Au revoir à l'euro?

It is not a goodtime to be one of the PIGS – Portugal, Ireland, Greece and Spain. Greece, Ireland and Portugal, the euro region countries that needed 256 billion Euros ($366 billion) in emergency aid to avoid default, may all see their debt loads exceed the size of their economies this year. The only one of the PIGS whose economy has not been bailed out is Spain which is arguably too big to be bailed out in any event.



However the possibility of a second Greek Bail-Out and the increasing likelihood of defaults on Sovereign Debt is threatening not just the continuation of the Eurozone but the entire European Banking System – it is estimated that UK Banks have over €88 Billion exposure in Ireland and French and German Banks over €100 Billion exposure in Greece. Moody's has placed three large French banks on negative review based on their exposure to Greek debt.



In Ireland the political opposition is building up to the IMF Bailout fuelled by resentment that the Developers, Bankers and idiot Politicians who caused the bubble in asset values are getting off scot free. Finance Dublin kicked off The Irish Government Debt Clock which was set at midnight on June 30th 2009, when it was €65.278 billion. It updates the latest figures for the National Debt of Ireland. The clock is re-set periodically, to reflect changes in debt and deficit estimates from the Dept of Finance, the National Treasury Management Agency (NTMA), and independent economists. The clock is set now at €107 Bn, an amount which would be unserviceable even if the boom had continued. For further background on what the debt figures mean click here.

http://www.financedublin.com/debtclock.php


Cheerful Hibernians in between Riverdancing

Greece’s debt, already the biggest in the euro’s history at 143 percent of gross domestic product last year, will jump to almost 158 percent this year and 166 percent in 2012, the European Commission said this week in Brussels. Portuguese debt will surpass total economic output for the first time this year, growing to 101.7 percent of GDP, while Irish debt will reach 112 percent, the forecasts show.



As European Union officials consider boosting aid for Greece a year after its 110 billion-euro bailout, today’s report shows little sign of debt levels becoming more manageable. Soaring borrowing costs have left the three nations shut out of financial markets with investors increasing bets that Greece will become the first euro member to default.



The scale of Greece's problem is simply stated: her national debt will approach 160 per cent of GDP on current trends. Here in the UK we are supposed to be in crisis because that ratio is heading for about 75 per cent.


Les porcs

The Celtic Sage takes no satisfaction in predicting as far back as 2007 that the “One size fits all” Monetary Policy would be unsustainable in the EU’s peripheral economies when I wrote;

“There is widespread and growing disquiet about the consequences of the Euro, especially as the preparations for it already seem directly responsible for rising unemployment in Europe. Some argue cogently that the regional imbalances from monetary union will be a source of conflict not harmony between states. Popular resentment about high unemployment in depressed regions and about the scale of financial transfers to them from richer states could lead to a possibly violent break-up of monetary union.”

http://daithaic.blogspot.com/2007/09/euro-opportunity-or-threat-for-britain.html

Earlier this year I pointed out the sheer impossibility of Ireland servicing its (then smaller) debt and how the election of a new brand of Gombeen Government would not make an iota of difference;




Beware of electorates carrying placards

“So the € 80 Bn Bailout equates to roundly € 55,000 for every productive worker. Add to this annual interest servicing costs of € 4,960 per annum and you get the scale of the problem, Ireland’s public and private debt is simply unsustainable. Most reconstructions, Bankruptcy and liquidations, involve substantial debt reduction, a write off of debt before you begin a fresh start. Ireland is in unrealistic denial about being able to service its Public and private debt making the hard stop of debt default inevitable sooner rather than later.”

http://daithaic.blogspot.com/2011/02/terrible-default-is-born.html

You know, sometimes it would be good to be wrong?

Au revoir à l'euro?

It is not a goodtime to be one of the PIGS – Portugal, Ireland, Greece and Spain. Greece, Ireland and Portugal, the euro region countries that needed 256 billion Euros ($366 billion) in emergency aid to avoid default, may all see their debt loads exceed the size of their economies this year. The only one of the PIGS whose economy has not been bailed out is Spain which is arguably too big to be bailed out in any event.



