An Taoiseach on Prime Time tonight, plus special report on children in care

RTE Prime Time: Mark

An Taoiseach Brian Cowen will be on Prime Time tonight to talk about Lisbon and NAMA. We'll also have a special report from our reporter Edel McAllister on children in care.

We're on RTÉ One at 930. Also available on www.rte.ie/live

We have been informed that Liveblog.ie will be running a public discussion on the show online as it is happening.

Liveblog.ie is completely separate to RTÉ and we take no responsibility, do not endorse, nor have any control over what happens there, we just thought some of our viewers who are active online may be interested in partaking in the conversation that will ensue.

http://liveblog.ie/blog/2009/09/10/prime-time-10th-sept-2009/

todolist

Thanks for the warning.I'll avoid it.

Agent Smith

thanks for the heads up!

juuge

RTE Prime Time (Mark) wrote: »

An Taoiseach Brian Cowen will be on Prime Time tonight to talk about Lisbon and NAMA. We'll also have a special report from our reporter Edel McAllister on children in care.

We're on RTÉ One at 930. Also available on www.rte.ie/live

We have been informed that Liveblog.ie will be running a public discussion on the show online as it is happening.

Liveblog.ie is completely separate to RTÉ and we take no responsibility, do not endorse, nor have any control over what happens there, we just thought some of our viewers who are active online may be interested in partaking in the conversation that will ensue.

http://liveblog.ie/blog/2009/09/10/prime-time-10th-sept-2009/

Sounds like a propaganda campaign is beginning to take shape - I'm going for a pint!

andrewdeerpark

Skipped the childcare feature watched BBC 2 documentary on the Lehman Collapse; good stuff.

Saw our dear leader and to be fair he done OK. A bit evasive on some questions but you did sense he believed in what he was doing.

Lisbon: I was in the yes camp 1st time around and I am staying there mainly because the "no" shower are a band of looney far lefties and righties who are no good for any country. Plus I believe Europe has enhanced this country in all aspects of our society, he emphasised this point without being specific enough. However I still think he done ok.

NAMA: Still despise this whole concept and believe he skirted around the big issue, why bail out banks & developers for billions and leave the ordinary punter in negative equity to the commercial court and a life time of ruin. The big issue for me is that we need to change our bankruptcy law in Ireland to allow small debtors (<1 Million euro) declare bankruptcy and walk away from their debts (like US & UK) with say a 5 year credit rating penalty and then start again with a clean slate. In Ireland the bank can hound you till the end of days for any money owed. Amazing no politician has pushed this idea. He did not address the unfairness of the current NAMA proposal. If I was Cowen I would attack the big name developers & bankers personally and accuse them of treason against their country in the way they inflated the property bubble, which blew up last year. However his emphasis on the importance of credit within the system was correct and well said.

Finally he should have apologised while cutting the back of the bankers and developers in other words he needs to get tough and somebody has to go to jail.

All in all he gets a pass mark from me.

Seth Brundle

I seemed to have watched a different interview than andrewdeerpark.
I felt that he didn't answer any of the questions properly. His only argument for voting yes for Lisbon was to think where we would be in 5 years, etc. He didn't appear to give an answer as to what would happen if we voted no.
His "address to the nation" at the end came across as a recital of a scripted piece with no heart or passion behind it. The fact that he didn't look at the cameras during it did not make me believe him!
I thought he was terrible!

andrewdeerpark

I will take your point on a few evasive answers however that was more because he was afraid of making a howler, in my mind he was over scripted and briefed for the interview.

As for looking at the camera the last person that done that in Ireland was Brian Lenihan (senior) all those years ago against Mary Robinson. This is not US politics and looking direct into the camera does not work in Irish politics, that is a graveyard move.

Seth Brundle

I'm not suggesting that he stare at the lens, but to just acknowledge that its there (for me) wouldn't have gone amiss.
Anyhow, after the interview I felt even less warmth/faith/etc. for the man than the little bit I already had!

Alfasud

kbannon wrote: »

I'm not suggesting that he stare at the lens, but to just acknowledge that its there (for me) wouldn't have gone amiss.
Anyhow, after the interview I felt even less warmth/faith/etc. for the man than the little bit I already had!

He evaded an answer regarding a guarantee to people who cannot pay their mortgage that they will not loose their house. I thought Miriam OCallaghan would follow up on that. It would put him on the spot for an answer but he got away with it.

brianthebard

Disgusting piece of fap, he was given an uncontested section on prime time to promote his position on the referendum with nobody to challenge him and some of the softest questioning from a 'journalist' in years. piss poor stuff imo.

skelliser

how are they aload to have him on uncontested, what happened to our referendum commission on equal coverage. oh wait ff got rid of that equal coverage thingy

Do we know live in the republic of fianna fail?!

