Just had a flick through the indo and the impossitions by the IMF.
(sorry of done already mods feel free to …)
I like the bit about the protected professions (doctors, solicitors etc) having to come in line. Would welcome feedback how other pinsters view this?
sorry linky
independent.ie/national-news … 44824.html
About bloody time. If you ask me the over zealous restrictions on the number of doctors they let qualify is directly responsible for many deaths in Ireland. Its a disgrace.
I’m sorry, but 90% of doctors don’t need to be 600 point earning geniuses, some good training and cop on is all that it takes. Sure you will need to geniuses for high end doctoring, but your average GP doesn’t need to be.
I know 4 GPs.
All of them say the same thing.
Someone comes in feeling unwell.
It’s essentially going to be one of three or four problems.
If they have been away to a tropical climate this may rise to five or six. But a rare occurance.
If you still can’t diagnose correctly, then refer them to a consultant.
Where doctor training does come in, is when a patient is on multiple drugs. The doctor obviously must ensure they don’t react with oneanother.
But as all my GP friends state - we have books for that.
600 points is not required for any job.
But the points system is the fairest we have.
Ahem, the political profession, could do with some culling, abolish the Seanad, halve the number of Junior Ministeries, halve the salary of Mary ‘Austerity Jet to Belfast’ Mc Aleese and reduce the Dail by at least 40 members, abolish town councils and merge local authority members might show a good example. No political pensions until at least 60 and have all future political pension on the same terms as the rest of the Public Service.
Does anybody have a link to the competition authority report re legal services which will have to be implemented? I could not find it online.
Doctors had no small part to play in this little stunt -
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mother_and_Child_Scheme
"In 1950, Browne proposed introducing a scheme which would provide free maternity care for all mothers and free healthcare for all children up to the age of sixteen, regardless of income. It met with ferocious opposition from conservative elements in the Catholic hierarchy and the medical profession…Many doctors disapproved of the scheme, some on principle, others because they feared a loss of income and a fear of becoming a kind of civil servant, referring to the plan as ‘socialised medicine’ "
Screw that. Is there any good reason why TD and Ministerial pensions should not be Defined Contribution? That would be the fairest way of all and bring them in line with how things work for most people.
I think you can probably make a good case that all pensions above a certain level should be DC - you get a DB pension up to x (say, twice the state pension?), you pay for anything above x yourself.
Do you bloke seriously believe that potential doctors are selected on the basis that they get 600 or so points in some silly educational scheme. I suppose you also believe that solicitors are chosen using the same criteria.
You have a lot to learn.
A corrupt society thrives on its ability to fool the people all the time and up till now Ireland’s elite has excelled.
Ask youselves how come so many doctors and solicitors offspring etc. etc. etc. manage to follow the same professions.
I can guarantee it is not because they are smarter than the average bear.
Jesus wept.
You have just made my day.
The countries fucked and you think it is run by some fair competition open to the plebs… How quaint.
+1
There are a lot of doctors with 600+ points and a lot of solicitors and barristers with 500+ points.
However, there are also a lot who come in by the back door. Doctors children with less than 500 points can get in through the College of Surgeons. Have a look at the law directory and see how many lawyers have BAs rather than BCLs. Go down to the Kings Inns and check out the qualifications of those in the “degree course”. See how many students get in with low marks from Law degrees while others with higher marks do not get in. There are lots of muppet doctors, solicitors and barristers out there.
Exactly.
I am just surprised that so few people still don’t realise that the game is rigged.
The elite are excellent at maintaining their ascendancy.
Bullshit baffles brains everytime.
Few years ago Polish GPs who would work in Ireland would usually charge 35 to 40 euro for visit, then about year or two ago suddenly all of them started charging 50+ euro - there could be price fixing.
OK. We’ve seen that cowen and lenihan are economically\financially incompetent but one is a Barrister and the other is a Solicitor.
Let’s assume they have a level of competency there.
Why is our legal system in a mess? Why so few prisons although they were a cornerstone of the 97 program for government. Why no new innovative non-custodial sentences?
Why is the judiciary stacked with FF supporters.
Why have we still got Barristers that add at least €500 to the cost of even the simplest legal issue that you wish to see pursue.
Why all the expensive tribunals.
The reason is that our political class are there to maintain the establishment.
We may complain about our politicians being doctors or teachers who know nothing about business but you’d think they know something about education or medicine but our healthcare is a shambles while our Country is one of the highest spending by measure of GNP(not GDP).
Our schools don’t produce results.
Languages are taught by rote and drop out rates in more disadvantaged areas of the country are high.
Politicians are in the business of protecting the establishment, not making the country a better place.
Everybodys pay should be capped at 20k per year no matter what you work at.
The rest of what you would have earned goes to pay off the debt. problem solved in one year by my hair brained calculations 
.
who’d vote for it?
I know several people who went to college, including some doing things like engineering and medicine.
Most of them will tell you it involves cramming madly for the exams, but afterwards most of it is forgotten.
One bloke told me were he to sit his finals again today without any revision, he’d probably score less than three percent on all papers.
Makes you wonder the point of all that study, eh?