However the possibility of a second Greek Bail-Out and the increasing likelihood of defaults on Sovereign Debt is threatening not just the continuation of the Eurozone but the entire European Banking System – it is estimated that UK Banks have over €88 Billion exposure in Ireland and French and German Banks over €100 Billion exposure in Greece. Moody's has placed three large French banks on negative review based on their exposure to Greek debt.



In Ireland the political opposition is building up to the IMF Bailout fuelled by resentment that the Developers, Bankers and idiot Politicians who caused the bubble in asset values are getting off scot free. Finance Dublin kicked off The Irish Government Debt Clock which was set at midnight on June 30th 2009, when it was €65.278 billion. It updates the latest figures for the National Debt of Ireland. The clock is re-set periodically, to reflect changes in debt and deficit estimates from the Dept of Finance, the National Treasury Management Agency (NTMA), and independent economists. The clock is set now at €107 Bn, an amount which would be unserviceable even if the boom had continued. For further background on what the debt figures mean click here.

http://www.financedublin.com/debtclock.php


Cheerful Hibernians in between Riverdancing

Greece’s debt, already the biggest in the euro’s history at 143 percent of gross domestic product last year, will jump to almost 158 percent this year and 166 percent in 2012, the European Commission said this week in Brussels. Portuguese debt will surpass total economic output for the first time this year, growing to 101.7 percent of GDP, while Irish debt will reach 112 percent, the forecasts show.



As European Union officials consider boosting aid for Greece a year after its 110 billion-euro bailout, today’s report shows little sign of debt levels becoming more manageable. Soaring borrowing costs have left the three nations shut out of financial markets with investors increasing bets that Greece will become the first euro member to default.



The scale of Greece's problem is simply stated: her national debt will approach 160 per cent of GDP on current trends. Here in the UK we are supposed to be in crisis because that ratio is heading for about 75 per cent.


Les porcs

The Celtic Sage takes no satisfaction in predicting as far back as 2007 that the “One size fits all” Monetary Policy would be unsustainable in the EU’s peripheral economies when I wrote;

“There is widespread and growing disquiet about the consequences of the Euro, especially as the preparations for it already seem directly responsible for rising unemployment in Europe. Some argue cogently that the regional imbalances from monetary union will be a source of conflict not harmony between states. Popular resentment about high unemployment in depressed regions and about the scale of financial transfers to them from richer states could lead to a possibly violent break-up of monetary union.”

http://daithaic.blogspot.com/2007/09/euro-opportunity-or-threat-for-britain.html

Earlier this year I pointed out the sheer impossibility of Ireland servicing its (then smaller) debt and how the election of a new brand of Gombeen Government would not make an iota of difference;




Beware of electorates carrying placards

“So the € 80 Bn Bailout equates to roundly € 55,000 for every productive worker. Add to this annual interest servicing costs of € 4,960 per annum and you get the scale of the problem, Ireland’s public and private debt is simply unsustainable. Most reconstructions, Bankruptcy and liquidations, involve substantial debt reduction, a write off of debt before you begin a fresh start. Ireland is in unrealistic denial about being able to service its Public and private debt making the hard stop of debt default inevitable sooner rather than later.”

http://daithaic.blogspot.com/2011/02/terrible-default-is-born.html

You know, sometimes it would be good to be wrong?

A terrible default is born

Congratulations to Ireland on electing a new puppet Government. The election will not reduce the interest rate on its €80bn bailout by a quarter of a percentage point; it will not diminish the burden of the deficit by so much as an old Irish Punt (the pre-euro currency which rhymed with Bank Manager). It will hang around the necks of the Irish for decades, and rest upon the shoulders of their children and their children’s children. If Gaddafi Adams is the answer then what is the question? The HUGE mistake was to guarantee not just deposits but ALL the liabilities of Irish Banks. The Hedge Fund Bondholders have been in LMAO mode ever since. Alas I had anticipated years ago that a monetary policy designed for Germany and France would make the PIGS (Portugal, Ireland, Greece, Spain) squeal and so it has come to pass;

http://daithaic.blogspot.com/2007/09/euro-opportunity-or-threat-for-britain.html



Welcome to Dublin!


