Aherne on the Late Late - Any mention of Recession?

dixiefly

I have to admit that I could not stomach watching Bertie Aherne on the Late Late last night. I did see some of the interview but there was no mention of the recession.
Considering the absolute disaster that the recession has become and a 70% increase in the numbers signing on I think that Pat Kenny should have hit the f*cker with some pretty tough questions. I know it was a GAA night and I am a GAA club and committee member having played for a good few years but this was a situation in which the ex-Taoiseach should have been made answer for his stewardship.

FGR

I wouldn't be surprised if avoiding -that- topic was one of the terms and conditions placed by Mr Aherne prior to the interview.

jdivision

RTE tell them they'll be given an easy ride, they did it recently with Cowen in Wexford. Disgraceful behaviour
http://www.tribune.ie/article/2008/nov/09/im-glad-you-didnt-ask-me-that-pat/

bbbbb

I didn't fancy watching it either. I wouldn't expect Pat to do the hard hitting questions. My assumption was that this would be/was a "dog & pony show", building up Berties image as part of his "legacy" and as possible preparation for a run at the presidency.

galwayrush

I wish they would stop giving that megalomaniac more publicity.:mad:

Guy:Incognito

dixiefly wrote: »

I have to admit that I could not stomach watching Bertie Aherne on the Late Late last night. I did see some of the interview but there was no mention of the recession.
Considering the absolute disaster that the recession has become and a 70% increase in the numbers signing on I think that Pat Kenny should have hit the f*cker with some pretty tough questions. I know it was a GAA night and I am a GAA club and committee member having played for a good few years but this was a situation in which the ex-Taoiseach should have been made answer for his stewardship.

What should Pat Kenny have asked him? "So Bertie, how exactly did you cause the worlds economy to collopse without anyone realiseing it came from Ireland"?

galwayrush

Stekelly wrote: »

What should Pat Kenny have asked him? "So Bertie, how exactly did you cause the worlds economy to collopse without anyone realiseing it came from Ireland"?

Why did you continue spending and wasting money in such a reckless way despite you being warned about the downturn 18 months before you left office?:mad:

Zebra3

Did they ask him about his great love for Man United when he was on last night? :pac:

dixiefly

Stekelly wrote: »

What should Pat Kenny have asked him? "So Bertie, how exactly did you cause the worlds economy to collopse without anyone realiseing it came from Ireland"?

Are you honestly saying that the policies and decisions made during his tenure has nothing to do with the mess we are in and our capacity to get out of it?

jdivision

how could you justify your salary being higher than any other Prime Ministers in the world?
How can you justify the benchmarking process?
how can you justify giving tax incentives to property developers at a time of boom?
how can you justify allowing property developers avoid tax via loopholes that your government refused to close?
Why did you not listen to the Central Bank about the economy becoming uncompetitive?
Why did you encourage first time buyers to buy houses at the very peak of the market?
That's without even going into the Tribunal stuff. SteKelly have you not noticed that Ireland is being far worse affected than anywhere else in the EU?

galwayrush

How on earth did you manage to get the taxpayers to fork out for your newly created egotistical "Office of the former Taoiseach"
What is your favourite make up?

dixiefly

jdivision wrote: »

how could you justify your salary being higher than any other Prime Ministers in the world?
How can you justify the benchmarking process?
how can you justify giving tax incentives to property developers at a time of boom?
how can you justify allowing property developers avoid tax via loopholes that your government refused to close?
Why did you not listen to the Central Bank about the economy becoming uncompetitive?
Why did you encourage first time buyers to buy houses at the very peak of the market?
That's without even going into the Tribunal stuff. SteKelly have you not noticed that Ireland is being far worse affected than anywhere else in the EU?

I also recall the EU agencies advising us several times that our financial model was unsustainable and we were told by Bertie and co. that we were a "special case" !!! FFS we were a special case in that we are an island without a land bridge or tunnell to the rest of Europe and will always have to be ultra ompetitive to keep what we gained.

And another thing, does any of you remember Bertie's response about a year ago to those saying that the economy was heading for a major slide? He said that meaybe they should commit suicide if they were that pessimistic about things. Incredible statement for the Taoiseach of a country to make.

phasers

I love Bertie Ahern

Proxy

This seems a bit more Politics than TV, but I digress...

It was about the GAA. If there was a Prime Time special on the Recession and say, a local businessman/ex-GAA player was being questioned on his GAA career rather than his business situation, you'd also complain. You can't have all-guns-blazing all the time. I know we all want answers, but it wasn't the time or place.

mickos

Proxy wrote: »

This seems a bit more Politics than TV, but I digress...

