Interested in maladministration. Estd. 2005
Charlie Weston of the Irish Independent thinks that forbearance by banks will resolve the approaching mortgage crisis.
For all our faults, we Irish pay our bills, and we like our homes too much for thousands of us to risk losing them by giving up paying the mortgage.
Weston doesn’t explain how payments will continue when countless thousands are reduced to desperation to just put food on the table.
Former Taoiseach Garret FitzGerald has denied suggestions that Ireland needs a European Union bailout, and has accused European authorities of panicking.
I would have thought that we have got a chance of sorting this out ourselves; we don’t need a bailout if we can resolve the problems without it.
So, the whole world is wrong and FitzGerald and the rest of the Irish ruling elite are right.
Let’s be gentle with this fool, he’s old and his mind is obviously rambling.
I quoted the liar Lenihan only last week after he was interviewed on the BBC about his great plan for Ireland’s economy.
We intend to return to the markets next year, and we intend to fund ourselves. That’s our plan.
Some plan Lenihan, you fucking liar.
It may seem bizarre to say, but Burma is a more democratic country than Ireland.
We don’t have a ruthless military junta denying democracy and good government to the people but we do have a ruthless ruling elite who, effectively, do the same thing.
Burma, like Ireland, may be a blighted country but it has two treasures that will, I believe, ensure the eventual return of real democracy – a politically educated population and courageous visionary leadership.
You only have to look at the passion and focused determination of the Burmese people, their hunger for real and fair government to see that they understand exactly what real democracy is all about.
These people have the same fears and worries that Irish citizens have, and more, but at rock bottom they know that national pride, prosperity and freedom is impossible without a foundation of courageous, visionary and accountable democracy.
The people of South West Donegal are about to exchange the possibility of quality democracy in return for petty favours from local gombeen representatives.
They neither know, nor apparently care, about the damage such political ignorance will bring down on their heads and the heads of the population in general.
Before very long the rest of the Irish population will be indulging in the same disastrous trading of democratic principles in return for empty promises from a corrupt, incompetent and arrogant body politic.
You only have to observe the actions, words and almost magical charisma of Aung San Suu Kyi to realise that the quality of Irish political leadership emanates from the foulest sewer.
I don’t need to labour this point; I only have to envision the amazing political and personal bond between Aung San Suu Kyi and her people and then, painfully, recall the recent drunken interview given by our incompetent prime minister.
If Ireland had a political leader with even one percent of the vision and courage of Aung San Suu Kyi our country would be well on the way to recovery and a brighter future for its people.
Letter in today’s Irish Independent.
Please allow me to genuinely welcome our new Finance Minister Olli Rehn to the country.
His brief, no nonsense “It is appropriate” response to the forthcoming €6bn in Budget cuts is a refreshing change from the endless turning of (blind) corners.
Anthony Sheridan
Former president of the European Parliament, Pat Cox, was on Newstalk today discussing the financial crisis.
Like economist, Colm McCarthy, Cox thinks that Greek politicians are nasty liars while their Irish counterparts are saints heroically struggling to save their people from Armageddon.
Unlike the Greeks, our situation is pretty awful with numbers but we haven’t lied about the numbers. We’ve been very slow to discover some of them which I think is a huge part of our credibility problem but we haven’t deliberately mislead as the Greeks did.
Notice the claim ‘We’ve been very slow to discover some of them’. That’s Irish for – ‘We lied’.
By using these words Cox can tell the truth but at the same time remain outside the realm of reality.
Sadly, the reality is very, very close now and it will be interesting to observe how officials, commentators, experts, captured journalists and politicians mangle the English language in their efforts to remain outside of reality while EU bureaucrats are rubbing their faces in it.
Isn’t it absolutely incredible and utterly disgraceful that the people of Ireland are now forced to consult a High Court judge every time they wish to exercise their democratic right to elect a public representative?
Our new (permanent) Minister for Finance, Mr. Olli Rehn, will be in Dublin today and tomorrow for talks with his predecessor, Mr. Brian Lenihan.
I hope Mr. Rehn makes it quite clear to the Taoiseach that an election should be held immediately in order to pave the way for the hard times to come.
