Ireland’s property and lending madness is only an extreme case, like Greece’s profligate public sector, of a more general misunderstanding of the real consequences of having a common currency – a misunderstanding which is shared to some degree by all member states of the zone.

The common currency can only be sustained over time if there is increasing coordination not just of fiscal policy but also of policies concerning trade surpluses and deficits among the member states (a point made by a commentator in the FT this week). Such coordination is very difficult to organise and maintain even in good times – and a fearsome challenge in current conditions.

Ultimately the euro will work – for Ireland and for every other member state – only if there is full economic union and that can only happen if there is effective political union ie, the emergence of a European state.

Unless and until that hapens, the prodigal sons of the zone will be compelled periodically to purge their sins through deflation and structural reform. In that context, the
euro, which could and should be an agent of greater integration and competitiveness, will be seen by the virtuous countries as providing an undeserved free ride for a time to the prodigals and by the prodigals (incorrectly) as the cause of their punishment – a punishment which is rarely seen as deserved in the eyes of those who receive it.

The interesting thing is that, if references in the article to Greece were to be replaced by references to Ireland, the argument being made would appear just as reasonable (or unreasonable) as in the original version (save for reference to Greece managing to qualify for Euro membership in 2001 by engaging in creative budget accounting).
http://puckstownlane.wordpress.com/2010/01/15/greece-ireland-and-the-euro/

It wasn’t just Bertie Ahern who was getting into questionable and barely thought transactions for egotistical reasons and national pride… How many Irish people hoovered up properties to add to their precious “investment portfolio”, without any research into a rate of return or a risk analysis with regard to their borrowed investment???

At the end of the day, we are clearly a nation of small mickied people who have no inner sense of self, we have no real sense of indentity, we do not know what we are, which is why at an Irish wedding, you see the false sense of attachment and spending power, as people trip over each other to buy more and more drink for people they hardly know, as one wedding desparately tries to out spend and out bling the previous one.

That is why you see so many BMW’s on the roads, so many people with “investment properties”…

We are a nation of insecure MUGS, thriving on a false sense of modesty while trying to outspend anyone to the left or the right of us, we do not know what we stand for, as my Grandfather used to say, “we are all just MUGS MUGS MUGS”…

It is a shame if the quality of Irish on cartoons is not up to scratch. My kids are being brought up with three languages and cartoons have been very important for reinforcing Polish in particular. Television really is a crucial medium for language development in small children. Foreign families who do not have TV in one (or more) of the parental languages often find their kids abandoning their mother or father tongue.
I have Manchán Magan’s novel waiting to be read. He is an interesting guy so I have high hopes with that one.

The print media is similar. Anois was quirky but had character but was replaced by the ultra bland Foinse. It reminds me in a way of Declan Lynch describing Lyric FM as the station for serious, important people, not a station for serious (as in ‘good’) music.

I think the quality of Gaelic writing has worn very thin in recent years, which is only to be expected seeing as the tobar is running dry. Much of the earlier literature is strong in vocabulary but lacking literary merit. In fact if you have any writing skill at all and reasonable/ ok Gaelic you should be able to get something published. Certainly easier than in English where cliche, stylistic poverty and other shortcomings wouldn’t be so easily tolerated.

I was thinking lately that it would be an idea to re release some of the Gúm translations of English and world classics, you know the kind of thing the likes of Seosamh Ó Grianna slaved over in chilly attics to pay the rent. They could use the modern spelling, but they would be still readable in the old one.

By the way, you mention Frisian. I find their writers to be creative but in my brief encounters with Dutch bookshops I didn’t find the same with Dutch. The best I could find was Carolijn Visser (Brandend Zout etc) who is a top class travel writer. Aside from her I have relied on translations of world (English) classics. (Sorry David and others!)