. One wonders whether this winter will see things turn really ugly, just as they sell us their latest hopey message. It always follows this same pattern. A period of seeming rising hope, before they crush it once again with a new variant, or mutant strain as they liked to call them last Christmas. This is a well known psychological tool to induce psychosis in a group. You lift their hopes and then crush them in repeated waves until they become so demoralised they accept whatever it is they are told by the ruling authority and follow obediently. I really really hope we see things open up fully in October but fear we are simply being lined up for another big hit before being plunged into a dark winter…let’s hope not…
delta is so 2020 – we’re all about the mu now.
All I can say it must really suck to be antivax these days….
All I want to say is
They don’t even care about us
Really? What with the emerging injuries and now talk of a booster which will soon become every six months- I am quite happy not to be on that pharma merry-go-round.
I’m not anti vaxx of course- just safe vax and if I am wrong then I can always get it later. If I am right however and some form of say ADE emerges- what are you going to do?
Is that you Bodger? Your anti-vax misinformation and downright lies appears to be very similar to the ridiculous “just saying” Bodger posts on on BS that are of course total BS!
No. I only comment under this name.
What I have expressed above John is my personal opinion- I have not presented it as anything other than that.
That you perceive such as ‘misinformation’ says very little about me, but a lot about you.
did you get the jab yesterday bodger, is that why you were late with the usuals this morning? how’s the arm, have you tried the magnet yet?
@Scottser – Bodger is now Bogcutus of Borg.
His first of many implants are complete, soon he will be one with the vaxxed collective. This place will be renamed Borgsheet and the mascot will be a little robot doggy.
Strangely though, the non ferrous alloys in his implants are not generally magnetic, many are made from carbon bucky tubes and ceramics. Ironic, don’t you think?
;)
Sure Rosette, let’s see how you get on when your vaccine begins to wane and you meet the wild virus. Signs of ADE with Pfizer in Israel when waning. I remain perfectly healthy, with no Covid, and no vaccine in my system. You have a potential time bomb ticking inside your body.
Enjoy your soon to arrive booster shots. And if you don;t take them, all previous vaccines received will count for nothing. You too will be treated like an anti vaxxer so be careful what kind of an environment you help create against such people.
the graveyard is littered with smug idiots like you.
@Scottser – oh right, so tell me, how many fit and healthy 40 year old males with no underlying conditions and a healthy immune system supported by regular exercise and a good diet have died in this pandemic? The country is littered with low IQ gullible idiots like you.
E’Matty, have you actually looked up the answer to that question, with data on how many ended up on ventilators and with long-term injuries to supplement it? Because it’s defninitely non-zero.
Pot, kettle, black Scottser?
https://www.broadsheet.ie/2021/08/28/sundays-papers-98/#comment-2343707
i’m just sick of smug bottomhats on both sides gigs, that’s all.
my comments are still valid – do what you want with the vaccine or not, just keep your stupid opinions to yourself and leave others be.
esmuggy up there is a case in point, just can’t keep his gob from slobbering all over the comments here.
We know exactly how many have died in Matty’s age group. (Which is also my own age group)
35 people since March 2020. With no data on their previous health status. But let’s say they were all super healthy.
Personally I would still class that as minor risk. But to each their own.
Link below to the data
https://www.hpsc.ie/a-z/respiratory/coronavirus/novelcoronavirus/surveillance/weeklyreportoncovid-19deathsreportedinireland/COVID-19_Weekly_Death_Report_Website_v1.4_20210825.pdf
And yes, they should publish official data on any long term injuries, because without it it’s just a combination of conjecture and hysteria.
I agree with Scottser on this particular poster and their comments which, in general, I do not find particularly pleasant, interesting or helpful –
You’re very aerated today Scottser. You’re no stranger to giving your tuppence worth, which you think if worth more that anyone else’s. You like to try shut up discussion that you don’t agree with. Other posters have the manners to let you do so, and don’t call for you to shut up.
I posted a link where you were complaining about posters going to and fro, yet here you are doing the exact same thing. Poy, kettle, black as I say.
I think in order to understand the full risk, figures from other countries should be taken into consideration, especially since there seems to have beeen a certain amount of pandemic-truther consensus advocating for under-45s not to get vaccinated, since they would acquire immunity better via infection. Numbers that went on ventilators and suffered long-term injuries would also be relevant. If we’re just playing the odds, for some daft reason.
