Lets get FF out!

Lunar_Wire

Lets get FF out!
The government are a joke.
Now that they've messed up the finances of the state, they want to spread the pain. They didn't spread the success, except amongst themselves. As far as I know, the gap between rich and poor grew more during the boom years then ever before. The Taoiseach and TDs have awarded themselves astronomical amounts of pay, yet don't do their jobs properly.

Personally, I feel all the political parties are pretty useless, but I don't really care who gets in, because they'd be hard pressed to do worse then the current crowd. The fear of a lack of real choice has kept FF in government for years! If we don't demand change at the polls we'll never get an alternative. Most people I spoke to before the last election wanted a "safe pair of hands"...... seems laughable now! The answer to "who else can we trust to run the country" now seems to be, "anybody else".

As I feel strongly about this I started a petition.
Please sign this petition to get the government out if you feel the same.

gurramok

I'd prefer them to stay. There are people out there who are still in denial how serious the economic situation is and it needs FF to drag us out of this mess they created.

Húrin

I would say you would have more luck asking the Opposition to table a motion of no confidence.

However I agree that Fianna Fail have a lot more punishment owed to them. Leaving office now would let them off the hook.

gandalf

gurramok wrote: »

I'd prefer them to stay. There are people out there who are still in denial how serious the economic situation is and it needs FF to drag us out of this mess they created.

Yep why let someone else clean the mess they have made up.

Let them stay and feel the full wrath of the electorate after a full term in Government. They as a political entity need to punished for a long time for the complete and utter mismanagement of the economy that they have presided over.

(btw Lunar Internet petitions are not worth the paper they are written on!)

Het-Field

In 2007 Bertie Ahern and Brian Cowan ridiculed Fine Gael and Enda Kenny as nobodies. Remember Cowan's vitriolic attack on Kenny in the Dail ????

The County was told, in no uncertain terms, to trust Fianna Fail. They alluded to "minor difficulties ahead", and that they were the people to lead the country through an uncertain period. The country vested their trust in a government that was tired, and was used to being in power, that it was no longer living in a realistic state.

Since June 2007 we have seen
-A Credit Crunch which put thousands of people's savings at risk
-The drawing of millions of taxpayers money to nutralise bad banking practice
-The virtual Nationalisation of Anglo Irish Bank
-The Shedding of Thousands of Private Sector jobs
-The Closing down of many City Centre retail outlets, and enterprises
-Lip Service being paid to Public Service Reform, without any action
-The Downsizing of an inefficient Government service, without considering other options such as deregulation
-The Coalition partner lobbying for Carbon Taxes on everything, while rally against Nuclear Power, which would reduce Carbon Emissions
-A budget which proposed difficult and savage cuts, only for the Government to roll back on all beacause they were unpopular.

From a Social Point of View. Fianna Fail have
-Paid Lip service to the plight of Civil Partnerships, only to see conservative FF Senators reject it on the grounds of the "damage" it could do to marriage.
-Exacerbated the alcohol crisis by forcing pubs, nightclubs, and off licences to close earlier
-Placed the Coalition Partner in Charge of Local Government. NO effective reform will be done in this area.

Other Failings
-To Stamp out the culture of corruption an sleaze wich exists within Fianna Fail. Bertie remains a testament to that.
-The Lisbon treaty. A poorly run campaign, where it was felt that if Brian Cowan appeared at a Local Shopping centre, that would be sufficient to get the treaty passed. They could not convince their corse supporters, Farmers, that it would be good to say yes, and Bertie's "lap of honour" compounded this as the party had their eye off the ball.

Since 2004 I have seen Fianna Fail in a different light. This all started when Bertie Ahern, to improve the parties image, decided to shake cabinet up a bit. He put Charlie McCreevy out, and demoted Seamus Brennan. These were two fine thinkers, who were easy with the concept of competition and liberal economics. This proved to be their downfall, as the likes of John McGuinness TD spoke out against the "PD influence" in government. After the locals in 2004, Bertie called himself a socialist, and acted on this by way of his cabinet appointments. By ridding the Government of McCreevy, he got rid of the Fianna Fail maverick. In his place he put the Fianna Fail loyalist. One man who would certainly put politics over principle i.e Brian Cowan. The replacement of Brennan for Martin Cullen still defies belief, and the upgrade of Dick Roche was also symptomatic of the type of cabinet Bertie wanted.

