Irish politics discussion thread

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you know those beatles (and millions of other band or 'thing') t-shirts that say "john and paul and ringo and george" etc...

me and my friend have decided to make one that says "charlie and albert and bertie and brian"...mail me for orders.

Will.Have.Known (Local Garda), Tuesday, 3 May 2011 22:12 (thirteen years ago) link

See if it's on the list first.

wmlynch, Tuesday, 3 May 2011 22:45 (thirteen years ago) link

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/opinion/2011/0507/1224296372123.html?via=mr&sms_ss=facebook&at_xt=4dc5462a30b0bbb0%2C0

every time i read kelly now i think of the dude homer replaced in the episode about refuse collection

socks & pwns may break my bwns (darraghmac), Saturday, 7 May 2011 13:28 (thirteen years ago) link

National survival requires that Ireland walk away from the bailout. This in turn requires the Government to do two things: disengage from the banks, and bring its budget into balance immediately.

First the banks. While the ECB does not want to rescue the Irish banks, it cannot let them collapse either and start a wave of panic that sweeps across Europe. So, every time one of you expresses your approval of the Irish banks by moving your savings to a foreign-owned bank, the Irish bank goes and replaces your money with emergency borrowing from the ECB or the Irish Central Bank. Their current borrowings are €160 billion.

The original bailout plan was that the loan portfolios of Irish banks would be sold off to repay these borrowings. However, foreign banks know that many of these loans, mortgages especially, will eventually default, and were not interested. As a result, the ECB finds itself with the Irish banks wedged uncomfortably far up its fundament, and no way of dislodging them.

This allows Ireland to walk away from the banking system by returning the Nama assets to the banks, and withdrawing its promissory notes in the banks. The ECB can then learn the basic economic truth that if you lend €160 billion to insolvent banks backed by an insolvent state, you are no longer a creditor: you are the owner. At some stage the ECB can take out an eraser and, where “Emergency Loan” is written in the accounts of Irish banks, write “Capital” instead. When it chooses to do so is its problem, not ours.

At a stroke, the Irish Government can halve its debt to a survivable €110 billion. The ECB can do nothing to the Irish banks in retaliation without triggering a catastrophic panic in Spain and across the rest of Europe. The only way Europe can respond is by cutting off funding to the Irish Government.

for a dude that was told to go commit suicide, he seems to have abit of fight in him yet imo

socks & pwns may break my bwns (darraghmac), Saturday, 7 May 2011 13:30 (thirteen years ago) link

brilliant article. unfortunately the catty comments make it easy for yr average Irish political hack on politics.ie or twitter to ignore the substance, but there's some great turns of phrase in there imo, especially this:
"Back when the euro was being planned in the mid-1990s, it never occurred to anyone that cautious, stodgy banks like AIB and Bank of Ireland, run by faintly dim former rugby players, could ever borrow tens of billions overseas, and lose it all on dodgy property loans."

Volvo Twilight (p-dog), Saturday, 7 May 2011 15:47 (thirteen years ago) link

last part of it never occurred to anyone tbf

socks & pwns may break my bwns (darraghmac), Monday, 9 May 2011 02:40 (thirteen years ago) link

1000 messages to get from ff re-elected to here.

socks & pwns may break my bwns (darraghmac), Monday, 9 May 2011 02:40 (thirteen years ago) link

160 million euros per message, that

socks & pwns may break my bwns (darraghmac), Monday, 9 May 2011 02:41 (thirteen years ago) link

fuckin terrible

i imagine kelly is being a /little/ glib, but the pretence of sustainability has been the worst thing about the irish recession / debt crisis from the start, and i think he's probably pretty close to the truth

no xmas for jonchaies (nakhchivan), Monday, 9 May 2011 02:47 (thirteen years ago) link

he's close enough, alright, but his proposed solution is definitely just trash talk at this stage.

His last few articles offered no solutions at all, and were duly criticised on that score, so he prob just tacked this one on as a 'fuck you eat this for a solution'

socks & pwns may break my bwns (darraghmac), Monday, 9 May 2011 02:53 (thirteen years ago) link

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2011/0516/1224297038705.html

at what stage does this stuff become too much? i'm not against the queen's visit, but i've a few friends work in abbey st/parnell st area and this shit's been unbearable for the past few days.

i can't offer an alternative or anything, mind.

