Bressie one of the 'Voice of Ireland' judges

by Grainne

Now in the grand scheme of things it’s not a huge issue but a minor, well actually more than minor irritation.   What’s irking me?  The format of RTE’s latest talent show ‘The Voice of Ireland’, that’s what.

The first part was ok, the initial selection of contenders to go forward.  In fact it was a good idea to have the panel of judges keep their backs to the performers so that their looks and appearance didn’t impinge on their consciousness and they were being judged solely on their singing ability.

Now that the judges have selected their entrants however the show has moved on to a nonsensical and ill-judged format for whittling down the numbers.  Who on earth dreamt up the notion that they should be paired?  Pitting individuals who entered as sole performers with fellow contestants?  It cannot work on any level and clearly isn’t.  So much so that it’s downright unfair to the contestants.  But then the feelings and sensibilities of contestants appears to be the least consideration of the makers who want only entertainment value to maximise audiences. 

Last week saw a couple of very disappointed contestants go home in tears.  It was little consolation for them to be lavished with praise for their performances by the judges but then, when it came down to it and a choice had to be made, they were the ones ousted, whereas they could well have qualified for the next stage if they’d been judged on their individual performance. 

There’s also the issue of song selection from the coaches.  Brian Kennedy’s choice of ‘Dirty Old Town’ is a case in point.  It’s one of those sing-along pub come-all-yas that requires no vocal talent and was a waste of the two he chose to perform it.  Their disappointment was evident.  They made a valiant effort, to be fair to them but it wasn’t a proper test of their singing voices.  I can understand the thinking behind giving contestants different songs to sing to test and stretch their abilities but not with that song like that. 

Who will win a singing talent competition run in such an unorthodox manner?  Not the best singer in any event.

by Grainne

I’ve been implementing some austerity measures of my own in recent months.  Out of necessity.  With cuts in pay on top of numerous stealth taxes, and more to come, and my outgoings not having diminished to match, something had to give.

In cutting back on my spending I had to ignore the urgings of Finance Minister Michael Noonan to spend to stimulate the economy.  To be fair, over the years, I’ve done more than my bit for the country in this regard.  Friends and family will attest to my penchant for shopping.   Mind you, even if I had been able to splurge in recent months I wouldn’t be the least inclined; not while bankers and bond-holders are getting away with bloody murder, senior civil servants are walking away with exorbitant sums of money in pension pay-offs (many of them to return to the fold as well paid special consultants/advisers with scarcely a weekend in between to draw breath.)  And then there’s those agreed reduced pay rates agreed by the Government for special advisers and other upper-echelon party hacks and then blatantly ignored.

In what was definitely a first for me, I spent an hour and a half inside a shopping centre on a recent Thursday and left with nary a thing.  Didn’t spend a penny.  The place was practically empty; it was just short of tumbleweeds blowing down the centre aisle.  I looked inside the shops and felt sorry for the shop assistants who had no one to serve.  How long can such a situation go on?  It can’t be viable to heat and light stores as well as pay wages when no-one’s buying.

I’ve really embraced this whole frugality ethos, buying special offer lunch ingredients at the start of the week and making them do the whole week.  I’m proud to say I haven’t deviated once, haven’t succumbed to the temptation of dining out.  I’ve gone at my weekly food shop with almost manic zeal, planning meals and making lists.  Gone is my ‘it looks nice, toss it in the trolley’ method of shopping.

I avoided the sales and haven’t bought a single new item of clothing in months except for tights and my saving there comes from now buying only the thick opaque ones which last a hell of a lot longer than the sheer, flimsy ones that seldom made it beyond one wear without looking tatty.  Those are strictly reserved now for special occasions.  And those have been cut back on too – it has to be an awfully big occasion now to warrant a night out never mind a new outfit.

I’m on a mission as regards cutting utility bills – it may be good to talk but it’s expensive too and all appliances are being used far more judiciously.  In fact the dishwasher broke and hasn’t been replaced, I’ve gone back to the old-fashioned way and found it to be less laborious than all that scraping, bending down to stack-and-empty business the dishwasher required.  And it’s done a lot quicker too.  I’m even taking quicker showers – gone are the days of luxuriating under a spray of piping hot water for 10 minutes to 15 minutes.  It’s a quick in and out now.

