Irish politics discussion thread

oh it's on my to-do when i get home.

emmmmmmmm

did you watch it?

i couldn't sit through all of his presentation, not gonna lie to you (is he creepy or is it just me?) but i got about 5 mins in total of the intro.

the dancing, oh boy. lol.

GET READY

(europe are gonna demand tax regime harmonisation in return for allowing us to fuck ourselves for decades with the debts of private banks- this is about to get real)

he is massively creepy. the way he dances is funny, i'd never thought of how one would want to dance on someone's grave in order to fully disrespect them before. personally i think i'd favour a more sexual and outrageous dance to truly show my disdain for the ceremonial resting place.

yeah, you either want rave or contempt to come out. not..... lust for children.

i don't suppose anyone is inclined to reproduce this FT piece that scurrilously broke ranks with international congratulations on our handling of this mess?

MINISTER FOR Science Conor Lenihan will not now launch a book in Dublin which describes evolution as a fantasy and a hoax, after the author asked him to withdraw in the wake of controversy on the web.

The Minister was to launch The Origin of Specious Nonsense by John May at Buswells hotel tomorrow, with actors playing the parts of Charles Darwin and King Kong.

MINISTER FOR SCIENCE MINISTER FOR SCIENCE MINISTER FOR FUCKING SCIENCE AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH FUCK THIS COUNTRY

Mind you he's still probably a better fit for his brief than most of the other cuntyfucks

The 7 bullet points from the author on this page are hurting my head. Is it opposites day?

I love it when rightwing/anti-scientists take the exact same arguments that they hear from their own opponents and just repeat them without any thought for "does this make sense any more?". Just throw in 5 extra words about God at the end and we're done, right?

About the Author:

He describes himself on the website www.theoriginofspeciousnonsense.com as “like Abraham Lincoln, self-educated, and might be viewed as a polymath, left school young and commenced my real education”.

riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight

On another trip, ODL getting fair stick for conducting a dodge interview with Mornign Ireland while hungover this AM. FF think-ins in Galway haven't lost their magic, obviously.

From the other end of your beautiful island, here is a cheery little piece in Ulster Scots* (or thereabouts) from a few months ago regarding the NI Culture Minister's keenness to put up some signs about geology only being a theory at the Giant's Causeway:
http://1690andallthat.blogspot.com/2010/06/giants-causeway.html

* a noble and very real linguistic heritage or a loyalist bid to get in on the money handed out by the EU for themmuns to print leaflets in Irish? well obviously it's not my place to have any opinion

I've always been of the opinion, not exactly researched, that it's a pure cod tbh. The first time I saw a guy (wearing a kilt and a flat cap iirc) speaking this on UTV one night I thought it was just another unfunny 'performance' comedian.

Money for Irish leaflets (and for EU translation in particular)- also a cod, so I'm not misunderstood or anything

don't get this cowen fuss, he sounds a bit slurred and half asleep but...who gives a fuck rly

hey, they got capone on tax evasion, iygwim

While Ireland’s unemployment rate was the sixth highest in the European Union last year, its population remains the second richest of the 27 member states, according to a new report.

think we'll just start printing and handing out a load of €2000 euro notes to fuck, sure won't we be FLYING THEN?

how about dis ting

At Milford District Court in Letterkenny on Monday Judge Séamus Hughes told Joseph McElwee (38) of Aughavennan, Rathmullan, Co Donegal, he was to do the four stations of the famous Mayo pilgrimage as a mark of respect for his fellow Irish people, especially those in the line of duty.

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2010/0917/1224279094345.html

can't they let him climb a mountain that doesn't have any religious nonsense associated with it

judge seamus hughes.

worked for the family for a few days once

he's a westport man himself, he's doin his bit for local tourism imo

judges make crap domestic staff ime, all airs and graces and won't play dumb

Garda Nicholas Freyne told the court that while they were on duty in Rathmullan, they saw a large crowd gathered outside a public house and three individuals approached them.

The court heard that the defendant called Garda Freyne a “Mayo w****r” and said “f*** off home to Mayo” continuing his abuse for 10 minutes according to the garda’s evidence.

not sure i disapprove of this kind of creative 'back at ya' sentencing tho tbh

oh right i see what you did there

the bould seamus was state solicitor for the north west region the past few years before his ascension, and he comes from a very nicely established family (portwest heirs, if anyone would recognise the name from outdoor wear). i don't think he ever had to do his own housework, let alone anyone else's.

what sort of negative associations wd someone in donegal have for mayo ppl? cuz that's the most ridiculous 'fuck off back to ____' shit i've ever seen

i'd imagine it was no more than 'oh look, it is a member of the local constabulary, let us mock him about something'

because there are no negative associations between west shannoners, except that city galwegians are a bit arty and city limerickmen are genuinely all fucking remorseless killers

cool.

