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‘A logistical, logarithmic progression’ : The year in 46 quotes

“It’s clear that people are pissed off with us as a government” and 45 other quotes that tell the story of 2012.

30/12/12 6,324 Views 6 Comments

WE PRESENT THE 46 quotes which have caught our eye from this year and best sum-up the events of the past 12 months.

‘A logistical, logarithmic progression’ : The year in 46 quotes
1 / 46

  • 1. Year in quotes

    “It’s not being driven by unemployment at home, it’s being driven by a desire to see another part of the world and live there." - Finance Minister Michael Noonan plays down the impact of unemployment on youth emigration in remarks that were widely criticised in January.

  • 2. Year in quotes

    "You talk to anybody at the football club. I don’t write. I couldn’t even fill a team sheet in." - Tottenham manager Harry Redknapp also said he writes "like a two-year-old" on a tape played to jurors at a trial where it was alleged he cheated the tax system for financial gain. He was cleared of the charges.

  • 3. Year in quotes

    “What happened in our country is that people simply went mad with borrowing. The extent of personal credit, personal wealth created on credit, was done between people, banks – a system that spawned greed to a point where this went out of control completely with a spectacular crash." - Enda Kenny tells Davos about the financial crisis in Ireland in comments that were widely criticised.

  • 4. Year in quotes

    "If David don't fight me, I am going to physically burn him." – British heavyweight boxer Dereck Chisora also threatened to shoot former WBA heavyweight champ David Haye if he didn’t fight him as the pair became involved in a brawl in Munich in February. Haye would go on to beat his fellow Brit in July.

  • 5. Year in quotes

    "What worries me about the present Dáil is that they are not very bright or intelligent." - Former Fianna Fáil Minister Mary O'Rourke offers a frank and potentially worrying assessment of the 31st Dáil.

  • 6. Year in quotes

    “Before the election I did go riding with him. He has a number of different horses and yes one of them was this former police horse Raisa, which I did ride.” – British Prime Minister David Cameron says he rode a horse given to former News International Executive Rebekah Brooks and her husband by the Metropolitan police in an embarrassing admission in March.

  • 7. Year in quotes

    "How quickly the lubricant of credit turns into the millstone of debt, the slingshot of leverage into a lethal boomerang" - Central Bank governor Patrick Honohan may have overdone the analogies while addressing the Limerick Law Society in March.

  • 8. Year in quotes

    “They’re put in an atmosphere of continual drinking, they’re encouraged to behave licentiously, they compete to bring people home to bed them.” – Senator David Norris is not a fan of TV3’s Tallafornia.

  • 9. Year in quotes

    “Corruption, and in particular political corruption, is a deeply corrosive and destructive force. While frequently perceived as a victimless crime, in reality its victims are too many to be identified individually.” – The Mahon Tribunal’s final report, published in March, is damning.

  • 10. Year in quotes

    “€200 million is a small amount of money for something which is priceless” - Colm MacEochaidh, a former barrister and now High Court judge whose intervention in part led to the establishment of the Mahon Tribunal, defends its cost.

  • 11. Year in quotes

    "It's clear that people are pissed off with us as a government" – junior minister Sean Sherlock said that some opposition to the copyright legislation he enacted in February was part of general anti-government sentiment.

  • 12. Year in quotes

    "The latter, being fornication, I would say, is probably the single most likely cause of unwanted pregnancies in this country." – Fine Gael TD Michelle Mulherin makes some curious remarks during the Dáil debate on Clare Daly’s abortion bill in April. It was a bill that was defeated but reintroduced later in the year only to be once more voted down by the government and Fianna Fáil.

  • 13. Year in quotes

    "They were absolutely stoned out of their minds.” – former BBC presenter Johnny Ball reveals drug use by kids’ TV presenters in the 1970s.

  • 14. Year in quotes

    “It is important for me personally to go ahead and affirm that same-sex couples should be able to get married.” – Barack Obama outlines his view on gay marriage in a landmark moment in US politics.

  • 15. Year in quotes

    "I hope it will not happen again because if someone throws a banana at me in the street, I will go to jail, because I will kill them.” – Italian striker Mario Balotelli says he hopes he is not subjected to racist abuse from fans during Euro 2012 in the summer. He would help his team to the final where they were beaten by world champions Spain.

