NEW YORK BOSTON |#Popular: Irish Celebrity Gossip Irish in US Politics Irish Festivals Irish Roots Irish Entertainment Offbeat Irish

Home Page > Blogs > News blogs > Periscope > Irish Times slams government over bailout decision

Periscope by Niall O'Dowd

Irish Times slams government over bailout decision

Posted on Thursday, November 18, 2010 at 12:31 AM

Larger Text

E-mail

37 Comments

RSS

Archives

I have never seen such a strong editorial in my life from an Irish newspaper as the one in the Irish Times today..

The Irish Times today has castigated the Irish government for it's behavior in the imminent takeover of the Irish economy by the European Union and the IMF. in a manner that is truly extraordinary.

This is the Irish Times remember, a newspaper that has usually sought to balance even its harshest comments.
Not this time.

A sample:

"IT MAY seem strange to some that The Irish Times would ask whether this is what the men of 1916 died for: a bailout from the German chancellor with a few shillings of sympathy from the British chancellor on the side. There is the shame of it all. Having obtained our political independence from Britain to be the masters of our own affairs, we have now surrendered our sovereignty to the European Commission, the European Central Bank, and the International Monetary Fund. Their representatives ride into Merrion Street today.

"Fianna Fáil has sometimes served Ireland very well, sometimes very badly. Even in its worst times, however, it retained some respect for its underlying commitment that the Irish should control their own destinies. It lists among its primary aims the commitment “to maintain the status of Ireland as a sovereign State”. Its founder, Eamon de Valera, in his inaugural address to his new party in 1926, spoke of “the inalienability of national sovereignty” as being fundamental to its beliefs. The Republican Party’s ideals are in tatters now."

Strong stuff but there is even harder to follow.

...."Irish history makes the loss of that sense of choice all the more shameful. The desire to be a sovereign people runs like a seam through all the struggles of the last 200 years. “Self-determination” is a phrase that echoes from the United Irishmen to the Belfast Agreement. It continues to have a genuine resonance for most Irish people today.

“The true ignominy of our current situation is not that our sovereignty has been taken away from us, it is that we ourselves have squandered it. ..... It is the incompetence of the governments we ourselves elected that has so deeply compromised our capacity to make our own decisions.

"They did so, let us recall, from a period when Irish sovereignty had never been stronger. Our national debt was negligible. The mass emigration that had mocked our claims to be a people in control of our own destiny was reversed. A genuine act of national self-determination had occurred in 1998 when both parts of the island voted to accept the Belfast Agreement. The sense of failure and inferiority had been banished, we thought, for good."

To drag this State down from those heights and make it again subject to the decisions of others is an achievement that will not soon be forgiven. It must mark, surely, the ignominious end of a failed administration."

....And that ladies and gentlemen is the death knell of this current Irish government.

E-mail

37 Comments

15 - 37 | See all comments

Liamkeyes | Nov 29, 2010, 11:55 AM EST

I wholeheardely agree but who is going to replace then? It will be deja vu all over again. There is absolutely nobody in Irish politics that will be able to sort this mess out so when the next crowd takes over, it will be back to square one. I strongly question why anyone would want to inherit this mess. Methinks that it only for the glory and very nice salary and fringe benefits. I sincerely hope that whoever wins will not have that sickening tent at the Glaway Races.

Report abuse

sirpeter | Nov 26, 2010, 06:21 AM EST

@Creakinggate..No reply!! I had difficulty making out what you were trying to say..then it dawned on me you were using Google translator,so i reversed the translator and it became clear.A beaten man if i ever saw one.All those years reading English literature,drawn to a site about Irish things and you can't even speak your own native tongue nor read the writing's of your dead Irish ancestors.Another sad case of an English mind and an Irish heart.IrishCentral (A British legacy)

Report abuse

ancavker | Nov 23, 2010, 11:25 AM EST

JohnTobin: of course I heard of the Battle of Britain. Nevertheless it does not change the fact that had America not entered WW II, Britain and France would probbaly have been defeated. Of course I do agree with the U.S. entering the second world war. However we should have stayed out of WW 1. Ironically the outcome of WW 1 led in large measure. to WW 2.

Report abuse

DanOLoingsigh | Nov 22, 2010, 01:59 PM EST

Refreshing to see such cool heads and rational arguments, so important just right now!

Report abuse

sirpeter | Nov 21, 2010, 06:35 PM EST

A @gheata-ghíoscánaigh,A pity full effort that should have read:A Padraig, téir agus seiceáil an tseid, ceapaim gur chuala mé "cliceáil" Now here is what i have to say back. Tá do chuid iarrachta ag an nGaeilge go hainnis. Foraoir,Ní aithnítear Ulster Scots mar theanga ag Google nó áit ar bith eile. Tá an teanga bastúnach sin Béarla tar éis imeacht isteach i ngach cúinne de d'inchinn Angla-Éireannach, ionas nach dtig leat Gaeilge cheart a labhairt. Pé scéal é , d'aimsigh mé an buama sin. Tá sé do-úsáídte ar do nós féin. Ach dhéanfainn seiceáíl faoi bhun do charr ar maidin mar oibreoidh mo cheannsa.

Report abuse

Towngate | Nov 21, 2010, 04:03 PM EST

Padraig: Dul agus seiceáil an chaillfidh I mo thuairimse, Chuala mé 'cliceáil.'!

