IBEC: Are they out of control?

[Mariella Froster]

Irish people and many of their political representatives are living under an illusion. They imagine the government is running the country according to policies it devises itself in consultation with all relevant groups and individuals and that it is dedicated to enacting legislation which reflects the will and best interests of the people as much as possible.

Nothing could be further from the truth.

Within a few days of the general election Bertie Ahern boldy announced that he would be consulting with IBEC about the new administration's plans for government.

The Real Progressive Democrat Party

IBEC objectives and philosophy overlap with those of the Progressive Democrats. IBEC represents a powerful, wealthy,extremely influential and wholly unaccountable class of people, politically speaking. Natural PD and right wing Fianna Failers. It is not by accident that the PDs, an unattractive, dogmatic runt party so far as the electorate are concerned, have ended up, nevertheless, wielding as much power and influence as they have. In fact they have more or less controlled the political agenda. You and I have nothing to do with it and the government have nothing much to do with it either, beyond rolling out the plans made by their masters and commanders at IBEC. IBEC's influence is seriously corrosive of our democracy, such as it is.

The PD/IBEC ideology can be summed up very simply: slash all forms of electorate funded infrastructure and public service and give all our tax money, instead, to private business to make private profit. PD/IBEC describe all this as 'choice', 'efficiency', 'competitiveness' and so forth. My particular favourite is 'liberalisation'. It means liberating other people's money from its rightful owners. We are all familiar with the jargon. It has infected public debate and the media have taken it up as the lingua franca of economic matters. I heard one tourism industry representative refer to Ireland as 'the product'.

Across all of the governments' legislative initiatives over the last ten years, it is the IBEC blue print that is being religiously followed. Cap recruitment of much needed health and educational professionals and give the loot to the IBEC fraternity instead.

SSIAs are a typically PD/IBEC sort of policy. From the party that tells us a 'little' ineqaulity is a good thing, under the SSIA scheme, we have seen a colossal transfer of wealth from those who can least afford it to those have the most - bypassing the public purse entirely, which that money was supposed to be destined for. They have set about creating inequality. We are well on the way to developing the underclass of desperate cheap labour that so many wealthy people are always bleating on about. Homelessness figures are soaring again, repossessions are up - disposable income has vanished into extortionate utilities and petrol costs. The SSIA scheme was straightforward theft. I know three wealthy non-Irish people resident in Ireland who refused to take advantage of the scheme - stunned that any government could even dare to suggest it.

Now, we watch with barley a squeak of protest while Mary Harney, who is married to a senior IBEC representative with business links to American medical business interests, railroads through what she knows is an unpopular, inefficient and costly 'co-location' scheme - which will benefit those same sorts of interests. A little inequality is a good thing alright - for Harney, her husband and her acolytes. Where the hell are the media? This is a conflict of interest at the very least on a par with 'Bertiegate'.

http://www.ibec.ie/IBEC/Tracker.nsf/wfEABPIT?OpenForm

[Edo]

no more out of control than the Public sector unions , the publicans , the farmers , the pharamacists and every other fecking vested interest group in the state.

[corkman2007]

Irish people and many of their political representatives are living under an illusion. They imagine the government is running the country according to policies it devises itself in consultation with all relevant groups and individuals and that it is dedicated to enacting legislation which reflects the will and best interests of the people as much as possible.

Nothing could be further from the truth.

Within a few days of the general election Bertie Ahern boldy announced that he would be consulting with IBEC about the new administration's plans for government.

The Real Progressive Democrat Party

IBEC objectives and philosophy overlap with those of the Progressive Democrats. IBEC represents a powerful, wealthy,extremely influential and wholly unaccountable class of people, politically speaking. Natural PD and right wing Fianna Failers. It is not by accident that the PDs, an unattractive, dogmatic runt party so far as the electorate are concerned, have ended up, nevertheless, wielding as much power and influence as they have. In fact they have more or less controlled the political agenda. You and I have nothing to do with it and the government have nothing much to do with it either, beyond rolling out the plans made by their masters and commanders at IBEC. IBEC's influence is seriously corrosive of our democracy, such as it is.

The PD/IBEC ideology can be summed up very simply: slash all forms of electorate funded infrastructure and public service and give all our tax money, instead, to private business to make private profit. PD/IBEC describe all this as 'choice', 'efficiency', 'competitiveness' and so forth. My particular favourite is 'liberalisation'. It means liberating other people's money from its rightful owners. We are all familiar with the jargon. It has infected public debate and the media have taken it up as the lingua franca of economic matters. I heard one tourism industry representative refer to Ireland as 'the product'.

Across all of the governments' legislative initiatives over the last ten years, it is the IBEC blue print that is being religiously followed. Cap recruitment of much needed health and educational professionals and give the loot to the IBEC fraternity instead.

