So what is happening in South Dublin Schools ?
Parliamentarian's son expelled (type in your email and I'll tell you who) was one of four boys expelled from Oatlands Boys Secondary school in South County Dublin. This is a Christian Brothers non fee paying school boys only school so as you would expect there is a bit of sleaze involved. Like most years in most secondary schools there is a Facebook group page set up and administered by a group of pupils in the year. These group pages are for members only and require invitation for participation. Generally the pages are used for reminding students of events, bring in money for such and such, or for questions like when is the Geography homework due. Unfortunately a bit of a conversation got going on the page in question and covered topics such as whether a teacher was hot or not and whether another teacher liked boys in the Christian Brother sense of the word. A couple of students were overheard discussing it, the culprits were rounded up suspended and then expelled, with the usual attention to rights of the accused as you would expect in a CB school. Now where does the responsibility lie - with the parents of the children involved or with the school. Everybody is in a bit of a spin. Undermining the boys position, a well placed piece was printed on the front of today's Irish Times, where a number of Oatlands Old Boys are employed.
Meanwhile, the annual kidnap of the a Mary's boy ended in tears yesterday. Blind folded and tied to a pole outside Dublin's premier girls school, covered in cat food and mayonnaise didn't end his problems. The Garda helicopter arrived followed by several Garda cars one of which was involved in a collision on the way to save him.
Little did the kidnappers know that they were adding to the stress of a young girl in the school who's dog Fluffy kenneled (again type your email to find the name of the kennels) at Christmas for holidays was returned home expectant. After much discussion the kennels declared that they thought that the dog was neutered. The puppy arrived and it was a family decision to keep him, no compensation was paid by the kennels.
Thursday, May 17, 2012
Tuesday, April 3, 2012
Fiscal Treaty Referendum
Fiscal Treaty Referendum
I am just beginning to think about it. There are certain times when a country has to borrow much more than normal, like when there is an unemployment shock extra money is needed for benefit. If the country is limited by an artificial borrowing limit and doesn't have reserves, then there has to be cut backs in health, education or something else or there has to be tax rises. I do not see any way around this.
The main thrust of the pro argument is that will allow us to borrow, yet the referendum will put a limit on the amount we can borrow. I havn't yet thought about this in terms of how much we already owe. Is it possible to repay what we already owe in the time period that we have agreed to and still remain within a borrowing limit of 3% or 5% of GDP. The Anglo loans alone are 47 Billion which is about 33% of GDP so if we have to pay these loans off in a period of 7 to 10 years that is our borrowing budget blown. So where do we get the rest of the money.
P.S. Talked to Henry Upton about this. The treaty won't come into effect until 2018, we don't know how much things, including the treaty will have changed by then. So really it is a bottle of smoke.
I am just beginning to think about it. There are certain times when a country has to borrow much more than normal, like when there is an unemployment shock extra money is needed for benefit. If the country is limited by an artificial borrowing limit and doesn't have reserves, then there has to be cut backs in health, education or something else or there has to be tax rises. I do not see any way around this.
The main thrust of the pro argument is that will allow us to borrow, yet the referendum will put a limit on the amount we can borrow. I havn't yet thought about this in terms of how much we already owe. Is it possible to repay what we already owe in the time period that we have agreed to and still remain within a borrowing limit of 3% or 5% of GDP. The Anglo loans alone are 47 Billion which is about 33% of GDP so if we have to pay these loans off in a period of 7 to 10 years that is our borrowing budget blown. So where do we get the rest of the money.
P.S. Talked to Henry Upton about this. The treaty won't come into effect until 2018, we don't know how much things, including the treaty will have changed by then. So really it is a bottle of smoke.
Saturday, March 17, 2012
Regulator wrecking Irish Credit Unions
Regulator wrecking Irish Credit Unions
The regulator is trying to fix what isn't broken in his attempt to interfere with the Irish Credit Unions. I don't know whether it is arrogant incompetence or just frustration at not being able to deal with bad bankers, but this guy is for the birds when it comes to the credit unions.
The nauseating and condescending MBA speak would be funny if it wasn't so serious. They are going to take a "top down approach" in dealing with the credit unions. Thankfully there is no top, the credit unions are all independent co-operatives. Of the 500 credit unions 27 are in trouble, all of them now have to have an extraordinary amount of reserves if they have accumulated property over the years. There is a move to get all the credit unions to behave in the same way whether they are rural, suburban, city or commercial. This one size fits all approach is not suitable for such diverse organisations.