It was about the GAA. If there was a Prime Time special on the Recession and say, a local businessman/ex-GAA player was being questioned on his GAA career rather than his business situation, you'd also complain. You can't have all-guns-blazing all the time. I know we all want answers, but it wasn't the time or place.

well if it was a GAA show what was the point in having Bertie there at all. I don't remember him ever togging for the Dubs. He must have a neck like the proverbial jockeys bollix to show his face on national Tv the state he has left the country in. Publicity whore if ever I saw one.

Captain Slow IRL

Kenny asked the 2 GAA heads (incoming and outgoing presidents) what they made of the recession and what the future had in store - why couldn't he have asked bertie the same question?!?!

road_high

bbbbb wrote: »

I didn't fancy watching it either. I wouldn't expect Pat to do the hard hitting questions. My assumption was that this would be/was a "dog & pony show", building up Berties image as part of his "legacy" and as possible preparation for a run at the presidency.

Would make me sick if he got preseident. McAlleese might be bad but at least she never had his "legacy". On a more positive note FF will be hammered next June, as they deserve.

galwayrush

Captain Slow IRL wrote: »

Kenny asked the 2 GAA heads (incoming and outgoing presidents) what they made of the recession and what the future had in store - why couldn't he have asked bertie the same question?!?!

Because Bertie told Kenny what to and what not to ask him.:rolleyes:

road_high

dixiefly wrote: »

I also recall the EU agencies advising us several times that our financial model was unsustainable and we were told by Bertie and co. that we were a "special case" !!! FFS we were a special case in that we are an island without a land bridge or tunnell to the rest of Europe and will always have to be ultra ompetitive to keep what we gained.

And another thing, does any of you remember Bertie's response about a year ago to those saying that the economy was heading for a major slide? He said that meaybe they should commit suicide if they were that pessimistic about things. Incredible statement for the Taoiseach of a country to make.

Indeed anecdotely I am hearing of several individuals around the country that have sadly done just that owing to financial strain. Though not quite what Bertie had in mind I suppose.

Proxy

Why can't he appear on a show he was asked to be on? And most guests have a clause of having questions they'd rather not answer, its common. Welcome to Media. Like it or not, you're shown what they want to show you, until you go on and assume you won't be asked questions on embarrassing topics. Would you like to be asked about being on boards.ie and then asked "so what was your most embarrassing drunken post?".

He was on as Bertie Ahern, public figure and GAA fan. I think it was fine.

lostexpectation

pat made reference to the presidency, as a joke

how about ahern for president of the fai...

mickos

lostexpectation wrote: »

pat made reference to the presidency,

how about ahern for president of the fai...

I think president of the FAI is a voluntary position so I'm sure bertie would have no interest in it.

galwayrush

Proxy wrote: »

Why can't he appear on a show he was asked to be on? And most guests have a clause of having questions they'd rather not answer, its common. Welcome to Media. Like it or not, you're shown what they want to show you, until you go on and assume you won't be asked questions on embarrassing topics. Would you like to be asked about being on boards.ie and then asked "so what was your most embarrassing drunken post?".

He was on as Bertie Ahern, public figure and GAA fan. I think it was fine.

Yeah, let's not mention the murdering of white farmers and the Goverment self inflicted famine / cholera problem in Zimbabwe when Mugabe is on a TV show.:rolleyes:

Supermanscat

galwayrush wrote: »

Yeah, let's not mention the murdering of white farmers and the Goverment self inflicted famine / cholera problem in Zimbabwe when Mugabe is on a TV show.:rolleyes:

Thats a Sh1te point in my opinion.

ronbyrne2005

The only reason these guys(Cowan, Ahern etc) are so well known that they get to appear on Late Late is because they are politicans and politicans shoould be willing to answer question on nationall economic matters at any time.

galwayrush

ronbyrne2005 wrote: »

The only reason these guys(Cowan, Ahern etc) are so well known that they get to appear on Late Late is because they are politicans and politicans shoould be willing to answer question on nationall economic matters at any time.

Exactly. They gave themselves plenty of self congratulations when the country was allegedly doing well, they had no problems singing their self praise on the likes of the Late Late Show then, but when it ain't so rosy, they refuse to discuss it.:mad:

galwayrush

mickos wrote: »

. Publicity whore if ever I saw one.

All the make up was the give away.:D

PrivateEye

RTE have allowed Bertie to wrap the Green Flag around himself for years in fairness. The whole country can name the fellas local pub. Theres a reason for that. The media have basically made him somebody ordinary working people identify as 'one of us'.