Report abuse

sirpeter | Nov 21, 2010, 09:36 AM EST

@Creakinggate.Curpaddy..It's all in the name to where your loyalties lay ,I was right about you all along.You say you were wrong to leave that tiny chink open,but then you were never right about anything. Close the gate to Dumpland (Dublin)and push it over to England.The pale was never run by true Irishmen anyway.Just a bunch of Anglophiles (Now there's a hint to who caused the Irish economic debacle)and every debacle in Irish history.Here is fact and truth,Creakinggate.God brought the potato blight,English policy took the corn from out mouths and left us to starve in the ditches,but it was English distaste and contempt for the lazy,slobbering,mismanagement of Ireland by the Irish Anglophiles that compounded an unwillingness in England to help the poor starving Irish,not two days sailing from England.Sound familiar in these modern times?You can close the Towngate on me,you Dublin sycophantic Anglo/Irish slug-worm,but you can never silence me.You have neither wit nor a Code of Chivalry,as for jousting with me old man,I was waiting,but you couldn't even get on the horse,you were so weighed down with your heavy armor of Anglo/Irish lies.

Report abuse

Towngate | Nov 21, 2010, 07:57 AM EST

@curpaddy: now I have you locked in a strong iron cage in a stone-built shed where you can do no harm to anyone, and the pitiful whimpers from your toothless mouth expressing the garbage from your brainless bonce are beyond the hearing of decent people: I'll say this to you: You had your chance: you were let out to run around in the sun, but you took it to bully,snarl and savage everyone else in the yard: resorting to personal abuse and threats of violence when your daft notions and ridiculous assumptions were challenged and corrected by your Betters! I was wrong to leave that tiny chink open as the Towngate ( To The Pale - now there's a clue for yeh!) closed on you last time,I knew you'd abuse it - so now it is finally shut to you. ............Ps:.I have enjoyed jousting with you,in a way, and would have liked to engage in a Battle of Wits with you, but my Code of Chivalry forbids me fighting and Unarmed man!

Report abuse

sirpeter | Nov 20, 2010, 01:41 PM EST

@Creakinggate..That's it get it all out,Your last few lines,that's the real Towngate isn't it?You're the rudest pr*ck here.That's why i'm here to insult ya.You can't win by argument,so in trying to get to me you insult the whole Irish nation,good going dipstick You really got me on the Dickens misquote,which i acknowledged straight away..even though Dickens did say something similar about his own father.You were like lightening correcting me on that one.The difference between you and me old man is i keep correcting with proof when you are talking rubbish ,but you just keep telling me i am wrong without any counter argument what so ever.You know why?Because you're either to stupid or you know i'm right.

Report abuse

Towngate | Nov 20, 2010, 06:35 AM EST

I wouldn't be so rude as to pick up on a minor typo @curtail:I was referring to your Dickens misquote HOWL-er!,your generally infantile composition and your thin grasp of historical facts. (We have not read a single one from you yet that was correct.) Your dreadful assumptions about the personal circumstances and characters of fellow posters is typical of your type of uneducated people. You are 'chasing your tail' in all you say as you struggle to make sense of the hole my country has fallen into - thanks to the likes of you. As for 'grings' I hope to God you are not infecting the minds of your children with all your uneducated garbage. ...........Think on and grind this: From roaring Celtic Tigers to cowering charity-cheese guzzling Mice - in four years. Good Going! Paddy!

Report abuse

sirpeter | Nov 20, 2010, 05:46 AM EST

Creakinggate..You could do with some grinds yourself old man,but i guess you can't teach an old dog new tricks.What did i do leave out a full stop?I always love when a poster resorts to checking grammar and punctuation as a come back,for then i know he is a beaten man.Did your Irish wit abandon you.That's what you get for running out on your country.It's a sad thing when parents have to choose between their kids.Who leaves and who stays.You should have said NO.But don't keep trying to justify all your life you made the right decision, by picking at the faults of my beloved country and the Irish people.Do you really think the English left in 1922?.Here's a hint as to why Ireland keeps having to force ordinary Irish people out into the world.The English media call it "England's helping hand to Ireland" Here's the real truth creakinggate. George Osborne is right to stress the importance of the Irish economy to the UK, and not just because of the banking risk. The UK exports more to the "little" Irish Republic than to China, India, Russia, Brazil and S Africa combined!!! UK banks have £140 billion exposure to Ireland's economic crisis.They never left creakinggate.They just took down the butchers apron and put up the tri-colour. Number one rule of the Rich and powerful. WHEN CHANGE THREATENED TO RULE,THEN THE RULES MUST BE CHANGED. That's my grind done for you to-day.

Report abuse

JOHNTOBIN | Nov 20, 2010, 05:39 AM EST

To ancavker-have you ever heard of the Battle of Britain?During the most desperate fighting of the war against Nazism in Europe the USA was not even involved in it.It has been claimed that up to five thousand Irish Army soldiers left Ireland to join the Allied armies at this time to be involved in the struggle against Nazism.It was the same situation with the first world war.The USA only joined the conflict in the latter stages.

Report abuse

sirpeter | Nov 19, 2010, 03:41 PM EST

Creakinggate.You could do with a few grinds yourself old man,but we all know you can't teach an old dog like yourself new tricks.What did i do?Leave out a full stop.I always love when a poster resorts to punctuation as a come back on forums.It is always a sign of weakness and defeat.Has your Irish wit abandoned you old man? That's what you get for running out on your country.

Report abuse

Towngate | Nov 19, 2010, 01:04 PM EST

Stay in your kennel,now, @Curpeter and get somebody to give you English grinds!

Report abuse

Liamkeyes | Nov 19, 2010, 11:30 AM EST

What do I think? I know that I'm right in agreeing with the Irish Times. It's a strange set up that they have in Ireland with the likes of Pee Flynn and his class act of a Daughter Beverly not to mention Mr. Lowry down in Tipperary, they can rob the country blind and still have the backing of their constiuents, a tribal mentality if you will. "Those clowns up in Dublin won't tell us what to do!" Ireland is a very expensive place for Tourists. Way over priced but they will get the money by hook or by crook.

Report abuse