Fine Gael have been swept to power on the back of a promise to renegotiate the terms of Ireland’s €80bn bailout by the European Union and International Monetary Fund. But Enda Kenny (a leader so impressive his own party tried to give him the heave 8 months ago) like all the other “believe my promises" Irish Politicos has no real power, Ireland’s sovereignty has been removed. The greatest joy is that the Greens have been totally stuffed, losing all their six seats. It's funny how it works that way. They do alright until they get a bit of power – then people realise how absolutely crap they are, and they never get another look in.



As for the Labour Party well I’ve always voted Labour in any country I’ve lived in and I know and like Eamonn Gilmore since we were both involved in the Union of Students in Ireland in the 70’s. However their economic policy has not moved much beyond the “increase taxes to eliminate poverty era.”


We'll always have Riverdance!


Lack of democratic accountability means the same austerity measures will still be imposed, exactly as they are across the euro zone. The impotence of Ireland to influence its own future will lead to bitterness and alienation. This in turn will lead to continuing dishonesty and delusion among a population for whom the “stroke” is a National Religion – this is the only country where a €78 million Euro lottery winner was found to be on benefits and working, claiming “Single Mother’s Allowance” when with a partner and having a holiday home in Turkey and was feted as a “character.” This is a country with the same population as Greater Manchester which still supports 340 Quangos full of self important, self serving popinjays getting in the way of reality. This is a country which when it became wealthy spent its money on buying itself in a huge property bubble.


You can't go wrong with land - sure they are not making any more of it!

But let us consider the nature of the Bailout and the preceding speculative Bubble and the issue of Ireland’s default becomes a “when”, not an “if.” Before the property bubble Ireland had the highest level of home ownership in the EU, at 62% way ahead of Germany, France and the Netherlands. Indeed the nearest is its near neighbour the U.K. where the “love of property” has really really been a “love of inflation.” So where does this leave property values in the short term as we enter a low inflation or possibly deflationary scenario? In the UK when residential property crashed in 1990 the average house price was 11 times average earnings. When reality hit Ireland in 2007 the average house price was an astounding 23 times average earnings. There are estimated to be 230,000 unsold new homes of which 110,000 are “holiday” homes. Add to the zombie estates, the zombie hotels built for tax breaks and without customers and the zombie developments then there are so many walking dead in the Irish property world that nobody can reliably predict future asset values or ascertain the reality of security behind current borrowings.



The Irish Independent reports today that there are 44,508 mortgages more than 3 months in arrears totalling €8.6 Bn, making each non-performing mortgage worth around € 193,000. Take the € 80 Bn Bailout Ireland has received. Ireland has a labour force of 2.2 million of which around 430,000 are currently claiming unemployment benefit of some sort. Abstract also the estimated 300,000 Public Sector workers this leaves a generous 1,470,000 workers (including those working in zombie hotels) in the wealth producing sectors of the economy. So the € 80 Bn Bailout equates to roundly € 55,000 for every productive worker. Add to this annual interest servicing costs of € 4,960 per annum and you get the scale of the problem, Ireland’s public and private debt is simply unsustainable. Most reconstructions, Bankruptcy and liquidations, involve substantial debt reduction, a write off of debt before you begin a fresh start. Ireland is in unrealistic denial about being able to service its Public and private debt making the hard stop of debt default inevitable sooner rather than later.


Fecked!

Of course the election is not all bad news - but at least we don't have to look at Cowen any more ... until he turns up again with a nice little earner, courtesy of the "colleagues". The inevitable default in the next two years will alienate a whole generation. The puppets may have changed but the same puppet master is still pulling the strings. Congratulations to Jean Claude Trichet of the European Central Bank on his election win. IMF/ECB still rules! Simples!