  • 16. Year in quotes

    “It was Fianna Fáil wot won it.” – Fianna Fáil senator Thomas Byrne claims that his party’s support was all important to passing the Fiscal Compact referendum at the end of May.

  • 17. Year in quotes

    "We'll either need very open-ended lending that will make it very possible for [the euro] to survive, which is inconceivable. Or the Germans and the ECB will allow the thing to break up and fail, which is inconceivable. And one of those two inconceivable things will have to happen." – Economist Paul Krugman can only see the inconceivable happening when it comes to the eurozone.

  • 18. Year in quotes

    "I'm flattered you're all so interested in my vagina. But no means no." - A Michigan state legislator is blocked from speaking during a heated abortion debate after this particular remark.

  • 19. Year in quotes

    "I am answerable to the people of Wexford who elected me and they will discard me when they see fit.” - Independent TD Mick Wallace apologises but will not resign over the revelations that his company under-declared its VAT returns.

  • 20. Year in quotes

    “They want to see the team winning – let’s not kid ourselves, we’re a small country, we’re up against it, but let’s not just go along for the sing-song every now and again.” - Former Republic of Ireland captain Roy Keane isn’t too happy after the 4-0 defeat to Spain and exit from Euro 2012 following a disastrous campaign.

  • 21. Year in quotes

    “What we have found, in one word, is a disgrace.” – Children’s Minister Frances Fitzgerald on the publication, in June, of a report into the deaths of 196 children and young people in the care of or known to the State between 2000 and 2010.

  • 22. Year in quotes

    “I’m still a Republican.” – Martin McGuinness is quick to allay fears he may have a change of heart after his historic meeting and handshake with Queen Elizabeth II in July.

  • 23. Year in quotes

    “I thought he was accusing me of calling him a black c***. I was very angry and I was upset. I replied, ‘A black c***? You f****** k******d’.” – A court in London hears some colourful language from the former England captain John Terry at his racism trial before he is found not guilty in July. An FA panel later finds him guilty of racially abusing QPR defender Anton Ferdinand and he receives a ban and fine.

  • 24. Year in quotes

    “After waiting eighteen months in search of justice for Michaela and following the endurance of seven harrowing weeks of this trial, there are no words, which can describe the sense of devastation and desolation now felt by both families.” – The family of Michaela McAreavey react to the acquittal of the two men on trial for her murder in July.

  • 25. Year in quotes

    "I firmly believe that abortion will present a greater challenge than austerity for this Government " – An unnamed Fine Gael TD outlines the challenges that abortion legislation may pose for the coalition government in an interview with the Irish Times in July.

  • 26. Year in quotes

    "They are glistening like wet otters and the water is plashing off the brims of the spectators’ sou’westers. The whole thing is magnificent and bonkers." – London Mayor Boris Johnson on the spectacle of women’s beach volleyball at Horse Guards Parade during the London Olympics in August.

  • 27. Year in quotes

    "There is nothing else I could do. I could have maybe thrown the kitchen sink at her, I could have maybe driven a bus into her." - Great Britain's Natasha Jones on Katie Taylor's 26-15 win over her as the Wicklow woman went on to win gold at the London Games in August.

  • 28. Year in quotes

    “The toll this has taken on my family, and my work for our foundation and on me leads me to where I am today – finished with this nonsense.” – Seven-time Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong decides he no longer wants to fight drug charges. He is later stripped of his titles.

  • 29. Year in quotes

    “First of all, from what I understand from doctors, that’s really rare. If it’s a legitimate rape, the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down.” – In discussing abortion issues, US Congressman Todd Akin makes some controversial remarks which ultimately torpedo his hopes of winning a US Senate seat.

  • 30. Year in quotes

    “A friendship that crossed a boundary line.” – Bishop of Clonfert, John Kirby, explains his view on the actions of two paedophile priests who he moved to a different diocese in the 1990s.

  • 31. Year in quotes

    “There are 47 per cent who are with him, who are dependent on government, who believe they are victims.” – US presidential candidate Mitt Romney causes controversy with secretly filmed remarks in which he says his job was “not to worry about” the 47 per cent of voters he thinks will vote for Barack Obama. The remarks damaged an ultimately unsuccessful campaign.

