Tag: politics
-
Questions Raised Regarding the Awarding of Irish Water Metering Contract
Questions Raised Regarding the Awarding of Irish Water Metering Contract. This is a really interesting statement by Catherine Murphy, TD, on Irish Water. The core of it is as follows In a PQ reply on June 12th 2013, Minister Hogan confirmed that the end of that month would be the closing date for bidders to apply…
-
Stop talking down the economy (even though nobody is listening)…
The debacle surrounding Irish water, which is by no means yet resolved, has highlighted once again the importance of communications. Indeed, much of the blame in relation to Irish water is being laid at the door of communications, from the company and from the government. Personally, I dont think any amount of communication genius could…
-
Irish Water : time to flush it away, refill later.
There is a classic syndrome in much organizational strategy which is called “escalation of prior commitment” . This is also known as ‘throwing good money (or political capital) after bad’. Sometimes the thing to do is – stop. The government should now pause the Irish Water omnishambolic clowncar, rethink and regroup.
-
What Ireland’s crash tells us about bankers views on Scottish Independence
The next week is going to be fascinating. I have no idea how Scotland will vote, for or against independence. I have no idea how I would vote were I there. Economically, there is probably a somewhat stronger argument for NO than YES, if you believe the politicians promises. But national self determination is not…
-
How to mitigate the next recession..
The madness, it seems, has returned. Perhaps like those insects that lay eggs that can survive drought and then swarm back, it never left, just lay dormant. Santayana’s maxim of the inevitability of repetition if one comes from a position of ignorance could be the warcry of Irish policy “ we repeat our mistakes, and…
-
Charging for on-street parking
I was recently in a midlands town, on a weekday morning. Like most such places it had on street pay parking. Like most places, it was pretty haunted at that junction. There were therefore vast numbers of available spaces in which to park, but the cost remained fixed. This got me thinking
-
Dogs and academic economists
Bock, as ever, puts his clammy palsied finger on the button. His truthiness shines like the face of a party hack eating a bag of chips after a summer evening canvass of a concrete estate. Modest as he is, and erudite to boot, he hides his true message in a layer of allegory, metaphor and…
-
This is why we can’t have nice things…
This is a version of a column in the Irish Examiner Saturday 30 may. This is why we cant have nice things. We cod ourselves that we can, but we neither raise enough money to pay for them nor do we make them work when we get them.
-
None so deaf as those that will not hear….(AKA Irish Elites)
There was an interesting book launch last night at the Long Room in TCD. Phillipe Legrain is on a tour of various places, doing local and localized launches of his new book. He, and Senator Sean Barrett who gave the launch, delivered very strong, impassioned speeches. In his book Legrain lays a large quantum of the…
-
Equality is good – but it costs.
A version of my column in the Irish Examiner. The last few weeks we have seen yet more charitable and voluntary bodies being raked over the coals of media stoked political charcoal, regarding their salaries and payments. A new line now seems to be emerging in government; that those who are in receipt of public…