Spot on Human Being! Until we get a Government brave enough to take on the wealthy and the public service, nothings going to change. This bunch of clowns are embarrassing! Enda Kenny and his cronies make me cringe. We’d be better off with one of those new unelected experts running the place! Someone that’s not scared to do the right things!!

They probably cannot count to 5.

Sad though it may sound but I have been keeping a dairy for a few yrs now. I have kept comments written by the ERSI in the national newspapers and on TV and each one (prediction) has been WRONG VERY WRONG. Mind you so have statments made by the Central Bank. Jst shutup and keep your useless opinions to yourselves. We dont want to hear your sh*te.

Best comment here!

Everyone makes a joke about everything in Ireland. I don’t understand, its stupid for me. Your lives are destroyed by banks and lying politicians but Ireland is only country in world that just does not care, about anything. Whats more important is pubs and tv, its amazing for me. Other countries people have emotions and at least protest but Irish people just make fun and believe every lie

Trust me sweetheart, I ain’t laughing.

We know our lives are destroyed for the foreseeable future, if you are lucky enough to earn a living you will see more and more it going into a big fat hole of nothingness. Protesting is all well and good but that’s all it is, a meaningless protest that will change nothing.

Greece got almost half their debt wrote off, they protested, you obey, do what you are told and make fun. With your attitude, your country would never have won Independence, my country would still be communist sweetheart.

Greece didn’t get the debt write off because of street protests

Lisa,
Protest in this country the for last 3 years has been weak because of people like you!
It will be meaningless until the day you get off your defeatist arse and start to fightback.

fool me once shame on you fool me twice shame on me do not vote fg ff lab greens in next election

I think the humour is our way of dealing with everything – its what we are famous for around the world. Should we all be negative and depressed 24 hours a day or should we get on with it in good spirit when we can? We can fight for a better country and still have time to smile I think.

What do people want? I would be all for a one day of action where everyone lays down the tools but I just think so many people are hard up and too scared of the repercussions to do anything like that. So telling people they are weak because they don’t behave like the Greeks is unfair.

The problem with protests like Occupy Dame Street movement is that it has no focus, no fixed idea of achievement and is therefore totally useless. Well meaning, but futile. However, if there was a target, a focus then we would be getting somewhere. How can I take a protest seriously if I don’t even know what I am protesting for? You can’t achieve anything with no tangible goals.

All I know is that people want the austerity measures to ease up but we all know that it’s not in the hands of our government so what do we do? Burn down the german embassy? Stop buying french wine or Belgian chocolate? Do we take all our money our the banks and hide it in our mattress?

Because ultimately no matter what we do its all going to land right back on top of us again, we own the banks so any damage to them effects the tax payer. Exports are the only thing keeping our economy from halting altogether so we need a healthy EU.

If someone can come up with a protest that isn’t sitting outside a bank in a tent or won’t end up shagging us in the ass let me know what it is.

Blind optimism is worthless. People need to realize that the country is broke, living on handouts and governed from outside.
We’re getting all sorts of comments criticizing negative spin and doom and gloom. The optimism is easy while our welfare, public service pay, state services etc. are being supported from outside by ponzi scheme that is ready to crash. The private sector is on it’s knees and is way beyond ever supporting the bloated public service.
We can whistle in the wind and pretend all will be well but that won’t happen unless we are serious and determined to realize that decisions are being made on our behalf by discredited politicians and state institutions. Unless there is a determined effort by the Irish people to optimistically determine that they will root out greed and corruption dishonesty in our government and state institutions we’re scuppered plain and simple.

Lisa.
We can refuse to pay the household charge or any other similar austerity measure that this government introduces and force a situation where the government falls by opposition in it’s own ranks. When the chips are down politicians abandon party loyalties and whips and think of their own political skins
Force the collapse of this center right Merkozy government and demand an emergency all party government without obligation to corporate interest that will represent the people not their cronies in Europe and at home.

And i meant to add: And then take it from there.

Lisa,
The Next and possibly last opportunity that we as a people have to stand up against the current situation where we are being made to pay for portfolio and investment managers who got it wrong but who are not being allowed lose, is by campaigning against and refusing to pay the Household Charge!
We are being spin a huge porky that this charge is going to pay for libraries and street lighting .. Does anyone really buy that!? It is completely regressive and punitive and is looking for water from wells that are completely dry.

There is a huge campaign here in co. Wexford already underway. Blanket refusal to pay it and lobbying of our TD’s will put huge pressure on them and as they are mostly self-serving, this could force a radical change in how the government acts or even could cause a split! There’s your clear goal and objective!

Well I agree with that Nigel and I really believe people shouldn’t pay it. That’s a great suggestion.

