Talking to by friend Fergus Finlay today, he was very angry about the state of the country. The consequences for Bernardos and the Children they serve are very severe. He will have to crushing task of making people redundant for lack of funding.
I will bring this to the Fine Gael Group and propose the granting of this signal honour to a remarkable woman. I will ask Enda Kenny to support this also.
There’s one face-saving way out of FG for Kenny — the Presidency
By Matt Cooper
Friday, October 08, 2010
ENDA Kenny should run for President instead of Taoiseach. That could solve a lot of problems for him, for his party and for his country.
The issue of importance to me is the relative size of the Labour and Fine Gael in the next Dail.
I believe that Fine Gael’s bank policy and recovery jobs policy (Richard Bruton’s website) is clearly better worked out, safer, realistic and more likely to work. I would have acted to guarantee BoI and AIB on 30 september 2008 had I been forced to make the choice at that time and in those circumstances. I thought that Labour was simply wrong then and Nothing has changed my mind. Just read Professor Honohan’s report and make up yopur own mind.
The issue that some interpreters of political numbers ignore is regression towards the mean. Parties that experience large gains or falls in opinion polls or elections usually do worse or better respectively on the next occasion. So Labour will likely fall a bit in the next polls if their true value is less or continue the same or increase if their support is truely on the rise. Here is a view on the FG experience.
Daft.ie tracks the asking prices of property in the country. Recently in the Irish Independent David McWilliams writes about the collapsing house prices and asks how far will they fall?
This is a valid question. I have written about this subject in the past and have pointed out the usual relationship between annual rents and capital value is about 12 – 14 to 1 by international standards. So if rent is €1200 per month the capital value of the house should be €144,000 to €168,000.
The MacGill Summer School in Glenties in Donegal has evolved into a major
jamboree for the political and governmental classes. It is extensively
reported in the press and makes the headlines. Many of the contributions
make important illustrative contributions to the national discourse on the
genesis and solutions to our problems.
Michael Noonan is the best export we have had from Limerick. His quality of contribution transends the usual party political mediocrity evident in most political contributions. He is the single best outcome from the recent heave in Fine Gael. The Lord Kitchener moniker “Your country needs you”
fits him accurately.
His article in the Irish Times on Friday 23rd July is here :-
Focus on people and jobs, not bankers and bailouts
Changes needed fast to stop scenes of weeping parents in Irish airports from becoming iconic image of this recession, writes MICHAEL NOONAN
IT DOESN’T matter how many degrees they have and it doesn’t matter how good their job prospects might be. When it comes to forced emigration, all parents break down and cry as they see their children off at the airport.
The PJ Mara School of Irish Politics dictates
Una duce Una voce
No More Nibbling at my leader’s bum.
But Il Duce should realise (and did) that
Sometimes it pays to listen to the message even if you dismiss the
messenger.
Keep in mind the cult of the leader. In Catholic countries the cult of the
leader lead to fascism in the 20th century. Franco – Spain, Mussolini –
Italy, Hitler – Germany and Ustashe leader Pavelic in Croatia. Then is
Protestant and Orthodox countries the cult of the leader was obvious during
communism – Russia from Lenin onwards, East Germany – Honecker,Kadar in Hungary, Ceausescu in Romania, Novotny in Czechoslovakia. Catholic Poland had Gomulka. Greece had the Colonels.
In other words, democracy is a precious flower under threat always from
centres of power.
Read more
Relatively good news from an organisation that called the economic madness in Ireland right.
