Friday 4 June 2010

Ivor Callely and Larry Butler expenses fiddling.

IVOR CALLELY - WORKING WITH YOU.

"As the most severe difficulties hit the Irish and Global economies, we are all faced with a massive task to come through this difficult period.

I understand that there has been very careful assessment of the extent of our problems and of the exceptional effort it will take to improve the situation. We have to turn the tide of our present difficulties and put our economy back on a sound  footing once we have our public finances under control.

I am determined ‘with every beat of my heart’ to resolve the difficulties this country now faces. Our ability to come together in difficult times has never been more important. Working together, we can help each other climb out of these difficulties. We all have a share in each other’s success, because the more each individual succeeds, the more we all succeed.

We are at a point in our history where we have never been able to see more clearly what we can achieve. Ireland has undergone a transformation, we are a small, open and pulsating economy, now energised by some of the most sophisticated industries and services in the world.

We have a proven track record in our economic performance, especially during the period 1995 to 2005 which consistently reflected our success, our determination and our ability to succeed. Our ‘can do’ attitude has characterised our success before, all the more necessary now. We have the basic ingredients, an entrepreneurial and well educated population, a good infrastructure, diverse markets, established trade links and a tremendous reputation on the world stage.

I have a clear vision that involves new thinking of getting us moving again along the road we successfully travelled in the past ant learning from our mistakes."

Ivor Callely

The above is an excerpt from Ivor Callely's website (big thanks to C).

Well it seems that people like Ivor Callely and Fianna Fail senator Larry Butler never do learn, because there is no incentive to do so. Butler is the latest politician who has been caught claiming travel expenses - from the public finances - claiming through a distant holiday home rather than his actual residence, this time to the tune of €20,000 a year.

Callely, of course, had to resign his cabinet position in 2005 after it was discovered that a builder who had public contracts painted his house (his main residence) for freepence. He subsequently lost his seat in the 2007 general election, even though 7,003 upstanding citizens of Dublin North Central still thought him worthy of their first-preference votes. But that is a constituency with a particularly sorry history. A constituency where Sean Haughey, son of Charlie, the godfather of corrupt politicians, romped home with 9,026 first-choice votes - presumably on the strength of daddy's bad name.

That lot are beyond hope, but some of us in Ireland would like to see corrupt and expense-fiddling politicians brought to book. Nothing short of expulsion of Callely and Butler from public office will discourage such behaviour in the future.

The ultimate goal, however, must be to abolish that institution of undemocratic freeloaders, the Senate, in its entirety.

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13 comments:

anna said...

I did actually have a quick look at the website www.ivorcallely.ie...and you'd think he was Mahatma O'Ghandi..full of noble stuff about Palestianins and Old page pensioners etc...i think that particlar excerpt comes from a page he entitled 'My vision!!!'..somehow his vision never involved getting rid of crooked politicians and putting rich crooks in jail.....the website is so ridiculous i thought it was a Spoof...but just in case it wasn't i sent him an email from it ( well he did ask people to contact him)saying the best vision for the country would be getting rid of rich crooks and crook parties like FF...and with the likes of embezzlers like him in the Goverment, the demise of FF would be ever more hasty, and for that I was truly grateful to him.

The Gombeen Man said...

Nice one, Anna. Did you get a reply?? ;-)

Anonymous said...

goodness gracious GM he sounds like your average asshole politician, there are 3 professionals you must never ever believe thats WHORES PREACHERS AND POLITICIANS then you wont go too far wrong cheers BH

Anna said...