Nehaxak

Some great questions from Miriam, well done !
I do feel though you should have pressed him a lot more on his answers but at least you asked him.
He seemed to be getting a little annoyed at stages too.

Did he have a few beers on him ??

Liam Byrne

I loved the answer re the Lisbon Treaty - "because it's for the good of the country" !!!

In his eyes, NAMA is as well, you Taioseach-tosser, and we don't trust you on that EITHER!

jmayo

Alfasud wrote: »

He evaded an answer regarding a guarantee to people who cannot pay their mortgage that they will not loose their house. I thought Miriam OCallaghan would follow up on that. It would put him on the spot for an answer but he got away with it.

Ahh but this is RTE and secondly Mirriam. :rolleyes:
When are we going to see him interviewed by someone who doesn't have a sibling in the FF party ?

brianthebard wrote: »

Disgusting piece of fap, he was given an uncontested section on prime time to promote his position on the referendum with nobody to challenge him and some of the softest questioning from a 'journalist' in years. piss poor stuff imo.

See above ...
I would like to see him being interviewed by George Hook.

Mrmoe

I felt sick watching it. That man can speak so much without saying anything at all.

Darsad

kbannon wrote: »

happen if we voted no.
His "address to the nation" at the end came across as a recital of a scripted piece with no heart or passion behind it. The fact that he didn't look at the cameras during it did not make me believe him!
I thought he was terrible!

Couldnt agree more this man (Cowen) clearly no longer has any heart , passion ,presence or ability to do this job and it is time he stepped aside.

akaredtop

He has now come out today and said that he does not want the FAS board to resign. This contradicts his minister John Gormley and despite the fact they have been caught with their hands in the till stealing taxpayers money. This is so depressing. This guy cannot offer any leadership or instill confidence in the nation that things are going to change. He is the leader of the country and should sack the board. What kind of message does it give to those people who live by the rules. I was going to vote Yes to Lisbon but am changing it to No as I want this fool removed.

Liam Byrne

akaredtop wrote: »

He has now come out today and said that he does not want the FAS board to resign. This contradicts his minister John Gormley and despite the fact they have been caught with their hands in the till stealing taxpayers money. This is so depressing. This guy cannot offer any leadership or instill confidence in the nation that things are going to change. He is the leader of the country and should sack the board. What kind of message does it give to those people who live by the rules. I was going to vote Yes to Lisbon but am changing it to No as I want this fool removed.

If he sacked people for abuse and corruption - particularly in relation to expenses - then he'd have no majority left!

akaredtop

And so be it!

BluntGuy

Darsad wrote: »

Couldnt agree more this man (Cowen) clearly no longer has any heart , passion ,presence or ability to do this job and it is time he stepped aside.

He lacked those things in the first place, so yes I do agree it is more than time both he and his useless party colleagues stepped aside and gave someone else a shot at trying to fix this mess.

And would they ever get rid of that awful Miriam, she's hopeless at presenting the show. The questions she asks aren't nearly testing enough, and I find debates with her presenting incredibly irritating - as she cuts people off as they're making critical points and often gives far more speaking time to one party than the other.

hobochris

I just watched it there, He was so bad at answering questions and addressing concerns its almost funny(It would be funny if the topic wasn't to serious).

Like when he was asked to clarify rather then scaremonger on what would happen if another no vote was given on Lisbon, instead of addressing the question he continued with even more scaremongering.

The Man should not be in office.He has lost popularity almost completely(Id guess the remaining 11% are mainly die hard FF supporters) and is incapable of commanding respect.

Dannyboy83

akaredtop wrote: »

He has now come out today and said that he does not want the FAS board to resign. This contradicts his minister John Gormley and despite the fact they have been caught with their hands in the till stealing taxpayers money. This is so depressing. This guy cannot offer any leadership or instill confidence in the nation that things are going to change. He is the leader of the country and should sack the board. What kind of message does it give to those people who live by the rules. I was going to vote Yes to Lisbon but am changing it to No as I want this fool removed.

I agree completely with your post.
I don't agree with the protest vote, but that is your decision of course.

If we don't go through with the vote, arguably we are screwed in the long term.
If the votes goes through and Clow(e)n is not ousted, inevitably we are screwed in the short term.

Which is the lesser evil?
I would say Yes is the lesser evil.

Cowen has to be ejected at some stage. With Fas, I suppose the last thing Cowen wants to encourage is accountability and reform, otherwise hes out of a job himself.

lostexpectation

only 7 years behind on this story mark, need to get a current story, go a bit hard news if you have to, barry andrews is learning well from mary harney she always does that not matter how recent statistics that you use to raaise a point she'll say there are out of date, even those yours are the most recent comparable statitics.