I doubt that I’m the only one in belt-tightening mode.  Which can’t be good for economic recovery, or jobs.  But what to do with a Government coming at us with a clutch of made-up new charges and taxes on a weekly basis?  Is it too much to expect them to get their heads around the ‘less to spend, less spent’ reality?  Yeah, I guess it is.

By Aine

Following  Minister of Transport, Tourism and Sport Leo Varadkar’s glib comment that we all could still afford a holiday as the Budget would not be that bad comes his Fine Gael colleague Finance Minister Michael Noonan remarking that our emigrants are leaving to see the world “as a lifestyle choice”. 

Well Minister Noonan, maybe where you come from in Limerick that is the case but I know hundreds of emigrants who have left these shores and it had nothing to do with “lifestyle choices” and everything to do with trying to keep body and soul together, finding a job and making a life for themselves.

They made the choice to try and get a job rather than stay on the dole in Ireland and face a very bleak future with little or no job opportunities, and the banks and lending institutions either snapping at their heels for payback of negative equity mortgages or with no prospect of getting one in the first place . Oh yeah and then Social Protection Minister Joan Burton adds insult to injury by also remarking that, for some, being on the dole is a “lifestyle choice”.  Not for anyone I know, it isn’t.

As I prepare to go to Australia to visit my youngest daughter who has been there for the past three years, I am incensed by tactless throw-away remarks coming from our present Government.

My daughter would dearly love to come home, misses home greatly, but there is no future for her here and therefore she must remain on the other side of the world where at least she has a job with a steady income and a promise of better things.

I know several young people who are currently in Australia picking fruit, hardly a “lifestyle choice”, these are young, well-educated, bright kids who found they had no future at home after leaving college.

It’s easy for you Michael to make such disparaging remarks from your lofty perch in Leinster House.

       I suggest that you take a trip out to Dublin airport and do a quick survey of the people leaving where I think you will find that many of them feel they have no alternative but to take a plane out of here.

Current emigration is splitting up young families, with many young men working in England, leaving behind partners and young children, to try to gain employment to keep a roof over their families’ heads back home. You should be commending them, not insulting them.

When you mention Australia of course it brings to mind images of sandy beaches, warm sunshine etc. but a recent survey by the Irish Independent revealed that of the 70,000 people who emigrated last year, the destinations they chose to call home were the UK, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, the USA and Germany.

Another 40,000 are expected to emigrate this year.

Can I suggest that in future all Government Ministers engage their brains before insulting the very people who are willing to get up of their arses and take charge of their lives, in whatever part of the world they think offers them the best opportunity.

by Grainne

The outcome of the public consultation undertaken last year by the Minister for Public Enterprise Brendan Howlin on how the State can save money makes for interesting reading. 

Its seems that public servants were major contributors to the exercise, suggesting ways money could be saved by having their allegedly more work-shy colleagues accountable by linking pay increments to performance assessments.

It wasn’t surprising that many of the suggestions related to cutting spending in social welfare. While there is undoubtedly a case to be made for investigating welfare fraud and cutting off people who are illegally receiving benefits, such widespread condemnation of the system must be galling for the thousands of newly unemployed people who, if given the choice, would prefer to have their jobs back than be on the greatly reduced rates of income the State pays them to get by. Last year, for a period between April and June I found myself unemployed. I spent 12 hour days submitting my CV to companies across Ireland for a variety of jobs, many requiring a lot less experience and expertise than I had. I would have done anything to return to work. Before receiving any payment, which took several weeks, I had to furnish the Department of Social Protection with a large amount of paperwork and two forms of photographic ID, my passport and driving licence. Four weeks after payment began I received a letter from them, telling me to present myself at my nearest FAS office to see what assistance may be available to me in finding work. Failure to turn up, I was warned, could result in my payment being stopped. I was incensed. 64 job applications, six interviews and three fulltime and one partime job offer later, I took the best of the bunch and thankfully returned to the workforce. Not everyone is as lucky.

Of all of the submissions made, I wonder if anyone suggested a ban on Government Ministers refurbishing their offices as Brendan Howlin himself did shortly after taking over as Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform last year. As Aine wrote on this website at the time, the man charged with reducing Government spending had over €47,000 spent on setting up his offices, including €47 for a sign for his toilet door and the same amount for a key for that door. He also spent money having his desk raised. He wasn’t the only Minister who had money spent on refurbishment and/or changes to their offices but it was ironic in his case given that in December’s budget he was announcing €1.4bn cuts in day-to-day expenditure and a €755M reduction in capital spending. “As unpalatable as it might be, we must make some difficult choices in order to contribute to the reduction of the budget deficit” he commented, sanctimoniously.