I don't care if he has a Cum Laude degree from Bridgetown, it does not mean squat when it comes running credit unions. He simply does not understand that the success of Irish Credit Unions is based on the work of the volunteers who run them for free on a non profit making basis. The independent autonomous nature of credit unions saved them from destruction during the boom, not unlike successful less peaceful cell like organisational structures.
The regulator persists in undermining the reputation by highlighting the few basket case credit unions. Another tactic is layering on regulation after regulation, so that small credit unions can no longer cope with the amount of extra unnecessary work complying with these regulations.
I have looked at several credit unions, most are success stories. The Garda credit union has €100 million in assets, and like most credit unions it also provides insurance at cost price. The Gardai and the ESB also run their own health insurance at cost price. Any large group of individuals combined can cut costs and improve living standards using co-operative principles.
The regulator is trying to fix what isn't broken in his attempt to interfere with the Irish Credit Unions. I don't know whether it is arrogant incompetence or just frustration at not being able to deal with bad bankers, but this guy is for the birds when it comes to the credit unions.
The nauseating and condescending MBA speak would be funny if it wasn't so serious. They are going to take a "top down approach" in dealing with the credit unions. Thankfully there is no top, the credit unions are all independent co-operatives. Of the 500 credit unions 27 are in trouble, all of them now have to have an extraordinary amount of reserves if they have accumulated property over the years. There is a move to get all the credit unions to behave in the same way whether they are rural, suburban, city or commercial. This one size fits all approach is not suitable for such diverse organisations.
I don't care if he has a Cum Laude degree from Bridgetown, it does not mean squat when it comes running credit unions. He simply does not understand that the success of Irish Credit Unions is based on the work of the volunteers who run them for free on a non profit making basis. The independent autonomous nature of credit unions saved them from destruction during the boom, not unlike successful less peaceful cell like organisational structures.
The regulator persists in undermining the reputation by highlighting the few basket case credit unions. Another tactic is layering on regulation after regulation, so that small credit unions can no longer cope with the amount of extra unnecessary work complying with these regulations.
I have looked at several credit unions, most are success stories. The Garda credit union has €100 million in assets, and like most credit unions it also provides insurance at cost price. The Gardai and the ESB also run their own health insurance at cost price. Any large group of individuals combined can cut costs and improve living standards using co-operative principles.
Monday, February 6, 2012
Canal Cycle
It is possible to cycle from Dublin to the Shannon along the Grand Canal tow path. Over the last 10 weeks I have been cycling various stretches of the canal. It is an ideal exercise, all flat. Mind you some parts of the tow path covered in short grass and can be tough going, best to get off and walk here in the wet months.
Terenure to the 12th Lock near Lucan via Harold's cross takes an hour each way and is 22k in total. Technically the canal from Harold's Cross to Rialto is the Circle line and Loch 1 Grand Canal is in Rialto. There is a "green way" from the 3rd to the 12th Lock. at each lock there is a description of the wild life and some orientation information as well as a few seats. The Green Way is lit up 24/7 and is computer controlled to accommodate animal nocturnal feeding habits, there is also CCTV.
Up to the 12th Lock it is all paved. You will share the journey with dog walkers, joggers and other cyclists. Broken glass on one or two spots so use Kevlar bicycle tyres. It is probably a good idea to finish your cycle before 1pm as groups of youths begin to form and hang out in the afternoon.
At the 12th Lock you change sides and it is grass for about 4km up to the Hatch Pub, looking back on it I would have been better off walking this section. Very nice Georgian structures here, walls, buildings, bridges in a nice rustic setting. The first of the many barges are moored at the Hatch Bridge. Change sides again and a further paved 5km and you are at the 13th Lock. The Lyons estates back out on to the canal here ( a substantial Georgian building with a very good restaurant).
Six kilometers to Lock 14, the first 4km paved followed by 2km short grass. Another kilometer and you are at lock 15, this is where the Grand Canal crosses the River Liffey on the Leinster Aqueduct, a spectacular sight.
Terenure to the 12th Lock near Lucan via Harold's cross takes an hour each way and is 22k in total. Technically the canal from Harold's Cross to Rialto is the Circle line and Loch 1 Grand Canal is in Rialto. There is a "green way" from the 3rd to the 12th Lock. at each lock there is a description of the wild life and some orientation information as well as a few seats. The Green Way is lit up 24/7 and is computer controlled to accommodate animal nocturnal feeding habits, there is also CCTV.
Up to the 12th Lock it is all paved. You will share the journey with dog walkers, joggers and other cyclists. Broken glass on one or two spots so use Kevlar bicycle tyres. It is probably a good idea to finish your cycle before 1pm as groups of youths begin to form and hang out in the afternoon.
