Person: Dick Barton

A COMPREHENSIVE SERIES OF ARTICLES ON THIS TOPIC

columnists

Don’t give up on highlighting corruption

I would appeal to Dick Barton (Letters, Sept 14) to reconsider his decision to refrain from commenting on the actions of governments, politicians, banks and business.

Irish system needs to be fixed

Circus being directed from the monkey cage

We all know that gardaí and judges are prepared to make motorists’ lives miserable because they might possibly, maybe, some time cause an accident.

Mon, 22 Apr, 2013

There is a lot of talk recently about austerity measures not working. That is solely because the Government is only making superficial cuts for show and imposing taxes that cause further damage to the morale of our rapidly shrinking tax-base.

Fri, 19 Apr, 2013

Iran or Ireland? Spot the difference

I see photos of Middle-East rebels and am glad that our government is supporting them and that the Americans are bombing them...

Mon, 15 Apr, 2013

Cosseted teachers and bureaucrats proving costly

I heard some of the teachers protesting against all sorts of things at the various congresses.

Sat, 06 Apr, 2013

Devalued degree

My daughter has just informed me that if she has to repeat the final year of her Electronic Engineering degree, her eventual degree will be downgraded, no matter how brilliantly she passes.

Tue, 12 Mar, 2013

Folly to negotiate over superfluous jobs

The problem with negotiating with the leaders of the thousands of workers who hold superfluous bureaucratic ‘jobs’ is that many people are starting to feel sorry for these public servants.

Wed, 27 Feb, 2013

Law should get up to speed

Of the recent conviction of Travellers for the infamous sulky races, I have two opinions.

Sat, 16 Feb, 2013

FF gaining ground — the laugh is on us

The news that some poll shows Fianna Fáil gaining ground again proves either that polls are ridiculous or that democracy is a hopelessly unsuitable way of choosing people to run a country.

Fri, 15 Feb, 2013

Costly job creation

With the usual government-coordinated media fanfare whenever a government achieves anything at all, I just heard that 100 jobs had been ‘created’ in Limerick “thanks to the efforts of the IDA and the Ministry of Enterprise”.

Fri, 18 Jan, 2013

Expensive choice

So yet another government is pretending to be keen on efficiency and wanting to get rid of people who are not able for their duties (teachers at this moment).

Tue, 01 Jan, 2013

No health service

Why all the fuss about the health service?

Mon, 08 Oct, 2012

Philosophical thought on democracy

I was doing some research for a book and came across this quote from the late American philosopher, Henry Louis Mencken.

Mon, 20 Aug, 2012

Bureaucrats are designed to be unproductive

The waffle about Ireland’s so-called alcohol problem makes me realise the origin of one vicious circle in our lives.

Sat, 04 Aug, 2012

Keeping Garda stations

So, Mr Shatter wants fewer Garda stations. When I got mugged outside our local bank three years ago, some terrific passers-by chased and got hold of the armed robber.

Fri, 06 Apr, 2012

Retract ads please

May I, through your letters column, report the Government to the Advertising Standards Authority.

Wed, 21 Mar, 2012

GM bankers needed

If we are going to let Monsanto and others in to ruin all the natural food we have (that EU customers are crying out for), could we at least get them to do something useful to make up for it?

Thu, 08 Mar, 2012

Real jobs needed to keep economy alive

Time and time again I read about jobs being created by this Government.

Thu, 16 Feb, 2012

Irish politicians must show some integrity

Finally a government whose politicians and bureaucrats have a bit of intelligence and backbone.

Mon, 06 Feb, 2012

Bureaucratic bunglers waste our hard-earned money

IT is depressing that, while we all have to work harder to make ends meet, bureaucrats are simply finding more ways to waste our hard-earned taxes.

Sat, 17 Dec, 2011

Policymakers are the ones who got us into this mess

TARA SINCLAIR is a professor of economics and international affairs at George Washington University.

Sat, 17 Sep, 2011

Price too high for mortgage forgiveness

AN economics professor at UCD was reported recently as recommending a mortgage forgiveness scheme that would only cost us €5 billion or €6 billion.

Tue, 23 Aug, 2011

No competence left in our ‘health’ system

MY stay in hospital, three or four years ago, confirmed for me that, while care was usually present in abundance below doctor level, there was no real competence left anywhere.