Here’s a suggestion that I should have probably submitted at the time. That the practice of allowing judges, politicians and others who have the cost of being transported to and from work paid for by the taxpayer be stopped immediately. Likewise with meal allowances for these people. The working public is expected to get to their jobs and home again on a daily basis under their own steam at their own cost. Similarly, they are expected to provide food for themselves from their own funds. It’s a joke to have politicians, judges and high ranking civil servants, who have far more generous pay packets than the average PAYE worker, getting such free perks. Except that no-one’s laughing.

By Aine

Last Friday the Central Bank took over the running of Newbridge Credit Union, appointing its own Manager.

Apparently there was concern over the way the Credit Union was being run and the Financial Regulator wanted to “safeguard” peoples deposits.  The concern was that the Credit Union hadn’t put enough money aside to protect against potential losses on property-related loans.

I am a member of Newbridge Credit Union. So are my two sons and one daughter.

Today I rang Newbridge Credit Union to see could I speak to anybody in charge as I was concerned about the money I have on deposit there.

Guess what? They weren’t answering their phones!  Instead a specially recorded message directed me to their website which was of no assistance at all.

So, this financial institution is in trouble but instead of allaying the public’s fears they decide to ignore them instead and make themselves unavailable.

Ok then if thats the way they want it I shall be at the door in the morning as they open at 9.30am to remove my money pronto.

Newbridge Credit Union…. behaving like a bank. Welcome to Ireland 2012. Ni feider linn.

        TSB bank today, 12.45pm. I needed to talk to the Assistant Bank Manager. I rang my local branch but was directed to a call centre in Dublin where a gentleman informed me that he would email the man himself and ask him to phone me back! (still waiting for a call back and its now 19.28pm.)

What happened to the good old days when you phoned your local branch and could actually speak with the Manager? Seems not anymore. Customer service ain’t what it used to be.

Speaking of the TSB, I know a person who applied for a mortagage recently with this bank and were turned down because they had overlooked a Visa bill of seven euro some time previously.  Seven euro?  No, that’s not a typo, a paltry seven euro. Not 700, not 7,000, not 70,000, not 700,000, but a mere seven euro was the stated reason the person’s mortgage application would not be entertained.

It was an oversight on the persons side, they’d been on holiday when the bill came in and weren’t back in time for the payment date and so this little matter came back to haunt them when all their financial details were being trawled through by the mortagage advisor. Be warned TSB customers.

Another chap I know recently went to the same bank to enquire about a mortagage. The mortagage advisor asked how long he was in his current employment. He answered a ”couple of months” wherby the advisor informed him that he must be with the same employer for four years.When did this new rule come into play?

Seriously folks are the TSB making up the rules as they go along? No, sorry sir you are bald…. no money for you! You live in a house with an uneven number? Definately no money for you! You are forty but not married and you expect US to give you a mortagage?  Watch the door on the way out loser! You have two kids…… you definitely wouldn’t be able to pay back the repayments on a mortagage! Goodbye!

You have been banking with us for only 30 years….. no hope of getting a mortagage until you are with us at least 50 then we will turn you down on grounds of old age!

I know people who bank with different banks and they dont seem to be a whole lot better.

In my humble opinion it would seem that the banks don’t like the Financial Regulator looking over their shoulder now and so are acting like truculant brats and their recalcitrant attitude means that the customer is suffering.

Is it time to go back to the days of old when you got you wages paid in a little brown envelope in cash?

That way we could tell the banks to f**k off and  Joe Public would be in control of his own finances again!

 by Grainne

1. Go to see a kid’s 3-D movie.  There’s plenty of them about and they’re great fun!    
2. Read the Bill Bryson book ‘A Walk in the Woods’ and laugh out loud.
3. Stand outside on a cold night, look up at the stars and realise that we’re all part of something that’s much bigger, and greater, than all of us.
4. Look at the amazing patterns the gossamer makes on shrubs, trees, even the clothesline early on damp mornings.
5. Soak in a hot bath with a couple of spoonfuls of Epsom Salts added.  Simple, relaxing, effective.
6. Look back over old photograph albums.  All our happiest memories are recorded there and it makes us realise how many there were.
7. Look out for the first of the new-born lambs, coming soon to a field near you.  One of the most life-affirming sights of the year.
8. Across the countryside that hardiest and most delicate of flowers, the snowdrop, is making an appearance.  Magic.
9. Don’t listen to any news or current affairs broadcasts or read news for a while.  Choose not to hear bad news.
10. Listen to your favourite music, played loud.  Guaranteed to lift the mood.