For an insight into the high quality leadership which has brought Ireland to such a happy place see;

Bertie Ahern and poverty in Ireland;

http://daithaic.blogspot.com/2007/12/bertie-ahern-and-poverty-in-ireland.html

The Naked Taoiseach

http://daithaic.blogspot.com/2009/03/naked-taoiseach.html

A terrible default is born

Congratulations to Ireland on electing a new puppet Government. The election will not reduce the interest rate on its €80bn bailout by a quarter of a percentage point; it will not diminish the burden of the deficit by so much as an old Irish Punt (the pre-euro currency which rhymed with Bank Manager). It will hang around the necks of the Irish for decades, and rest upon the shoulders of their children and their children’s children. If Gaddafi Adams is the answer then what is the question? The HUGE mistake was to guarantee not just deposits but ALL the liabilities of Irish Banks. The Hedge Fund Bondholders have been in LMAO mode ever since. Alas I had anticipated years ago that a monetary policy designed for Germany and France would make the PIGS (Portugal, Ireland, Greece, Spain) squeal and so it has come to pass;

http://daithaic.blogspot.com/2007/09/euro-opportunity-or-threat-for-britain.html



Welcome to Dublin!


Fine Gael have been swept to power on the back of a promise to renegotiate the terms of Ireland’s €80bn bailout by the European Union and International Monetary Fund. But Enda Kenny (a leader so impressive his own party tried to give him the heave 8 months ago) like all the other “believe my promises" Irish Politicos has no real power, Ireland’s sovereignty has been removed. The greatest joy is that the Greens have been totally stuffed, losing all their six seats. It's funny how it works that way. They do alright until they get a bit of power – then people realise how absolutely crap they are, and they never get another look in.



As for the Labour Party well I’ve always voted Labour in any country I’ve lived in and I know and like Eamonn Gilmore since we were both involved in the Union of Students in Ireland in the 70’s. However their economic policy has not moved much beyond the “increase taxes to eliminate poverty era.”


We'll always have Riverdance!


Lack of democratic accountability means the same austerity measures will still be imposed, exactly as they are across the euro zone. The impotence of Ireland to influence its own future will lead to bitterness and alienation. This in turn will lead to continuing dishonesty and delusion among a population for whom the “stroke” is a National Religion – this is the only country where a €78 million Euro lottery winner was found to be on benefits and working, claiming “Single Mother’s Allowance” when with a partner and having a holiday home in Turkey and was feted as a “character.” This is a country with the same population as Greater Manchester which still supports 340 Quangos full of self important, self serving popinjays getting in the way of reality. This is a country which when it became wealthy spent its money on buying itself in a huge property bubble.


You can't go wrong with land - sure they are not making any more of it!

But let us consider the nature of the Bailout and the preceding speculative Bubble and the issue of Ireland’s default becomes a “when”, not an “if.” Before the property bubble Ireland had the highest level of home ownership in the EU, at 62% way ahead of Germany, France and the Netherlands. Indeed the nearest is its near neighbour the U.K. where the “love of property” has really really been a “love of inflation.” So where does this leave property values in the short term as we enter a low inflation or possibly deflationary scenario? In the UK when residential property crashed in 1990 the average house price was 11 times average earnings. When reality hit Ireland in 2007 the average house price was an astounding 23 times average earnings. There are estimated to be 230,000 unsold new homes of which 110,000 are “holiday” homes. Add to the zombie estates, the zombie hotels built for tax breaks and without customers and the zombie developments then there are so many walking dead in the Irish property world that nobody can reliably predict future asset values or ascertain the reality of security behind current borrowings.



The Irish Independent reports today that there are 44,508 mortgages more than 3 months in arrears totalling €8.6 Bn, making each non-performing mortgage worth around € 193,000. Take the € 80 Bn Bailout Ireland has received. Ireland has a labour force of 2.2 million of which around 430,000 are currently claiming unemployment benefit of some sort. Abstract also the estimated 300,000 Public Sector workers this leaves a generous 1,470,000 workers (including those working in zombie hotels) in the wealth producing sectors of the economy. So the € 80 Bn Bailout equates to roundly € 55,000 for every productive worker. Add to this annual interest servicing costs of € 4,960 per annum and you get the scale of the problem, Ireland’s public and private debt is simply unsustainable. Most reconstructions, Bankruptcy and liquidations, involve substantial debt reduction, a write off of debt before you begin a fresh start. Ireland is in unrealistic denial about being able to service its Public and private debt making the hard stop of debt default inevitable sooner rather than later.


