Tuesday, September 7, 2010 Previous editions
THE fuss about Fine Gael TD Olwyn Enright’s announcement of her planned departure from politics has been justified because of how it illustrates the difficulties of time management faced by women who want an active political career, especially those with pre-school and schoolgoing children.
IT has been another bad week for the public perception of the Green Party’s behaviour in power. It must have been made worse for those in the party by the fact that the latest blow involved getting the blame for something it hadn’t actually done.
PROOF that politics is often about doing as little as possible, irrespective of whether times are good or bad, and then only when you absolutely have to do something, was provided this week by the Minister for Education, Mary Coughlan.
THE State is getting into the retail shopkeeping business, selling bras and knickers, shoes and shirts, beds, chairs and tables, pots and pans, televisions and games consoles, luggage and lots else too.
POLITICAL contacts can be bought very cheaply in this country. Always has been the case and always will be, it seems, no matter what happens at tribunals and the like in exposing the carry-on between politicians and wealthy business people.
SUPERMARKET giant Tesco’s announcement this week that it is expanding its Irish operations — and would create nearly 750 new jobs in the process of investing about €113 million — seemed like a shining light amid all the economic gloom.
IF ROY Keane ever gives up football management then a brilliant career as a controversial TV pundit beckons.
TIARNAN O’Mahoney’s decision to remain as chairman of the Irish Pensions Board is truly extraordinary.
GEORGE LEE might be forgiven had he indulged himself in a bit of “whatifery” on Monday evening as news of Richard Bruton’s sacking as deputy leader and finance spokesman of Fine Gael emerged. For example, what if Lee had remained in the Dáil rather than packing in political life last February for a quick return to the relative comforts of RTÉ?
I DON’T how President Mary McAleese did it. Last Friday she and her husband Martin entertained Ian Paisley and his wife Eileen at Áras an Uachtarán.
INADVERTENTLY, Senator Ivor Callely may have done the state a massive favour. By his selfish actions, in what some would describe as giving a false address to maximise the amount of expenses he could claim from the state, he has emphasised the expensive uselessness of Seanad Éireann.
ANDREW WAKEFIELD, now struck off the medical register in Britain because of his dangerous campaign falsely to link the MMR vaccine to autism, is a lucky man that being disbarred from practice is all that has happened to him. Why are there no laws in Britain to prosecute charlatans like him when their lies damage the public health and become common currency worldwide?
THE argument that the country needs 166 Dáil members is diminished somewhat by the tardiness of the Government’s approach to holding the three by-elections to fill vacant seats.
LAST Monday RTÉ 1 broadcast a documentary called Aftershock: Where to Now? in which four contributors were asked to offer suggestions as to what needs to be done to help this country out of the economic morass in which it finds itself.
WHAT time was it when you heard about Gerry Ryan’s death? It doesn’t really matter, does it, whether it was 2.30pm or 5pm last Friday, or even the following day?
WE’RE finding out just what Germany thinks of Greece and lest you think that such foreign stuff is of little interest to us, it is hugely relevant in so many very important ways, most especially to our standard of living.
DISSENTING voices can be very useful in a parliamentary democracy, shaking cosy consensus and provoking debate that might not otherwise take place.
THERE’S a saying in sport that goes along the lines “show me a good loser and I’ll show you a loser”. This was the type of comment fans of Tiger Woods made in his defence last Sunday evening after he completed his fourth place finish in the US Masters at Augusta.
THE 5,500 employees of the Quinn Group are right to be fearful for the security of their jobs. Their demand for protection is entirely understandable and rational. Sympathy for them is plentiful.
IN an unpopular government, Brian Lenihan remains a relatively popular minister, so much so that the opposition seems to have decided he is not worth attacking personally, even over NAMA or Anglo Irish Bank, issues where he has not covered himself in glory, or the public sector pay cuts which he has forced through to much divided opinion.
THERE are some people who won’t be unhappy about rugby and soccer internationals returning from Croke Park to the lower capacity Lansdowne Road.
SO Martin McGuinness, senior IRA figure, now Sinn Féin’s deputy first minister in the Northern Assembly, felt confident enough on Tuesday to suggest Cardinal Seán Brady should be “considering his position”.
IN normal circumstances, Johnny Ronan’s lifestyle would be a personal matter. While most newspapers have ignored him, some, and not just the tabloids, have enjoyed chronicling details of the 52-year-old businessman’s relationship with 20-something model and TV presenter Glenda Gilson.
I WOULDN’T dream of ingesting any of the muck they sell in head shops, but 20 years ago I might have been tempted. Once, when younger and without fear (or real understanding) of the consequences of alcohol and drugs, as is the way with many young people, the availability of such things, without breaking any laws, might have proved attractive to me.
LAST Monday the Fianna Fáil TD Frank Fahey joined the small band of interviewees who have offered me a bet live on radio to emphasise his certainty of the point he was making.
BRIAN COWEN is facing an enormous test of his political pragmatism. Tribal to his core, the sacrifice of Willie O’Dea, one of his Fianna Fáil family, to satisfy the demands of his Green coalition partners must have been like a hammer blow to Cowen.
OUR schools are producing students whose maths and science capabilities are less than the international average. That’s what Craig Barrett believes and if his views are shared widely in American business circles then we are in trouble.
I LIKE my food just a little bit too much as anyone who has seen me recently will know.
THE Government has told us repeatedly over the past 18 months that a fully functioning banking system is essential to our economic wellbeing. This has been its justification for keeping what are in reality failed banks in existence.
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