Even when he had his hand in the póca, ordinary joe bloggs just went "I'd feckin' do it meself and all'

A political moron of the highest order of political morons, a man far from 'the common people' they tell us he belongs to, and a man who has to mention his Grandda whenever somebody tells him 'nicking loads of money/doing dodgey deals/giving away billions of quid worth of gas' might not follow the eh....'core ideals' of a 'Republican' Party.

deleriumtremens

PrivateEye wrote: »

RTE have allowed Bertie to wrap the Green Flag around himself for years in fairness. The whole country can name the fellas local pub. Theres a reason for that. The media have basically made him somebody ordinary working people identify as 'one of us'.

Even when he had his hand in the póca, ordinary joe bloggs just went "I'd feckin' do it meself and all'

A political moron of the highest order of political morons, a man far from 'the common people' they tell us he belongs to, and a man who has to mention his Grandda whenever somebody tells him 'nicking loads of money/doing dodgey deals/giving away billions of quid worth of gas' might not follow the eh....'core ideals' of a 'Republican' Party.

Quite true. I'm just glad the daily mail didnt buy into it and hounded him about his finances.

Fighting Irish

dixiefly wrote: »

I have to admit that I could not stomach watching Bertie Aherne on the Late Late last night. I did see some of the interview but there was no mention of the recession.
Considering the absolute disaster that the recession has become and a 70% increase in the numbers signing on I think that Pat Kenny should have hit the f*cker with some pretty tough questions. I know it was a GAA night and I am a GAA club and committee member having played for a good few years but this was a situation in which the ex-Taoiseach should have been made answer for his stewardship.

Why should he give a fook?
Its not his fault we're in a recession and theres nothing he can do about it

galwayrush

Fighting Irish wrote: »

Why should he give a fook?
Its not his fault we're in a recession and theres nothing he can do about it

He was the single biggest cause of it. Bertie's attitude was Power at any cost, he was warned about the bubble bursting and his only response was a mumbling about people who spoke like that should commit suicide, or something like that.

road_high

Fighting Irish wrote: »

Why should he give a fook?
Its not his fault we're in a recession and theres nothing he can do about it

Of course he should give a "fook". He was taoiseach of this country until very very recently. The fundamentals on which this economy were built (i.e quick sand) were put in place thanks in no small part to FF and Mr. Bertie.
He and his party should be held accountable at every step of the way whether that be on the Late Late or in the Dail (a place he spent very little time in btw). And thats not to mention his huge salary and expenses...........

Fighting Irish

galwayrush wrote: »

He was the single biggest cause of it. Bertie's attitude was Power at any cost, he was warned about the bubble bursting and his only response was a mumbling about people who spoke like that should commit suicide, or something like that.

do you really think that?

Fighting Irish

mfitzy wrote: »

Of course he should give a "fook". He was taoiseach of this country until very very recently. The fundamentals on which this economy were built (i.e quick sand) were put in place thanks in no small part to FF and Mr. Bertie.
He and his party should be held accountable at every step of the way whether that be on the Late Late or in the Dail (a place he spent very little time in btw). And thats not to mention his huge salary and expenses...........

how should he be held responsible? should we stone him?

galwayrush

Fighting Irish wrote: »

do you really think that?

I was being very restrained in my response there. In my opinion, he ruined this country. It sounded great hearing how ( in his own words) that we were the envy of Europe and the World, funny how once the Goverment promoted pyramid building scheme collapsed, we were in debt by the billions. He and his cronies ****ed up the country.:mad:
Of course he and his cronies don't give a ****, they are very very wealthy people as a result, well insulated from reality.

mickos

Fighting Irish wrote: »

Why should he give a fook?
Its not his fault we're in a recession and theres nothing he can do about it

So he as leader of the country for the 10 years preceeding the recession, couldn't have put any plans in place to lessen the blow of an eventual downturn? Bertie is as much to blame, if not more for the state of the country than anybody else. Man of the people me arse.

Fighting Irish

galwayrush wrote: »

I was being very restrained in my response there. In my opinion, he ruined this country. It sounded great hearing how ( in his own words) that we were the envy of Europe and the World, funny how once the Goverment promoted pyramid building scheme collapsed, we were in debt by the billions. He and his cronies ****ed up the country.:mad:
Of course he and his cronies don't give a ****, they are very very wealthy people as a result, well insulated from reality.

anyone in their right mind knew it would collapse eventually, paying over €300k for a typical irish house is insane

galwayrush

Fighting Irish wrote: »

anyone in their right mind knew it would collapse eventually, paying over €300k for a typical irish house is insane

True, but the goverment promoted the insanity because the higher the price, the higher the income to the state coffers. Eventually, the Goverment was relying on the building industry for a far higher proportion of it's income than was substainable. It's a pity Bertie and co didn't take the advice of the sane people who were trying to warn him of the pitfalls ahead.

