Ireland

Irish bailout

Ireland

Some great articles on what can be done about the Irish economic situation. The question I’m asking is why the Irish government doesn’t take some of that advice on board. I would presume that the issue is that they are staggering towards the end of their tenure in a haze without clarity and motivation to take action. And the ECB/IMF is taking full advantage of that.
The Footnote On The Irish Bailout Plan comments on the comparison between the way Iceland and Ireland have handled the crisis.

This is nothing less than yet another example that in the great collapsing game of Keynesian fundamentalist’s dilemma, he who defects, defaults and devalues first is the winner. Congratulations Iceland. To everyone else: enjoy the eventual revolutions. They are now inevitable, courtesy of your favorite neighborhood parasite banker.

Ronan Lyons gives a detailed but concise overview of how Ireland got into the mess and some ideas of how to get out of it.

The full story of Ireland’s economic highs and lows over the past generation will no doubt be examined in many books for years to come. That’s no consolation, however, for people who are voting in a few weeks and who want to know where we are and what we need to do. They want to know which painful hits they should take, and which they shouldn’t. To know what to do next, we need to know how we got here and how bad things are, so this post aims to give a bare-bones outline of how Ireland dug itself into a hole, how deep the hole is and the kind of things we need to do to get back out of the hole.

Read the full post for his analysis of the reasons and ideas.

Irish Examiner needs a geography lesson

Ireland

Related to an article about Conor Cruise O’Brien’s red bias in RTE. Perhaps the letter was a deliberate fake if they are quoting from the address on the letter. Some of the passages are hilarious in which case, if it was taken seriously, geography lessons should have been required much further up the line.

Writing on March 20, 1978, Joseph O’Reilly of Achill Island, Co Galway, wrote that he wished “to draw [the taoiseach’s] attention to the news coverage by RTÉ particularly on television, of the French elections”.

JP Grealis – Missing Irish Person in the Netherlands

Ireland

I just got an email forwarded on about an Irish person from Achill who has been missing since November 2008.

Dear All,
Happy New Year to all and apologies for not sending any Christmas cards this year, my family and I are going through a tough time as my brother, JP, is missing in the Netherlands.

I have a favour to ask, could you please pass on this mail with the information below – I know it’s a long shot but it may reach someone that has seen him in the past few weeks, we will try anything at this stage. We have been doing everything we can to find JP with the Police and the Embassy and also my sisters, Mani, my brother-in laws and JP’s friends have searched various places in the Netherlands but there appears to be no trace of him since he was seen in Eindhoven during the 1st week of November. It seems unlikely but he may have travelled outside of the Netherlands so we are also searching in
Belgium/Spain/Germany etc.

Thank you,
Clare

  • Nationality: Irish
  • Name: James Patrick Grealis, known as JP
  • Date of Birth: 14/03/1984 (24 years old)
  • Hair: Red (curly/wavy)
  • Height: approx.1.75 meter/ approx 5′ 9”
  • Build: Slim build with broad shoulders
  • Clothes: Generally wears T-shirts, jeans, hoodies etc (he has a habit of walking with his sleeves pulled down over his hands)
  • General Information: Smoker, works in building trade, likes to socialize

JP was last seen in Eindhoven (1 st week of Nov) and last called home from Breda (23 rd of Oct). He may have travelled to Rotterdam in November. Any information please contact me (00 353 (0)87 2393993) or the Irish Police on 00 353 (0)98 20830 or the Dutch Police on 00 31 79-345 8882 ( case number 08261250 for Dutch Police)


Email:clare.grealis@gmail.com
Mobile Telephone: + 353 87 2393993

His details are also included on the Dutch Red Cross site here and also on the Irish Missing Persons website here.


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Misleading Obesity in Ireland

Ireland, Thought Provoking

From the Irish Times today, it seems like Obesity is now affecting one in five pregnant women. This is absolutely crazy. For a government running out of ideas, how about a tax proposal that would target obesity in the same way that alcohol and tobacco addition is targeted. How about a huge tax increase on all foods that have a fat proportion of over a certain level and then a sliding scale below that. One of the most laughable things I found on my last trip to Ireland was on the back of a pack of Tayto crips was a statistic that 2500 calories were the standing level for a man. Since I’ve been using Gyminee to track diet and exercise, the figure is close to 1700 for me. When is misleading packaging like that on Tayto (which I love by the way) going to be tackled in Ireland?

Rural broadband

Ireland, Tech, Web

FT reports on a rural broadband initiative in the UK. I’d love to see something like this being adopted in Ireland.

Not yet two years old, it is estimated to have brought in hundreds of thousands of pounds of investment by enabling entrepreneurs to thrive in areas that would have once been off limits, with 50,000 rural businesses now in reach of a fast internet connection.

Infrastructure investment is a mantra that has been heard from too long from the current Irish government. However, when it has come to prescient action, the efforts so far have look flat-footed and slow.

“We are levelling the playing field with urban areas,” said Andy Lister, marketing director of NYnet. Private companies have little incentive to build networks in sparsely populated areas and the costs for businesses increase the further they are from the exchange.

Country Diary

Achill, Ireland, Travel

Country Diary from The Guardian with a nice piece on Achill.

North we went to spend a few days on Achill Island (it is joined to the mainland). We had Slievemore Mountain behind us and sat facing the great Minaun Cliffs which rise from the sea, sheer in places and angled backwards in others. Such soft brown where heather grows, deepening almost to black where turf (peat) is visible. The cliff slabs change in colour from dark violet to black as the sun slants on their adamantine surfaces. The smell of turf burning fills the air with its acrid, not unpleasant scent.

Saving Turf

Achill, Ireland

I went back to my childhood today spending it, spreading turf. It is probably about 20 years since I have done this type of work that I did every summer as a kid. It’s pretty monotonous spreading the turf (or peat) so that it can dry in the air and the sunshine before being brought back to the house for the winter. Of course, harvesting turf is done a lot less these days in Celtic Tiger Ireland but it was nice in a nostalgic sort of way. It will be a world away from my new job in Germany next week.