36 Comments

• Towngate | Jan 30, 2011, 11:05 PM EST

  GREETINGS bonjouryall from Europe to y'all here. I find your Comment very interesting as background information not often expressed here! Thanks. - - - However, in just you last sentence you 'slip off the railtrack' a little: - - - The Bailout Loan Funds currently saving Ireland from declaring itself bankrupt, comes from The European Union,(my taxes!) the worldwide International Monetary Fund (yours and my taxes!) and a voluntary offer of a quite separate 'Private bi-lateral' loan from Great Britain (my taxes, again!) - which is in ADDITION to the contribution she is already making as a Member of the EU/IMF. - - - This was offered "in respect of the close Social, Domestic and Economic ties she has with a friendly State and nearest neighbour". - - - Don't be embarrassed about your nasty side-swipe at "British Landlords" - she has broad strong shoulders - just concentrate on the fact that Ireland has lost its Credit Standing which prevents it from borrowing for itself, and worse still; with a population of just over three million, and a tiny workforce, it can never earn enough to repay the BailoutLoan in the foreseeable future! - - - I hope this gets you back on track,and if you really do care about the Irish Republic - Pray for a Miracle! - - - Come back. y'all

• bonjouryall | Jan 30, 2011, 06:56 PM EST

  Mr. O'Dowd's comments hit home. I'm from Louisiana and we enjoyed the oil boom of the late 1970's and early 80's. Our slogan about the rest of the US was let them freeze in the dark if they didn't pay. In 1982, the oil market completely flipped and bankruptcy became the order of the day for the American Southwest. This prompted the saving and loan crisis of that day. We changed our chant to promise the Lord we would not spend it all if we got another chance. The Govt took over the dissolution of the companies, which cost money, but there were no bailouts. The men running the regional financial institutions remembered this and returned to conservative lending practices. While the current downturn has affected their profits, they have generally fared ok and our regional foreclosure rate is not bad. One even advertised its willingness to lend at the height of the fiscal crisis in a billboard on a major highway. My point is that, in time, once Ireland repays their British landlords-pardon me, I mean bankers - they can recover and it will likely be a stronger country for it.

• kateomprint | Jan 29, 2011, 07:54 PM EST

  Feck off Niall would not and never have voted Fianna Fail. How you heap accolades on Brian Cowen. Listened to Bertie Aherne on an interview and he talks about the people taking cuts in their wages "who are these people he talks about". How far removed these ass wipes are from reality that they talk about the people who have elected them as "they". The brudder would be horrified with you Naill

• sirpeter | Jan 26, 2011, 02:48 PM EST

  F*ckface..I said i COULD name 100 and that's a fact buster..I didn't say i was going to name them.Ajreaper I didn't say there were many pr*cks on this site..I said you were just another pr*ck on this site.Is there any part of the English language you can interpret correctly at all. I think it's you who needs the meds..But there is no meds for dumbness. BTW..I haven't really started calling you names yet.

• Ajreaper | Jan 25, 2011, 04:44 PM EST

  Mamaginnty and the price is right! Sirpeter is ok when he takes his meds ;)

• mamaginnty | Jan 25, 2011, 04:33 PM EST

  For a change I am not getting involved in this one, can't name any main party as I think they are all spouting sh.t Just want to say I enjoy SIRPETER and his best mate AJREAPER, they really do love one another ...really ??

• BeepBeep2 | Jan 25, 2011, 02:58 PM EST

  We had the same thing over here, why should the Irish be immune?

• Ajreaper | Jan 25, 2011, 10:46 AM EST

  LOL, typical sirpeter make a statement, get called on it then you want to call me names. You claimed you could name 100 set up by the U.S. alone- YOU said that, no one put words in your mouth or typed it out for you- I wonder why you think there's so many pr*cks on this site? Others calling you out on the stupid claims you make? If you want to throw things out as fact be prepared to have to back up your claims if not you'll just have to get use to all us pr*cks here.

• ancavker | Jan 25, 2011, 09:24 AM EST

  seamus:But hey are to blame for the reckless out of control spending that so many engaged in; just like in the U.S.

• Dublinjas | Jan 25, 2011, 01:46 AM EST

  There was going to be no Election until the Budget was passed so when the deal was reached on passing the law to push through the Budget.Then the true Masters of Ireland the ECB/IMF did not care when the Election was called. This Budget should not have been allowed to be passed by this Gombeen Government that has the support of Nobody. Just watch closely and you will see who is cracking the whip in this New Ireland. Zeig Heil.

• vincentruane | Jan 24, 2011, 10:45 PM EST

  I think it is Brian Cowens sell out to the IMF and the banks that is really angering the Irish people.Hopefully this sad event in Ireland's tragic and noble history will ring an alarm bell in Ireland's polticians and journalists ears and minds to stop being fooled so easily by foreign press releases and whispers in their ears at parties. In relation to Charlie Haughey, I think he would have ran the IMF. The men who fought in 1916 and fought in Irelands war of independence plus all the people who have voted for the Fianna Fail party have been completely betrayed here.

