Government needs to listen

MICHAEL NOONAN has admitted in a parliamentary question that he omitted seeking expert advice from the Pensions Board before introducing the pension tax.

Alan Shatter has said that, even though there are maybe 20 people in the state who understand the legislative mess that his predecessors have made of the Firearms Act, and despite the Law Reform Commission’s 2006 recommendations to fix that mess, he will be dissolving the Firearms Consultation Panel (the expert panel that advises on firearms law). And Richard Bruton’s recent proposed pay cuts for Sunday workers in the restaurant trade were likewise not run past anyone who knew the field before being aired. We voted for this government because the last one wouldn’t listen and proved to be incompetent. Maybe the current government should be listening to experts more, lest the same happen to them?

Mark Dennehy