We are paying for that now. The quality of our leader has diminished, and some of Fianna Fail's most admirable characters, such as Brian Lenihan, have had their reputation sullied, as they have shown little leadership in this crisis. I believe that once a decision is taken, it should be left as that. That was my reaction to the medical card scandel. However, if the Government had leaders it would have stuck to its guns. Instead it recoiled. As it did on a variety of budgetary measures.

Without leadership, without a vision, and without the faith of the Irish people, Fianna Fail have lost their way. In 2004 it was a dislike of the politics of the day which cost the party 80 Local Authority seats. This time, it could be a more serious and less reformable type of weakness which causes a very poor local election outcome.

marcsignal

gurramok wrote: »

I'd prefer them to stay. There are people out there who are still in denial how serious the economic situation is and it needs FF to drag us out of this mess they created.

well said gurramok ! very well said

so many times in the past FF have finished their terms in office, leaving a trail of sh*t behind them that the incoming administration have had to take the flak for.

This time they should stay and clean up their own mess themselves. That way they can display their level of complete incompetence to the entire country, and especially to those pro FF lackeys that continuously claim they can do no wrong.

nuttz

leave them in,

Enda Kenny, Richard Bruton couldn't organise a pissup in a brewery let alone sort out the economic problems caused by US economy collapse.

freyners

ive seen more competence in patients in a mental hospital then in the whole fianna fail party

jank

nuttz wrote: »

leave them in,

Enda Kenny, Richard Bruton couldn't organise a pissup in a brewery let alone sort out the economic problems caused by US economy collapse.

I suppose you werent paying attention to the Irish economy for the last 6-7 years. Ill give you a hint. It has 4 walls and it has a roof....:D

marcsignal

nuttz wrote: »

leave them in,

Enda Kenny, Richard Bruton couldn't organise a pissup in a brewery let alone sort out the economic problems caused by US economy collapse.

well whatever about Endas total lack of charisma, i don't agree at all with your assertion that Richard Bruton is not competent, he in fact has been warning us about this predicament for years, and imo, would be a great leader for FG.

I personally would like to see him in charge after FF have been rightfully booted out of power for the next 20 years.
He seems to me, to be a man of honourable intentions, a quality that is completely lacking in ANY FF minister you care to mention.

nuttz

marcsignal wrote: »

I personally would like to see him in charge after FF have been rightfully booted out of power for the next 20 years.
He seems to me, to be a man of honourable intentions, a quality that is completely lacking in ANY FF minister you care to mention.

I agree that Bruton would be a better leader of FG. But I also remember two debates at the last election between Bruton and Cowen where Bruton seemed lacking in knowledge and credibility and where it was widely acknowledged that Cowen won both debates.

Kenny should just go back to teaching.

hobochris

To all the people saying leave them in:
why should the ordinary people have to suffer for the failings of this unorganized corrupt shower of chancers?

don't get me wrong I'd love to watch them squirm and suffer as much as anyone as they clean up their own mess but I don't think it should come at the costs of Innocent ordinary people having to suffer. a good majority of which never voted FF in the first place.

nuttz

hobochris wrote: »

To all the people saying leave them in:
why should the ordinary people have to suffer for the failings of this unorganized corrupt shower of chancers?

They are nearly all (except maybe the greens) as corrupt as each other, down in Cork, the FG Mayor recently was approved a pay increase bringing his wage to over 100K.

marcsignal

nuttz wrote: »

I agree that Bruton would be a better leader of FG. But I also remember two debates at the last election between Bruton and Cowen where Bruton seemed lacking in knowledge and credibility and where it was widely acknowledged that Cowen won both debates.

Kenny should just go back to teaching.

well if i'm honest i feel kinda sorry for cowen. i'd even go far enough to say he's too nice a bloke for FF, and even comes over as relatively 'honest' which is amazing considering the shenanigans of many of his comrades, Beverly Flynn springs to mind, the ARROGANCE and CHEEK of some people !!:mad::mad:

i didn't see the debates you mention in fairness, so can't really comment

hobochris wrote: »

To all the people saying leave them in:
why should the ordinary people have to suffer for the failings of this unorganized corrupt shower of chancers?

don't get me wrong I'd love to watch them squirm and suffer as much as anyone as they clean up their own mess but I don't think it should come at the costs of Innocent ordinary people having to suffer. a good majority of which never voted FF in the first place.

you have a point there in fairness

rcecil

Sinn Fein is right on:

Palestine
Labor
Economy
Pollution
Human Rights

Sounds like a real opposition party to me, and not just a bunch of job seekers
Time for another look!

