We are wrong about the government
Everyone is wrong about Fianna Fáil.
For the last few months everyone has been shouting about them being in bed with the builders and the bankers. I think we have being doing them an injustice. I donât think they give a shit about the builders or the bankers.
There is only one thing Fianna Fáil care about and that is the impression they make in Brussels.
For some reason, best know to themselves, they are obsessed with making a good impression in Europe. We should have seen it. Just look at the evidence.
We had the electronic voting fiasco, where millions were spent on a system that was flawed from the start. No one asked for it, but they went off and spent 51 million Euro on it anyway. When objections were raised, Bertieâs response was that we had to have it or âEurope would laugh at usâ.
Then there was the smoking ban. Again, no one asked for it except maybe for a few lunatics like ASH, but Michael Martin positively glowed when the headlines came out that âwe were the first in Europeâ. This was their one success in their attempt to cosy up to their perceived masters.
Now there is the Metro. Again, a very small minority would benefit from it, but the government are worried that we are the only country without one and we donât want to be seen to be backward, now do we? So billions are being spent just to âbring us into line with Europeâ.
When the Lisbon Treaty failed, any government worth a catâs piss would have stated that it was the will of the people, and that it was democracy in action. Not our government though. To them, Europe was more important than the will of the people so Biffo went into paroxysms of frenzy trying to persuade Europe that it was all a big mistake, and that we would vote again and get it right. You notice that the biggest argument they put forward was that we had gained so much from Europe and that therefore it would be anti-European to reject the treaty?
The financial crisis was not brought about because the government were looking after their pals. No. It came about because the government saw the banks and the builders as a means to an end. There were reports that Ireland was âthe fastest growing economy in Europeâ and the government had orgasms over this. They wanted everyone to be talking about us and admiring us, so they looked the other way when our finances were obviously on a path to ruin.
There seems to be an obsession that Europe should admire us. Why? All this arse licking isnât going to gain admiration but it is going to lose us any respect. Europe is the big bully in the playground and we are desperately licking the bullyâs are in the hope that he will play with us. We all know that the only way to gain a bullyâs respect is to stand up to him.
If Ireland had any dignity or pride, we would tell Europe to go fuck off. We should tell them that we are a proud independent nation and that if we want to vote with pencils, or walk to Swords then that is the way we are. We can still hang around their playground so long as they donât expect any more brown nosing.
I guarantee Europe would respect us then.
Good points Grandad but I think you’re wrong.
Fianna Fail is only interested in Fianna Fail. All the brown nosing in Europe and America is only seeking reflected glory in the hope that we will see Biffo hobnobing with Barrak , Brown and his great friend Nicolas Sarkozi and maybe see our way to putting them back in power next time round and you know I think it will work – aren’t we terrible fuckin’ eejits..
Worth a try. That Metro thing really lights my fire…not in a good way.
King’s Bard – So essentially you are agreeing with me then? They are brown nosing so as to impress us mere mortals? Sadly, I think you are right about them getting back in. How at this stage they could even muster a 1% support baffles me.
Susan – There are too many things lighting my fire at the moment. I have run out of abusive terms and superlatives.
Just as most of the times I agree with you completely, Grandad, this time I don’t.
I don’t think Europe is a bully, really. I don’t think Ireland should be saying ‘fuck off’ to Europe, nor should it exercise brown nosing, of course. I just don’t believe in generalisations like that – each issue should be discussed separately.
So, for example: voting with pencils? Yes. Walking to Swords? No!
Can someone tell me what’s all this opposition to metro about?
Well, I’ll be voting ‘yes’ on Lisbon this time. I wouldn’t dare cross Biffo a second time. Apparently he’s planning to go door-to-door with a cro-bar in the weeks leading up to the repeat referendum, threatening recalcitrant citizens with knee-cappings.
There’s already rumours that a man matching Biffo’s description was spotted stuffing Kevin Meyrs and Eamon Dunphy into the boot of a Ford Escort late, last night. Mrs Meyrs has heard nothing since, and is beside herself with worry. Mr Dunphy’s partner has appealed to the the kidnapper to behead the captives (Meyrs being collateral damage to her goal).