Thu, 23 Jun, 2011

They’ve nothing to fear from the beaten Irish

WHY all the huge security effort costing many millions that we don’t have? Admittedly, Good Queen Bess II comes with a lot of historical baggage and Barack Obama comes as the most warmongering ever winner of the Nobel Peace Prize but I really don’t think much security will be necessary for either of them.

Wed, 23 Mar, 2011

Stand up to banks

ACCORDING to an article that I just read, British banks almost immediately started speculating with the money of the taxpayers who bailed them out by betting against the bonds of the government that had just stolen the bailout money from the taxpayers.

Mon, 14 Mar, 2011

Cancel ‘odious debt’

ONE of the senior bond holders on Ireland’s debt is the huge US financial company Goldman Sachs.

Wed, 19 Jan, 2011

Headline change

YOUR lead story headline on October 8 read: 'Gormley: unite all parties to save economy'.

Tue, 19 Oct, 2010

Wrong answer

ONE of the most depressing things about the current crisis is that, no matter what the problem, there are always people ready to trumpet the wrong solution.

Wed, 22 Sep, 2010

FF’s two-day bash was staged at our expense

WHAT has puzzled me about this latest Cowen fiasco is that nobody is angry about the most shameful aspect of it all.

Fri, 17 Sep, 2010

Manufacturers are more interested in profits than ill effects of their drugs

I WISH to congratulate you on your issue of August 30 – the warning about the cervical cancer vaccine Gardasil is very important.

Mon, 06 Sep, 2010

Contrasting calls

MY phone company provides a breakdown of individual calls.

Mon, 30 Aug, 2010

Hopeless cases

PROMPTED by the case of an extremely stupid bank robber, Prof Dunning of Cornell University and graduate student Justin Kruger wrote a paper on how people at various levels might be too stupid to understand their own stupidity. If that were true, it could have unfortunate consequences for society.

Wed, 11 Aug, 2010

Government hostile to farmers with GM foods push

WHY is the Government clearly so absolutely determined to push GM foods through against all the mounting evidence?

Fri, 06 Aug, 2010

Poor people will suffer most from dental cuts

I HAVE conducted an admittedly very small survey to see if other people had drawn the same conclusions as I had about the medical card cuts in the area of dentistry.

Fri, 30 Jul, 2010

Centralised services are not the answer

LATELY I heard on the news that suicides could be reduced if support services were centralised.

Mon, 26 Jul, 2010

Pope can’t be serious

I WAS astounded to read of the Pope’s anger about the police raids in Belgium.

Sat, 03 Jul, 2010

US president who foresaw a persistent problem

AROUND 1820, Thomas Jefferson, a highly intelligent and honest US president, said: “I predict future happiness for Americans if they can prevent the government from wasting the labours of the people under the pretense of taking care of them”.

Tue, 29 Jun, 2010

Political contamination

I AM very concerned about the cross contamination of GM crops with natural healthy crops.

Thu, 25 Feb, 2010

There’s only one way to get rid of a bully bird

I HAD a special cage built because I like the little birds. The cage stopped the crows eating everything.

Fri, 15 Jan, 2010

Economic rights treaty – a signature failure

I HAVE always admired Ireland’s attitude to human rights. That appears to be about to change.

Thu, 14 Jan, 2010

Media must tell truth about ill effects of drugs

I WISH to thank Dick Barton for the excellent letter headlined ‘Media should tackle the pill merchants (October 26).

Fri, 06 Nov, 2009

Media should tackle the pill merchants

SOCIETY has relied on whistleblowers for decades to give us truth that corrupt scientists and company executives have kept hidden.

Mon, 26 Oct, 2009

Fluoride ‘con-trick’

WE know now that tooth decay is more widespread and more severe among Irish children than their British counterparts.

Mon, 19 Oct, 2009

Flu vaccine: cautionary tale from the US

DICK BARTON (Letters, September 2) is certainly not the only person to question the stupidity of the Government’s decision to indemnify the manufacturers of the insufficiently tested swine flu vaccine against legal action that may be taken due to its side-effects.

Tue, 29 Sep, 2009

Kept in the dark about long-life bulbs hazard

I RECEIVED a brochure from the ESB about having to use long-life bulbs.

Wed, 23 Sep, 2009