MG

Yep FF messed up the last decade big time and should be decimated for a generation as a result....

the only problem is who will benefit - it's likely we'll get a coalition of some sort. Personnally, I'd be on the emigration boat with half the country if SF got in and Labour's shift to the left in the last year disconcerts me. Considering that Labour is likely to be in the next government with FG or FF (though I ca see them regrouping from the sidelines), the question is what Labour will be see. Pragmatic, modern Labour a la the UK or a leftist party which will protect the trade unions and public sector?

Boggle

nutzz wrote:

Enda Kenny, Richard Bruton couldn't organise a pissup in a brewery let alone sort out the economic problems caused by US economy collapse.

Tell you what, why don't you do a bit of reading before annoying people with rubbish like that.

tell you what, there's a housing bubble thread on the propery forum which went on for years and I seen to recall people screaming that FF's practices would end in tears.

hobochris wrote:

To all the people saying leave them in:
why should the ordinary people have to suffer for the failings of this unorganized corrupt shower of chancers?

don't get me wrong I'd love to watch them squirm and suffer as much as anyone as they clean up their own mess but I don't think it should come at the costs of Innocent ordinary people having to suffer. a good majority of which never voted FF in the first place.

We are in this position because a bunch of cowards or idiots (basically the I'm alright jack brigade) wouldn't believe that bertie the chancer hadn't a clue and was destroying the country in a get rich quick scheme. If FF were ousted and another party came in, people would forget who caused the mess and instead blame the ones who had to fix it.
For the stupidity of the irish, they will now get to watch their children emigrate and their parents die on trolleys. Maybe in future people might know better and act more responsibly.

nuttz

Boggle wrote: »

Tell you what, why don't you do a bit of reading before annoying people with rubbish like that.

tell you what, there's a housing bubble thread on the propery forum which went on for years and I seen to recall people screaming that FF's practices would end in tears.

Tell you what, you missed my point

Tell you what, Dell, Zavvi, Waterford wedgewood and whoever else leaving and shutting down was inevitable. Those job losses are sweet feck all to do with the housing bubble.

Tell you what, this was my point.
FG are still not a viable alternative to help kick start the economy, people didn't think they could run the country at the last election and from my point of view not much has changed in the FG party to change my mind. Maybe if Pat Rabbite was put forward as Taoiseach for that coalition things might have been different.

Liam Byrne

nuttz wrote: »

leave them in,

Enda Kenny, Richard Bruton couldn't organise a pissup in a brewery let alone sort out the economic problems caused by US economy collapse.

Ah, another blinkered FF supporter, blaming the US economy :rolleyes:

Leave aside the surpluses that this country has had for years, all wasted on ego projects and unwanted pet projects and unvouched expenses; botched privatisation, support for an illegal war, tolerated scandals relating to high-ranking members, etc.

Complete shower of wasters - literally!

Mind you, they SHOULD be made clear up their own crap.....why should FG & Labour have to make tough decisions and get the country up and running again, only to suffer the ire of the electorate because of the tough decisions required to clean up FF's mess and get turfed out again next time around ?

If there was a MINISCULE chance that FF could steer us through this mess, I'd DEFINITELY go with the option of leaving them in, but I honestly can't see them being able to fix their mess. They don't even punish their own members incompetence or illegal activities, FFS!

Meanwhile, they get their TD salaries & pensions, along with unvouched expenses as well as their teachers' salaries & pensions and every other con under the sun!!

And people don't seem to realise that it's OUR money they're flushing down the tubes, bailing out banks and privatising airlines without a single meaningful term & condition to be seen, or head rolling.....

nuttz

Liam Byrne wrote: »

Ah, another blinkered FF supporter, blaming the US economy :rolleyes:

You are the one who is blinkered if you think there is enough competence or experience in the FG party to run the country.

Liam Byrne wrote: »

Leave aside the surpluses that this country has had for years, all wasted on ego projects and unwanted pet projects and unvouched expenses; botched privatisation, support for an illegal war, tolerated scandals relating to high-ranking members, etc.

I wouldn't call infrastructure a pet project. And what relevance does an irrelevant war have to do with anything

Liam Byrne wrote: »

If there was a MINISCULE chance that FF could steer us through this mess, I'd DEFINITELY go with the option of leaving them in, but I honestly can't see them being able to fix their mess. They don't even punish their own members incompetence or illegal activities, FFS!

