Only five times in Irish history has a Taoiseach taken to the airwaves to address the nation and Kenny went for his second go tonight as Ireland exits its bailout programme. Full text of the speech is available here Overall I found it a bit of a dull speech without any real coherent message or point. At many times it just seemed like Kenny was giving the address simply to tell us everything that we already knew. He did take …
Flood/Mahon, McCracken, Morris and Moriarty. The litany of judges’names associated with, shall we say, doubtful practices starkly exposes the desperate need for reform in the Republic’s body politic, even if the property bubble had never burst. Dubious practices were not the sole prerogative of Fianna Fail. Moriarty’s long list of conclusions, produced at a cost rivalling the Saville Inquiry’s, was as shocking as it was expected. While civil servants insisted their advice was not compromised, Moriarity finds that minister Lowry “secured the …
Let’s face it , Fintan O’Toole could have been tougher on the incoming government. Maybe he thought they deserved a brief honeymoon. Does the sexual imagery give him away? His first verdict on the Programme for Government is as he puts it, a contrast between “a love potion and a chastity belt.” Fintan gives grudging welcome to the coalition’s political reform proposals, only to find them impotent in the face of the financial reforms he deems necessary, which the coalition will find “impossible.” If true, …
As predicted a new Irish coalition dubbing itself “The Government of National Recovery” emerged smoothly from six days of talks to tackle a economic and political crisis far deeper than that which confronted their British counterparts last May. I’ve blogged on the main elements of the key policies here. Now I turn to the sweeping political and constitutional reforms in the Porgramme for Government, most easily downloaded from this page of the Irish Times, and beginning on p18 of the Programme. …
