enda kenny
“during the Derry visit, Martin McGuinness and Peter Robinson were nowhere to be seen, surely mindful of their upcoming trade mission to China.”
Tweet According to an Irish News report today …OFMDFM has refuted any suggestion that the Stormont leaders snubbed the Dalai Lama when he visited Derry last month. A spokesperson for OFMDFM said the ministers were unable to attend “due to prior diary commitments”. Which is fine… After all, “diary pressures” was the same excuse Tony Blair [...] more »
#Magdalene: “When the dark midnight is over, watch for the breaking of day”
Tweet Enda Kenny may not be the most whip smart of politicians. He was for the longest time a whipping boy for the ward boss Taoiseach, Bertie Ahern… Most of the comment afterwards was unmanned, literally, by what is a very direct communication with the women themselves… he welcomes them to your parliament, your Dail [...] more »
Taoiseach is ‘diluting the impact of the alleged charges against Adams by cynical and lazy repetition’
Tweet Eilis O’Hanlon is not so much coming to the rescue of Gerry Adams, as upbrading the Taoiseach for using the abduction and murder of a Belfast housewife to punctuate his own inability to answer fairly straightforward questions from the Opposition: In the right context, the charges against Gerry Adams carry considerable weight. Last week, [...] more »
Gerry Adams ‘stung’ in the Dail by Taoiseach over his past…
Tweet Okay, leaders Questions did not go to plan today. The subject under discussion was Welfare Reform. The Taoiseach had just taken a bit of roasting at the hands of Micheal Martin (over a planned 20% cut in the respite care grant). Then it was Gerry’s turn with the Taoiseach (who was probably already in [...] more »
Enda makes Time, but will it last?
Tweet Well, fair play to Enda. Front page of Time and a big set piece interview with that paper’s European editor is not to be sniffed at. Some may begrudge him the attention, and indeed Fintan O’Toole has suggested that of course he’s only doing what Fianna Fail would have done (H/T Niall). Of course, [...] more »
“Enda sounded like Fr Ted trying to explain to a baffled Fr Dougal the difference between “small” and “far away”.”
Tweet In the Irish Times, the peerless Miriam Lord on the latest shenanigans in the Dáil Meanwhile, the saga of the Promiscuous Notes rumbles on. It was Gerry Adams’s turn this time to wave them provocatively at the Taoiseach. The Spanish have the right idea, said the Sinn Féin leader. They took the toro pos [...] more »
You are not responsible for the crisis (Oh yes you are)
Tweet Whoever it was aimed at, Enda Kenny’s performance in Davos doesn’t seem to be going down well back home. The Irish Times reports that he said: “What happened in our country was that people simply went mad borrowing,” Mr Kenny told a meeting at the World Economic Forum meeting in Davos, Switzerland. “The extent [...] more »
Austerity in two halves: #Budget2012
Tweet Early next week will finally see the introduction of #Budget2012 to the Dáil, in a novel format with two speeches, one by Brendan Howlin on Monday and one by Michael Noonan on Tuesday. The budget has been heavily trailed, with endless kite-flying over the last few weeks. A brief guide to (some) of the proposed changes was given by Caroline Madden [...] more »
Unionists highlight Troubles border murders
Tweet The Belfast Telegraph is reporting that at the meeting of government ministers from Northern Ireland and the RoI in Armagh, Arlene Kelly and Danny Kennedy presented Enda Kenny with details of more than 150 republican murders in border areas during the Troubles. They have called on the RoI government to apologise for the fact [...] more »
Did Taoiseach submit #Budget2012 to Berlin for approval?
Tweet The Irish government is under pressure this evening as it is having to deny Press Association reported rumours that it has allowed the German government to inspect the budget before it is brought to the Dáil next month (i.e. well before the democractically members of Oireachtas get to see it). The Irish Independent says [...] more »
Are the Fine Gael donors the bondholders?
Tweet Fine Gael won’t reveal who fund them or the identity of the bondholders who received a $1 billion payout last week. With a further unsecured, unguaranteed, bond due early next year and some major cuts coming in the December budget, surely it is time for Fine Gael to come clean about the identities of it’s donors? The ban on corporate [...] more »
I share the Irish public’s dismay at the cost and unfairness of this policy
Tweet In this morning’s Irish Times, the Taoiseach, Enda Kenny, offered everyone the wisdom of his thoughts on the payment of a €700m unsecured unguaranteed Anglo-Irish Bank bond. The whole piece is worth a read. He states that: Part of the existing agreement with our external partners is not to allow any Irish bank, including [...] more »
Taoiseach’s speech: An end to ‘Never explain, never apologise’?
Tweet The papers are full of the taoiseach’s speech to the Dail yesterday. Rightly so. It was an audacious speech, and one made in stark contrast to the parliamentary mumbling and stumbling of the two previous taoisigh. And, importantly, it was a defence of thousands upon thousands of ordinary Catholics, ‘who have been shocked and [...] more »
Taoiseach’s speech: This is not Rome… this is a republic of laws
Tweet A sea-change in Irish government-Catholic Church relations took place yesterday. In the government’s official response to the Cloyne Report, Taoiseach Enda Kenny gave an unprecedented speech to the Dáil, excoriating the Vatican for its efforts to block co-operation with the investigation by civil authorities of clerical child abuse: … for the first time in [...] more »
Judge Smithwick: “I think this was singularly ill-advised.”
Tweet I had mentioned the apparent disagreement between the chair of the Smithwick Tribunal, Judge Smithwick, and the Irish Justice Minister, Alan Shatter, over the latter’s proposed ‘deadline’, of 30 November, for the Tribunal’s final report. And in correspondence from the time, just released to the Oireachtas along with the Tribunal’s interim report [pdf file], Judge Smithwick made clear the [...] more »
Government actions so far do not inspire confidence
Tweet Well, Enda hyped it himself and gave us a checklist to play with. Dan O’Brien, for one, isn’t too impressed… Can anyone spot anything they DID actually do? more »
Smithwick Tribunal: “It is understood the tribunal chairman is concerned about the deadline”
Tweet According to the Irish Justice Minister, Alan Shatter, speaking to the BBC on Thursday – about the Irish Government setting the Smithwick Tribunal a ‘deadline’ of 30 November for its final report. [Irish Justice Minister Alan] Shatter said the November deadline was not set in stone. “We’ve been informed by the tribunal chairman that he believes the tribunal [...] more »
Euro crisis: “categorically there will be absolutely no bailout next year in Ireland”
Tweet A series of Irish government ministers have been clarifying their position after the Minister for Transport, Leo Varadkar, appeared to suggest that a second bail-out could be required for Ireland next year. Minister for Finance Michael Noonan “The programme is due to run until the end of 2013 and the start of 2014 and there [...] more »
“I hope the people of Ireland will give him a brilliant and wonderful welcome…”
Tweet Another post possibly related to the point Mick was making… As the BBC notes US President Barack Obama will not cross the border into Northern Ireland when he visits the Republic of Ireland, the Irish prime minister has said. From the breakingnews.ie report The Government is gearing up for the historic May visit after President [...] more »
Euro crisis: “If Portugal asks, we will be ready to intervene…”
Tweet To the apparent outrage of some, last night Taoiseach Enda Kenny agreed to defer seeking a conclusion to talks on reducing Ireland’s bail-out interest rate at the two-day EU summit in Brussels. At the IIEA blog, Karl Whelan argued After a lot of fighting talk about renegotiation during the recent election campaign, the new Irish leader [...] more »