Thank you to all our loyal readers for dropping in to read the blog during the year.  We hope you’ve enjoyed and been entertained by it.

We wish each and every one of you a very Happy Christmas with time to spend with family, to have fun, to relax, to recharge, and especially to savour the Christmas spirit.

This country of ours is struggling so for many it’ll be a tough Christmas and there will be many families without their sons, daughters and grandchildren this Christmas, lost to emigration, but we possess  hope, optimism and resilience and no-one can take that away.  We have the capacity within us to make ourselves, and those around us, happy, during these days.

Best wishes from Aine and Grainne.

By Aine

Ex Mayor of Naas, Councillor Darren Scully was forced to resign recently after remarks he made about representing “black Africans”. Councillor Scully, a member of the Fine Gael party made the remarks during an interview on his local radio station, Kildare FM.

Apparently the matter has been referred to the disciplinary committee of Fine Gael and they will adjudicate next month.

As if that wasn’t bad enough, Mr. Scully has also been suspended from his job as an Engineer with Royal Sun Alliance.  To top it all then a Labour Deputy, Aodhan O’ Riordain rowed into the fray and reported Mr. Scully to the Gardai, citing the” incitement to hatred” card. So his future looks fairly bleak unless both his employers and the Fine Gael party show him some mercy.

Now as I see it this is a total overreaction to what Mr. Scully said. I didn’t hear the interview but reading several reports of it since I believe that he was merely voicing his opinion and frustrations about the negative experiences he had encountered in his work as a councillor. The last time I checked Ireland was a free country – free speech was encouraged. We are not a dictatorship, supposedly, and Mr. Scully was merely being truthful about his own personal experiences as a Fine Gael Councillor. Should we not commend his honesty? No it seems not, he must, as all politicians must, toe the party line and that means being politically correct at all times.

Public representatives must not speak negatively about Travellers or ethnic minorities.  You must keep your thoughts to yourself. Its ok to treat the tax-payers with disdain, let rogue bankers off scot free, allow ex Department of Finance executives promotion in Europe but God forbid don’t say anything aloud about ethnic minorities or the socially disadvantaged.  

The high moral ground is still very much in evidence in Irish politics. How bloody two faced. I take grave exception to Dept. O’ Riordain making a complaint to the gardai. Our country is in crisis, he was elected by the people to help put things to right but preferred instead to try to make a name for himself by adopting the ‘holier than thou’ stance. Shame on him.

Regarding his employer Sun Alliance, well I don’t see why Councillor Scully had to be suspended from his position there. He made his remarks in his capacity as Councillor NOT as a representative of Sun Alliance – so get over yourselves.

This political correctness has gone too far.

I await with interest the outcome of the Fine Gael Disciplinary Committee but if I were Mr. Scully I wouldn’t hold my breath on it being a positive result. The hierarchy will surely wish to avoid the fall-out from the do-gooders should he remain a party member, and the party is pre-occupied with being seen to do the right thing – paying lip service to those idiots that scream the race card at every opportunity.

I commend Mr Scully for having the balls to convey what he was thinking to the public. He was being truthful as to the situation he found himself in dealing with the public as a representative. But then when did politics and truth ever go together?

by Grainne

Over the years I’ve been on the giving and receiving end of hospitality on Christmas day, inviting people to our home and being invited to others for Christmas dinner.

As a young married woman living in Canada and preparing to spend our first Christmas away from family I was so grateful for the kindness of another Irish family living in the same city that we’d become friendly with, who invited us to share their Christmas dinner with them.  A couple of years later when our first child was only weeks old, we decided to stay at home and invited a young man from Newfoundland to dine with us.  He worked in the lumber camp with my husband at the time and wasn’t going home for Christmas.  We became good friends with our neighbours in the northern Ontario city where we lived and were kindly invited to Christmas dinner at their home on a couple of occasions.