Fecked!

Of course the election is not all bad news - but at least we don't have to look at Cowen any more ... until he turns up again with a nice little earner, courtesy of the "colleagues". The inevitable default in the next two years will alienate a whole generation. The puppets may have changed but the same puppet master is still pulling the strings. Congratulations to Jean Claude Trichet of the European Central Bank on his election win. IMF/ECB still rules! Simples!



For an insight into the high quality leadership which has brought Ireland to such a happy place see;

Bertie Ahern and poverty in Ireland;

http://daithaic.blogspot.com/2007/12/bertie-ahern-and-poverty-in-ireland.html

The Naked Taoiseach

http://daithaic.blogspot.com/2009/03/naked-taoiseach.html

Gargelgate – A very Irish tragedy

Our very own Brian Cowen

Some years ago when the in laws retired to Co. Offaly in Ireland their TD (Member of Parliament) was a local auctioneer, Brian Cowen. Cowen was born in Clara, County Offaly, the son of May and Bernard Cowen, a former Fianna Fáil TD and Senator. The family owned a public house in Clara town, located adjacent to the family home. His father also worked as an auctioneer. Now it has been observed that languages invent words because they need them and Irish is sprinkled with words like Gombeen, “a pejorative Hiberno-English term for a shady, small-time "wheeler-dealer" or businessman who is always looking to make a quick profit, often at someone else's expense or through the acceptance of bribes”, Sleeveen “somebody who is sly, plausible, and ingratiating” or Spalpeen “a rascal.” You get the idea the Irish language had to invent these words / descriptors because it needed them, no more so than for the Irish Political Class who contain a fair proportion of Gombeen Men (and Women) who previously followed noble callings as Publicans, Auctioneers, Bookmakers or general multi-purpose shysters!


Tom Byrne's satirical depiction of Taoiseach Brian Cowen performing 'Lakes of Pontchartrain' at the Fianna Fail “Think-in” on display in the Apollo Gallery, Dublin.

Cowen became Taoiseach (Prime Minister) in May 2008 following the resignation of his predecessor Bertie Ahern after he was found to have received over £200.000 in unaccounted cash from “Benefactors.” Somewhat embarrassingly (for he was Minister of Finance for much of the time) he hadn’t accounted for tax on these “donations.” Indeed such was his faith in ready cash that he didn’t have a bank account for much of the time either! However, even if every allegation against Bertie Ahern was true it all pales into insignificance against the low standards set by his predecessor, the late Charles Haughey who, in his time, pocketed £8.4 million in “donations”. Although an Anglophobe by birth and conviction, Haughey cultivated the most elaborate tastes and mannerisms of the Anglo-Irish gentry. He had mansions, estates and a private island. He liked antique furniture, and fine art, horses, clothes and wines.


Charlie "The Squire" Haughey

Haughey’s Minister of Justice, Ray Burke, has previously been found culpable of receiving large sums of cash and indeed having his own house and its land “donated” by Brennan and McGowan, developers who benefited from wide scale rezoning of land. Liam Lawlor, another Fianna Fail T.D. (Irish Member of Parliament) was also found to have corruptly benefited from payments from developers who had agricultural land rezoned for development, often at great cost to the public purse in providing the infrastructure.


The Bold Bertie in typical heroic pose

Even squeaky clean former Prime Minister Garret FitzGerald was found to have a 320,000 pound loan from Allied Irish Bank to invest in the shares of Guinness Peat Aviation (of which he was a director) written off by the bank when the investment went wrong, as you or I would in similar circumstances. Dr. FitzGerald had previously been Prime Minister when the same bank had been bailed out to the tune of £121 million when their investment in the Insurance Corporation of Ireland went wrong.

http://daithaic.blogspot.com/2007/12/bertie-ahern-and-poverty-in-ireland.html

Since Cowen became Taoiseach the Irish economy has nose dived, its sovereign debt rating has been cut and he has launched a 4 Billion programme of cuts which has copper fastened his unpopularity. Cuts are not easy in a statist country like Ireland where Gombeen Pork Barrel politics are the order of the day. With the same population as Greater Manchester the country supports no less than 380 Quangos once again proving the truth of Brendan Behan’s saying “The Irish are very popular with themselves!”