At the 12th Lock you change sides and it is grass for about 4km up to the Hatch Pub, looking back on it I would have been better off walking this section. Very nice Georgian structures here, walls, buildings, bridges in a nice rustic setting. The first of the many barges are moored at the Hatch Bridge. Change sides again and a further paved 5km and you are at the 13th Lock. The Lyons estates back out on to the canal here ( a substantial Georgian building with a very good restaurant).
Six kilometers to Lock 14, the first 4km paved followed by 2km short grass. Another kilometer and you are at lock 15, this is where the Grand Canal crosses the River Liffey on the Leinster Aqueduct, a spectacular sight.
In tandem at Lock 14
Lyons Estate Lock 13
Looking "up stream" to Lock 15
Looking "down stream" from Lock 14
Cute House at Lock 14
Wednesday, January 25, 2012
The Irish Independent
My favourite piece on the Indo. Nothing has changed.
"Remembering the Past: Irish Independent - a century supporting rich and powerful
BY SHANE Mac THOMÁIS
The Irish Independent famously On 3 January 1905, 101 years ago, the Irish Independent was launched by William Martin Murphy.
James Larkin once referred to Murphy as the "most foul and vicious blackguard that ever polluted any country... a capitalistic vampire".
During the 1913 Lockout, when the downtrodden workers of Dublin took to the streets for better conditions, Murphy used his paper to beat them into submission with a description of his workers as the "poor and have naught, but if they were rich tomorrow, debauchery would soon have them in poverty again".
He called for the execution of the leaders of the Easter Rising in 1916. It continued its anti-republican ways during the Tan War and in December 1919, a group of 20 IRA men destroyed the printing works of the paper.
The Independent naturally took the pro-Treaty side during the Civil War and at the fall of the Four Courts in 1922, it wrote: "To save a Republic that never existed in fact, a number of young men, partly blustering bullies, partly fanatics honest with the terrible honesty of a monomania, partly boys with no mind but for an escapade, broke away from the army of the nation, set themselves up as the directing force of the country, plunder and destroy, threaten and lie, uniting all their diverse qualities of bravado, unreason and irresponsibility to render any government impossible but theirs."
In 1924, the traditional conservative nationalist newspaper, the Freeman's Journal, merged with the Irish Independent. For the rest of its history, the Independent continued to peddle a virulently right-wing editorial line. It gave political allegiance to Cumann na nGaedhael and later Fine Gael. It urged Irish support for the fascist General Francisco Franco in the Spanish Civil War. On the 10 August 1936 the Independent told its readers that "nuns bodies were been thrown on the streets of Barcelona". Readers were informed that the fascist Blueshirt leader Eoin O'Duffy was to set up an Irish brigade to fight for Franco and "stop a workers republic, a farmers republic or any other form of republic in Spain".
In the 1970s, the Independent was taken over by Tony O'Reilly, a seller of baked beans, who was shaped in the mould of the papers first proprietor. Under O'Reilly's control, the paper was dumbed-down. It also became less politically aligned with Fine Gael. In the 1997 General Election, it endorsed Fianna Fáil under a front page editorial, entitled 'Its Payback Time'. The 'payback' referred to its chance of revenge for the refusal of the 'Rainbow Coalition' to allow O'Reilly who owned the Independent Newspapers to completely take over a rival newspaper, the Sunday Tribune and so achieve absolute dominance of the Irish newspaper industry.
Today, Independent News and Media holds a near monopoly on the Irish newspaper industry, particularly since the closure of the Irish Press Group in the early 1990s. After the closure of the Evening Press, the Independent's Evening Herald is now the capital city's only evening newspaper.
O'Reilly's endeavours in the interests of the rich and powerful and indeed British interests in Ireland have not gone without due recognition. He has received baubles from the English Queen for his efforts and likes to be addressed as 'Sir' Anthony O'Reilly by his coterie of fawning hacks. Today, O'Reilly's papers, particularly the Sunday Independent continue to pour forth anti-nationalist and anti-worker bile with no pretence of objectivity or balance. William Martin Murphy would be proud. "
"Remembering the Past: Irish Independent - a century supporting rich and powerful
BY SHANE Mac THOMÁIS
The Irish Independent famously On 3 January 1905, 101 years ago, the Irish Independent was launched by William Martin Murphy.
James Larkin once referred to Murphy as the "most foul and vicious blackguard that ever polluted any country... a capitalistic vampire".
