Martin Power

A proud Waterford man who ended up in Laois..all views are my own and I may be wrong :-)

[Martin Power @martypower7]

@waitmaya It’s 31

[Martin Power @martypower7]

@realMaalouf Where is
The 2 year old child??

[danniemcq @danniemcq]

And people wonder why I hate fg. After listing (off the cuff) a multitude of reasons that donegal people might not like fg their response? I don't agree.

[Martin Power @martypower7]

@keith1275 @businessposthq Think that’s over 3 years i read correctly but could be wrong! I hope I’m not!

[Martin Power @martypower7]

@KillileaGayle @wereontheditch Because clearly there has been no repercussions…

[Niall Boylan @Niall_Boylan]

In case you were in any doubt whatsoever, it’s not the state’s responsibility to care for your relatives who may be old or in need of care, it’s a family responsibility.

[martinmcmahon @williamhboney1]

Welfare Cheats Cheat Us All?

There is a Clark Kent among us. The superhero of this piece is the archetypical mild-mannered reporter, a household name, none other than Mr. Philip Boucher-Hayes.

Back in January 2019, Philip’s act of superheroism was broadcast live as he stood toe to toe with the Minister for Social Protection.

Philip questioned the Minister about the Department’s failure to pursue employers who evade
employers’ PRSI by mislabelling employees as self-employed.

Both the Minister and the mild-mannered reporter fully understood the implications of the questions being asked.

It is fair to say that the public didn’t until two weeks ago when RTE admitted to the Public Accounts Committee that it owes a minimum of €20,000,000 for misclassification of RTE employees as self-employed.

“In spite of the fact that this is a criminal law, under the statute books but your policy is: not to
enforce it” Boucher-Hayes challenged the Minister.

“I don’t want to penalise anybody. I don’t want to make employers the bad guy...” the clearly
flustered Minister replied.

Later in 2019, at the Oireachtas Social Welfare Committee investigating bogus self-employment, the Assistant Secretary General of the Department responsible for PRSI collection, told the Oireachtas that evasion of PRSI is a criminal offence under sections 251, 252 & 254 of the Social Welfare Consolidation Act 2005. The Assistant Secretary General did not inform the Committee that it is the policy of the Department not to apply the welfare legislation to employers to avoid making employers the ‘Bad Guys’.

Despite scores of hours spent in Committee Meetings since the RTE barter accounts scandal began,
the Department of Social Protection has not been asked why RTE the welfare cheat, is getting a ‘Free
Pass’ from the Minister when RTE has accepted and conceded to 150 individual instances of
misclassification of employees. RTE has not been asked why it is seeking a bailout to cover the cost of massive PRSI evasion.

Despite numerous comments, statements and reports to the effect that RTE has not committed any
criminal offences, the fact remains that misclassification of employees as self-employed is a criminal offence on the statute books, RTE has acted criminally.

That some welfare cheats are given a free pass by the Minister, particularly when that welfare cheat
is meant to be an independent national broadcaster, should be of serious concern to all journalists,
not just superhero Philip Boucher-Hayes.

#welfarecheatscheatusall

@sinnfeinireland @FineGael @fiannafailparty @SocDems @labour @pb4p @greenparty_ie @AontuIE #twip @thisweekrte @VirginMediaNews @rte @kevinbakhurst

[Martin Power @martypower7]

@InternetH0F Women are the most important part of the world.

[Martin Power @martypower7]

7pm . NEWBRIDGE CO KILDARE.

200 metres from a large 24 hr Garda station

Man coming across the road wasn’t involved but proceeded to steal the iPod that had fallen to the ground

This is Ireland

[Martin Power @martypower7]

@DavidGorman92 Amazing!!! Well done 👍

[Alan Clarke @AlanClarkeTweet]

Why are we not all as outraged about the Children’s Hospital as we were about Ryan Tubridy’s wages? It’s gone from €650m to €1.73billion and no sign of completion. Why is there no interrogation by politicians on the Tv everyday or did I miss it? Genuine question.

[Martin Power @martypower7]

@Wayne_Jacob_ I was only talking about this last week. And notice it’s only on stage 1 (parents have no other choice) stage 2 they can be given cows milk. So fucking sad

[Eoin Ó Broin @EOBroin]

Why would @DarraghOBrienTD launch a Housing “Progress” Report at the same time as Ryan Tubridy is in front of a Dáil Committee? 🤔

Maybe he’s hoping people wont notice the lack of actual progress on social & affordable housing, tenant-in-situ purchases & homelessness. 🙄

[Martin Power @martypower7]

@jurgenkloppTD Where was it??

[Martin Power @martypower7]

@COYSS @GarlandOonagh @Deisesupes Incorrect! Only some of them

[Martin Power @martypower7]

@Deisesupes 🤣🤣🤣

[Martin Power @martypower7]

Just been in Odeon to see Top Gun (great show) and got 2 cokes, 1 small 1 medium as we were just out for dinner…. €10 lads! I nearly fell over #ripoffireland #odeon #TopGunMaverick #inflation

[Martin Power @martypower7]

@A_Harrisimo @red_blue_review @premierleague Very same

[Martin Power @martypower7]

To my #1 podcast of 2021, @jayshettyiw: thank you for keeping me company on @Spotify all year long! #SpotifyWrapped https://t.co/wDFov7INIp 1200 minutes of pure joy 🙏🙏

[Martin Power @martypower7]

@paddypower over 2.5 cards left me down on a 4 bet bet builder on the Liv-arsenal game… do the cards for both managers not count?