Britain, the 51sb State (darraghmac), Monday, 16 May 2011 15:05 (thirteen years ago) link

i'm against it, not from a "800 years ah for god's sake" viewpoint but I just don't see what point we have in inviting that fat spoiled robot to our country. Waste of time and money, nobody is pleased about it are they?

Phelan Nulty (Local Garda), Monday, 16 May 2011 15:08 (thirteen years ago) link

heh plenty of them from your neck of the woods are standing to attention, if the IT letters page etc are any read on it.

but i agree with your first sentiment. if it's that big a deal as necessitates all of the furore for ordinary people, then it's by default 'too soon'.

i had the same feelings on GWB's visit a few years back, closing down the fucking midlands for that cunt to get a few photo ops, ugh

Britain, the 51sb State (darraghmac), Monday, 16 May 2011 15:14 (thirteen years ago) link

God bless em, they do a great job.

The New Dirty Vicar, Monday, 16 May 2011 15:37 (thirteen years ago) link

the royals, the gardai (local or otherwise) or sinn feiners?

Britain, the 51sb State (darraghmac), Monday, 16 May 2011 15:38 (thirteen years ago) link

To be honest, I was just referencing a Viz comic t-shirt, which had that caption and a picture of the Royal Family.

The New Dirty Vicar, Monday, 16 May 2011 16:22 (thirteen years ago) link

are there irish people who are enthused about this? wtf?

Michael B, Monday, 16 May 2011 16:34 (thirteen years ago) link

i'd figured summat like that alright

Britain, the 51sb State (darraghmac), Monday, 16 May 2011 16:34 (thirteen years ago) link

dont want to get all Ding Dong Denny O´Reilly but I did cringe when I heard that she is going to be visiting Croke Park

Michael B, Monday, 16 May 2011 16:41 (thirteen years ago) link

yeah i think a lot of ppl would be quicker to question/criticise this whole thing but for fear of being lumped in with 'that lot'

Britain, the 51sb State (darraghmac), Monday, 16 May 2011 16:47 (thirteen years ago) link

yeah i feel fairly strongly "fuck off" about this. people need to start hating the queen for being a freak who has never buttered a slice of toast, if not for irish republican reasons. detest the lot of them.

Phelan Nulty (Local Garda), Monday, 16 May 2011 22:34 (thirteen years ago) link

The monarchy's clearly a wholly unjustifiable institution but this trip has been arranged for symbolic reasons and the Queen coming over is going to have much more of an impact than David Cameron would. I guess that, at a time of rising Republican activity, the visit has been calculated to show the lunatic fringe that the rest of Ireland has moved on.

That magnanimity has to be reciprocated with something close to remorse though. I haven't seen much RTE in the last couple of days but the talk in the UK has all been of how Ireland's going to respond to her being there, not how the Queen's going to respond to being in Ireland. The Garden of Remebrance and Croke Park will give her an opportunity to address some of the things that have been done in her family's name - any significance of the trip is going to depend on whether she takes that opportunity.

I LOVE BELARUS (ShariVari), Tuesday, 17 May 2011 07:44 (thirteen years ago) link

is it very wrong of me to give a little lol when they found that bomb this morning

taking ilxers out with a flurry of butthurt (Noodle Vague), Tuesday, 17 May 2011 07:46 (thirteen years ago) link

jesus, i dunno would it be wise for herself to get into history/politics, tbh.

Watershed moment has already occurred there, she won't top cameron after the bloody sunday report, and the govt bears more responsibility for anything done in the past 100 years anyway

Bomb details?

Britain, the 51sb State (darraghmac), Tuesday, 17 May 2011 07:51 (thirteen years ago) link

a lot of people like to portray the monarchy as outside of politics now but it's still fully implicated in the policy and governance of the UK imo

taking ilxers out with a flurry of butthurt (Noodle Vague), Tuesday, 17 May 2011 07:55 (thirteen years ago) link

ya but you're a flaming nutjob iirc

Britain, the 51sb State (darraghmac), Tuesday, 17 May 2011 08:00 (thirteen years ago) link

well yeah

taking ilxers out with a flurry of butthurt (Noodle Vague), Tuesday, 17 May 2011 08:03 (thirteen years ago) link

implication etc yeah, but realistically how much steering can the royals do or did they do wrt the irish question?

iirc my leavin cert history twas yer gladstones etc did all the running from 1870 onwards, which is when our curriculum started anyway.