Meanwhile, they get their TD salaries & pensions, along with unvouched expenses as well as their teachers' salaries & pensions and every other con under the sun!!

I presume you are talking about Enda Kenny with his teachers salary or maybe Dr Liam Twomey, etc. FG are as bad as anyone else when it comes to greed.

cm2000

Fianna Fail can rightly get significant blame for the housing market but to say that theyre at fault for everything here is absurd. We live in an open market economy and are vastly reliant on fdi as well as the economic performance of our trading partners, practices which have increased our standard of living hugely. A collapse in the american economy has put the entire european economy in recession. furthermore, the weakening dollar and sterling puts huge pressures on our exporters which is detremental to gdp and job growth. This has all served to excentuate the problems in the housing markets and created a perfect storm of sorts for our economy. I guarantee you that there is similar pressure on every ruling party throughout the EU who are now experiencing recession times. This really has very little to do with budget surpluses from a few years.

As for the opposition-the easiest job on the planet right now- fg obviously made a catastrophic error in electing kenny party leader. The man is strictly average in any political sense. Bruton had to become the leader and in not electing him they've condemned themselves to a future that is actually in doubt despite the best political conditions an opposition party could ask for. Bruton is the only man in that party that would sway me to vote fg, other than him I feel it's a weak party with few if any rising stars and I can see nothing in their ranks to persuade me they could lift us out of this situation.

michael_23

cm2000 wrote: »

Fianna Fail can rightly get significant blame for the housing market but to say that theyre at fault for everything here is absurd. We live in an open market economy and are vastly reliant on fdi as well as the economic performance of our trading partners, practices which have increased our standard of living hugely. A collapse in the american economy has put the entire european economy in recession. furthermore, the weakening dollar and sterling puts huge pressures on our exporters which is detremental to gdp and job growth. This has all served to excentuate the problems in the housing markets and created a perfect storm of sorts for our economy. I guarantee you that there is similar pressure on every ruling party throughout the EU who are now experiencing recession times. This really has very little to do with budget surpluses from a few years.

Finally some rational thoughts. To suggest FF is solely responsible for the wider downturn in the Irish economy is utter nonsense.

Liam Byrne

nuttz wrote: »

You are the one who is blinkered if you think there is enough competence or experience in the FG party to run the country.

They definitely couldn't be any worse than the current shower! While yes, we'd like some more dynamic and forward-thinking politicians, they don't seem to exist and anything would be better than what's there!

nuttz wrote: »

I wouldn't call infrastructure a pet project. And what relevance does an irrelevant war have to do with anything

Who said anything about infrastructure ? I was thinking Bertie Bowl, eVoting, the sale of eircom & Aer Lingus (without enough forward-thinking and cop-on to ensure that the bases were covered).

Also, the war isn't irrelevant. FF showed that they couldn't be arsed asking a perfectly valid question and doing their duty and getting the planes checked. The excuse we got was "Dell might pull out" :rolleyes: !

Add in the over-reliance on the construction company and the banks ("coincidentally" two of FF's major supporters at the Galway Races tents) and the "see-no-evil" approach to corruption within their ranks, and you have a shower that are woeful (and that's being generous).

nuttz wrote: »

I presume you are talking about Enda Kenny with his teachers salary or maybe Dr Liam Twomey, etc. FG are as bad as anyone else when it comes to greed.

FF make the decisions, and while asking all of us on standard wages to not only contribute but also to avoid going North to get value, so that the country can recover, they still milk every penny. If the Government has to make "tough" decisions, then let it be at their own doorstep first! They helped to create this mess.

The problem with FF is that they are only interested in how THEY appear; no forward planning or long-term view, because someone else might be in power by then and they mightn't get the credit.

Yes, outside factors have had a major impact, but having boasted that our economy was "the best in Europe" and claimed all the credit for that (even though that, too, might have had external factors at play) they can damn well take the criticism too. They also told people who issued the early warnings to go commit suicide - even though heeding those might have actually lessened the blow.

bmcgrath

FF are bad but jaysis if Enda was to be up there......

Enda wouldn't even know how to scratch his arse!

RayM

michael_23 wrote:

To suggest FF is solely responsible for the wider downturn in the Irish economy is utter nonsense.