CtrlSource

galwayrush wrote: »

He was the single biggest cause of it. Bertie's attitude was Power at any cost, he was warned about the bubble bursting and his only response was a mumbling about people who spoke like that should commit suicide, or something like that.

Seriously?! :rolleyes:

Time and place people! Obviously it would have been good to see him grilled on many of his Gov's decisions over the last decade, but the GAA 125th tribute show was not the right forum for it. No doubt he got assurances from RTE that Kenny wouldn't mention current affairs (although i do remember a passing reference when Kenny said something about ticket prices being unaffordable this year, or some such).

i suspect the only reason behind having Ahern and Dunphy on was to pull in ratings. Their links to the GAA are tenuous at best

Denis Irwin

Ok then so if Bertie shouldn't have been on it because he didn't play for Dublin well then you should be also asking why did they have Eamonn Dunphy, Brush Sheils or Eileen Dunne on it. :rolleyes: Oh no wait my mistake it's just the aul excuse to have a go at Bertie even though the show was nothing to do with the economy.. If he had been any other editon of the Late Late then yes he should have been asked but he wasn't so get over it.

dixiefly

Fighting Irish wrote: »

Why should he give a fook?
Its not his fault we're in a recession and theres nothing he can do about it

Are you for real? Do you think that Bertie's performance in power has nothing to with the state we are in?

dixiefly

Denis Irwin wrote: »

Ok then so if Bertie shouldn't have been on it because he didn't play for Dublin well then you should be also asking why did they have Eamonn Dunphy, Brush Sheils or Eileen Dunne on it. :rolleyes: Oh no wait my mistake it's just the aul excuse to have a go at Bertie even though the show was nothing to do with the economy.. If he had been any other editon of the Late Late then yes he should have been asked but he wasn't so get over it.

Yes, that is the point. Bertie got a chance to get high profile on the most watched TV show WITHOUT having to answer the real questions that are pertinant to him. You wont see him on this (or any show) coming on and explaining his policies that a blind, deaf and dumb man would know have had an immense effect on the futute of this country and we plus our sons and daughters have to clean the mess up.

I admit that there has also been a worldwide recession but we really have left ourselves vulnerable and it is not as if Bertie & co. were not warned.

People say that he is eyeing up the presidency and stuff like this keeps him in the public eye and in the frame for it. He has celverly detached himself from the worsening economic situation and as time goes on his policies which were always geared for his re-election as well as the backhander stuff will be forgotten by many people and he probably is counting on this to get the votes he needs. Personally I would vote for the devil as president before I would vote for him and I am not anti-Fianna Fail in general.

road_high

Fighting Irish wrote: »

how should he be held responsible? should we stone him?

Hmm if only

jdivision

Fighting Irish wrote: »

paying over €300k for a typical irish house is insane

Paying him more than that a year was far more insane tbh. The guy's a chancer. Pure charlatan. Problem? Kicking up a fuss? here's a pile of money for you to go away and leave me alone. Welcome to Bertienomics. Where the real world does not apply. Speaking of which, Where's my six pay increases a year?

Sam Kade

There are still people that believe Bertie created the celtic tiger and in their minds the man is a saint. There are also people that would keep voting for FF even if the devil were their leader. Bertie left a fair mess after him and as usual the ordinary person is to blame and must pay for that idiot's mistakes.

deadhead13

Hopefully, the Mahon judgement will bust Bertie's bubble.

galwayrush

deadhead13 wrote: »

Hopefully, the Mahon judgement will bust Bertie's bubble.

The C.A.B, Fraud Squad and Director of Public Prosecution would have been more suitable in dealing with slippery Bertie. There was no need to waste millions with the tribunals.

deadhead13

Who set the tribunals up ....

galwayrush

deadhead13 wrote: »

Who set the tribunals up ....

FF do look after their friends very well,in this case, the top legal eagles, but i think they expecting them to give Bertie an easy ride.:rolleyes:

Denis Irwin

galwayrush wrote: »

FF do look after their friends very well,in this case, the top legal eagles, but i think they expecting them to give Bertie an easy ride.:rolleyes:

Paranoid by any chance :rolleyes:

dresden8

CtrlSource wrote: »

Seriously?! :rolleyes:

Time and place people! Obviously it would have been good to see him grilled on many of his Gov's decisions over the last decade, but the GAA 125th tribute show was not the right forum for it.

Agreed. The fncker should be up in court answering those questions.