The price of consultation
Those of you fortunate enough not to live in this blighted country may not be aware that we have a new water board.
If goes under the imaginative name of Irish Water.
This is the company that is going to try to relieve us of yet more taxes by order of Brussels
They announced yesterday that it had cost €100 million to set up the company which seems a tad excessive.
But they announced that over half that went on "consultants' fees".
What the fuck?
How in the name of blue fuck is it even possible to spend fifty million on consultants? How many consultants were there? How can anyone justify fees at that level?
They could employ a thousand nurses for that level of cash, or they could employ a hundred nurses for ten years?
They could reinstate the carers' grant that was cut in the budget, and still have change?
How many schools could they refurbish for that?
Closer to home, how many leaking pipes could they fix for that kind of money?
And where are they going to recoup this expenditure? Why, they are going to load it onto the water bills so we are supposed to pay.
They can go fuck themselves.
They want to charge me for water that is heavily contaminated with chemicals so it tastes like dog piss [or rather what I imagine dog piss would taste like], and that has so low a pressure that it barely makes it up to the roof top tank? And now they want me to pay extra so they can line the pockets of their pals with "consultants' fees"?
I am quite looking forward to the day when they try and install my meter.
Blood will flow.
There's great gravy around if you can catch the right trains.
Funny how even if I never catch the train, I always end up paying for the ticket?
I was standing around with a bunch of equally anti-social smokers (plus the anti-smokers who didn't want to be left out of the conversation even though it was pissing rain) having this exact conversation today. We all grumbled, and then we all shared stories of wealthy people that we knew of that sold their land six years ago, left it to crumble, then bought it back for a small percentage of that price. It is to be expected, the greed. The government's reputation has become worse than that of the 'knackers' but we are all still tolerant, we all still remain the same. There are that many charities out there, I'm on the hunt for the secret billionaires. On a local Irish level my dream is to fund first-aid training for every fucker out there, that's just me. There are hundreds of other volunteers and charities out there under your noses. In summary I guess, for every greedy bastard out there, there is an equal but opposite force, willing to balance things out, Newton was right. Then again I'm only council house scum! Hahaha! Don't listen to me. Gimme money. Not for me, I'd buy a new ambulance with it to protect you during your kid's rugby games/that concert you have tickets for etc. etc…
Flushing the toilet doesn't bother me, by the way. If it's yellow, let it mellow. I bet the consultants were all about the fluoride content, hopefully the drainage system. If so, it's probably worth the cash. Relax, ta fuq.
If people were taxed less, they would have more disposable income to give to charities. In general, people are much better at doing things for themselves, as when gubmints get involved the monies just get swallowed up by "administration" and "consultation".
If you're looking for the secret billionairs, you'll have to go abroad.
OK Grandad, I can post now.
I think the laptop was sulking, I've been away for 3 weeks and only just started using it again so maybe it's feeling unwanted!
Isn't it strange how every organisation nowadays needs 'consultants'? Years ago people were employed to do a job and they did it, presumably those companies now employ people who DON'T know how to do their jobs.
Just admit it – you couldn't be arsed posting? That's quite OK. I understand.
Consultants are employed for one reason only – as a scapegoat. If management get things right, they take the credit. If things go arse over tit, they blame the consultants.
I was a consultant to the Commonwealth of Pa. for many years. I was stymied at every turn form doing a good job. One contract was simply to build the software bundle on PC's for one agency. I set up an assembly line kinda' set up and knocked out over thiry PC's on my first day. At the end of the day I turned in the paperwork for the thitry PC's and was read the riot act because the state's paperwork clearly stated that one could only do fifteen a day. I was told in no uncertain terms to follow the state's instructions.
I could go on and on with other stories of how I was kept from doing a good job while contracted to the state.
I once tendered for an EU contract through an intermediary. The latter refused to submit my tender on the grounds that it would be laughed at. I was told to add a zero or two to my price! The tender was submitted and accepted. Money means nothing to these people.