Irish politics discussion thread

Pretty much agree there.

Irish Times has a rather pro-Bruton editorial: http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/opinion/2010/0615/1224272513279.html

Yeah, that's the colours nailed to the mast there alright. Harry McGee's piece today is a good one from a more detached POV I think.

Leo Varadkar is an odious little shit, apropos of nothing.

does anyone have a sub for the irish times online?

― plax (ico), 31 May 2010 17:24 (2 weeks ago) Bookmark

I didn't see this, sry

I don't, but i've never been asked for one, tbh, if it's just articles you're looking for.

i dunno, no matter what ppl say, the go ahead and vote FF

― plax (ico), 14 June 2010 10:27 (Yesterday) Bookmark

and yeah there's no way FF won't poll half again of 17% in an election.

that is probably true - they got way more than their polling level in last-year's locals, for instance.

Quite a meeting of the FG front bench this morning, by all accounts.

Jesus, busy day.

Croke Park deal goes through. Fuckem.

Bloody Sunday, Cameron and all that.

FG Fiasco continues. Varadkar still a little shit- if that's the future of FG, may the whole lot of em just drop off the face of the earth, tbh.

And in the background, Cowen stays.

The margins involved in all three of the vote/numbers issues have kinda ruined my day.

Aw Enda, Enda what the fuck? You clown.

"Limerick TD Kieran O’Donnell, who Mr Kenny named as Mr Bruton’s replacement as finance spokesman, today declared support for the challenger. Mr O’Donnell said he told Mr Kenny of his intentions this morning. “I feel that Richard Bruton is the most viable option to lead the party.”"

Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha.

If you wrote that in an RTE sitcom it'd be rejected as dumb satire of the lowest order, I mean really though.

Meanwhile the Cóir people are still warning FF that if they do not stop nourishing sodomy they will be in big trouble.

Well FG did a fair bit of fucking from behind the weekend past themselves.

On another note, Anglo Irish are trying to sneak in under the radar with the news that the 22bn sunk into them so far will not be recovered. Letting the fuckers hang, is, of course, simply not an option. Not sure why.

Meanwhile the Cóir people are still warning FF that if they do not stop nourishing sodomy they will be in big trouble.

― The New Dirty Vicar, Wednesday, June 16, 2010 2:57 PM (3 hours ago)

where can i sign up w/ these guys srsly

nourishing sodomy- great band name imo

Enda in

enda keepin his enemies closer

Not much he can do, really. Most able spokesman on finance in the times that's in it.

Also, all the waffle about unity and no rift, can't see that Inda has much choice .

Things are gonna get hairy later on this year, according to those criticising the unilateral bank guarantee- dozens of billions of those debts mature before october, with not much prospect of the bond markets taking on much of it.

ie- add it to the national/govt debt, another (maybe) 58 bn.

jumpin this sinking ship

my serious advice 2u- do so. once my gf has her master's finished next year, i can't see us staying (and i'm in the council ffs)

oh i mean the only thing that would hold me back is turning into some diaspora type but i mean, i can get over that

I'm not sure that the current generation of economic exiles will have that habit- it was all well and good giving it the aul ochone ochone for caitlin ni suilebhán when it was the dirty brits that meant we had to leave. given that this time it will have been our own political classes and, to an extent, the property-mad middle/upper middle class over 40 that led to the trouble, there's not really the impetus for a ringfenced eireannach mentality to form.

also, the fact that instead of sending money home to build a country from scratch, we'll be moving to avoid paying massive taxes to cover the gambling debts of privileged fucks- tbh i'd not be be expecting too many emigrants under 35 to celebrate the cod-irishness in the same way that eg builders in london in the 60's did.

wondering how kerrygold can use this

kerrygold irish bitter

remember sally o'brien and the way she used to look at ya, the teasing bitch. like the banks, she never put out either

returning home to an electric blanket yr old ma had switched on for you, cut to subsequent punishment beatings administered to the poor dear by the viper when she can't pay the bill.

"im sorry but you have already eaten all the kerrygold"

"maybe you should have gone easy on it a little"

"also we cannot cover you for conditions related to cholesterol buildup under the new halthcare regime"

AAARGH STFU STFU STFU

eh, i think that is part of this larger trend of only expressing facts in opposites, so the more articles you read like that the more u kno we are doomed.

Cowen is going ahead with 3bn cuts to the public sector, cuts that cannot be avoided.

