Monthly Archives: March 2012

Mr [John] Teeling, above [who sold Cooley Distillery for €70m] states that austerity has never worked in any country or during any time in history. He says the Government can not continue to take money out of the economy, continue to raise taxes and to cut benefits and still expect demand to grow. He says this way of thinking will only lead to great stress and strain and may eventually even result in civil unrest.

The businessman says the first thing the Government should do is restructure our too high debt levels. He says that we should defer paying the next €80 billion and not pay anything for the next six years – similar to what has happened in Greece. He says Ireland should adopt ”Noonan Bonds” like the ”Brady Bonds” in the 1980s in South America. We should pay nothing until we get back on our feet, he stresses.


Morning Ireland Business News (RTE)

(Cooley Distillery)

From Vatican Radio:

In communicating this summary of the Findings of the Apostolic Visitation, the Holy See re-echoes the sense of dismay and betrayal which the Holy Father expressed in his Letter to the Catholics of Ireland regarding the sinful and criminal acts that were at the root of this particular crisis.

During their stay in Ireland, the Visitators were able themselves to see just how much the shortcomings of the past gave rise to an inadequate understanding of and reaction to the terrible phenomenon of the abuse of minors, not least on the part of various Bishops and Religious Superiors. With a great sense of pain and shame, it must be acknowledged that within the Christian community innocent young people were abused by clerics and Religious to whose care they had been entrusted, while those who should have exercised vigilance often failed to do so effectively.

Meanwhile, what does this mean?

Since the Visitators also encountered a certain tendency, not dominant but nevertheless fairly widespread among priests, Religious and laity, to hold theological opinions at variance with the teachings of the Magisterium, this serious situation requires particular attention, directed principally towards improved theological formation. It must be stressed that dissent from the fundamental teachings of the Church is not the authentic path towards renewal.

 

Anyone?

Summary of the Findings of the Apostolic Visitation in Ireland (Vatican Radio)

Vatican: Irish Catholic Trainee Priests Should Attend child Protection Classes (Henry McDonald, Guardian)

 

Not much room left on the balcony of SHAME.

So you saw Taoiseach Enda Kenny in New York ringing the New York Stock Exchange starting bell and promoting Ireland Inc beside Denis O’Brien on Wall Street yesterday? And you thought: what the divil is Ireland Inc?

Ireland Inc is run by the ‘Irish American Business Association’ with an address in Dublin currently housing Business and Finance and the SaonGroup.com (Denis’s recruitment company) and Jobs.ie (Denis’ jobs site). Ireland Inc helps “strengthen the Economic Relationship between Ireland and its Global Trading Partners”.

So now you know.

And, yes that’s Alan Quinlan at the back right with the crew cut.

IrelandInc.com

 

Or didn’t.

On this occasion.

A pregnant woman was effectively sacked while on maternity leave by one of the country’s major hotel groups, having previously been warned that one of her bosses was close to former taoiseach Brian Cowen.

 

…She said that having rejected an offer of voluntary redundancy during her third pregnancy, Mr B, the group general manager for O’Callaghan Hotels, referred to how well-connected Mr A was. Ms O’Brien said she found this threatening and interpreted it to refer to Mr A’s political connections, having often seen Mr A having lunch with the then taoiseach, Brian Cowen. The tribunal agreed that this reference was “a threat”.

 

Director Lost Her Job After Third Pregnancy (Noel Baker, Irish Examiner)