During the 1913 Lockout, when the downtrodden workers of Dublin took to the streets for better conditions, Murphy used his paper to beat them into submission with a description of his workers as the "poor and have naught, but if they were rich tomorrow, debauchery would soon have them in poverty again".
He called for the execution of the leaders of the Easter Rising in 1916. It continued its anti-republican ways during the Tan War and in December 1919, a group of 20 IRA men destroyed the printing works of the paper.
The Independent naturally took the pro-Treaty side during the Civil War and at the fall of the Four Courts in 1922, it wrote: "To save a Republic that never existed in fact, a number of young men, partly blustering bullies, partly fanatics honest with the terrible honesty of a monomania, partly boys with no mind but for an escapade, broke away from the army of the nation, set themselves up as the directing force of the country, plunder and destroy, threaten and lie, uniting all their diverse qualities of bravado, unreason and irresponsibility to render any government impossible but theirs."
In 1924, the traditional conservative nationalist newspaper, the Freeman's Journal, merged with the Irish Independent. For the rest of its history, the Independent continued to peddle a virulently right-wing editorial line. It gave political allegiance to Cumann na nGaedhael and later Fine Gael. It urged Irish support for the fascist General Francisco Franco in the Spanish Civil War. On the 10 August 1936 the Independent told its readers that "nuns bodies were been thrown on the streets of Barcelona". Readers were informed that the fascist Blueshirt leader Eoin O'Duffy was to set up an Irish brigade to fight for Franco and "stop a workers republic, a farmers republic or any other form of republic in Spain".
In the 1970s, the Independent was taken over by Tony O'Reilly, a seller of baked beans, who was shaped in the mould of the papers first proprietor. Under O'Reilly's control, the paper was dumbed-down. It also became less politically aligned with Fine Gael. In the 1997 General Election, it endorsed Fianna Fáil under a front page editorial, entitled 'Its Payback Time'. The 'payback' referred to its chance of revenge for the refusal of the 'Rainbow Coalition' to allow O'Reilly who owned the Independent Newspapers to completely take over a rival newspaper, the Sunday Tribune and so achieve absolute dominance of the Irish newspaper industry.
Today, Independent News and Media holds a near monopoly on the Irish newspaper industry, particularly since the closure of the Irish Press Group in the early 1990s. After the closure of the Evening Press, the Independent's Evening Herald is now the capital city's only evening newspaper.
O'Reilly's endeavours in the interests of the rich and powerful and indeed British interests in Ireland have not gone without due recognition. He has received baubles from the English Queen for his efforts and likes to be addressed as 'Sir' Anthony O'Reilly by his coterie of fawning hacks. Today, O'Reilly's papers, particularly the Sunday Independent continue to pour forth anti-nationalist and anti-worker bile with no pretence of objectivity or balance. William Martin Murphy would be proud. "
Monday, January 23, 2012
Oil near Dublin Bay - What about the Dolphins ?
Ireland's oil and mineral reserves are staggering. Any eighties vintage geologist will remember the euphoria of the North Sea discovery and will have seen oil samples taken from the Irish Sea. The sixty or so Geologists produced every year in Ireland thought that there was a chance of working near home. A lot of drilling went on and exploration drilling in the Kish Bank Basin confirmed the potential for petroleum generation. Recent analysis of old seismic data has revealed a very promising structure about ten kilometers offshore near Dublin in shallow water.
The problem is that five dolphins live there. Too bad about the €80 billion reserve (900 million barrels of oil). We can do the maths, we all know that dolphins are worth €15 billion each and we all love dolphins. Everything is under control Shell to Sea activists ensuring that the mail boat businesss is not disturbed and the the Irish can continue to emigrate in the thousands.
The wealth figures are stacking up nicely. €750 million worth of gold in eight veins in Croke Patrick, €2 billion worth of gold in Cavan Monaghan, €2 billion worth of gas shale in Lough Allen and now €80 billion in Dalkey Island.
The problem is that five dolphins live there. Too bad about the €80 billion reserve (900 million barrels of oil). We can do the maths, we all know that dolphins are worth €15 billion each and we all love dolphins. Everything is under control Shell to Sea activists ensuring that the mail boat businesss is not disturbed and the the Irish can continue to emigrate in the thousands.
The wealth figures are stacking up nicely. €750 million worth of gold in eight veins in Croke Patrick, €2 billion worth of gold in Cavan Monaghan, €2 billion worth of gas shale in Lough Allen and now €80 billion in Dalkey Island.
Saturday, January 14, 2012
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