‘Official Ireland Just Got This Totally Wrong’

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mcw

David McWilliams

Amid a tragic parade of gloomy Europhile pundits [John Bruton, Pat Cox, Alan Dukes and Noel Whelan to name but four] on Today with Seán O’Rourke on RTE Radio 1 this morning, David McWilliams took a more cheerful stance on the Brexit vote.

G’wan McDreamy.

Seán O’Rourke: “I want to go now to David McWilliams, on the line, the economist. David you dissent from a widely held view, among economists, that this is very bad for Britain, very bad for Ireland economically. Just looking at one of the headlines on something you wrote in the [Irish] Independent recently. ‘We will do just fine if there’s a Brexit‘ – how so?

David McWilliams: “The most important thing was to get the result right, OK. There’s no point in analysing the wrong result. So I always believed the British would leave and that was an unusual position in Ireland but not an unusual position if you spent any time working or living in England.

So I think what happened, it wasn’t that I dissented, Sean, in actual fact I believe Official Ireland just got this totally wrong – underestimated the feeling, overestimated their use of propaganda when they deployed it. And, ultimately now, have got to pick up the pieces.

I couldn’t understand why Ireland bet so ubiquitously, Official Ireland that is, Sean, on one result in a two-horse race that we knew was going to go down to the line. We have to have a plan B and Official Ireland had no plan B so..”

O’Rourke: [audible sigh] “Well, we’ll see now…”

McWilliams: “But it’s very important to listen to that Sean. And it’s very important that your listeners are told this: That we had a two-horse race. For whatever reason, Cameron decided go for it, he did. When it became apparent that this was going to be 50/50 or close to it.

We should have a much more nuanced approach, rather than trying to scare people into voting one way. Now I’ll come back to the scare, right.

Every single institution, Sean, that has told us this will be economically a catastrophe, it’ll be detrimental, etc, etc..Every single one of those also told us in Ireland it would be a soft landing eight years ago. Ok?

The IMF, the European Commission, all these institutions that were so confident in the forecast about Brexit got everything wrong on the financial crisis.

So, let’s just stand back a bit. Nobody really knows what is going to happen economically.However, what we do know is that, during this period of uncertainty, some direct foreign investment will be diverted away from Britain because companies might think, ‘well, hold on a second, we’re not going to put, invest there, just in case, we don’t know really what the end result is going to be’.

Now where Sean will that DFI be diverted to? Americans will not stop investing in Europe, via the two English-speaking countries in Europe, just because Britain has said politically ‘we’re out of the EU’. So I suspect we could have a huge opportunity here, actually garner a percentage of that diverted capital and income to Ireland. So rather than assume that the world is going to end, what we know Sean, is that change is the only thing that is constant in life.”

O’Rourke: [faintly audible sigh] “Ok, I’ll come back to you on that..”

McWilliams: “And we’ve got to deal with it…”

O’Rourke: “In a few moments…”

Listen back here

Previously: ‘You Came Out Pretty Aggressive There, Dan’

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31 thoughts on “‘Official Ireland Just Got This Totally Wrong’

  1. Boj

    Change is good! If Britain remained, there would be no change. Best of luck to the British, they’ll be fine in my opinion.

    1. some old queen

      But that is the point, if Britain are fine or even doing better then other countries in the EU like France who feel they have had it harder will also leave.

    2. some old queen

      But that is the point, if Britain are fine or even doing better then other countries in the EU like France who feel they have had it harder will also leave.

      1. some old queen

        For the day that is it in, I have managed something I didn’t think was possible. A double post of exactly the same thing.

        Who knew?

    1. DaithiG

      Exactly, Kenny and Co wanted Remain to win, but I seriously doubt they have a plan in place in the event of Brexit.

      Although, it’s not going to be fun in the short term with markets going up and down like a yoyo, but Snootysnoot McWallyWally is right in that Ireland can put their hand up to claim that English speaking US FDI.

  2. Brother Barnabas

    My guess is that the EU will court Britain now, get them back to the negotiating table and offer all sorts of concessions and compromises. And they’ll go again. And they’ll have done us all a big favour – that democratic deficit is wide and getting wider.

    1. Sido

      Its been nine hours now and still no WW3. They must be kicking themselves that they sent Dave away from the table with nothing. And told him to get some discipline into his plebs. Still that’s EU decision making for you. Keep calm and carry on.

  3. 15 cent

    i read the first bit of that thinking it said David Walliams, and pictured him and his voice, then wondered why he’s talking to Sean O’Rourke .. and then the penny dropped. Right, I’ll go back in.

  4. ironcorona

    It’s a little bit of an exaggeration to say that official Ireland got this wrong and McDreamy (once again) was right all along.

    The result was 51% vs 49%, which is a total coin toss.

    1. kirkbadaz

      not a coin toss that’s democracy.

      and his point about official Ireland getting it wrong is that there was no Plan B. or if there was the pharmacist was a conscientious objector.

      that how our polticians roll (over).

  5. brownbull

    McWilliams has been exposed time and again as a chancer, what is he saying here? Official Ireland got this wrong? what does that mean? what is he actually saying? nothing, that’s what – any crisis he seeks to put himself in the middle of it, don’t fall for it, look at his advice on the bank guarantee – the ego is incredible

    1. JFM

      absolutely right – he always speaks out of both sides of his big mouth – never nails his colours to the mast. No substance whatsover – “Nobody really knows what is going to happen economically” – this from a guy who is supposedly and expert in knowing what is going to happen economically… Is he a dope??

      1. Sido

        Maybe that’s coz nobody knows what’s going to happen economically. Which is a considerably more honest approach than those “experts” who tell us what is going to happen economically.

        1. Nigel

          Hah! Who can forget the brave honesty of the Brexit campaign?’ Vote To Leave Because Then Nobody Knows What Will Happen!’ That really swung the undecideds.

    2. Kieran NYC

      +1

      He just pontificates and spouts off whatever enters his head. Has he EVER actually used numbers in his arguments? Any evidence? Or is he just a Mercille who ‘believes’ crap?

  6. moould

    this guy throws so much merde around, some of it is bound to stick every once in a while. and then he spends all of his airtime.speaking.oh.so.slowly. talking about how everyone else got it wrong

  7. kirkbadaz

    McWilliams had a very simple and often correct political antenna which says if the govt and their cronies in print media and bogey economists say one thing assume it’s wrong.

    like property bubble. austerity. saving Anglo… brexit

  8. Charger Salmons

    All hail the Ginger prophet.
    As he says it helps if you lived and worked in the UK for a while to understand the British mentality.
    They’ve been very welcoming of the Irish for decades – they’re just not too keen on Irish politicians coming to their country to try to influence the vote.
    Unfortunately Enda Kenny’s presence was about as noticeable as a silent fart.

  9. Patrick Bateman

    Dear Editor, providing a time stamp for the interview would have been useful.

    Mr. McWilliams speaks at 2hrs 12mins.

    1. Bodger

      Sorry Patrick, we had the transcript posted before the interview was available to listen back to on a podcast. We provided the link but couldn’t have given a time stamp at that time. Apologies.

  10. Mulder

    Yes here be the ehh, problem, offical Ireland got it wrong again, shock surprise, so now it is offical Ireland who are going to have to deal with this.
    They got it wrong, so then how exactly are they going to deal with it.
    Except in the time honoured fashion of make another mess.

  11. Anne

    “faintly audible sigh” Did ye catch him breathing? Like he’s a real live human being..

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