• sirpeter | Jan 24, 2011, 09:38 PM EST

  Ajreaper..Go fu*k yourself..I have read enough of your posts,they are shallow and your knowledge is limited ."Start naming them"..Typical childish request..If I said to you 1500 people drowned on the Titanic and you didn't believe me..YOU WOULD SAY..NAME THEM..You are just another Pr*ck on this forum.

• Ajreaper | Jan 24, 2011, 08:05 PM EST

  LOL, Sirpeter tell you what you said " I could name 100 puppet governments around the world that were installed by the United States alone" Start namimg them. It is claimed by some but certainly not a proven fact that the CIA worked to put the Baath party in power not Saddam, who at the time was a 20 something year old member of the Baath party- so to say the CIA put Saddam in power is not correct at all, the CIA, it is suggested, worked to bring the Baath party to power- 2 hugely different things altogether. Keep spouting off however because your making it very clear who the dumb **** is ;)

• sirpeter | Jan 24, 2011, 06:49 PM EST

  Niall O'Dowd..You really know how to stir the sh*t..You know as well as i do that FF would love to pin the blame on Brian Cowen for everything coming up to this election. If the media are saying that. Then it just goes to show why they vote in these politicians in the first place..Because the media are a bunch of liars..and Niall you know it. Where do the people get their information from about politicians? ..Yeah that's right the media.

• sirpeter | Jan 24, 2011, 06:33 PM EST

  We all know there is a certain amount of corruption in governments..But to blame the Irish people because they didn't see what was happening behind closed doors...Ye all must be thick. The Irish people are all guilty!! Don't be so stupid.

• sirpeter | Jan 24, 2011, 06:16 PM EST

  Ajreaper..I suggest you do a little research before you comment..you dumb fcuk!!

• PolinDeB | Jan 24, 2011, 06:15 PM EST

  But I still disagree that they are responsible for the debts of the banks - they already have paid a price in loss of their investments. They should not pay for privately created debt.

• PolinDeB | Jan 24, 2011, 06:13 PM EST

  That is total true - even when we proved that the Tara planning permission was illogical and therefore most likely rigged.. people just said the others are just as bad.. Sadly the Greens proved them true... And that might be just happening again... this we must pass the Finance Bill smacks of politicians passing the buck for bad news rather than actually standing up for what is the right thing to do.. We could have another 4 years of ennui .... something Ireland can't afford because then those who created the celtic tiger, the Technology crowd will not come back...

• sirpeter | Jan 24, 2011, 06:13 PM EST

  Ajreaper...For God Sake...Use your brain...100 puppets government over a period of time..sometimes 5 governments in the same country..fu*ck sake man..Yes Sadam Hussein in the past was seen by U.S. intelligence services as a bulwark of anti-communism in the 1960s and 1970.He was supported by the CIA. I'm not educating you anymore..Do your own research.

• Kells46 | Jan 24, 2011, 05:23 PM EST

  I agree with you Niall 100%. You have hit it right on the nail. Irish people cannot be exempted from blame for the current situation there. The attitude in Ireland is and always has been, as long as I am okay, to hell with the rest. There has always been corruption in Irish politics and in the Fianna Fail party in particular, but who cared? Well now they do, but it is just a little too late, the party is well and truly over, so suck it up Irish people.

• Padraig | Jan 24, 2011, 04:35 PM EST

  Niall sometimes your articles can be torn too pieces but no one can argue with this one. The same can be said of the states. Clinton is loved in Ireland and many other places but he wanted the banks to lower the standards for house loans. i think around 1998-9. he was the big gun behind legislation. ya it created a bubble that made him look great in the short run then 2001 hit. The ripple effect couldnt be stopped. We are all so interconnected now. The real fulls are voters for the last few years. just like you said!!

• Travellingman | Jan 24, 2011, 03:17 PM EST

  i agree and take a hike you bunch of Gangsters, because it may turn out the IMF/ECB/EU are Bankrupt and they support an International consortium of insolvent deadbeat Banks.

• FastEddy | Jan 24, 2011, 02:49 PM EST

  Blame just about every facet of Irish g'ment, not just the willing dupe at the top. When the IMF/EU/Big Banking consortium offers "candy, little girl?", the answer should have been "take a hike, you greedy taxsuckers!" ... What has killed your Celtic Tiger is and forever will be high tax rates, caused by that International Gang of 20 and the jealous EU perpetrators of ever bigger government.

• Travellingman | Jan 24, 2011, 02:31 PM EST

  I come from the UK and its identical here…”Oh” they squeal “If it wasn’t for this or for that and for Margaret Thatcher and Ronnie Regan back in the 1980s than we wouldn’t be in this trouble now”, and I think RUBBISH, because if you read the 1979 Conservative Party Manifesto, than its fairly easy to distinguish that EVERYTHING was largely based on trust and the free markets, AND NOT MISTREATMENT. However instead what have we learnt to do? NOTHING BUT ABUSING EACH OTHER….We have not only learnt to abuse the money supply, the credit system, the housing markets but also to destroy and eradicate one another’s lives, including our children….I should know because I fell victim to this in March 1999, just as the housing Bubble of all monsters began to inflate and I wondered at the time what it is was that encouraged this destruction, which was all owing to my Ex and as a result our Business went immediately into freefall, wiping the lot out….So I agree, its not Mr. Cowen because all the people need to do is say “No, I am not going to do that”

• GeorgeDillon | Jan 24, 2011, 12:26 PM EST

  I agree with O'Dowd. Fianna Fail have been elected ad nauseam by Irish people, not by people in Borneo or Bolivia. And Irish people have, when sufficient pressure is put on them, endorsed the European Union role in the country and signed away their independence. They deserve all they get.