SSIAs are a typically PD/IBEC sort of policy. From the party that tells us a 'little' ineqaulity is a good thing, under the SSIA scheme, we have seen a colossal transfer of wealth from those who can least afford it to those have the most - bypassing the public purse entirely, which that money was supposed to be destined for. They have set about creating inequality. We are well on the way to developing the underclass of desperate cheap labour that so many wealthy people are always bleating on about. Homelessness figures are soaring again, repossessions are up - disposable income has vanished into extortionate utilities and petrol costs. The SSIA scheme was straightforward theft. I know three wealthy non-Irish people resident in Ireland who refused to take advantage of the scheme - stunned that any government could even dare to suggest it.

Now, we watch with barley a squeak of protest while Mary Harney, who is married to a senior IBEC representative with business links to American medical business interests, railroads through what she knows is an unpopular, inefficient and costly 'co-location' scheme - which will benefit those same sorts of interests. A little inequality is a good thing alright - for Harney, her husband and her acolytes. Where the hell are the media? This is a conflict of interest at the very least on a par with 'Bertiegate'.

http://www.ibec.ie/IBEC/Tracker.nsf/wfEABPIT?OpenForm

Don't worry too much about the PDs anyway. They'll be gone soon. Mary Harney will hopefully resign in 2012 and the PDs won't win her seat because her vote is mostly personal. That'll leave them with one TD (Noel Grealish in Galway West) if they're lucky.

At which point he'll have to rename the 'party' the Progressive Democrat.

[Lichfield]

They are part of social partnership and have been for the best part of twenty years. Their objective is to create an environment where entreprise can thrive. This involves central objectives of keeping infaltion down and competitiveness high. They are social partners in the same way as the trade Unions and they fight their corner just like the unions. They have political affilations but the unions have the labour party!]

Influential yes, out of control no.

[strauss]

Mariella Froster, are you saying that IBEC should be silenced or what?

[morryah]

Within a few days of the general election Bertie Ahern boldy announced that he would be consulting with IBEC

so what. Bertie consults with everyone. It's his trademark.

[david]

IBEC: Are they out of control?

No, they're in control.

[Pauli]

IBEC: Are they out of control?

No, they're in control.

Certainly since 1997, they have.

Mariella, I like the reference to PD/IBEC. It's a bit like Sinn Fein/IRA. It defines exactly who feeds the PDs their ideological nonsense and, for all we know, who financially sponsors the PDs. Somebody has to be funding this outfit and IBEC and its members are in a position to do so.

On that basis, can we then refer to Fianna Fail/CIF?

[irishpeoplearewhingers]

Ireland is full of vested interests, and if you are worried about who is in the driving seat, then take a look at our public sector wage bill.

[Mariella Froster]

IBEC are influential well beyond their contribution to society - what they do, they do for their membership. In comparison to the subsidies which they benefit from, the return to the public exchequer is rotten value - negative equity. The biggest con job ever. We are giving to them, not the other way around.

It is farcical, really, to pretend that IBEC are merely social partners like any other. They are, in effect, the real government. As I said - look at their website - it describes exactly what the government are doing. All IBEC conditions are being met. The combined influence of every union in the country doesn't amount to a fraction of this sort of influence. Public consultation is a farce and has been deliberately targetted and weakened to IBEC command.

IBEC play down their role in public - they are careful to do that. But the real business gets done behind the scenes.

What does 'competitiveness' really mean? Maintaing a poorly paid class of labour fodder so that a minority can be wealthy?

How do you keep inflation down by introducing a fiscally irresponsible and deplorable scheme like SSIAs - which is guaranteed to aggravate it? And it hits right at the point when the economy is moving into a downturn. The money should have been invested wisely. Instead we have a disaster manufactured by PD policies over hospital beds. SSIA dividends would have dealt with that problem. Instead, and in order to deal with a problem they deliberately manufactured themselves by refusing to manage the health service against criteria other than political dogma, the PDs are now recommending an even crazier solution. They make the crisis and now they want us to see them as the rescue team.

Where are the revenues from our gas and oil reserves? No PD or Fianna Failer has the right even to refer to sound economic management while that situation stays as it is - let alone ridicule any other party's economic policies.

Property development is the only enterprise that has 'thrived' - although that is hardly the word for it. Again, it is the interests of hugely wealthy corporte political donors who have acquired the vast majority of the property wealth. There is a small 'middle class' of property speculators - but the rest of the population would never be able to afford a home as things stand. What sort of economic environment is that? What has to happen before the lunacy of moving most of the country's wealth and resources into the control of a smal elite at the expense of everyone else? For what?

We are living in an economic fantasy world. Most of the present middle class had bought their homes before the property market went crazy so they were insured against the madness we have seen. But IBEC are ahead of them there too because heading into old age, they now intend to steal those same properties out from under them in order to compensate for the public services which they have already paid for through taxes approprited by business.

But the real truth is starting to hit now as the next generation come onto the scene and must start from scratch in a grotesquely distorted economic environment and in which every penny must go into keeping a roof over their heads. Meanwhile property developers continue to demand extortionate subsides from the electorate - grants for this and that - anything they like - oftentimes without even meeting the conditions on which those grants are awarded. And then the same people have the cheek to complain about public spending. Like fat brats near a cake, they always want the biggest slice for themselves - preferably all of it if it can be managed - as with our gas and oil.

We have IBEC and their political wing - the PDs to thank for all this.