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Aaron McKenna: There’s no room for quangos in today’s cash-strapped Ireland
THE CHILDREN’S OMBUDSMAN received powers during the week to oversee a further 180 state bodies that she considers of interest, as legal reforms passed last year came into effect. That’s an interesting number, being 35 more quangos and state bodies than the 145 Fine Gael had promised to abolish or merge in their pre-election crusade to change politics and save the nation
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Aaron McKenna: We must sacrifice industrial peace to save the nation
THE DEATH OF the second Croke Park agreement between government and public sector unions is being billed as a great crisis.
Aaron McKenna: It’s time for voluntary income taxes to fund frivolities like RTÉ
A voluntary income tax system is not one where citizens choose whether to pay any tax at all, but instead gives the option of paying additional contributions services that go beyond the basic function of government, writes Aaron McKenna.
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Aaron McKenna: Is this the new party we’ve been waiting for?
THE MEATH EAST by-election was always a contest between Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil to retain or win back a seat, but the most interesting – and surprising – show was what went on between the other parties. Aping opinion polls, Labour’s vote has collapsed and a new party, Direct Democracy Ireland (DDI), showed up and stole 6.45 per cent of the vote almost from nowhere.
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Column: The UK is exploring its shale gas future, we should do the same
IN HIS BUDGET for the next year, Britain’s Chancellor George Osborne has committed the country to exploring its shale gas future, and the controversial fracking method of extracting it, by offering tax incentives to companies and financial benefits to communities for exploring the potentially massive reserves in the country. With Britain and other European countries paying 300 per cent more for natural gas than the fracking-happy United States, he’s right to promote investment into exploring the potential of Britain’s shale gas basins. Fracking is an emotively driven environmental issue.