Now to economic misery has been added National Mortification in the scandal of the allegedly drunken interview known as Gargelgate - Brian Cowen's now infamous early morning interview came five-and-a-quarter hours after he left The Blazers Bar in the Ardilaun Hotel following a night of drinking, singing and telling yarns.

It was a night typical of any party gathering, enjoyed by TDs, senators and assembled journalists. At the time, no one could have foreseen the political storm that would envelop the Taoiseach in what would become one of the most damaging episodes of his political career which has been picked up in America by Jay Leno on NBC’s Tonight Show.



US chat-show host Jay Leno says he is not going to apologise to Taoiseach Brian Cowen for mocking him as a "drunken moron" on his prime time show. Leno displayed a photo of Mr Cowen and asked his audience to guess if he was a bartender, a politician or a "nightclub comedian", before revealing he was the "Prime Minister of Ireland" to loud laughter. "He's Brian Cowen, the Prime Minister of Ireland. Oh God, it's so nice to know we're not the only country with drunken morons, isn't it?" Leno joked.

Mr Cowen has featured in the international media since it emerged he was singing and drinking in the early hours of the morning at the Fianna Fail party think-in (In itself a strange concept!) in the Ardilaun Hotel, Co Galway, two weeks ago. He was criticised for his performance on an RTE 'Morning Ireland' interview several hours later. He admitted afterwards that he needed to be more cautious in his social life but strongly denied he was drunk or hung-over during the interview.


Dublin - capital of a very free Ireland

But this national embarrassment doesn't stop even at Cowen's door – Irish State Broadcaster RTE's initial refusal to repeat the phrase 'drunken morons' proves that while Cowen can't control the antics of an NBC employee, he still holds sway over the national broadcaster.

Brian Cowen called a "drunken moron" in NBC Tonight Show segment from Sept 22, 2010



The Irish PM Brian Cowen has refuted claims that he sounded "halfway between drunk and hungover" in a radio interview.



Brian Cowen Drunk Live Radio Interview (audio slowed) before his breakfast on RTÉ News Morning Ireland, Tuesday, 14 September 2010. Taoiseach Brian Cowen drunk interview live on air.

Gargelgate – A very Irish tragedy

Our very own Brian Cowen

Some years ago when the in laws retired to Co. Offaly in Ireland their TD (Member of Parliament) was a local auctioneer, Brian Cowen. Cowen was born in Clara, County Offaly, the son of May and Bernard Cowen, a former Fianna Fáil TD and Senator. The family owned a public house in Clara town, located adjacent to the family home. His father also worked as an auctioneer. Now it has been observed that languages invent words because they need them and Irish is sprinkled with words like Gombeen, “a pejorative Hiberno-English term for a shady, small-time "wheeler-dealer" or businessman who is always looking to make a quick profit, often at someone else's expense or through the acceptance of bribes”, Sleeveen “somebody who is sly, plausible, and ingratiating” or Spalpeen “a rascal.” You get the idea the Irish language had to invent these words / descriptors because it needed them, no more so than for the Irish Political Class who contain a fair proportion of Gombeen Men (and Women) who previously followed noble callings as Publicans, Auctioneers, Bookmakers or general multi-purpose shysters!


Tom Byrne's satirical depiction of Taoiseach Brian Cowen performing 'Lakes of Pontchartrain' at the Fianna Fail “Think-in” on display in the Apollo Gallery, Dublin.

