‘As Mad As A Drove Of March Hares’

NEWS FROM THE CELTIC LEAGUE

You have to ask yourself at times if the Isle of Man Government is collectively ‘As Mad as a drove of March Hares’.

At any given time there are anything up to 15 - 20 government consultations on the go and some of the current ones are real ‘stonkers’.

There are the ‘waste of time consultations because we are going to do it anyway’ Eddie Teare’s Treasury are seeking views presently on changing ‘Taxation’ and ‘National Insurance’ and they fall into that category. I mean Eddie is a nice enough man but I doubt if the road he’s mapped out to manage the fiscal nightmare that is the current remit of his department is going to be markedly deflected by the views of Ffinlo from Foxdale or Bridget from Bride!

There are the ‘we are consulting because as an entity we are a complete waste of space and we need to justify our existence’. The current consultation by the Communication Commission consultation on the ‘Licensing of satellite Earth Stations’ falls into that category.

There are the ‘we are really well paid and most of you haven’t a clue what we do so we’re going to consult and make you even more confused’. The current FSA consultations on ‘Consequential Amendments’ and ‘Transitional Provisions’ fall into this category.

There are ‘the banal’. The current consultation on the use of Glen Wyllin’ falls into that category (just leave the bloody place as it is)!

There are the ones ‘nobody outside a few geeks in the Aircraft Registry care about’. The consultation on the ‘Cape Town Convention and Aircraft Protocol’ must be mind numbing!

There the ones that will make it easy for people to kill themselves. ‘The Road Races Bill 2015’ fits this nicely.

There are the ones that are just somebody’s idea of a bad joke. ‘The Financial Intelligence Unit Bill 2015’ meets that criteria - before you can say ‘Dodgy NAMA money in a Manx Bank Account’.

There are some that are just too vacuous to comment on!

What is the end result of all these interminable Manx government consultations, literally hundreds over the years?

The government would assert that they are an attempt to be open and inclusive but I doubt if any meaningful change has ever occurred to any proposed legislation as a result of views submitted by ‘the man or woman on the Onchan Omnibus’.

It’s just a gigantic con which far from demonstrating openness and inclusivity is just provides a fig leaf for the Manx government to wave when some of the consequences of their interminable legislative programme go belly-up!

BERNARD MOFFATT

Issued by: The Celtic News

08/09/15

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