NAMA - mooted on April 6th 2009 to put Irelands finances back on trackYOU all remember April 6, 2009. Just three years ago. It almost coincided with centenary of the date the Titanic sank. It was the date that NAMA was mooted to save Ireland and put our finances back on track. It was set up to clean up and repair the Irish banks balance sheets. The problem then was we didn’t know how many Brillo pads and scrubbing brushes would be needed to do the cleanup job or how many screws and bolts would be needed to do the repair work. When all the nuts and bolts were put in place there was a figure of between €80 billion and €90 billion worth of bad debts hanging around that NAMA would buy up at the reduced rate of €55 billion. They would sell these assets on at a price of around €65 billion i.e. a profit of €10 billion. The plan looked good but paper never refuses ink.

Health cutsOUR health services are still in a very unhealthy state despite the fact that the Minister for Health is a doctor and should be an expert on health, health issues and what a proper health service should be about.

This year over 550 health care beds will close across the country with savings of €700 million. In reality, will we have €700 million to spend in other areas of health care or will it just disappear down another black hole? Statistics over the past 10 years show any government department savings incurred never seem to show up as a positive move in any accounts.

Some 550 beds go in one year. So what’s the plan to accommodate 550 people especially old and infirm individuals who will have nowhere to go? The Minister of State with responsibility for disability, mental health and older people said the plan did not look as bleak as it did before Christmas, which is less than 30 days ago.

REGULARLY we get updates from various agencies that promote employment and business in Ireland.

We seem to go out of our way to report on the establishment of ten or twelve jobs created in some business sector.

These reports often insinuate that we have an upturn in the Irish economy when in fact it may be to the determent of existing jobs in the immediate area.

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