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 …
Monthly Archive
for: ‘November, 2007’
Stockmarket Can Make Monkeys Of Us All
It 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 …
Luddites In Leinster House Are Blind To The Lack Of Broadband
Last 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 …
Eddie Responds To “That Person!”
Will 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 …
EU Treaty Our Opportunity To Play Hardball
It 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 Ireland very well at present. Some …
Irish Aid Must Not Be Used To Prop Up Corrupt Regimes
It is commendable that Ireland’s aid level is approaching the goal of 0.7% of GNP, and that we are giving €800 million towards developing countries. However, when the Minister came to the Seanad to discuss Ireland’s aid strategy, it was depressing that he made no reference to how the Government distributes that aid. Poverty relief …
Final Round To The Bear
The 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 …
Is There Anybody In At The EBS?
All is calm at the good ship EBS. As the financial sector worldwide weathers a week of turmoil, Ireland‘s last mutual hardly notices. All is so calm that the EBS has still not found a new boss. Poor Ted McGovern announced his departure four months ago but the search for a successor has drawn a …
Trinity Stays On Top!
Yesterday, 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 …
Leinster House Shouldn’t Be Surrounded By Concrete And Cars
Leinster 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 …