I dunno had we any dealings with ye at all before that tbh

Britain, the 51sb State (darraghmac), Tuesday, 17 May 2011 08:13 (thirteen years ago) link

they have no discernable influence themselves, but they are employed in a tactical/polemical fashion when on their quadi-diplomatic gladhanding trips

no xmas for jonchaies (nakhchivan), Tuesday, 17 May 2011 08:15 (thirteen years ago) link

i mean obv we fell out with ye over land in the 1600's but we're irish, you're the neighbours, it's what we do isnt it

Britain, the 51sb State (darraghmac), Tuesday, 17 May 2011 08:15 (thirteen years ago) link

ya i mean it's not like there was any enmity

no xmas for jonchaies (nakhchivan), Tuesday, 17 May 2011 08:17 (thirteen years ago) link

wtf of course there was jesus

Just no more than usual

Britain, the 51sb State (darraghmac), Tuesday, 17 May 2011 08:19 (thirteen years ago) link

how are your neighbours atm anyway?

no xmas for jonchaies (nakhchivan), Tuesday, 17 May 2011 08:20 (thirteen years ago) link

sending yr landlady round 400 years later is a bit petty tho imo

Britain, the 51sb State (darraghmac), Tuesday, 17 May 2011 08:20 (thirteen years ago) link

they are absentee tenants atm, which is a new twist on an old favourite

Britain, the 51sb State (darraghmac), Tuesday, 17 May 2011 08:21 (thirteen years ago) link

triffic bunch of lads

no xmas for jonchaies (nakhchivan), Tuesday, 17 May 2011 08:23 (thirteen years ago) link

he showed up in a taxi for five mins yesterday after not being seen for a fortnight. I asked him for further info but it wasnt forthcoming i dunno

Britain, the 51sb State (darraghmac), Tuesday, 17 May 2011 08:27 (thirteen years ago) link

well, i stuck my head out the window and roared 'what the fuck you doin back?' but still

Britain, the 51sb State (darraghmac), Tuesday, 17 May 2011 08:28 (thirteen years ago) link

can we turn this into a discussion of neighbours?

above: mark, tottenham hotspur fan, have fairly stilted discussions often, nice to know a neighbour i guess, a DECENT GUY. attractive gf.

below right: angry man who you hear roaring at wife and later praying/chanting. unpleasant, doesn't say hello.

below left: somalian man who works in dry cleaner locally, friendly.

adjacent: swedish girl and rotating cast of flatmates, she is friendly. flatmates frequently hot.

above left: the queen of england. annoying. away a lot though. flatmates frequently ugly.

Phelan Nulty (Local Garda), Tuesday, 17 May 2011 08:38 (thirteen years ago) link

lol

Britain, the 51sb State (darraghmac), Tuesday, 17 May 2011 08:42 (thirteen years ago) link

it's weird being here in dublin while the queen is visiting, we're staying downtown and we were told that there would be all these cops everywhere and checkpoints and blah blah blah

so far no queen at the paramount hotel breakfast bar tho

the tune is space, Tuesday, 17 May 2011 08:46 (thirteen years ago) link

i feel yr implicit criticism of thread drift is unfair however, my neighbour situation not only parallels the uk question rather neatly, it also raises questions on the property market, encapsulates the breakdown in social order as a result of the tiger's demise, definitely ropes in the question of what to do with the lower orders, etc

Britain, the 51sb State (darraghmac), Tuesday, 17 May 2011 08:48 (thirteen years ago) link

nah i wasn't criticising, genuinely wanted a neighbour discussion.

x-post you're in dublin? cool...say hello to everyone i know.

Phelan Nulty (Local Garda), Tuesday, 17 May 2011 08:49 (thirteen years ago) link

cead mile failte dr3w i'm sure

Ur a bitter little man local garda, and i'm not gonna talk to yeuh if ah dint want teuh

Britain, the 51sb State (darraghmac), Tuesday, 17 May 2011 08:51 (thirteen years ago) link

i was serious!

Phelan Nulty (Local Garda), Tuesday, 17 May 2011 08:54 (thirteen years ago) link

well can you post some pics of yr neighbours pls, as a gesture of good faith

Britain, the 51sb State (darraghmac), Tuesday, 17 May 2011 08:56 (thirteen years ago) link

the swedish ones obviously

Britain, the 51sb State (darraghmac), Tuesday, 17 May 2011 08:57 (thirteen years ago) link


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