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Tánaiste Eamon Gilmore warned that failure to strike a deal with the ECB on the promissory note would have a “potentially catastrophic effect on Ireland”, while Minister for Transport Leo Varadkar has admitted the negotiations are facing difficulties. The Government wants to push the repayments out for decades, allowing Ireland to issue a long-term government bond to replace the promissory notes given to the former Anglo Irish Bank. Reports that the ECB had rejected Ireland’s proposal for a longer repayment schedule has been disputed by Mr Varakdar. Speaking to TheJournal.ie, author and journalist, Nick Webb, said the only option for Ireland is debt write down. He says:
NOTHING HAS REALLY changed and people are looking for answers – now. The promissory note is the big thing for this year, which is due to be paid up in March. It seems to be obvious at this point, that we would say: “No, that’s enough now. No more.”
But I’m not sure our politicians have it in them. You get these photos coming back from our boys in Europe, with Angela Merkel squeezing Enda’s cheek or Sarkozy tapping Enda on the head, and it actually suggests and makes us look like we are just mad. From the outside looking in, one would think they are just sitting there accepting everything that is being thrown at them, no questions asked, but I think people just have to say enough is enough.
The politicians promised in the last election that they would stamp out cronyism in politics, but I think they have succeeded in actually raising the bar – even more so than the last lot. Within a matter of days of taking office, they plonked people into top jobs on boards, and they haven’t really let up since. They have put people into state boards and re-instated key Fine Gael key players to top jobs, so those last election promises were never going to happen. It’s kind of like boiling a frog, you start to turn up the heat and soon you realise that you’re cooked.
The issue of pensions and salaries should be high on their list for this year. This government has the biggest majority than any other major party in Europe at the moment – if they wanted they could be a dictatorship, they can do whatever they want, they are not going to topple over stuff. There are key issues that are really annoying the ordinary people out there at the moment, like the bankers’ pensions, the public bodies’ executive pay, the fact that some ex-Anglo employees are still getting paid over €200,000 and that some employees in bailed-out state banks are earning huge salaries.
The Government’s answer always seems to be that they are powerless to do anything about it. But, hang on a minute: that is actually their job. Their job is to legislate. They have to pull the finger out and do something about this now. We had a successful referendum on judges’ pay, which was protected in the constitution, and we changed it. Why not put down a bunch of referenda and get it all done in one day?
It is constantly being asked – why are the Irish people taking it lying down? We are just taking it and given our history, it’s quite a remarkable thing. I think something will trigger it this year, I think there is a limit to how much hardship we can take as a nation. The last budget, I think, is the one that will get people to start standing up – but this is not going to be our last. I think after this one we have another two at least. The forecast for growth in the economy has downgraded, so it is not going to be enough, they are going to have to keep cutting. There seems to be no end. This year is going it be something else – what left is there to cut? Are we going to close all the hospitals and all the schools next?
You go down the pub and this is all people are talking about. People are getting more and more upset, day by day. Whether its Richie Boucher telling committees to go shove it, or the bankers pensions’ – people just want solutions. This has been going on a long time.
A big, fat debt write-off is the only solution. You can play around with parking the promissory note or negotiating on the interest, but the only thing that will actually work, that won’t knock us back to to the stone age, is a really comprehensive deal on the debt. Parking the promissory note for a while is not going to solve it, it needs to be more comprehensive than that.
Nick Webb is a journalist and author, who co-wrote the books, Wasters and The Untouchables, with Shane Ross, Independent TD (published by Penguin). Last year he also took part in the Four Angry Men debate with Fintan O’Toole, David McWilliams and Shane Ross with Olivia O’Leary, in which they examined the current crisis and discussed where we should go from here.
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What’s the difference between god and bono?
You don’t see god walking down the street thinking he’s bono!
Brilliant
Lol! Brilliant.
Great joke
he should hang his head in shame, now he is the public henchman of the G8 and their new colonisation of Africa, he helps the Africans by robbing their voices, anyone who thinks Bono has helped the poor should wake up
“And that’s the reason we have companies like Google or Facebook – and indeed I helped bring those companies to Ireland.”
The ego of this man knows no ends.
“There are only two certainties in life, death and taxes, no wait….”
I always heard it as death & a nurse!
Agh yea, sure wasn’t it him who gave Fr. Ted the idea to put the brick on the accelerator as well.
Comment of the week right there Liam, gas!
I see.
A weasel in sun glasses.
I see.
Starving African children.
I see.
A multi millionaire hypocrite tax evader.
I see.
Loads of red thumbs from the do gooding sheep.
I’m not religious but this definitely applies to Bono;
“So when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by others”
Charity for glory that’s no way to be.
Check out Harry Chapin and his charity work, years before geldof and bono…. And he did it for the needy not himself…
That’s a stupid statement he never mentioned how much he gives to the 3rd world ,he is just trying to get more people involved in helping,as for there taxes ,do people here have access to their revenue returns,they pay millions here ,unlike a lot of the welfare spongers commenting here
Watch a brilliant, brilliant documentary called Starsuckers, which, besides analysing people’s obsessions with becoming famous, also delves into Band Aid and Band 8. One of the most glaring things that it reveals is that Live Aid did absolutely nothing for charity, but put a lot of money in the pockets of folks like Bono and Bob Geldof.
Also, they took a lot of credit for other people’s work (A young girl they claimed to have saved through Band Aid and funding, was actually saved from starvation by a Canadian reporter who sponsored her, and met her months before Band Aid ’85). They actually did more damage with Band Aid/ Band 8 than they may care to admit.