Cowen became Taoiseach (Prime Minister) in May 2008 following the resignation of his predecessor Bertie Ahern after he was found to have received over £200.000 in unaccounted cash from “Benefactors.” Somewhat embarrassingly (for he was Minister of Finance for much of the time) he hadn’t accounted for tax on these “donations.” Indeed such was his faith in ready cash that he didn’t have a bank account for much of the time either! However, even if every allegation against Bertie Ahern was true it all pales into insignificance against the low standards set by his predecessor, the late Charles Haughey who, in his time, pocketed £8.4 million in “donations”. Although an Anglophobe by birth and conviction, Haughey cultivated the most elaborate tastes and mannerisms of the Anglo-Irish gentry. He had mansions, estates and a private island. He liked antique furniture, and fine art, horses, clothes and wines.


Charlie "The Squire" Haughey

Haughey’s Minister of Justice, Ray Burke, has previously been found culpable of receiving large sums of cash and indeed having his own house and its land “donated” by Brennan and McGowan, developers who benefited from wide scale rezoning of land. Liam Lawlor, another Fianna Fail T.D. (Irish Member of Parliament) was also found to have corruptly benefited from payments from developers who had agricultural land rezoned for development, often at great cost to the public purse in providing the infrastructure.


The Bold Bertie in typical heroic pose

Even squeaky clean former Prime Minister Garret FitzGerald was found to have a 320,000 pound loan from Allied Irish Bank to invest in the shares of Guinness Peat Aviation (of which he was a director) written off by the bank when the investment went wrong, as you or I would in similar circumstances. Dr. FitzGerald had previously been Prime Minister when the same bank had been bailed out to the tune of £121 million when their investment in the Insurance Corporation of Ireland went wrong.

http://daithaic.blogspot.com/2007/12/bertie-ahern-and-poverty-in-ireland.html

Since Cowen became Taoiseach the Irish economy has nose dived, its sovereign debt rating has been cut and he has launched a 4 Billion programme of cuts which has copper fastened his unpopularity. Cuts are not easy in a statist country like Ireland where Gombeen Pork Barrel politics are the order of the day. With the same population as Greater Manchester the country supports no less than 380 Quangos once again proving the truth of Brendan Behan’s saying “The Irish are very popular with themselves!”



Now to economic misery has been added National Mortification in the scandal of the allegedly drunken interview known as Gargelgate - Brian Cowen's now infamous early morning interview came five-and-a-quarter hours after he left The Blazers Bar in the Ardilaun Hotel following a night of drinking, singing and telling yarns.

It was a night typical of any party gathering, enjoyed by TDs, senators and assembled journalists. At the time, no one could have foreseen the political storm that would envelop the Taoiseach in what would become one of the most damaging episodes of his political career which has been picked up in America by Jay Leno on NBC’s Tonight Show.



US chat-show host Jay Leno says he is not going to apologise to Taoiseach Brian Cowen for mocking him as a "drunken moron" on his prime time show. Leno displayed a photo of Mr Cowen and asked his audience to guess if he was a bartender, a politician or a "nightclub comedian", before revealing he was the "Prime Minister of Ireland" to loud laughter. "He's Brian Cowen, the Prime Minister of Ireland. Oh God, it's so nice to know we're not the only country with drunken morons, isn't it?" Leno joked.

Mr Cowen has featured in the international media since it emerged he was singing and drinking in the early hours of the morning at the Fianna Fail party think-in (In itself a strange concept!) in the Ardilaun Hotel, Co Galway, two weeks ago. He was criticised for his performance on an RTE 'Morning Ireland' interview several hours later. He admitted afterwards that he needed to be more cautious in his social life but strongly denied he was drunk or hung-over during the interview.


Dublin - capital of a very free Ireland

But this national embarrassment doesn't stop even at Cowen's door – Irish State Broadcaster RTE's initial refusal to repeat the phrase 'drunken morons' proves that while Cowen can't control the antics of an NBC employee, he still holds sway over the national broadcaster.

Brian Cowen called a "drunken moron" in NBC Tonight Show segment from Sept 22, 2010



The Irish PM Brian Cowen has refuted claims that he sounded "halfway between drunk and hungover" in a radio interview.



Brian Cowen Drunk Live Radio Interview (audio slowed) before his breakfast on RTÉ News Morning Ireland, Tuesday, 14 September 2010. Taoiseach Brian Cowen drunk interview live on air.