Irish Economy

With the sun glinting off the Shannon, boats meandering across Lough Allen and green rolling hills in the distance towards Fermanagh, this county on this gorgeous morning easily lives up to its tourist billing of ‘‘lovely Leitrim’’. In the centre of Drumshanbo, under a plaque to a local fiddler named Ciaran Emmet, a knot of…

When I was in school, the class was fairly split between swots and messers. But the messers broke into two groups. The first were the hard-core messers — these were the lads who the teachers told us “would come to no good”. If they were caught smoking in the jacks and you had just managed…

Driving up the east coast on a beautiful sunny day, looking out, you can almost see Wales. I wondered was the weather so beautiful on this day in 1169,whenthe first Normans set sail from Wales to invade Ireland. Did they get a fair wind, a bright sunshine for the short hop over to Wexford bearing…

There has been a lot of silly chatter this week about “celebrity” economists. This term is meant to be demeaning. But everyone knows – post crash – that the main distinction between economists in Ireland is not the “serious versus the celebrity” but it is between those economists with “foresight” and those with “hindsight”. If…

Have you ever heard the expression “marry me now, the love will come later”? In the old days when a couple was forced together by the matchmaker, this gradual process of emotional osmosis was supposed to happen as time and loneliness took their course. Often it didn’t and, as a result, Ireland was a country…

A castle, like Ireland’s biggest Norman keep at Trim has many layers of defence. So too have the banks. But eventually those huddling inside the castle come under threat. A few years back, while researching The Pope’s Children, I headed out To Kells in Co Meath. Kells had seen its population grow by 25 per…

I am writing this on the New York subway hurtling downtown from the Upper East Side towards Wall Street. The old Jewish lady, all coiffed and nailed, is putting on her lipstick intently, oblivious to the rest of the crowded train. Two students chat away about the film, The Jersey Shore, while the rest of…

In Latin America, just before a bankrupt state entirely runs out of money, it is traditional to try one last smashand- grab for the savings of the private citizen. We have seen this trend not just in South America’s recent financial history but down through the ages, where kings, tyrants and emperors expropriate the wealth…

Yer man never stands his round. He does normally. But he’s not doing it now. ‘Cause he is broke. I don’t care; a man has got to stand his round. What are ye havin? I’m buyin’. Good Man. I knew you’d always cough up. Never let it be said I wasn’t good for me round….

The way things are going, by the end of next year, the interest payment on our total debts — just the interest payments — might well be 85pc of the 2010 income tax take. Income tax in 2010 was €14.125bn and with all the bank debt we are taking on, the interest payments by the…