Economy – Page 66 – Slugger O'Toole

Mixing oil, politics and business with Aer Lingus…

Mick Fealty on September 9, 2008, 11:13 am

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As Brian has previously noted, it sounded great at the time (well, to most vaguely northern ears, at least), but it seems that things are going sour for Aer Lingus and Belfast International Airport. P O’Neill comments on an interview in the FT with Aer Lingus CEO Dermot Mannion, who, presumably under the extreme pressure of the oil crisis is now developing a set of nicely cold feet. O’Neill’s take: At the time that Belfast was announced, Aer Lingus said …

Are there just some things the market cannot do?

Mick Fealty on September 8, 2008, 8:37 pm

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Over at Brassneck I’ve been sifting through some of the themes thrown up by the state buyout/seizure of the Fanny Mae and Freddie Mac mortgage corporations in the US. As the Lex Column has noted, the US government’s balance sheet is the last one left in town. The US, home of the free market and relentless purveyor of the values of Adam Smith, doesn’t always see the market mechanism as the last word in everything. Like sport for instance. Mick …

“This will help to accommodate increasing traffic flows..”

Pete Baker on August 21, 2008, 2:03 am

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The key to recognising some of the main beneficiaries of the decision to progress with a £46m dual carriageway between Broadbridge Maydown and City of Derry Airport comes in the notes to editors in the ministerial statement. 1. The A2 is part of the Northern Key Transport Corridor connecting Belfast to Derry via Coleraine. It is the main road connecting Limavady to Derry and provides links to the Maydown and Campsey industrial zones and to the City of Derry Airport, …

“rather than integrate it into the roof slab..”

Pete Baker on August 19, 2008, 8:03 pm

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According to the BBC report, “An emergency meeting of the Regional Development Committee was told independent consultants would examine what had happened.” ‘What had happened’ being a reference to the flooding of the newly opened Broadway underpass at the weekend. Except that the project director of the construction company involved has already told us “what had happened” “No doubt the culvert did its job, it was designed and built exactly in accordance with specifications and put into practice. “But unfortunately …

The high cost of entering Northern Irish agriculture…

Mick Fealty on August 6, 2008, 2:15 pm

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There’s a great programme by Jimmy Doherty who’s been looking at the way farmers have been turning their hand to new ways of earning money in one of the UK’s most tightly squeezed industries. There’s the Jimeson’s up near Limavady, who are harvesting top grade turf for lawns. One fascinating snippet though is the fact that agricultural land in Northern Ireland is twice as expensive as anywhere else in the UK. This, he suggests, is because since the land reforms …

“just a terribly good history lesson..”

Pete Baker on July 27, 2008, 7:47 pm

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Tonight at 7pm Channel 4 are broadcasting the first of a two-part documentary, Car Bomb. As Euan Ferguson puts it in the Observer’s TV guide [not online], “Ostensibly, it’s the history of the eponymous terror weapon – how the car bomb was invented, tweaked, inherited, forgotten, revived.” That history has been published before. There’s a short online article by the presenter, Robert Baer, a former CIA spy. Ferguson isn’t impressed by Baer’s script, btw, but.. “But, Baer and his team …

“I am proud to say that we have met our business plan objectives..”

Pete Baker on July 15, 2008, 2:36 am

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It’s probably true that the annoucement of “the investment of more than half a billion pounds in Bombardier Shorts will help secure the Belfast plant’s long-term future” as Bernie Hamilton, of the union Unite, is reported to have said. But along with the headline figures there are some details worth considering from the RTÉ report – “Between loans and grants, the British government is putting up £150m.” Or, as the BBC report, “The government has also agreed to provide £52m …

Gold in them thar hills!

Pete Baker on July 1, 2008, 9:45 pm

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According to the prospecting company Conroy Diamonds and Gold there are over 1 million ounces of low grade gold [in low grade deposits] in an area outside Clontibret, Co Monaghan. – press release here [pdf file] Conroy Diamonds and Gold said the gold deposits in the rural, rolling hills of Co Monaghan, just miles from the once conflict-ridden south Armagh in Northern Ireland, are at least four times the amount as in the Scottish mine. The company is now starting …

“We need to make the most of our natural resources..”

Pete Baker on June 26, 2008, 7:35 pm

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As the UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown goes green, and conveniently for those proposed windfarms new legislation on planning applications for such projects got through parliament despite a minor Labour rebellion, Northern Ireland’s Energy Minister, the DUP’s Arlene Foster, launches a consultation on renewable energy. Commenting on the consultation, the minister continued: “This consultation covers the full range of issues surrounding renewable energy. “I am keen to hear new and different ideas that can positively impact on our renewable energy …

“a faithful and loyal member of the Democratic Unionist Party..”

Pete Baker on June 24, 2008, 8:53 pm

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Someone has been leaking NI Executive briefing papers to the BBC about the multi-sports stadium at the Maze site. Could it be the mild-mannered young-Earther, and former Sports Minister, the DUP’s Edwin Poots? In the Assembly yesterday he was asking some potentially awkward questions of the Office of the First and deputy First Ministers [see below the fold] – official record here. BBC NI political editor Mark Devenport discussed the “faithful and loyal member of the Democratic Unionist Party”s new …

“Listen to the answer I am giving you..”