They spent much of the past decade claiming sole responsibility for the alleged success of the economy, so it's only fair that they should be blamed for its failure too.

nuttz wrote:

But I also remember two debates at the last election between Bruton and Cowen where Bruton seemed lacking in knowledge and credibility and where it was widely acknowledged that Cowen won both debates.

I remember those debates well, and I think you're engaging in a bit of FF-tinged revisionism. Cowen merely shouted and blustered louder than Bruton. A 'victory', insofar as he managed to prevent Bruton (a far more restrained and thoughtful individual) from getting a word in. In the eyes of the Fianna Fail faithful (blinkered shower they are), that kind of gobshite-pleasing carry-on may well equate to winning an argument.

nuttz wrote:

You are the one who is blinkered if you think there is enough competence or experience in the FG party to run the country.

Fine Gael could indeed turn out to be a total failure in government (let's face it - there's ideologically no difference between them and Fianna Fail, so they probably will), but, unlike Fianna Fail, at least they haven't proven that they lack competence.

gandalf

bmcgrath wrote: »

FF are bad but jaysis if Enda was to be up there......

Enda wouldn't even know how to scratch his arse!

TBH I think he would actually be an improvement over the spineless and worthless muppets that are in so-called charge at the moment. What happened straight after the Dell announcement Cowan ran away to Japan.

I agree FF cannot be blamed for the global downturn but Dell has been on the cards now for years. I work in the IT industry and 5 years ago we were aware that Dell were looking around for new manufacturing bases which meant only one thing that they would eventually shift out of Ireland. Now if I heard back then you can be cock sure the Government did to. What work did they do in the background to ensure there was a plan in place and attempts to attract a replacement employer. What infrastructure did they put in place then to ensure the workers could be skilled up to allow them get these so called R&D jobs in the knowledge economy that they like to spin about. Nothing was done, nothing was prepared the whole idea of a Government is to plan ahead instead right after the Dell announcement Mary Coughlan prattles on about setting up a task force.

The years of plenty were a time to tackle the bloated Public Service with cash in hand to pay redundancies. Instead the numbers in the Public Service increased, this when all the Health Boards were amalgamated into the HSE. Normally when a number of organisations merge the admin and it staff numbers reduce dramatically because the duplication of function is dealt with. In our case it INCREASED!

Its all very well slagging Enda but by Christ the current crowd probably have a consultant hired to do the scratching for them because they cannot decide if they want to scratch their arse because it might be unpopular.

Boggle

Tell you what, you missed my point

Your point was that FF are great (cos me da says so?!?)

Tell you what, Dell, Zavvi, Waterford wedgewood and whoever else leaving and shutting down was inevitable. Those job losses are sweet feck all to do with the housing bubble.

They were to do with our cost base running away with itself and, of course, property was a prime example of this. Jesus, in the late 90's I used to be able to go out with 20 quid (E26?) in my pocket, buy ten pints and even a bag of chips on the way home. How much would that cost you now?
Employees had to get better wages to cover the higher costs of living and so we were uncompetitive. That coupled with FF PD foreign good / domestic bad policies left us over exposed by any sane mans measure.

FG are still not a viable alternative to help kick start the economy, people didn't think they could run the country at the last election and from my point of view not much has changed in the FG party to change my mind.

I'm telling you, people's gutlessness is ruining the country. FF should be punished for their thievery as a marker for future generations. Will it actually take until your kids emigrate and your parents are dying on trolleys for you to figure out how wrong you are??

Seriously, I wasnt messing when I suggested you read a little about what got us here. Educate yourself.

cm2000 wrote:

Fianna Fail can rightly get significant blame for the housing market but to say that theyre at fault for everything here is absurd.

Actually I do not see how you can absolve FF of this mess. They were in charge and they failed to manage the boom, preferring to turn it into a housing bubble which was always going to pop and whose only long term effect was to damage our competitiveness as an economy.

Again, read some of the housing bubble threads and this is all laid out in much better detail (albeit alot more pages).

jmayo

nuttz wrote: »

leave them in,

Enda Kenny, Richard Bruton couldn't organise a pissup in a brewery let alone sort out the economic problems caused by US economy collapse.

Ah yes argument no.1 from FF press office.
It is all the Americans fault. :rolleyes:

nuttz wrote: »

I agree that Bruton would be a better leader of FG. But I also remember two debates at the last election between Bruton and Cowen where Bruton seemed lacking in knowledge and credibility and where it was widely acknowledged that Cowen won both debates.