Susan, I believe there’s a compromise to be had, price-wise, on the Metro. Dig the tunnels, but forget about the trains. Stick a thousand wild horses down into the tunnels, roaming free. Citizens are free to head down with a few lumps of sugar, tame a stallion, and try and ride it from station to station — at their own risk.
Jedrzej – You have to admit that there is a trend running through a lot of the government’s decisions? The panic after the bank crisis was fairly typical – it was more a case of giving a good impression abroad than doing what was right for the country. The whole budget was based on limits supplied by Brussels.
As for the metro – We are in a time of extreme financial crisis, yet the government are spending between 5 and 8 billion on a rail link that will only serve a minute section of the nation’s population.
Irishbegrudger – Biffo is welcome up here any time. If the baseball bat fails, there is always the ultimate weapon – Herself [God help him]. If he has kidnapped those two then for the first time since the general election, he has done something right! Good idea about the metro, though!!
(and what is this Union Jack doing next to me? I’m absolutely Cork-located!)
The Metro has been raisng politician’s hopes and builders, erm, third legs for a few years now.
Its what they call in the States a ‘boondoggle’. There is no way in hell that a Metro is needed. For a few billion they could easily start shagging cars out of central Dublin, have a park and ride system linked to new tram lines. Plenty of kudos available for Climate Change response there.
Dublin is not that big a city- and with all the job losses why are they building something that is clearly aimed at easing a capacity situation?
Its Fianna Fail and their bloody owners again, the big construction companies.
I worked abroad a few years ago turning bullshit into money. Everywhere I went I was asked about the Celtic Tiger and how the economy was turned around from the 80’s.
So I wrote a paper on it which I have no intention of boring anyone with but I really had to research deep and even though I detest Fianna Fail and always have I will say that the Social Contract part of it was right and well done.
The crucial part was getting the unions to agree to a way of letting the economy get ahead of pay demands. Fair enough, as the were always chasing our tails all through the 70’s with unions demanding money the economy couldn’t supply.
Where it all went wrong for me is the same as where it went wrong in the 80’s in the UK with the Big Bang deregulation of the city and subsequent financial free-for-some.
Assumptions that property values had no ceiling. The stock market had no ceiling. And then we suddenly found neither had a floor either.
I think it can be fixed but we need that Social Contract restraint without the absolute bollocks that seems to follow it. Which means we need serious regulation, not some hokey committee stacked with Failers on expenses.
We won’t get it though.
Haven’t you heard, jedrzej? The rest of Ireland got together and flogged Cork on eBay.
West Cork was flogged and Kerry is next. It was reported in the Irish Times:
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/finance/2009/0330/1224243690835.html
which also explains why when Europe says ‘jump’, we ask ‘how high?’
Don’t anyone dare read that Irish Times article amd laugh! 😉
We’ll be alright Grandad. There are definite signs that the markets are sitting up and taking soup. So we’ll be back to bullshitting each other as to how much we’re all ‘worth’ before you know it.
Couldn’t get over the complete horse I was hearing when at home from young people in particular – it seemed to be compulsory to download how wealthy they were on paper anyway to anybody they met there for a while.
It was very american, very unpleasant and I couldn’t help thinking that people used to go out on a Friday night to forget the boss or troubles and have a laugh and then suddenly people seemed to be regarding social occasions as a chance to bullshit the neighbours.
Very odd.
There are definite signs that the markets are sitting up and taking soup
I just pray it’s not too late to save the smoothie bars though, Captain Con. They’re the big losers in all this.
And the fake tan companies. Won’t somebody please think of the fake tan companies?
Best one I heard in London was the enterprising couple of young lads who set up a lifestyle company in West London.
If you had a 4×4 Chelsea tractor they’d come around on Sunday nights to put mud strategically around the car so that when you parked in the office on Monday morning any colleagues who saw you would assume you’d been at your place in the country over the weekend.:)
@Capt –
damn wannabe country folk. most of these fuckers couldn’t even start a chainsaw and if a lightbulb breaks they call some management company to replace it for them. they havn’t got anything on us real culchies yet they are always slagging us off and saying we’re backward