[RANT WARNING]
I heard on the radio that one of our ministers, Martin Cullen (the dude responsible for buying the disastrous E-Voting machines that we’re paying to store because they can be neither used nor sold) was in a near helicopter accident. You see, Martin wanted to travel 190KM (around 120 miles) from his native Waterford to Killarney to hang out with some bigwigs at a mini conference. He didn’t want to drive because he wanted to attend a meeting in Dublin afterwards.
The Irish Aer Corps (our budget air force) provided the helicopter. Our Aer Corps flies turboprop planes and very often the choppers are grounded because of the lack of spares to certify them. It appears that when the chopper was in the vicinity of Killarney with our *insert sarcasm here* beloved minister and his secretary on board a door fell off! The pilot managed to make an emergency landing without the minister falling out. *insert more sarcasm here* What a relief!
Note: I have the greatest respect for our military. On a very limited budget, equipment and with little fanfare or pay, they put their lives on the line for our nation while serving in peace keeping action in very dangerous places. They don’t get the headlines or praise they deserve when they are involved in action.
Today we were told that unemployment in the Republic of Ireland has hit 10%, it will likely hit 500,000 by the end of the year (population of 5.9 million according to Wikipedia), the budget deficit is growing by billions and that there will be an emergency budget to raise taxes after a recent one in October.
Also in the papers today was the bill to the tax payer so Martin Cullen could have his little chopper flight: €8,000. We already pay for this guy to have an S class Mercedes and a police driver. And this is just Cullen. Mary Harney has been doing this a lot, e.g. her trip to the beautician in Florida (“one miracle, please!”), her trip to the Superbowl last year (for cancer research?!?!?), etc.
What’s really getting me is that these guys have a “let them eat cake” attitude. We saw how in the USA there was uproar in the press when the big 3 auto CEO’s flew on private jets to The Hill to beg for a tax payer bailout. Why isn’t that happening here?
Cullen said that he needed to get to Dublin to have a meeting with another minister so he couldn’t drive. What is this, 1930?
Please join us in the 21st century. You can easily have a secure conversation using the myriad of technologies that are available right now with people who are even on different continents. Let me introduce you to Unified Communications. You can chat via instant message, phone and do video chats. You can even interact with applications! What’s more, all it costs you is an internet connection because you probably already have the licensing. Imagine: no more expense to us tax payers when you need to talk to someone when physical presence isn’t important. Wouldn’t that be more efficient? Heck, I can even introduce you to an Irish company that specialises in this stuff. If it’s good enough for private business then it must be good enough for a cowboy operation like the Irish government?
I’m begging someone in MS to make this sale. I know you’d love to 🙂 MS is the only one in Ireland trying to help the small business. Imagine if they were to also stop this waste by the Irish Government? I think I’d have to write in Paul Rellis for a vote in the next election!!
[/END RANT WARNING]
Hmm, MS Ireland as our government? It could be worse. They are regularly selected as one of (if not the) best companies to work for in Ireland. Employees seem happy there. They get cheap X-Boxes and games in the company store. My only concern would be that they might convert the outside lane on motorways and dual carriage ways into "Software Assurance only commuter lanes" 😉