Irish people need to get on the move again
April 30, 2012
Never mind the likes of Messi, Ronaldo or Drogba; never mind Barcelona, Chelsea or Real. In our house, when it comes to football at the weekends, there is only one team: the Cabinteely FC under-10s. Every Saturday morning, under the watchful eye of Michael, our Scottish manager who is Alex Ferguson, Kenny Dalglish and David…
Private debt so enormous that default is only option
January 25, 2012
When all the people you read every week for information are talking about the same report, you know that you should read it. From Paul Krugman on the left to John Mauldin on the right, some of my favourite reads of the week are citing a McKinsey Consulting report on global debt. Reading through it,…
Irish banks will shrink and shrink
January 16, 2012
The European debt crisis is moving swiftly to the next phase following the downgrade of France and the collapse of the Greek negotiations with its creditors last Friday night. It is becoming increasingly obvious that there will be no deal in Greece. This is good news because it means the end of the pass-the-parcel-ponzi-scheme, whereby…
Ireland frozen in an anxiety recession
January 2, 2012
Did your mother ever tell you to be afraid of umbrellas because they could take your eye out? When I was a child, the humble umbrella transformed itself into a weapon of mass destruction in our house capable of all classes of contortions, which would lead directly to poking some misfortunate’s eye out. I have no idea where the…
If our future is in Europe, we have to talk the talk
December 14, 2011
On Monday at a breakfast meeting, I spoke to a group of students who were just finishing the masters in marketing from the Michael Smurfit School of Business at UCD. The meeting was sponsored by ESB or, as it is soon to be known, Electricity Ireland. The students were optimistic about the future, confident and…
A future where children are poorer than parents
August 17, 2011
Every time I walk past a tiny house on Railway Road in Dalkey, it amazes me that my immigrant grandmother gave birth to six children there in the 1920s and 1930s. As is typical for many Irish people, our family history is one of upward social mobility in a generation or two. My dad left…
Banks that think they’re casinos put us all at risk
August 10, 2011
Anyone who worked in financial markets will know that — at its most base — the “market” is in fact only a coked up, whoring 28-year-old from Basildon on hyper-wages, with a Porsche and a Chelsea season ticket. This is hardly the type of far-sighted leader that we should be depending on, nor the opinion…
This dressed-up deal is no victory for Europe or Ireland
July 25, 2011
Ireland asked for nothing from the EU last week – and, make no mistake, that’s just what we got Let’s be clear. The European deal announced last Thursday night is designed to do one thing and one thing only. It is designed to persuade investors to buy Italian and Spanish government bonds. And as an…
Too much regulation will stifle our banking sector
June 8, 2011
Yesterday the IMF published its fifth review of Iceland’s economy since the crisis began. The IMF declared Iceland’s economic progress “impressive” and disbursed a loan tranche of $225m (€136m). Now if this sounds weird to you, it should do. This is the Iceland that defaulted on all its bank bondholders and this is the Iceland…
Time to play another game in a new Ireland
May 16, 2011
Last week was a great week. I have employed a few people and intend to employ a few more every month if things go according to plan. Ireland is full of good people who just need the proverbial ‘start’. There is always a great sense of excitement setting up a new venture, rolling up the…
April 3, 2012
May 21, 2012
May 18, 2012
February 10, 2012
January 4, 2012
