Search Results for 'Bertie Ahern'

“I might have appointed somebody but I appointed them because they were friends, not because of anything they had given me...”

Voters elect TDs to legislate on behalf of the State and to advocate for the needs of their constituency, but are we, the taxpayers, getting any value for our vote?

Following its highly acclaimed presentation in the Town Hall Theatre, Galway, Who Killed The Celtic Tiger commences a mini-tour that begins in the Royal Theatre, Castlebar, on Friday May 7. The outrageous show, from the pen of writer Peter Kennedy, is a satirical look at the state of the Irish political and economic situation, told through the medium of music and mimicry. The show is a whirlwind of political satire, with Mary Harney declaring her passion for Bertie Ahern, Brian Cowen trying to sell NAMA, Enda Kenny dreaming of glory and some of the country’s top pop idols releasing a charity single. Is Jedward’s career over before it even starts? Can Bono and Geldof show charity to the Irish people? Is Daniel O’Donnell really emigrating? Where has Willie O’Dea gone? Can Fairy Harney, Bertie Ahern, Biffo the “Bare”, and “End-it” Kenny find a solution to the recession? Can Michael O’Leary succeed where others have failed?

Mayor Malcolm Noonan along with some of the supported employment services in Kilkenny (Access Supported Employment Service and Kases), hosted an Employers’ Breakfast in the Town Hall to acknowledge and thank the many employers in Kilkenny/Carlow who work in partnership with the supported employment services for people with disabilities.

I have received some correspondence over the last few months telling me that I am unbalanced in my column because I have an anti-Fianna Fail agenda. This would be one of the more moderate and considered communications. Others have not been quite so polite. To set the record straight here is my personal position.

“We cannot fix the economy without fixing the political system as well,” is a familiar refrain in Irish political discourse these days. The calamity of the economic collapse and the role of the political and associated systems in bringing it about, or at least in failing to act to prevent it, have focused minds on this matter.

Newly-appointed Junior Minister at the Department of Equality and Integration Carlow Kilkenny’s Mary White has said that she understands the pain of Fianna Fail TDs in Carlow-Kilkenny who are none too pleased at the news of her appointment, as she has been there herself.

“You were a crap player and you are a crap manager. The only reason I have any dealings with you is that somehow you are the manager of my country and you’re not even Irish….” It is alleged that after this tirade Roy Keane walked out of the Irish team at Saipan in 2002. Little did he know exactly what he just started, because start something he did. All contemporary economic and social wisdom indicates that the rot that exists in our socio economic and political system began to manifest itself during the middle of 2002 or thereabouts. Given that those tasked with managing the economy at the time deny any responsibility, then obviously someone else must be responsible for our economic distress. My money is on Roy Keane.

What a brilliant idea! The Green Party made an agreement with Bertie Ahern in 2007 to rotate their seats at the cabinet table.

I wrote recently of the urgent need for competence in Government. Commercial competence gained through experience at the coalface is essential to successfully negotiate the current economic challenges. In any major public organisation the people at the helm are appointed on ability gained through experience of working at a high level in business.