• GeorgeDillon | Jan 24, 2011, 12:23 PM EST

  Ajreaper: Well corrected--there is no limit to the trash that sirpeter posts.

• RobinOCork | Jan 24, 2011, 11:59 AM EST

  We know it's not the author's intent, but let's not single out the Irish for this sad, human trait. Show me a government free of brown envelopes, back-room deals, and brothers-in-law promoted far beyond their IQ, and I'll ask how you liked the rest of the movie.

• seanskelligs | Jan 24, 2011, 11:58 AM EST

  You are completely off the wall. Cowan did not inherit the crisis when he took office two years ago-he was minister for finance for the previous three years too. The crisis was not caused by Fianna Fail or the Government. It was caused by the reckless bank lending. Where Fianna Fail are culpable is that their Financial Regulator was asleep on the job and did not raise alarm bells. Where the really fell down on the job was that having learned of the problem every single decision they made since then was incompetent. They gave a blanket bank guarantee which was to be self financing....but has cost the country $150 billion=-three times the annual GDP. Thats where the blame lies. The people voted for people who convinced them they were competent-a complete con job. Lay the blame where it rightly rests firstly the bankers and secondly the Government

• offalymike | Jan 24, 2011, 10:14 AM EST

  it seems like mr o dowd was reading my mind when he wrote this article.

• Ajreaper | Jan 24, 2011, 09:26 AM EST

  LOL, Sirpeter there are less then 200 countries in the world and your claim is the U.S. installed governments in more then half the countries in the world? The CIA placed Sadam in power? How do you expect to be taken even a little seriously with silly comments such as that? If people are repeatedly reelected in spite of clear issues with their integrity then the blame is shared by all who voted for them.

• sirpeter | Jan 24, 2011, 08:54 AM EST

  "People get the government they deserve after all"....That's just not true!! Who made that stupid statement in the first place? I could name 100 puppet governments around the world that were installed by the United States alone, where the people didn't have any say. If the Irish people stopped voting for FF and FG and started voting for a more radical change in the system..You watch the United States and the EU sit up and take notice.If the Irish people voted in a party and they started closing off markets to the rest of the EU..Watch the United States tell the world the Irish people are not free and we are going to give them back their freedom..We all know what that would mean.Yeah!! We can vote in a government alright, provided Ireland doesn't close off it's resources to the greedy rich.We can even have a dictator if we want.(CIA Sadam comes to mind and what a good boy he was too for a while,when it came to Iran,but he got uppity) Nothing is more dangerous for a government when it really starts looking after it's people. The ordinary people are never to blame when a government turns bad..Never EVER EVER.

• Towngate | Jan 24, 2011, 08:46 AM EST

  EXONERATE your pal as best you can, Niall, but your loyalty is sadly misplaced! No,Cowan did not come from Mars - he came out of Aherne's back pocket already in a Brown Envelope and when in power,did nothing to stop it, but gleefully carried on the tradition of Irish political corruption! ........ Of course the voters have to accept some of the flack but your portrait of Brian as a hapless victim of the Will of the Irish people - especially after all his latest mad, desperate, pathetic squirmings to hold on to the last vestige of Power, simply will not wash! ......Niall, your readers and even the Irish electorate are not that stupid! ............................ The Roll of the Damned will surely read: ... Haughey...Ahern...Cowen ...

• antoman | Jan 24, 2011, 08:29 AM EST

  7.Are you American?If the answer is yes you should ask he/she to remain at the door for a second and run and fetch a mirror.

• antoman | Jan 24, 2011, 07:55 AM EST

  Questions I'll be asking when they come knocking.1 Was your father or grandfather in office?If the answer is yes get lost.2 Do you play golf?If the answer is yes get lost.3 How many homes do you have?If the answer is more than one get lost.4 How old are you?If he or she is less than 25 get lost.They should be drinking,fighting and getting laid outside that rowdy pub in Australia.5 Should politicians be paid more or less?If he/she replys less get lost.Their lying.6 Do you have a television license?This is a trick question as a yes or no are both acceptable.

• Dublinjas | Jan 24, 2011, 06:31 AM EST

  Absolutely true, The Irish people kept voting these gangsters in time and again, regardless of the brown envelope scandals and revelations from the countless inquires, It certainly defies logic. Well I sure hope the people have got their fill of Greens and Fianna FAILURE.

• elspeth251963 | Jan 23, 2011, 11:55 PM EST

  Looks like Bono should shut up and go take care of his own country.