CAN we afford to lose a civil servant of the calibre of Kevin Cardiff? The paeans of praise being poured on Kevin’s head by government ministers would make you wonder. Why are we letting this genius go? God knows, we need people of ability in the Department of Finance. We crave guys with experience of …
Category Archive
for: ‘Party Political Patronage’
Cronies Win Quangos a Reprieve
The quangos are dead. Long live the quangos. What a quango cull. Ireland’s semi-states will never be the same again. Irish politics has been transformed. There is even new blood in the judiciary. While FG and Labour puritans are cleaning up the semi-states, Fine Gael and Labour loyalists are simply cleaning up.
NTMA Immortals Win Again
GO on. Genuflect. The boys and girls from the National Treasury Management Agency (NTMA) are coming to tea. Go on. Bow and scrape. These guys are rocket scientists. They are the immortals of the Irish financial world. They have doctorates in derivatives, medals in management and degrees in debt. They salivate at the difference between …
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 …
FG & Labour are Good FFers
SOME poor sod had to do it. Some clown had to be Fianna Fail’s first sucker. The ragged Opposition party had failed to win a spat for months. Everywhere they turned, they were being hammered. Some say that they face oblivion. Last week I was the sod who saved them.
No Bonus Bonfire at AIB or ESB
DID you miss the wonderful news in the Budget? You did? Well, the pay of semi-state bosses is to be capped at €250,000. Welcome to the brave new world of sharing the burden. In this time of poverty, even Ireland’s oligarchs must limit themselves to five grand a week. And if you believe that, you …
Cowen Flees into the Arms of FAS
ON Monday evening last, Brian Lenihan released Brian Cowen from political bondage. The Taoiseach — reprieved by his Finance Minister — instantly bolted to a safer haven. No, not to Offaly. Nor into the arms of his demoralised Fianna Fail tribe; but in his mission to save his skin, he turned to a different type …
Alan’s Little Bank of Horrors
WHICH finance minister said: “I was completely against it. The last thing you need is a State-owned bank, because it will end up with every lame-duck, politically attractive proposition being brought to it for finance. “The more the State owns of it, the less it will be possible to refuse. That’s a complete horror story …