We're throwing 22bn away into a bank guarantee that is only necessary in order to protect the investing classes.

Employment will take 10 years to return to height levels, if it ever does.

Growth will be export-led and is due to our increased competitiveness.

To translate-

You will get fewer and poorer public services. You don't have a job. If you have a job, you will get paid less and have less power in negotiations with your employers. Your employers will be making all the money. The wealthy will have been protected from the worst of it.

This is Fianna Fáil's idea of 'things are looking up'.

Cowen is going ahead with 3bn cuts to the public sector, cuts that cannot be avoided.

This re-affirmed, btw, at the black tie IBEC conference at the Mansion House, last night- equivalent, roughly, to calling the big bad wolf into the parlour over tea to explain to him how you're scaling back security plans at the three little pigs' residences.

The IMF also said Nama should dispose of property assets it has acquired in an orderly manner to reduce the overhang of property in State hands and said these sales could kick-start the stalled property market.

The organisation praised the Government for its measures to stabilise the banking sector and cut spending.

“Through assertive steps to deal with the most potent sources of vulnerability, Irish policymakers have gained significant credibility,” it said.

“These actions have reassured the global policy community and international financial markets. Over the past months, Irish sovereign bond spreads have tended to rise significantly on the days of intensely adverse international market sentiment but otherwise Ireland has been accorded the space to pursue its planned policy trajectory.”

Go fuck yourselves, IMF

this is all terribly sad

it's effing disgraceful

It's official- Ireland is 'technically' out of recession.

Presumably this is why the most pressing matter left for our legislators is dog-breeding. A matter that has caused more consternation amongst govt back-benchers than any of the financial or political scandals of the past ten years.

Say no to puppy farms!

I do, I do. Now can I please have my economy back?

I think there should be a NAMA for puppy farms.

We've already been sold enough pups, don't you think?

I honestly don't know where to put this. Actually printed in the Irish Times today, they must be on a wind-up

Madam, – There have been some doubts shed on Irish Times/Ipsos MRBI opinion polls recently as to their accuracy and freedom from bias.

This is of particular importance in relation to democratic poll-taking on the Catholic Church, which is by its nature an authority of God. This does not seem to affect The Irish Times, which appears to be an organ of revolution, destruction and the chaos which would come about by the disintegration of the Catholic Church’s authoritarian state. The enemies of the Catholic Church do not favour spilling blood because the devil knows that the food of the church is the blood of martyrs. But they will go a long way in an undermining role if they can.

The trouble with Irish Timespolls are that they are taken from “Catholics”. That means that those giving their democratic judgment do not accept the full story, and are in effect “Catholics” by birth register only, and are quite happy to see the Catholic Church sink into oblivion via all sorts of distortions and half-truths, along with their spiritual allies in the Masonic lodges. In fact, a number of “Catholics” are sworn Masons and live thereby in chronic mortal sin.

So when The Irish Timestakes the next opinion poll on the failures of the hierarchy (actual, perceived, and spurious), let it carry out a parallel opinion poll which will be the litmus test of these “democratic Catholics”. Ask each one if they are Catholics; (if not, it’s none of their business); then ask them do they accept the Catholic Church’s teaching on Humanae Vitae, the ban on the use of contraception. If they do not, then eliminate them from the result as apostates who hate the church anyway. Do not rely on those coming out of a church, as there are a number of “Catholics” who go to Mass, deceiving themselves.

This should narrow things down a bit and eliminate the worst aspects of diabolical democracy. – Yours, etc,

there are a number of “Catholics” who go to Mass, deceiving themselves.
there are a number of “Catholics” who go to Mass, deceiving themselves.
there are a number of “Catholics” who go to Mass, deceiving themselves.
there are a number of “Catholics” who go to Mass, deceiving themselves.
there are a number of “Catholics” who go to Mass, deceiving themselves.
there are a number of “Catholics” who go to Mass, deceiving themselves.
there are a number of “Catholics” who go to Mass, deceiving themselves.

you can certainly read that a number of ways.

The enemies of the Catholic Church do not favour spilling blood because the devil knows that the food of the church is the blood of martyrs

^ got this far before i was really taken aback

didn't the irish times used to be seen as a church of ireland paper? see w/o being entirely clued-in to this stuff, i'd guess that's a 4 real religious lunatic

another possible shibboleth might be 'the disintegration of the Catholic Church’s authoritarian state' but most of it seems unironic and sentimentally consistent fundie catholic shit