NO, still no reply GM man, so thought I write a nicer longer letter instead:
Dear Ivor, I’m pleased to see such sincerity.
Yes you can help. I have heard you described as a slick businessman (among other things)…maybe you can explain these sums which leave me baffled, even tho I studied accounting for 2 yrs :
I earn 40,000 ( gross) as executive officer, 2600 of this goes to help our shattered economy( I thought it would be 7000, but that’s not so bad Mr Lenihan). Not bothered by this- we must help our unemployed and struggling ( I am, of course, hopping mad the bastards who did this are still not jailed but that’s another story). Another deduction is my Dublin/ bus Dart taxsaver ticket, 1200 pa, or 23 a week or 4 % of my take home pay of 28,080. Glad to be back in Dublin- for 3 yrs I commuted from Newry. I then had a TaxSaver train ticket , costing about 2000-3000 PA. This was a higher travel cost- paid out of 4 days wages, as 5 days commuting would have killed me- however I still went to work 48 weeks pa.
The travel tax relief must now save me approx 2000 PA, possibly less. 2000 is 7% of my pay- and the only ‘expenses’ I am allowed by government. I also pay 5544 in rent, or 19% my pay- Government doesn’t give me ‘expenses’ for that. My PUZZLE: I work 48 wks per annum X 5 days week. My taxsaver ticket relief = 7% of my pay to me. I often do go on mini hols to my house in Newry, my old family home in NI, friends in Belfast, Norway, Prague etc….but I only get travel relief from my main residence in Dublin.
A senator works 13 weeks a year, (3 months) and earns 70,000. You got 80,000 for the last 2 yrs in travel expenses, = 40,000 pa = my gross full time pay. This amount - in expenses- is also 57% of your actual- Very part time pay.
I pay 23 Euro a week in travel- you must pay 3076. Is Cork actually in the Milky Way?? These intergalactic filling stations are ripping you off.
I’m Baffled!!! We’re both public servants. Is there a circular I don’t know of that would tell me my just entitlements?? Or maybe someone of your calibre just is Worth more benefits than me? Anyway!!!
You did say ‘reforming public finance’ is a major aim of yours. And mine. And the whole weary nation. I have a spare room in my Newry house - yours for stg 185 - A month. Tax saver train ticker would only cost 3000 euro - A Year. You only work 13 wks- I’m sure you wouldn’t mind a short stay up there- and so handy for cheap groceries. This arrangement would help you save SO much for our public finances. In return I only ask a short holiday in your nice 2 storey granite 650,000 Euro cottage in Cork, as I can’t afford to go aboard. Look I only have a council house, in Newry but It’s cheap to heat. I’m selling it next year, and right enough it could do with a lick of paint…maybe you could help there . In bad times we must all help each other….with every beat of my heart…Anna

anna said...

'Senator Ivor Callely has resigned the Fianna Fáil party whip with immediate effect.( Today Sat 5th June)
In a statement, issued this afternoon, Senator Callely apologised for the controversy he had generated and how that has impacted on the members of the Oireachtas and politics in general.
...
Notwithstanding these, he said he had told Taoiseach Brian Cowen he was resigning the Fianna Fáil parliamentary party whip and would deal with the matter with the members' interests committee where he was confident his name would be cleared.' ..
Hooray!
- above from politics.ie..where there are 100's of posts often from disgruntled residents of Clontarf saying they long for the day he vanishes from public life..as they are tired of reading his nonsensical leaflts, claiming credit for things other parties / groups did, opening of rail lines which are still at planning stage....latest one was festooned with polar bears etc, seems 1 little old lady said she'd vote for any party only his after the Nonsensical paper trail she got from him.
BUT vigilance is called for - he was thought of as Ministerial/ Taoseach calibre. OK...yes he's in the classical Ireland's Beloved Leader Mould...but that's the 1 we want to break...constant vigilance people, these Nonsensical Gombeen Mutants still exist among us...

The Gombeen Man said...

It's a start, Anna. But let's wait for the day FF expel such "miscreants" from their rotten party, as a matter of course...

Anonymous said...

I note on his own web-site he states that 'he continues to live in Dublin' !!!!!!!!

Expense Capital of West Cork

John McDermott said...

Many of you young people do not know that Callely was Bertie's "Capo de tutti Capi" in Drumcondra for many years and one of his major achievements on behalf of the Soldiers was a "voting pact" with a group of Dublin taxi drivers, which left Dublin without a proper service for almost a decade..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rQRyZV13B6E

Anonymous said...

The latest expenses fiasco involving receipts from defunct companies and the subsequent expulsion from the party is the crowning glory.Kettle/pot/black ...errr...Even by their own(FF) standards,Ivor has failed miserably.
Probity in public life seems extinct.The club of politicians,bankers and builders should be broken.The new Thornton hall must be commissioned in time to house these privileged people.

Thanks
Lemuria

Anonymous said...

Hi,
Am I missing something here?
Callely is only in the Half-penny place compared to "I won it on the Horses" Berti Ahearn,
When are we going to see him expelled from Fianna Fail?
When are we going to see him questioned by the Gardai?(Where is Gogarty T.D.?)
When will we see him face the Courts?

Vercingetorix

Anonymous said...

Ivor,Ivor,Ivor you have left us our coffers dry.

Anonymous said...

ivor why not live in zimbabwee. mugabe is more your type.

Anonymous said...

This cretin will recieve 64k pension for the rest of his life...Hes 52 years of age..You think with this new goverment things would change...its just a changing of the guard...Sick in the pits of my stomach...Pat from the City by the Lee