  • 32. Year in quotes

    “It is no longer possible for me to fulfil my role as Minister of State for Primary Care because of lack of support for the reforms in the Programme for Government and the values which underpin it.” – Róisín Shortall resigns as Primary Care Minister in October over conflicts with Health Minister James Reilly. She would go on to accuse him of stroke politics.

  • 33. Year in quotes

    “One and one makes two, and two and two makes four, but four by four makes sixteen and not four and four that makes eight. It is a logistical, logarithmic progression.” – Reilly attempts to explain the criteria applied to the creation of a list of areas for proposed primary care centres as the selection of two sites in his constituency leads to accusations of stroke politics.

  • 34. Year in quotes

    "I went to a number of women's groups and I said 'can you help us find folks?' and they brought us whole binders full of women." - Governor Mitt Romney during one of three US presidential debates on trying to find more qualified women to work for him.

  • 35. Year in quotes

    “I run the UCI, I’m President of the UCI, I chair the UCI board meetings and I run the show.” – Irishman Pat McQuaid defends his actions amid continuing controversy over the Lance Armstrong doping scandal in October.

  • 36. Year in quotes

    “This is the worst I’ve ever seen because first of all the inherent wickedness at the heart of all this is so appalling.” – The chairman of the BBC Trust, Lord Patten, on the Jimmy Savile paedophilia scandal.

  • 37. Year in quotes

    "I do think we need to, I don't think there's a parliamentary word for chillax, but I think everyone needs to take a step back." – Fine Gael TD Simon Harris attempts to take the sting out of a heated Public Accounts Committee meeting.

  • 38. Year in quotes

    "They took all my money, my company, put my son in jail, put me in jail and they have proven nothing." – Bankrupt former billionaire Seán Quinn remains defiant as he goes to jail for nine weeks in November.

  • 39. Year in quotes

    39. “This election is a total sham and a travesty. We are not a democracy! Our country is now in serious and unprecedented trouble… like never before.” – Businessman Donald Trump is not happy about the US presidential election outcome as Barack Obama secures another four years in the White House.

  • 40. Year in quotes

    “He’s obviously a very popular figure, particularly popular with women of a certain age group.” – Transport and Tourism Minister Leo Varadkar hits back at actor Gabriel Byrne following his criticism of The Gathering.

  • 41. Year in quotes

    “This is a Catholic country.” – What the husband of Savita Halappanavar told the Irish Times that he and his wife were told by a hospital staff member when they explained the reason why the woman's pregnancy could not be terminated. Savita later died from blood poisoning, days after suffering a miscarriage in a case which shocked the nation.

  • 42. Year in quotes

    “People are so afraid that some people living on their own are leaving 50 quid out on the kitchen table in case they are burgled. That’s no way to live.” – Independent TD Thomas Pringle says that residents in parts of the country are leaving money out in case they are robbed because of cuts to rural garda forces.

  • 43. Year in quotes

    "My wish, frankly, is that there be some form of investigation which meets the needs of the concerned public and meets the needs of the family and meets the need of the State." – President Michael D Higgins makes unprecedented public remarks on the Savita case.

  • 44. Year in quotes

    “The ball moves back into the politicians’ court. They must now decide who guards the guardians.” – Lord Justice Leveson says press regulation is a matter for politicians after he publishes his mammoth report into the ethics, practices and culture of the press in the UK in December.

  • 45. Year in quotes

    “So our hearts are broken today - for the parents and grandparents, sisters and brothers of these little children, and for the families of the adults who were lost. Our hearts are broken for the parents of the survivors as well, for as blessed as they are to have their children home tonight, they know that their children’s innocence has been torn away from them too early, and there are no words that will ease their pain.” – US President Barack Obama is in tears during a statement on the school shooting in Connecticut which claimed the lives of 20 young children and six adults.

