Someone should write a thesis about Jim Flavin’s antics. His staggering survival act deserves a doctorate. But he is unlikely to cling on for much longer. No one would write it better than Liam Collins, my colleague in the Sunday Independent. Liam has just penned a humdinger about banking. The title: “The Great Irish Bank Robbery.” The robbers are, of course, the banks. Liam tells the story of how some of the top characters in Irish banking never noticed massive tax evasion on their watch. Half the nation was on the fiddle and the directors of the banks concerned were apparently sleepwalking.
The Great Irish Bank Robbery
Published November 26th, 2007 in Bank Abuses, Consumer Affairs, Corporate IrelandStockmarket Can Make Monkeys Of Us All
Published November 23rd, 2007 in EconomyIt seems that the carnage on the stockmarket just won’t stop. The Iseq has sunk below the 7,000 mark. Great news for Robbie Kelleher, head of Research at Davy stockbrokers. He is not alone in making a monkey of himself on the markets.
A few months ago I foolishly boasted in print that I had sold Vodafone shares at £1.47 and was holding onto BofI as they soared all the way up to €18.65. The switch was showing a healthy profit at the time. Hubris. Today Vodafone stands at stg£1.92 while Bank of Ireland have nearly halved at below €10.00.
Luddites In Leinster House Are Blind To The Lack Of Broadband
Published November 21st, 2007 in Broadband, EconomyLast week, I was guest speaker at the Irish Internet Association’s (IIA) ‘net visionary’ awards in the Mansion House. It is a sell-out. These guys are at the coalface of Ireland’s economic boom. There are billions of euro sitting at the dinner tables.
I launch a broadside against Ireland’s broadband deficit. Why are we so behind the rest of Europe on broadband? Well, Leinster House is laden with Luddites. Its IT system is antedeluvian and no one in Government gives a toss. Half our TDs do not seem to know how to open a laptop.
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Eddie Responds To “That Person!”
Published November 19th, 2007 in Consumer AffairsWill Eddie Hobbs never go away? After the Corkman got a right of reply in last week’s Sunday Independent to some fairly robust revelations about his current property product, Brendan Investments, he sends a message: there is nothing personal about our exchanges over his attempts to raise as much as €250m. A generous gesture? An olive branch? I am beginning to feel quite guilty about the lumps I took out of the guru. But the guilt hardly lasts 24 hours. I am surprised when a friend contacts me saying that Hobbs himself has been on the blower to him.
EU Treaty Our Opportunity To Play Hardball
Published November 16th, 2007 in Europe, International AffairsIt would be appropriate for a national dialogue on the new EU treaty to begin at an early stage. There exists a widespread assumption that all parties and persons are in favour of passing the treaty, which may or may not be true. However, the EU is not treating
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Irish Aid Must Not Be Used To Prop Up Corrupt Regimes
Published November 15th, 2007 in International AffairsIt is commendable that
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Final Round To The Bear
Published November 12th, 2007 in Consumer Affairs, Corporate Ireland, EconomyThe markets are tanking. The end of the world is nigh. Doomsday is bad enough – but far worse, I am really missing all those happy-clappy emails from Robbie Kelleher, head of research at Davy Stockbrokers. Robbie and I developed quite a relationship last year. Not a very cordial relationship, but a relationship all the same.
In May 2006, I rashly gave Robbie a bit of stick for calming his clients’ nerves on RTÉ after stock markets had crashed. I rabbited on about stockbrokers’ judgment being flawed; how they are frequently conflicted; how they always talked the market up; and how they are as likely to be right about future market direction as a spaniel on speed.
Robbie was indignant.
All is calm at the good ship EBS. As the financial sector worldwide weathers a week of turmoil,
A few weeks ago chairman Mark Moran told journalists that the appointment was “imminent.” Now he is muttering about January.
Trinity Stays On Top!
Published November 9th, 2007 in Trinity NewsYesterday, I was delighted to learn that Trinity has remained Ireland’s top university, according to the Times Higher Education Supplement table. Better still, Trinity is now considered the 12th best university in Europe, and 53rd in the world. It has thus broken into the international university elite, overtaking such prestigious institutions as the London School of Economics and St. Andrews in Scotland. Trinity also ranks second in global immunology research. Continue reading ‘Trinity Stays On Top!’
Leinster House Shouldn’t Be Surrounded By Concrete And Cars
Published November 9th, 2007 in Environment, Other IssuesLeinster Lawn was once a lovely park, a green space, which was made into a car park some years ago. This was supposed to be a temporary arrangement until a long term solution could be found. However it remains a car park to this day, and it is us Members of the Oireachtas who are to blame for failing to restore Leinster Lawn to its former glory. Here’s what I told the Seanad:
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