Ah, found the video link. The documentary is about 90 minutes or more long, but here is the relevant information regarding Live Aid.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w-qpY-HfWN4
Btw, interesting fact, and I don’t want to continue Live Aid bashing, but this is something that gets brushed aside/ ignored.
When Bono and Bob raised 200+ million with Live Aid back in 1985, they believed that this money would pay off all of Ethiopia/ Sudan’s debts and solve the famine crisis going on there. But, and Bono admitted this when interviewed on Oprah, the 200 million plus change that they raised only covered one month of their debts. All that fundraising, and it only bailed out those places for a month. In recent years, many campaigners have been trying to get governments like the US and UK to wipe the slate clean, and forgive Africa and its states all the debts they owe in order to allow Africa to strengthen its economy and deal with the many issues it has within the continent.
The moment Bono starts paying his taxes in Ireland, I might consider liking him! Till then……. While he does do a lot for charity……. It’s more for his ego than for those in need!
I think Facebook and Google would be here with or without him……
And Poor Gaybo let give the condescending Git more airtime since since he lost all his money twice on a gamble!
With or without him? Was that on purpose? If it was I tip my hat to you Patricia ;)
I was hoping that at least one person would get it! :p
He is still the best interviewer they have in RTE.
The problem is that RTE are terrible with giving other folks a chance in terms of their interviewing careers. There is far too much nepotism/ failing upwards in RTE.
Gay Byrne loses all his money on property because he gambled, badly, on the property market. This was the second time he lost all his money. RTE give him a job. Mike Murphy loses his money in bad deals, RTE give him a job.
Ryan Tubridy presents one or two really bad TV shows, gets to present the Rose of Tralee and makes a bags of it, and then, bizarrely, is given the Late Late Show. That’s failing upwards in my books.
Considering how many good presenters we have go abroad to get work in the UK (Dara O’Briain got nothing but crappy work here in Ireland. And this is by his own admission. Graham Norton was spotted as talented by the UK, but got nowt over here.) whilst the detritus stay here, it is really disheartening to see the amount of shoddy presenting we have on TV, while the young upstarts are equally poor.
And Ryan Tubridy’s girlfriend gets to travel the world in her new show…Now she’s replacing Miriam O Callaghan. If she wasn’t Tubridys girlfriend we’d never of heard of her. Fact.
Doesn’t say much for RTE!
They’re bringing back that travel show she did? Really?
Did anyone watch it the first time?
We had heard of her before this, what with the Rose of Tralee title, but she must have signed up with some PR company, because she turned up everywhere afterwards. (I even remember her doing a Young Scientist thing years ago, hosting it along side Ray D’Arcy).
I also love how she said that ‘Ability’ got her the show, not Tubridy…and then a few days later Tubridy comes out and says he’ll be ‘coaching’ her on how to do radio.
So did he or didn’t he get her the job, huh?
Watched as much of it as I could. A terrible, terrible waste of the licence fee.
I want to say â we pay a lot of tax. But we are tax sensible â as every business is.
Pure vomit
Someone grab a crowbar and prise that poor fellas head out of his arse. It’s not his fault god love him he’s probably brain damaged from the lack of air in there.
How crude.
Oops sorry if reality offends, er Realiity offends.
That’s ok Bono – don’t pay tax in the country you live – but don’t fckn whine when your shit is downloaded free on pirate bay and kick ass torrents!
Who said any of us are happy that Google et al pay virtually no tax in this country?
I like lots of U2′s music I even like Bono. Yet he is suffering from the God delusion bigtime which is quite sad. I feel very sorry for him and his poor family and friends who have tolerate his God ramblings ALL of the time. Surprised that Bob Geldof has not been able to knock some sense into him.
Yeah…it’s great that you are not preachy and arrogant like Bono
Sticks and stones :)
We complain about having to pay so much tax and then we see someone who earns way more money but finds a loophole in the system and we slag him off. They hypocrisy and begrudgery in this country knows no bounds!
I am surprised his ego was able to fit into the interview room
The glasses… Grrr.
I haven’t watched it yet…but I must say, if I were able to avoid, not evade tax, like Bono I would too and so would millions of you guys, he’s not doing anything illegal. I love his music but he’s getting seriously annoying lately, I think he’s living in a fantasy world with his God delusion.
Bono admitted that he does not know what it’s like to live in the REAL world. So what do we expect?
Such a prat
I thought it was a very interesting interview which showed that Bono thinks deeply about important matters such as God. His comment that the attainment of humility to him is more important than attaining dignity was thought-provoking ( I can’t remember how he phrased it) since we enter this world in a somewhat undignified fashion and dying can be the same also. It’s nice to hear someone talking about spirituality in an age where so many are ready to knock you for doing so.
Like I said earlier he bought me a of Guinness
He is in love with his sunglasses
Jaysus…. he even comes out as printed in the article above and says that he pays a lot of tax in Ireland and people still come out with the “Bono pays no tax in ireland” rubbish?! The mind boggles!
“I sing from a very private and intimate place”. I bloody knew it!!! All these years I told people he sang from his ass and there ya go! I was right!
Jesus wept, indeed! I am overwhelmed by the profundity of these comments. Oh, thank you Bono.
Bell
End
What’s with the Journal’s love affair with Mr Bone-o?
I say that Bono would gain a lot of credibility if he paid his Taxes to this country in its greatest hour of need , when our hard bought freedom is threatened. J .C .Cork.
can we not as a nation try and do something to dis-own this so called miracle. What a muppet.
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