  • 46. Year in quotes

    “There is a lot of good value in shops in relation to clothing and footwear.” – Social Protection Minister Joan Burton on the cut to the back to school clothing and footwear allowance in the Budget, which was widely criticised as hitting the poorest hardest.
  • “It’s not being driven by unemployment at home, it’s being driven by a desire to see another part of the world and live there.
  • “What happened in our country is that people simply went mad with borrowing. The extent of personal credit, personal wealth created on credit, was done between people, banks – a system that spawned greed to a point where this went out of control completely with a spectacular crash.
  • “Before the election I did go riding with him. He has a number of different horses and yes one of them was this former police horse Raisa, which I did ride.” – British Prime Minister David Cameron says he rode a horse given to former News International Executive Rebekah Brooks and her husband by the Metropolitan police in an embarrassing admission in March.
  • “They’re put in an atmosphere of continual drinking, they’re encouraged to behave licentiously, they compete to bring people home to bed them.” – Senator David Norris is not a fan of TV3’s Tallafornia.
  • “Corruption, and in particular political corruption, is a deeply corrosive and destructive force. While frequently perceived as a victimless crime, in reality its victims are too many to be identified individually.” – The Mahon Tribunal’s final report, published in March, is damning.
  • “€200 million is a small amount of money for something which is priceless” - Colm MacEochaidh, a former barrister and now High Court judge whose intervention in part led to the establishment of the Mahon Tribunal, defends its cost.
  • “It is important for me personally to go ahead and affirm that same-sex couples should be able to get married.” – Barack Obama outlines his view on gay marriage in a landmark moment in US politics.
  • “It was Fianna Fáil wot won it.” – Fianna Fáil senator Thomas Byrne claims that his party’s support was all important to passing the Fiscal Compact referendum at the end of May.
  • “They want to see the team winning – let’s not kid ourselves, we’re a small country, we’re up against it, but let’s not just go along for the sing-song every now and again.” - Former Republic of Ireland captain Roy Keane isn’t too happy after the 4-0 defeat to Spain and exit from Euro 2012 following a disastrous campaign.
  • “What we have found, in one word, is a disgrace.” – Children’s Minister Frances Fitzgerald on the publication, in June, of a report into the deaths of 196 children and young people in the care of or known to the State between 2000 and 2010.
  • “I’m still a Republican.” – Martin McGuinness is quick to allay fears he may have a change of heart after his historic meeting and handshake with Queen Elizabeth II in July.
  • “I thought he was accusing me of calling him a black c***. I was very angry and I was upset. I replied, ‘A black c***? You f****** k******d’.” – A court in London hears some colourful language from the former England captain John Terry at his racism trial before he is found not guilty in July. An FA panel later finds him guilty of racially abusing QPR defender Anton Ferdinand and he receives a ban and fine.
  • “After waiting eighteen months in search of justice for Michaela and following the endurance of seven harrowing weeks of this trial, there are no words, which can describe the sense of devastation and desolation now felt by both families.” – The family of Michaela McAreavey react to the acquittal of the two men on trial for her murder in July.
  • “The toll this has taken on my family, and my work for our foundation and on me leads me to where I am today – finished with this nonsense.” – Seven-time Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong decides he no longer wants to fight drug charges. He is later stripped of his titles.
  • “First of all, from what I understand from doctors, that’s really rare. If it’s a legitimate rape, the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down.” – In discussing abortion issues, US Congressman Todd Akin makes some controversial remarks which ultimately torpedo his hopes of winning a US Senate seat.
  • “A friendship that crossed a boundary line.” – Bishop of Clonfert, John Kirby, explains his view on the actions of two paedophile priests who he moved to a different diocese in the 1990s.
  • “There are 47 per cent who are with him, who are dependent on government, who believe they are victims.” – US presidential candidate Mitt Romney causes controversy with secretly filmed remarks in which he says his job was “not to worry about” the 47 per cent of voters he thinks will vote for Barack Obama. The remarks damaged an ultimately unsuccessful campaign.
  • “It is no longer possible for me to fulfil my role as Minister of State for Primary Care because of lack of support for the reforms in the Programme for Government and the values which underpin it.” – Róisín Shortall resigns as Primary Care Minister in October over conflicts with Health Minister James Reilly. She would go on to accuse him of stroke politics.
  • “One and one makes two, and two and two makes four, but four by four makes sixteen and not four and four that makes eight. It is a logistical, logarithmic progression.” – Reilly attempts to explain the criteria applied to the creation of a list of areas for proposed primary care centres as the selection of two sites in his constituency leads to accusations of stroke politics.
  • “I run the UCI, I’m President of the UCI, I chair the UCI board meetings and I run the show.” – Irishman Pat McQuaid defends his actions amid continuing controversy over the Lance Armstrong doping scandal in October.
  • “This is the worst I’ve ever seen because first of all the inherent wickedness at the heart of all this is so appalling.” – The chairman of the BBC Trust, Lord Patten, on the Jimmy Savile paedophilia scandal.
  • 39. “This election is a total sham and a travesty. We are not a democracy! Our country is now in serious and unprecedented trouble… like never before.” – Businessman Donald Trump is not happy about the US presidential election outcome as Barack Obama secures another four years in the White House.
  • “He’s obviously a very popular figure, particularly popular with women of a certain age group.” – Transport and Tourism Minister Leo Varadkar hits back at actor Gabriel Byrne following his criticism of The Gathering.
  • “This is a Catholic country.” – What the husband of Savita Halappanavar told the Irish Times that he and his wife were told by a hospital staff member when they explained the reason why the woman's pregnancy could not be terminated. Savita later died from blood poisoning, days after suffering a miscarriage in a case which shocked the nation.
  • “People are so afraid that some people living on their own are leaving 50 quid out on the kitchen table in case they are burgled. That’s no way to live.” – Independent TD Thomas Pringle says that residents in parts of the country are leaving money out in case they are robbed because of cuts to rural garda forces.
  • “The ball moves back into the politicians’ court. They must now decide who guards the guardians.” – Lord Justice Leveson says press regulation is a matter for politicians after he publishes his mammoth report into the ethics, practices and culture of the press in the UK in December.
  • “So our hearts are broken today - for the parents and grandparents, sisters and brothers of these little children, and for the families of the adults who were lost. Our hearts are broken for the parents of the survivors as well, for as blessed as they are to have their children home tonight, they know that their children’s innocence has been torn away from them too early, and there are no words that will ease their pain.” – US President Barack Obama is in tears during a statement on the school shooting in Connecticut which claimed the lives of 20 young children and six adults.
  • “There is a lot of good value in shops in relation to clothing and footwear.” – Social Protection Minister Joan Burton on the cut to the back to school clothing and footwear allowance in the Budget, which was widely criticised as hitting the poorest hardest.

