1999

“It’s boom time in Dublin now, and a lot of people are making a lot of money. That’s no bad thing, of course….Allied to all this economic development – perhaps, in some ways, because of it – the country has been going through a set of traumatising social and political crises. It’s an old Dublin joke that it’s no wonder our national emblem is the harp, because the country is run by pulling strings. Little did we imagine quite how true that was. But we’re getting over all that now. Putting the past firmly behind us.”

The Guardian, December 1999.

2010

“We sustained the mediocrities and buffoons who have led us into the swamp, assuring ourselves in the privacy of our deluded consciences that happiness is index-linked to the purported commercial value of the arrangements of bricks that make our houses. We face hard, brutal years, when the true cost will be paid. The only hope is that when we get to the other side of the morass, Ireland will be a fairer and a more just place, not a slum with a casino attached.”

The Guardian, November 2010.

Johnny Ronan: Leathery piratical douche.

Maeve Donovan: In The Irish Times they know her as the Douchess.

George Hook: He fell in love with a piece of technology (and money). Douche.

David Drumm: The douchebag other douchebags call El Douchey

Feel free to NOMINATE your favourite douche of  2010.

(Photocall Ireland)

(Sky)

He literally cannot stop giving out lines.

Gerry Offered Me Cocaine Ar Christmas Party ( Irish Mail On Sunday)

O’Callaghan To Blow Whistle On Rampant Drug Use In RTE (Sunday Independent)

Former RTE Broadcaster To Lift Lid On Cocaine Use (Belfast Telegraph)

Previously

(Photocall Ireland)

From RTE tonight:

“Beyond News coverage there was scope for RTÉ programming in all media, but mainly within the Radio schedules, to engage in discussion about the issues raised by the inquest. RTÉ in its own normal review of programming has considered that coverage within programmes last week of the issues around cocaine consumption in our society was less than it could have been. Some have sought to interpret RTÉ’s coverage as representing a concerted silence on RTÉ’s part. This is not so and it is regrettable that it has seemed so.”

Full statement here

(Photocall Ireland)

Gay: I am naive but I  had no idea young Gerard was on the reefer

Tubridy: It was cocaine actually, Gay

Pat: Yes cocaine benzoylmethylecgonine. It’s a crystalline tropane alkaloid from the leaves of the coca plant…

Joe: It has destroyed – destroyed – inner city Dublin. Worse than the Vikings…

Dave: Mick Fleetwood told me it had torn the heart out of the ‘Mac…

Gay: I wouldn’t know what reefer looks like.

Tubridy: Cocaine.

Gay: Yes, that as well

Pat: It’s powerfully addictive because it affects the mesolimbic reward pathway.

Duffy: I hear it looks like small-cut diamonds.

Gay: Like a handmade cigarette?

Fanning: More like a sugary paste-like substance. Lou looked at me and said coke brought Velvet Underground to the dark side and they didn’t need to go there, you know, because…

Brenda: I’ve never been offered cocaine at parties. I’m rarely offered any food either.

Duffy: The crystals reflect in the light but it is the light of death.

Gay: I am naive but I really think Dave you should have worn a tie.

Duffy: I am naiver than anyone in this studio but what about the kids?

Gay: As long as he didn’t drive on the stuff.

Etc.

(Photocall Ireland)

A secret bonus of €500,000 was paid this week to a Bank of Ireland executive. Even Brian Lenihan was – apparently – unaware of the pay-out.

It couldn’t be the portly guy on the left could it?

He’s Ian Johnston, of Bank of Ireland Asset Management. He’s photographed winning an ashtray at the Fat Cat’s Benefit in The Four Seasons last year.

Nah. He doesn’t look the type.

Probe Into €500,000 Secret Payment (Irish Independent)

“You didn’t even make the final”

Mary Byrne cradles an inconsolable Mary-Kate Osmonde, age six, from Wicklow, at Crumlin Children’s Hospital this afternoon.

After a lengthy and heartfelt apology, the pair shared a smile. Before Mary-Kate ordered the singer out of the ward.

(Photocall Ireland)

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jQ7wH0cWlww&feature=player_embedded

Paddy Power will donate 12 cents EVERY time you play this video of the bookie’s staff singing a new take on an old Xmas choon.

But there’s a catch: It is the worst Christmas song you will ever hear. And you have to play it until the end.

And don’t bother adjusting the volume. Knowing The Power (as we do), he probably won’t pay out on ‘mute’ views. Bah.

UPDATE: As of 9.30am Monday, December, 20: 12,898 plays (€1,547.76)

.

Moody’s have downgraded Ireland to “virtual” junk status.

But who are these guys? Well, for one, they’ve recently escaped fraud charges for claims that they “inflated ratings on some European debt just before the financial crisis”.

And that’s not all. Not by a long chalk. Watch here.

Irish Credit Rating Cut Again By Moody’s (BBC)