Muslim Community Lobby Ireland is an independent organization established 1st May 2007. Its motto is TO USE THE VOTE RIGHTLY AND TO RAISE THE MUSLIM COMMUNITY AWARNESS WITH THEIR RIGHTS AND TO PROMOTE TOLERANCE AND UNDERSTANDING OF OTHER EXISTING GROUPS. لترشيد استعمال الصوت الانتخابي ولتوعية وتعريف المسلمين بحقوقهم في ايرلندا وان يعيشوا بتفهم للواقع وللجماعات الاخرى الموجودة على الساحة

Wednesday, July 8, 2009

Fears of property price nosedive

Property prices will nose-dive in NI if the Irish Republic's new toxic assets agency dumps developments on the market, Stormont ministers have warned.
Finance ministers from both sides of the border are to hold emergency talks over fears the north could be swamped with repossessed homes and offices.
The issue was raised at a North-South Ministerial Council meeting in Dublin.
An agency has been set up in Dublin to recoup debt run up by banks on property bought in NI and in the Republic.
The National Assets Management Agency (NAMA) will attempt to recover nationalised bank losses for the Irish government through the selling-off of developments that collapsed during the property crash.
Taoiseach Brian Cowen said there were concerns about the number of Northern Ireland properties which will be taken over by NAMA.
'Implications'
"Obviously some of these assets are located in the Republic, in Northern Ireland and other jurisdictions as well," Mr Cowen said.
"It's important that we fully agreed in our discussions that both finance ministers would meet to consider the implications over the period ahead.
"It's obviously a matter of co-ordinating policy decisions."
Northern Ireland First Minister Peter Robinson said Finance Minster Sammy Wilson would meet with his counterpart in the Republic, Brian Lenihan, in an attempt to stave off any threat to Northern Ireland's house prices.
"There are assets which are being held by NAMA which impact upon Northern Ireland, those disposals need to be handled in a way that don't swamp the property market and impact adversely on property prices in Northern Ireland," he said.
It is estimated that Irish banks hold anything between 60bn and 90bn euros of so-called toxic assets, the money loaned to property developers and others which might never be repaid.
Around 30bn euros worth are thought to be outside the Republic and as many as 15bn to 20bn euros worth of bad property-related debts are thought to be in Northern Ireland.

BBC

Expanding Government Is Destroying Liberty in the European Union

The American republic was connected to Europe at birth. The original 13 British colonies shared the mother country’s classical liberal roots and created a national government of uniquely limited powers. The new nation then drew to it dissenters and entrepreneurs from across Europe, and exported freedom ideals back across the Atlantic.
Now America’s influence may be running the other way — to Europe’s disadvantage. More than a century ago the Civil War subordinated the theretofore sovereign American states to the newly empowered national government. Today a transcontinental elite centered in Brussels is attempting to achieve a similar end in Europe, though through stealth rather than war.
The European Union began small. The horrors of World War II encouraged Europeans to integrate Germany into rather than isolate it from the continent, unlike after World War I. The European Coal and Steel Community came first, which was transformed into the European Economic Community (or “Common Market”). The EC became the European Union in 1993.
The original purposes of a continental European organization were simple: increase economic opportunity and political cooperation. Despite the inevitable quirks of any transnational organization, the EU proved to be a boon: it lowered trade barriers, expanded commercial ties, and sublimated national rivalries. The slow, steady development of the EU was one reason war became unthinkable in “Old Europe.”
An important aspect of the organization’s success was its lack of political authority. The EU was more continental association than continental government. The principal national decisions continued to be made by national governments. There were obvious tensions, of course: creating a continental market inevitably meant limiting national regulations. Nevertheless, there was no pretense that Brussels would supplant the essential authority of individual countries.
That has begun to change, however. The European Commission and European Parliament have taken over an increasing number of “competencies,” as they are called, from member states. Micro-management has become the norm: for instance, the British government prosecuted a grocer for violating EU regulations banning imperial measurements. German bakers fear proposed Commission rules limiting the salt content of bread. London is fighting EU proposals to impose stricter restrictions on work hours and regulate Britain’s financial industry

Doug Bandow Campaign For Liberty