Read all of the weeks in quotes from 2012 >

About the author:

Hugh O'Connell
@oconnellhugh
hugh@thejournal.ie

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Comments (6 Comments)

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  • Mary Mc Carthy 30/12/12 #

    Noonan’s comment still has the power to make me furious . He is arrogant and ignorant . My only daughter was forced to emigrated this year . It’s being a lonely Christmas without her and many more people on this country feel the same pain . I don’t know if or when I will see her again !

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  • censored 31/12/12 #

    I was all set to slag off O’Rourke for her patronising comment when you reminded me about Sherlock, Mulherin, Reilly, Varadkar … Where did they find this bunch of loons?

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  • Richard Joyce 31/12/12 #

    Natasha Jonas, she’s a great athlete, give her her correct name

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  • Christian Herbert 31/12/12 #

    Jesus when you look at some of the Sh*t our politicians said during the year it’s amazing… They (Fine Geal & Labour) totally pulled the wool over everyone’s eyes that voted for them… And this “we didn’t know the full extent until we came into government” Bullshit will not cut it, they knew the extent, anyone in Leinster House knew what was going on… As The Bunk says in The Wire “The Games Rigged”!!!

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  • Reginald St Worthing 31/12/12 #

    The amount of corporate gibberish our politicians spout is truly hilarious. “Logistical, logarithmic progressions” is a real peach. Here are few more that spring to mind (unfortunately): job-of-work, front-loaded, shovel-ready (are these people all working in construction?), finalise (somewhere between ongoing and complete?), fit for purpose (ugh), going forward (double-ugh), etc. Then of course we have: kick it to touch, hit the ground running (are they American sports commentators?). Keep it up, guys, it’s a hoot!

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