Here’s what former Taoiseach had to say about the current financial crisis (Six One News, 3rd Nov.).
Given that we fought a war of independence to get the sovereign right to borrow…we have a responsibility to repay every penny we owe, on time.
To my knowledge Bruton is in receipt of three state pensions – TD, Minister and Taoiseach.
He, his family and friends, at enormous expense to the taxpayer, enjoy the convenience of a state Mercedes complete with two drivers for the rest of his life.
Since 2001 he has drawn down €241,978 under the Secretarial Assistants Scheme which was introduced to assist former Taoisigh in tidying up loose ends after leaving office. This is in addition to the staff they are already assigned for ‘ordinary’ work.
To my knowledge Bruton owns a large and prosperous farm in Co Meath which, I’m sure, attracts very generous national and EU payments and subsidies.
All in all, John Bruton is a very rich man.
We can be sure, given the greed and arrogance of our political class, that he will work very hard to minimise his contribution to rescuing Ireland from the disaster that he and his fellow politicians created in the first place.
Economist, Colm McCarthy, is seen by most people as a high priest of economics. His utterances from on high are never challenged, his word is gospel.
In reality McCarthy has only a very narrow knowledge of what’s going on in Ireland. Broadly speaking, his outlook can be summed up in a sentence:
The country is broke, the people must pay.
Speaking on the Marian Finucane Show last Sunday McCarthy provided a good example of how narrow his knowledge is when discussing the serious deterioration of the financial situation.
The budget in December 2009 was pretty tough and most of us in my line of work thought at that time that the Government had probably done enough.
Only complete ignorance of reality could have led to such a conclusion. Any citizen of average intelligence with a minimum of media monitoring could see that the country was (and still is) heading over a cliff.
But we had a bit of bad luck this year, two different bits of bad luck…It transpired that the Greek government had been fiddling their budget figures and that spooked the markets…Our budget figures are disastrous…but they’re not fiddled…It had nothing to do with us but when you’re vulnerable these flipping things happen.
So, according to this leading economist who works closely with the Government and, I assume, hasn’t been living in a cave in the Tora Bora mountains of Afghanistan for the last 40 years, thinks that Irish governments and in particular this government do not fiddle budget figures.
The second thing that happened which was maybe more of our own fault. There’s been a drip, drip, drip of what is the hit from the banking disaster and we didn’t get that right at the beginning.
We didn’t get it right from the beginning – Now that must be the understatement of the century?
The Central Bank and the Financial Regulator advised the government that there was nothing to worry about which was extraordinary.
This is an echo of Bertie the moron’s recent claim that if only the Central Bank and the Financial Regulator had told him what was going on he would have acted.
I’m only the Prime Minister, responsible for running the country, what do I know?
The banks themselves, I believe, were in denial.
This is an incredible statement from someone who claims to be an economic expert. Everybody knows, even Brian Lenihan, that the banks have been lying through their teeth from the very beginning.
It has nothing to do with denial and everything to do with grabbing what they can and leaving the taxpayer to clean up the mess.
McCarthy also seems to be completely ignorant of the fact that Irish financial institutions have been robbing customer’s accounts with complete impunity for decades.
It’s extraordinary that outside commentators with no access to the data have been more accurate as to the size of the banking hole than the people who are in possession of all the information.
McCarthy is on the button here and he can include himself as someone who has little idea of the reality facing the Irish people.
In October 2009, around the time McCarthy was convinced that the Government had probably done enough, I wrote the following.
The crisis is so massive, so overwhelming, that it cannot be avoided. Neither can it be resolved by the present cabal of corrupt and incompetent politicians.
Countless thousands are going to lose everything. The Government will not succeed in resolving the crisis; they simply do not have the experience, vision or intelligence to deal with such a massive crisis.
The country’s economy will end up administrated by the IMF and/EU bureaucrats, we will, effectively, lose our sovereignty.
There will be no return to normality in the short or even the medium term. Ireland is looking down the dark tunnel of a prolonged and dangerous depression where it’s every man for himself.
The best Irish citizens can hope for is that the coming tsunami, as it destroys all their wealth and dreams, also sweeps away the entire rotten system and all those who support and defend it.
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Colm McCarthy