‘ You like to try shut up discussion that you don’t agree with. ‘
well now gigs, now youre just full of poo.
Again, I agree with Scottser also on this particular poster and their comments which, in general, I do not find particularly pleasant, interesting or helpful –
Also, just on the point of who shuts who down etc.
Several commentators who still post here I recall relatively recently calling for people with whom they disagreed to be banned, or otherwise were gumming for it
Helpful hint: at least one of them has the letter g appearing more than once in their user name
I would disagree Nigel
Too many variables in different countries to make any real sense of the numbers. And since we are varying numbers across countries there’s no consistency.
Things like general health of the nation, state of healthcare, population density etc
Better to face the issue currently faced by Ireland.
And with 0.1% of people currently infected with Covid in ICU, that situation is not an emergency.
You would certainly need context on data from other countries but there is no way you can claim to understand the virus properly by focusing on just one country, which has its own context, which is itself subject to change.
Are Denmark wrong to remove all restrictions in a few days then?
Should they cancel it because a different country is doing poorly?
I would think that is a pretty silly approach.
Not full of poo at all Scottser. In this thread alone you tried it. You said “do what you want with the vaccine or not, just keep your stupid opinions to yourself and leave others be.”
I don’t think I or anyone else has said similar to yourself.
Micko: I think there’s a sensible middle ground between responding to conditions in other countries as if they were occurring in this country and receiving useful data on how the virus behaves from other countries in order to prepare our own responses. It’s a bit weird that I would need to say so, but, well, here we are.
@Scottser Lol. GiggidyGums is such a narcissistic dose. Totally delusional in relation to his own shortcomings and hypocrisy. I will admit to enjoying Giggz when he is in full crazy mode though!
Ah bless! The kellys baby rears his little head. And another dose of echopraxia kicks in.
Scan the code
Bitty
@boxy
After the first 3 years or so, the morbid fascination wears off…
Trust me…
Well if you can’t trust yourself eh?
Bitty
@GiggidyGums: You mean EchopraxiHahaha! Might I remind you this was first levelled against you. Love it.
@Slave: Giggz is kind of fascinating though. It’s as if one’s father or grandfather had a secret life as a mad out of it internet troll. Bizarre but GiggidyGums is worthy of an auld wind up or two.
Nigel
I guess the Danes would disagree
They currently have 0.2% of their current infections in ICU. We have 0.1%.
But then maybe they’re taking their superior healthcare service into account.
Again, variables. Lots of them.
Not helpful to compare countries.
I think it’s kind of sad actually Boxy
I’ll be the first to admit I’m not one to talk either as they annoy the fupp out of me at times too, but I do think your baiting goes a bit over the line at times… anyway
Can I ask the strongly pro vaxxers a question? Is there a limit to how many vaccines you would accept getting? Maybe once a year, or twice a year, forever more? Is this something people are prepared for? Should you at any point decline the booster, it seems likely you would lose your vaccinated status no matter how many you’ve recevied already at that time so be careful what kind of demonisation of the unvaccinated and second class citzenship policies you support now. You might very well find yourself in that club, albeit inadvertently, at some point in the future.
…they will do whatever they are told,but you are not allowed ask if the ends justify the means.
Are you following what is kicking off in NYC now Johnny with the passport thing? The angle they are taking is straight down the line civil rights / anti big pharma and the POC communities are very represented.
Probably the same limit as, say, the flu vaccines that come out every year. People like you demonise yourselves. You see people who really are victims of inequality and prejudice and you think, if I co-opt their language, then I can appear justified.
Let’s worry about that when the time comes, eh?
In the meantime can we please enjoy our relative freedom in some peace and quiet without the screeching?
Please?
What’s the latest mess The Irish Times has walked itself into. Trans writers union urging boycott until they withdraw and apologise for their recent article on conversion therapy. Artists set to perform at fringe festival piling on saying IT critics not welcome at their shows. Fight!
‘Up to half of world’s wild tree species could be at risk of extinction’
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/sep/01/up-to-half-worlds-wild-tree-species-could-risk-extinction
I saw that today Nigel, better get those robot tree factories cranked up huh?
Or ‘seeds’ as we like to call them.