Kenny should just go back to teaching.

FF point of attack 2. Bruton would be better leader.
Cowen won the shouting debates.
Yep this would be the great biffo we see wandering aimlessly.

Where is his great knowledge and credibility now :rolleyes:

nuttz wrote: »

They are nearly all (except maybe the greens) as corrupt as each other, down in Cork, the FG Mayor recently was approved a pay increase bringing his wage to over 100K.

Ah yes argument no.2 from FF press office.
When all else fails ...
Sure they would be corrupt and greedy as well if they got a chance :rolleyes:
Sure the electorate should punish them for the sins we did committ and the ones they might commit :rolleyes:

nuttz wrote: »

Tell you what, you missed my point

Tell you what, Dell, Zavvi, Waterford wedgewood and whoever else leaving and shutting down was inevitable. Those job losses are sweet feck all to do with the housing bubble.

Tell you what, this was my point.
FG are still not a viable alternative to help kick start the economy, people didn't think they could run the country at the last election and from my point of view not much has changed in the FG party to change my mind. Maybe if Pat Rabbite was put forward as Taoiseach for that coalition things might have been different.

Ah yes argument no.3 from FF press office.
The job losses are all due to the credit crunch, it has absolutely nothing to do with our lack of competitiveness, because we had to make sure our building buddies made a sh** load of money by charging exorbitant amounts for sh**boxes called houses/apartments. :rolleyes:

Of course they are not a viable alternative for you, since they probably don't feather your nest.
At this stage a baboon in Dublin zoo would look much better as Taoiseach then biffo.
Added to that you could have a chimp as finance minister and a goat as tanaiste.
Oh and a hippo as minister of health.

bmcgrath wrote: »

FF are bad but jaysis if Enda was to be up there......

Enda wouldn't even know how to scratch his arse!

Well the problem with bertie & biffo as we see now was not alone were they able to scratch their own they spend way too much time scratching the ars*s of every builder and developer fromhere to kingdom come.
Oh and while they were at it they scratched more than a few ars** in the banks :rolleyes:

Lunar_Wire



Boggle wrote: »

We are in this position because a bunch of cowards or idiots (basically the I'm alright jack brigade) wouldn't believe that bertie the chancer hadn't a clue and was destroying the country in a get rich quick scheme. If FF were ousted and another party came in, people would forget who caused the mess and instead blame the ones who had to fix it.
For the stupidity of the irish, they will now get to watch their children emigrate and their parents die on trolleys. Maybe in future people might know better and act more responsibly.

I guess that's true... I keep forgetting there are those stuck in 1916 and there are people who are kinda nuttz about politics and just toe party lines time after time. The "I pay my taxes and.... " sort of people, who don't seem to mind both sides of the house ( bar labour for a little ) backing an unseen €15 billion bank-baking bill or voting machines ( made with access - HA! ), NTR, pPARS, figures €8billion wrong, etc, These same people feel like people like me on the dole are wasting their money. I always have to laugh when the politicians say we have a mature electorate.
I guess we just let the country to continue to slide into a massive hole of debt.
To be honest my heart sinks a little when I see the old FF vs FG thing going on. They're all crap, but we won't get something good until we vote with our conscience.



cm2000 wrote: »

Fianna Fail can rightly get significant blame for the housing market but to say that theyre at fault for everything here is absurd. We live in an open market economy and are vastly reliant on fdi as well as the economic performance of our trading partners, practices which have increased our standard of living hugely. A collapse in the american economy has put the entire european economy in recession. furthermore, the weakening dollar and sterling puts huge pressures on our exporters which is detremental to gdp and job growth. This has all served to excentuate the problems in the housing markets and created a perfect storm of sorts for our economy. I guarantee you that there is similar pressure on every ruling party throughout the EU who are now experiencing recession times. This really has very little to do with budget surpluses from a few years.

They can also get blame for not using the money wisely when they had it. They say they want a knowledge economy, yet they haven't sorted out the broadband situation yet. It's so bad that multi-nationals have abandoned Ireland seeing the ridiculous speeds and connections. Also one of the first things they wanted to cut back on was education!
RTE news on New Years said our shares fell the most , second only to Iceland( in the world I think :eek:).
Also, it's not just the housing market. It's that the whole economy was resting on the housing market.
There mistakes are monumentally stupid. Like the two LUAS trains having different gauges.... you can lead a fool to college but you can't make him think!