When we came home we also returned to the tradition of the family Christmas dinner at my parents’ house.  Another year we were guests of a younger brother and his wife and young children and spent a most enjoyable Christmas day in their company with other family.  As more children came along though, and got older, we opted more often to stay home.

Over the years we’ve had my mother-in-law and my husband’s aunt to dine with us.  After our mother died I decided, with my father’s health failing, that a good idea would be to bring our whole family together for a big family Christmas Day dinner.  In my house.  Over 20 people, including seven small children, were catered for.  With some deft manoeuvring, extra tables and chairs set up and plenty of practical help from my sister and sister-in-law, we managed and had a hearty dinner and plenty of good cheer.   It was fortuitous as it was to be my father’s last Christmas.  He died the following April.  I took comfort in the fact that he’d spent his last Christmas amongst us all.

  After my parents died my youngest brother and my aunt joined us for a couple of Christmases.

We also had a friend of my youngest son’s one year as he didn’t have any other plans but our most unusual, and colourful guest, was a Chilean man who resided with us for a time.  Guillermo (or Willie as he was known to us) was a cook by trade and so added some extra pizzazz to our more traditional fare.  We enjoyed his company as much as we did his culinary skills.

This year it’s just family and that’s nice too.  The workload will be lessened certainly, which makes for a more relaxing day.  The reaching out though, to share home and a meal on this most special of days, will be missing.    Still, when children grow older and the excitement of Santa is no more, there comes a time when the gathering of adult offspring, the return home from abroad or wherever they are more usually residing brings a new and different joy.  With so many families parted from their sons and daughters this year because of the recession, I take great comfort in knowing mine will be with me around the Christmas table this year.

by Grainne

It’s the time of year when people are mithered going around trying to find the perfect presents for their loved ones. I used to be a card-carrying member of this stressed group, always anxious to get that elusive ‘ideal gift’ for those special to me.

When I think now of the countless hours I spent in my search, the dozens of choices I’d mull over before discarding them, always holding out, believing I’d come up with something better. When I consider now the time I wasted, and the effort, it seems really silly. Because the truth is: there is no perfect gift.

To discover this pure truth I had to do only one thing. I asked myself what would someone consider the ‘perfect gift’ for me?

And it struck me, they wouldn’t be able to decide on any one thing and wouldn’t have to because I like getting pressies and appreciate everything I get, no matter how big or small, cheap or expensive.

Some of the best presents I’ve got in my half century on this planet have been small, seemingly inconsequential things. I’ve treasured every single thing my kids have ever bought me, on school trips, for birthdays and Christmas or brought home from holidays.

I love presents from my sister because her often eclectic taste has resulted in some unusual new possessions for me over the years. One was an umbrella she brought back from Los Angeles for me which has famous literary quotes all over it.

Anyway, my reasoning is this: if I’m content with just about anything as a gift then I’m sure others are too. I even like, and here I know I differ greatly from some of my women friends, getting household items as birthday and Christmas presents. I got a hand-held mixer one year and was delighted.

A blender followed and I was equally pleased. I even got an ironing board one time as a present. My friends look aghast when I tell them this. A Christmas or birthday present, they believe, should be a ‘personal’ present, not something for the ‘house’. A mixer IS personal for me when I’ll be the one using it the most.

I love books and CDs too but when I tell my kids to buy these for me for Christmas they pooh-pooh the idea and insist on driving themselves mad going off looking for something else they think I’ll like. I even draw up a list of books I would like to read to be extra helpful. The same with CDs I compile a list of ones I’d like. Do they oblige? Nope, they buy something entirely different and I’m left to buy the books and CDs I want, myself.

Nor have I ever been one of those women who puts a lot of store in the amount spent on a gift. It shouldn’t be about money.

When I give gifts though I like to make a bit of an effort with the wrapping. While on the one hand I think that wrapping paper, bows and bobbles, ribbons and other adornments are all a bit wasteful, I can’t help it, I like to give a present nicely presented. The new trend to use gift bags has salved my conscience somewhat because they are at least reusable.

I sometimes still individually wrap the presents I put inside, otherwise I swathe them in delicate, coloured tissue paper before popping it in the bag so that the contents aren’t immediately apparent. I’ll always pop a ribbon on the bag as well.

I’ve finished my Christmas shopping at this stage, without getting stressed. With no ‘ideal’ gifts out there with my children/siblings/ friends names on them, the range becomes a whole lot wider and the choosing a whole lot easier.