What is best for Ireland ? Fine Gael or Labour steering the recovery ship? Cold objectivity rather than personal careerism is necessary.

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.

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Doing the Sums – Did the Tallaght Strategy Really Cost Fine Gael Votes?

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.

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Bad manners and patronising hubris

Minister Eamonn Ryan is linguistically very bullying and arrogant. He was a guest on Vincent Browne on Black NAMA Tuesday on TV3 and spoke over Richard Bruton and Joan Burton like a public school know-all hectoring bully. I found him very annoying. Listening to the two Bs might be a good idea for him but I have noticed that he has very fixed ideas. I thought that Bruton and Burton were wise and thoughtful in response to this national crisis. I know that I would not have been quite so mannerly as Richard and Joan had I been there.

Fine Gael

Richard Bruton, Leo Varadkar and George Lee want to invest our money in a good bank and let AIB and BoI liquidate their bad assets themselves without you and I paying real money to keep them going and misbehaving on a grand scale.

NO MEMBER OF THE BOARD OF AN IRISH BANK INVOLVED IN APPROVING THE MAD LOANS SHOULD REMAIN.