Sep 30
Brian Lenihan said the bank guarantee scheme was “a necessary first step” and “the cheapest bailout in the world so far” compared with bank rescues where “billions and billions of taxpayers’ money are being poured into financial institutions”. “It allows us to move on and examine other questions which may have to be addressed to …
Apr 11
Way back in September 2008, I wondered what had become of free market philosophy, as the US government scrambled to rescue crumbling banks. Two weeks later, Ireland guaranteed bank deposits and bondholders. A lot has happened since then. Back in 2008, I asked what happened to the belief in creative destruction. I’m still wondering. Capitalism …
Sep 16
So this evening, I went though various receipts, totaled up invoices paid, did some data entry into a spreadsheet, and looked at the total. Two hundred and seventy three euro. Tomorrow morning then, I will post off a cheque to the revenue commissioners, payment due for VAT collected over the last few months. I wrote …
May 07
There’s a lot of shooting the messenger going on at the moment. An article in the New York Times, or a wrong word in a report from the IMF, and they’re off. ‘There has been comment which has been neither helpful nor, in my view, appropriate, and I would like to move on from that,’ …
Feb 12
I’m getting better at dealing with the Dáil meltdowns. I was already prepared for the latest Anglo Irish debacle this morning, since the news of the ‘exceptional support‘ loans emerged yesterday. Even so, it took some time for me to absorb the news that Brian Lenihan never bothered to read the auditor’s report. The man’s …
Feb 10
Junior labour minister Billy Kelleher thinks the minimum wage needs a review. Apparently, €8.65 an hour could be a ‘barrier to employment’. Billy’s boss, enterprise and employment minister Mary Coughlan, sets the minimum wage in orders and regulations laid before the Oireachtas. Maybe the government hopes the latest kite will distract from the fact that …
Jan 21
‘So here’s how it works’, my informant told me, leaning closer as his voice dropped. ‘To earn the right to vote on party policy, each party branch is required to raise a sum of money each year.’ ‘The amount raised varies from year to year, depending on whether it’s an election year, or if there’s …
Jan 15
I was all set to write an article today on the government’s belated decision to nationalise Anglo Irish Bank. Before writing, I decided to check what RTÉ had to say about the story. Nationalisation has been inevitable since the bailout consensus broke down yesterday, when Fine Gael said it would vote against the government recapitalisation …
Sep 30
This will be the last article for a while, as I head for foreign parts and a week’s holidays, so consider this a virtual time capsule. As I write, the US Congress is still arguing over how large a blank cheque they should give to Wall Street (or if they should bail them out at …