Pete Baker on June 20, 2008, 8:09 pm

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With the World Economic Forum issuing recommendations to G8 leaders, including the UK, on global warming on the basis of “the scientific rationale for urgent action presented in the IPCC Fourth Assessment Report” [full statement here PDF file], it might help any local conversation if the new Environment Minister, the DUP’s Sammy Wilson, would provide some detail of the evidence on which he bases his beliefs – rather than general, and pejorative, comments about the environmental lobby’s “industry”, problems being …

“Won’t someone think of the children..”

Pete Baker on June 17, 2008, 9:55 pm

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On Stormont Live today Newton Emerson had some sharp criticisms to make of the Northern Ireland Assembly’s OFMDFM Committee’s report on ‘Child Poverty’ – notably the problem with setting targets based on percentiles of median adult income – in a discussion with the Committee’s Chairman, the UUP’s Danny Kennedy. For those unfamiliar with statistics here’s a detailed account of normal distribution. It’s also worth noting that, even when a government has the required tools to affect income re-distribution, alleviating poverty …

McCann and others acquitted of criminal damage

Pete Baker on June 12, 2008, 1:16 am

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The law may sometimes be an ass.. but a jury can also be a joke. Were the three who had previously “refused to acknowledge the court” among the six acquitted of criminal damage at the Raytheon software factory in Londonerry in August 2006? Writer Eamonn McCann was found quilty of stealing two computer discs belonging to the company. From the BBC report. Speaking outside the court, Mr McCann said the men welcomed the jury’s decision and said it had “completely …

“vision without clear direction of how it can be achieved, is not worth the paper it is written on”

Mick Fealty on June 11, 2008, 3:20 pm

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Conor Murphy has launched his review of the Regional Development Strategy with a rather stirring and highly aspirational speech laying out precisely the kinds of engagement he’s seeking and a clear annunciation of what he believes his review must deliver: We need a long-term vision within which all our actions can fit. For, a vision without clear direction of how it can be achieved, is not worth the paper it is written on. Our vision needs to include clear strategic …

Good heavens! You’re the Environment Minister..

Pete Baker on June 10, 2008, 10:41 pm

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To paraphrase Matthew Parris.. The DUP’s Sammy Wilson kicked off his new role as Environment Minister by making some provocative comments about climate change. Although it’s worth noting that no-one that I’m aware of seriously claims that “all of that climate change is due to CO2 emmissions.” But the scientific climate models do indicate and, in its 4th report the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change [official IPCC website here] – which bases its assessment mainly on peer reviewed and published …

The secret of economic ‘comedy’…

Mick Fealty on June 5, 2008, 1:43 pm

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So passing from the magnificent work of collaborative fiction that too often passes for Northern Irish politics, here’s some real news. The tax take in the Republic has dropped by €430m, caused mostly by a short fall in VAT returns. Income tax on the other hand is up by €32m. And, according to the OECD, unemployment is likely to rise from 4.5% last year, to 5.7% this year to 6.5% next. The party’s over, it’s 7 in the morning, and …

“inspection revealed that the premises are now being used as an office.”

Pete Baker on May 21, 2008, 6:37 pm

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Ian Paisley Snr and Jnr’s new constituency office [still?] doesn’t have permission to be used as an office, and in today’s Belfast Telegraph Chris Thornton reveals that Ian Paisley Snr’s Belfast constituency office had, for several years, been assessed for rates as a private dwelling house despite being used as a constituency office. From the Belfast Telegraph The Ravenhill Road property was recently inspected by officials from Land and Property Services after a query from the Belfast Telegraph about the …

“This is bad, unacceptable Government..”

Pete Baker on May 20, 2008, 4:12 pm

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The Belfast Telegraph has gotten hold of a leaked memo from the Finance Minister, the DUP’s Peter Robinson, which, contrary to the figure quoted in the official report, calculates the cost of a Maze stadium at £379m over the next seven years. The paper quotes the ministerial memo And the memo, sent to ministers by Mr Robinson, added: “The case is unusual in that both accounting officers have concluded that a value for money case has not been demonstrated.” And …

West Belfast stuck in economic ‘siege mentality’?

Mick Fealty on May 16, 2008, 5:30 pm

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Newton Emerson pours scorn on Forbairt Feirste’s investment conference, aimed at consolidating support for the establishment of a Ceathrú Gaeltacht (Gaeltacht Quarter) in west Belfast. (H/T Concubhar) In essence he argues that the economic aspect of case is flawed, not least since “residents of the lower Falls live within a mile of 30 per cent of all the jobs in Northern Ireland.” He goes on to accuse the area of excessively cleaving to a kind of internal separatism: One point …

“They are paying for it, at the end of the day..”

Pete Baker on May 15, 2008, 8:09 pm

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The failure of former Taoiseach Bertie Ahern to provide convincing answers to the questions put at the Mahon Tribunal undoubtedly led to his eventual resignation. Those questions have continued and yesterday one of Ahern’s “long-term personal friends”, Joe Burke – a builder and former Fianna Fáil councillor in Dublin, who was appointed chairman of the Dublin Port Company in 2002 – has been providing equally unconvincing answers. The absence of a money trail featured heavily. From the Irish Times [subs …