It’s been bothering me for a while, but until tonight I never bothered to do any research on it. Here’s Brian Lenihan’s version of it, as paraphrased by The Journal earlier today: “The Finance Minister said Ireland’s taxation system was no longer “fit for purpose”, saying that the upper 8% of taxpayers accounted for 60%… Continue reading Numbers game
Tag: Brian Lenihan
Remember this?
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… Continue reading Remember this?
Confidence in action
How much will we owe in 2012? Ireland’s Debt/GDP reached a record low of 25% in 2006. At the end of 2009, it stood at 66%, as the government went on a borrowing spree to bail out banks while tax revenues plummeted. Our gross debt ratio is projected to rise to 84% by end 2010.… Continue reading Confidence in action
TV3 and Brian Lenihan: Rights and Wrongs
TV3 were right to report that finance minister Brian Lenihan had been diagnosed with cancer. Unfortunately, just about every other decision they made in covering the story was wrong. What TV3 gave us was Ursula Halligan, seemingly ill-prepared, at one point stumbling over tenses (“Brian Lenihan was, um, is…”) and saying not very much after… Continue reading TV3 and Brian Lenihan: Rights and Wrongs
Comeback
Nine days from now, Brian Lenihan will stand before the Dáil and announce the government’s latest budget. The cabinet has made quite display of how seriously they take the crisis in public finances, even holding a meeting on a Sunday. Things are so bad they’ve even given up their weekends, you see. The cabinet still… Continue reading Comeback
300
Today is Brian Cowan’s 300th day as Taoiseach. It’s symptomatic of his reign that today, the door fell off a minister’s helicopter as it left a tourism conference. Brian Cowen’s reign just can’t seem to achieve takeoff. He was elected, as far as I can tell, because he was great crack altogether. He became the… Continue reading 300
Information Of A Written Character
Sean Quinn placed bets on which way Anglo Irish stock would go. A lot of bets. Trouble is, Sean backed the wrong horse. Soon, he was looking at €1 billion in losses on 25% of Anglo Irish Bank stock. So Sean cut his losses, and ended up owning 15% of the bank. That left 10%.… Continue reading Information Of A Written Character
Five Stages
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… Continue reading Five Stages
Money Talks
Sean Fitzpatrick today resigned his position as chairman of Anglo-Irish Bank. ‘My decision to tender my resignation has been prompted by the fact that at the 30th September, 2008, I had fully secured loans, on normal commercial terms, with the Bank totalling €87 million which will be included in the annual report for 2008 in… Continue reading Money Talks
Where’s Wally?
Somehow, I can’t but feel a tinge of schadenfreude at the government’s dilemma as it tries to dig itself out of the hole it has created with the decision to end free medical care for citizens over the age of seventy, only to find itself stymied by the Competition Authority in its attempt to negotiate… Continue reading Where’s Wally?