EVERY morning, when I walk to the local Spar in Enniskerry for my news fix, I pass a car park. Nothing remarkable about that. Next I breeze past the adjoining historic Powerscourt Arms Hotel, a listed building with a proud history. Then I glance at the landmark Enniskerry clock tower (1843), buy the papers and …
Category Archive
for: ‘Bank Abuses’
Anglo from the Horse’s Mouth
HAD the Irish Times turned tabloid? Last week, ex-editors of the paper of record turned in their graves. The lead item on a front page that frowns on sensationalism had gone walkabout.
Jobless banker? Apply to CRO
So you thought the bankers were reeling? Far from it. Last week they scored a bullseye. We bank-bashers woke up on Monday morning with a flea in our ears. We had led with our chins, excoriating the bankers for refusing to lend to small businesses. Suddenly, an independent report left us on the canvass. The …
Lethal Threat of Continuity BOI
COME weep with me on Wednesday. Let us enjoy an old-fashioned wake. We will wake Bank of Ireland. At 11am in the O’Reilly Hall at UCD we will begin the obsequies. Join me there at the AGM. All true sufferers at the hands of the bank should assemble to wonder and weep. To weep at …
The Eyes Have it Inside the Dáil
WAS Brian Lenihan making mischief in the Dail last week? He began to lovebomb Minister for Finance Michael Noonan across the chamber. And Michael responded with a fair old flash of the eyelashes. Brian was heaping praise on Michael’s banking policy. He could hardly contain himself. He described it as “an essential first step”. Michael’s …
Bankers Who Peddled the Poison
WILL our European masters or the IMF czars ever inflict the same penury on Spain as they did on Ireland? Or will they ever put Italy on the same rack? What do you think? Europe has ganged up with the IMF to squeeze Ireland and protect its own bankers. First, our external saviours force-fed Ireland …
Honohan: Hero of the Hour
IF Brian Cowen had a shotgun in his hands last Thursday morning, at whom would he have taken aim? At Enda Kenny, leader of the opposition, the favourite to succeed him? At Sean Power, his former Minister of State, who had launched a broadside against the Government in the Dail chamber just 12 hours earlier? …
No Time to Swim in the Swamp
LAST Monday morning, opposition big shots headed for the Department of Finance to examine the nation’s books. The Fine Gael team had a spring in its step, chests out, every inch the government-in-waiting. They savoured the moment, posed for a few photographs and entered the normally forbidden city. On Monday afternoon, they emerged, spooked. They …
Hail Mary, Chocolate Goddess
MONDAY Conor Foley, the head of WorldSpreads, is a fine example of an Irish entrepreneur. Unfortunately, like so many Irish business stars, he has relocated to the UK. On Monday, he asked me to rabbit on about bankers and wasters to the Irish International Business Network (IIBN) in London. The Network turns out to be …
Watchdog’s Wasted Efforts
IS the watchdog a waster? Last week the grandly named “Comptroller & Auditor-General” produced more than 1,000 pages of masterly finger-wagging. He gently took the usual suspects to task for wasting State funds. John Buckley must have the easiest job in Ireland. Ireland’s wasters’ industry is endemic.