i never got any sense of stupid resentments between rural irish ppl. i was once on a train w/ kids from sittingbourne and (iirc) gillingham getting into some stupid argument like that and despaired for them. cunts.

it all completely depends.

interfamily disputes are forgotten in neighbour disputes are forgotten in intervillage disputes but christ help us you wouldn't sit by if a fellow st vincents man was fightin with fellas from another parish and yr grandfather couldnt rest in his grave if he knew you'd let someone from the mainland run down the island and sure west mayo before the rest of them and when you get down to it isn't roscommon more dublin than it is connaught but begod you'd always take the side of a roscommon man ahead of anyone from leinster.

it's detailed, but not exactly complicated. my grandfather took knives fightin his way out of a pub in scotland back to back with a fella that he routinely knocked out at marts

disappointed i haven't gotten a rise from galway or limerick heads tbh

i don't think any of my ppl got into goings on like that back in the day

i don't think it was granda mac's style either, the point being that if someone from askill deserved a beating (and it's widely acceptable, judging by this individual's progeny with whom i had the privilege of attending their pre-prison state education, that he probably did) he'd damn well get it at home from fellas that had been waiting this long time for the opportunity, and not overseas from strangers.

my ppl were bourgie drunks and wasters on one side and ira on the other (long time ago)

a lot of nuns too

ah, the drunks and wasters on our side were/are all poor fuckers.

i'll ask the aul fella where we stood with the IRA, i'd imagine there was that in it too alright.

yeah the poor fuckers were the kids of said drunks

a lot of grimness

oh well sure we all have that.

we didn't stay out west because of the weather or anything

Just in the interests of balance, the shower waiting to take over aren't really any different

That's a little light on detail tbh. Career of a young bangarda threatened in front of the leader of the opposition, yadda yadda.

leaked in response to cowen's embarrassing episode last week of course.

breathalysers at the door of the parliament buildings, maybe?

Economy contracts by 1.2% in Q2

Taoiseach Brian Cowen conceded today the latest figures were “disappointing”, particularly after the better than expected results in the previous quarter.

Speaking at the National Ploughing Championships in Co Kildare, Mr Cowen said the focus must be on export-driven growth.

what odds a labour taoiseach?

― quiz show flat-track bully (darraghmac)

they made their first move this week imo.

Cowen reckons Anglo might be 35bn, might be more, sure y'know it's all only figures really lads.

we've achieved 'closure' on anglo irish. by announcing that the fucking thing will cost 29bn.

cunts

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/breaking/2010/0930/breaking4.html">=http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/breaking/2010/0930/breaking4.html

29 BILLION 29 BILLION 29 BILLION

i have got to get out of this fucking country, this is insanity

kind of love miriam o'callaghan. asking our minister for finance straight, simple, aggressive questions about bank guarantees and why the irish state/taxpayer is paying 50bn to cover the private bonds issued to private bondholders by private banks.

i know it's more complicated, but at the same time fuckem, we need to see this guy justify his fairytales, nobody ever pushes him on this.

Even when he's arguing for me losing my job, essentially, there's very few I'd have as much faith in as Garret Fitzgerald. Very good piece if anyone' still interested, barely am myself tbh.

THE WHOLE affair of the banks has been a huge distraction from the more fundamental issue of the restoration of our economy to health. A once-off bank bailout of €45-50 billion is, by definition, a lesser problem than a €22 billion annual budget deficit. But this reality has effectively been missed by most people. Now we are finally facing up to this.

Before looking at the deficit problem it is necessary to address the issue of whether more could be done by the Government to revive the economy by “creating” employment, as the unions demand. Some major countries have attempted to do this – although what success they have had is not yet clear.

In our case there are two difficulties about such an approach. First, we are one of the most open economies in the world. We import three-quarters of what we need – such imports represent less than one-third of output in the UK, France and Italy – and a mere one-sixth in the case of the US. In our case the leakage from any stimulus measure would be several times greater than in those other countries. Their economies rather than ours would be the main beneficiaries of an Irish stimulus measure, no matter how finely it was targeted. And we can’t afford to help save the world just now!

Second, our financial shortfall is much more severe than that of the countries that have tried to stimulate growth. This year our revenue is falling short of our expenditure by no less than 38 per cent. So, we have far less leeway for stimulatory measures.

Taken together, these harsh facts suggest we may be one of the worst cases for such action – perhaps the very worst – in the entire developed world.

focus rightly across the pond today, but Vincent Browne of all people gives some food for thought today

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/opinion/2010/1020/1224281544198.html

yah i read about this last night. shocked 2 b shocked ugh

the 11 bn, sortof out of the loop etc