Lisa,
That one day of action you mentioned is neccessary.
It wont just come out of thin air, a movement needs to built first, if someone called for a nationwide day of action now it would be unlikely to have much an effect. A mass movement needs to be built first. That can happen through people like you and me getting involved in existing campaigns or starting campaigns of your own.
It is up to all of us to build this neccessary movement, get involved with some imperfect protests and make them a little more perfect, let everyone know how pissed off you are about the mess we have been forced into, let everyone know that you are ready to fight back, express your anger to your TDs, stay informed, dont let the IMF / ECB / government dictate the parameters in which we discuss the economy, join up with some of the many groups campaigning against the austerity, dont wait for a messiah to lead us into a national day of action and solve our problems – it is up to all of us. There will be many false starts, hurdles and failures on the way, but we should use each one to gain strength and numbers for the next effort. If we do this then victory is inevitable…. eventually.
the next 10 years could be crucial for long term future of society.
Either the people will stand up for themselves and take back the wealth and power from those who have been hoarding it, or they will accelorate their theft, leaving us in much worse shape than we been in generations. There will be no middle ground in this. The appeasments they have used to placate us for the last 40 years will no longer be possible, things like social welfare, free education will be a thing of the past, capitalism can only afford them when it is doing very well.

So I become a rent a mob member and join up with any group that is protesting anything. Today it’s third level fees, tomorrow it’s cut to private schools?? How would I get time to go to my job that it took me a year to get? Its just all too convoluted and arbitrary.

I think the Irish people have been so quiet is because they know that there is no way to take back our economic independence without unraveling the very fabric of society. The time to protest was over three years ago when FF and many of the Dail voted to nationalise the debts of our banks and we missed it. I think that’s why people are relatively passive in comparison to our European brothers, we know our chance to change our fate is as dead as Brian Lenihan.

Unraveling the very fabric of society?
is that not what we are seeing happening right now? If you are so sure there is no hope at all, why are you even discussing it? I suspect it is because you are not sure there is no hope.
As for becoming rent a mob for any cause whether you believe in it or not, thats not what i was suggesting. I was asking you to make your voice heard and help to bring about the national day of action you mentioned.
You say the time for protest was 3 years ago, will you say the same thing in 3 years time? and the same again in 6?
“the best time to plant a tree is 20 years ago, the next best is today!”
I understand that you dont have the time to give to continual protesting, you are expending time and energy here AGAINST hope and protest, using your energy to maintain the status qou! why not use even that little bit of energy and time to do the opposite, when huge numbers of people make a small effort, thats when we will begin to stand a chance against those who are currently milking us dry.

As long as the majority of people can afford a middle class standard of living.

and remember, just because we elected them does not mean we have democracy or true representation…..

What are you talking about? The people knew full well the difference between the left policies and FG policies but still went and voted FG anyway. And what’s worse, FF are rising in the polls. It sickens me to say it but alot or Irish people don’t have a clue what they want.

That’s right Adrian.
Until the people make their minds up about what they want we get nowhere.
If Kenny thinks he has a confused, dejected and frightened electorate then he can do as he likes, or more importantly give in to pressure in Europe. The Government should fear us, we should not fear them. If Kenny thinks he has to deal with an assertive, demanding public who will kick him and his buddies out of Government at a whim well then he will think twice about being a Merkozy messenger boy.

Brilliant! Very well said.

Agree with you, just let us hit rock bottom so we can come up again

Adrian, is there something to back up your prediction. The only bit i like is the clean slate. If your right it will be a very small slate.

Have you anything to base that on other than groundless optimism?

Looks to me like every year will get worse and worse for ireland, until we grow back a pair of balls.
I am disgusted by the lack of people willing to fight back and defend themselves.
What has happened to us?

Possible euro departure will create definite chaos for years, very high interest rates at up to 10% like before we joined the ERM. Inflation will be high and last for years.

Adrian, wish you were right about bringing things to a head and moving on but I don’t think there’s a hope in hell of this happening with a government that straddles the economic divide and compromises on everything. Maybe if the coalition fell apart and we had a real election to decide on a clear way forward we might progress though even in that case I fear we’d get a few more years of populist denial government before eventually (and too late) seeking to address our real structural issues.

The establishment have falsified the rule books of Ireland to use opinions over 8300 times since 1922.

Democracy is about choice. Opinions hide the details and take away the choice.

You can’t have a democracy with choice.

You can’t have a democracy in falsified rule books.

That certainly is the way the political landscape is panning out!

SF’s rise in he last GE and Presidential Election will be multiplied by Labours failure to truly represent a socialist fundamental in government and also reneging on so many pre-election promises.

SF will mop up the socialist leaning voter in a final hope they will represent a socialist value if in power, at the main expense of Labour who will return to single figure TD’s!

Are you suggesting we rejoin the UK so we can go ‘back to sterling’ ?!

There’s 135 billion euro worth of loans to be repaid/refinanced this year by euro countries. It’s make or break time!!

Peter ,
Any recovery for ireland is entirely dependent on exports, the global economy is in a depression.
Figure it out

We can wait and hope?? Or do something now. Get this government out, refuse to accept their policies, get the politicians back on the streets with their useless lieing leaflets and tell them what we want.

It doesn’t take an expert to see how fucked we are if we continue on our current path.

Do the math Aaron; total bailout package + annual interest / annual repayment cost until balance owed < 3% of GDP = number of years

Tol’s departure offers a valuable insight into the working of the state and the extent of the propaganda that is being feed to the Irish public.
If ESRI reports are being influenced by the government can they continue to be regarded as credible (if they ever were).
Should the ESRI continue to be funded by the taxpayer if they cannot function objectively?

He’s a bigger loss to the country than Kevin Cardiff.

As an EU citizen, why don’t you consider going to Sweden, Finland or Holland for example if this place doesn’t melt your butter?

England – still great!

England – still great! And they speak Irish