Irish Times 14/06/11:No Anti-Lenihan letters

steelcityblues

Reading the paper's letters section earlier today in a cafe, I was struck to see a 9-0 ratio, of highly complimentary letters towards the late former Finance Minister. Each one stressing the words 'decent', 'honorable', 'patriot', etc.

Given Lenihan's debatable political legacy, I would struggle to believe that Madam did not receive several letters of a negative tone in recent days - and for the sake of 'balance' at least a couple should have been printed.

When an area of the paper that is meant to highlight free opinions of various members of the general public is being 'moderated', then it is easy to see why paper sales are on a downward spiral.

Online version here:

http://www.irishtimes.com/letters/

BrianD

Perhaps there were none. I can't see why they wouldn't publish any negative letters.

I haven't read any that have been published but perhaps that they refer to the man rather than his politics.

Bottom line the general public supported the policies of FF by voting them in 3 times in a row and then voting in FG to continue the implementation of the Linehan 'solution' to the banking issues.

It would be a bit late writing in letters to Madam Editor to complain about the man at this point in time now that he's departed this world.

Personally, I wouldn't support his politics or his party but I honestly believe he was of good calibre and it's a pity there aren't more like him from all parties in there.

coylemj

steelcityblues wrote: »

Reading the paper's letters section earlier today in a cafe, I was struck to see a 9-0 ratio, of highly complimentary letters towards the late former Finance Minister. Each one stressing the words 'decent', 'honorable', 'patriot', etc.

Given Lenihan's debatable political legacy, I would struggle to believe that Madam did not receive several letters of a negative tone in recent days - and for the sake of 'balance' at least a couple should have been printed.

Maybe she was following the tradition we have in this country that we wait for someone to be buried before we dance on their grave.

steelcityblues

coylemj wrote: »

You couldn't at least have waited for the guy to be buried before dancing on his grave?

A letter with a careful criticism of his political legacy, would not be 'dancing on his grave'.

If the Irish Times start publishing a few critical letters in the next few days, then fair enough. If not, then it indicates a very selective judgement of what gets published on this matter.

flogen

steelcityblues wrote: »

A letter with a careful criticism of his political legacy, would not be 'dancing on his grave'.

But you're assuming there was one and the IT didn't print it.

Like BrianD I wouldn't be surprised if there were no critical letters of Lenihan in the immediate aftermath of his death. Except in exceptional circumstances deaths of public figures in Ireland are generally met with tributes and anyone with criticisms tend to keep quiet (perhaps out of respect, perhaps because they fear the reaction if they're seen to be speaking ill of the dead, perhaps for some other reason).

silvine

Read Vincent Brown's column.

handlemaster

It is surprising alright there aren't more people speaking out. I'm sure he was a nice guy and came accross as a likeable guy but the decision he made on behalf of the country were wrong. Remember "nothing more than a call to patriotic action".. aa more taxes Patriotic !!!!

steelcityblues

flogen wrote: »

But you're assuming there was one and the IT didn't print it.

Like BrianD I wouldn't be surprised if there were no critical letters of Lenihan in the immediate aftermath of his death. Except in exceptional circumstances deaths of public figures in Ireland are generally met with tributes and anyone with criticisms tend to keep quiet (perhaps out of respect, perhaps because they fear the reaction if they're seen to be speaking ill of the dead, perhaps for some other reason).

As I said, given the amount of negative views on the guy on message boards like this - and amongst several people I know in the 'real world' - I find it awfully hard to believe that they did not receive any critical letters of his political legacy

At least Vincent Browne's column today makes up for this to a degree.

james no.1

steelcityblues wrote: »

Reading the paper's letters section earlier today in a cafe, I was struck to see a 9-0 ratio, of highly complimentary letters towards the late former Finance Minister. Each one stressing the words 'decent', 'honorable', 'patriot', etc.

Given Lenihan's debatable political legacy, I would struggle to believe that Madam did not receive several letters of a negative tone in recent days - and for the sake of 'balance' at least a couple should have been printed.

When an area of the paper that is meant to highlight free opinions of various members of the general public is being 'moderated', then it is easy to see why paper sales are on a downward spiral.

Online version here:

http://www.irishtimes.com/letters/

thats a presumption, perhaps she didnt receive any negative letters

flogen

steelcityblues wrote: »

As I said, given the amount of negative views on the guy on message boards like this - and amongst several people I know in the 'real world' - I find it awfully hard to believe that they did not receive any critical letters of his political legacy

At least Vincent Browne's column today makes up for this to a degree.

I'd be surprised if they didn't receive any negative letters too but also based on display on message boards like this I wouldn't correlate that with them getting ones of careful criticism.

hotmail.com

If a person dies, you have to wait a few days in this country before you can bitch about them...another Irish joke confusing respect with being twofaced.

james no.1

and another point is that he was an excellent politician and minister for finance, he made the tough but necessary decisions which were unpopular at the time but which are crucial for our country's recovery

CiaranC

james no.1 wrote: »

and another point is that he was an excellent politician and minister for finance, he made the tough but necessary decisions which were unpopular at the time but which are crucial for our country's recovery

lol

handlemaster

james no.1 wrote: »

and another point is that he was an excellent politician and minister for finance, he made the tough but necessary decisions which were unpopular at the time but which are crucial for our country's recovery

And why was Ireland put in this position in the first place.... FF had a few excuses for that .... remember it was all to do with "Lehmans ". No one would run a business with such reckless regard to finances and if they did they wouldn't be in business to long. How long after the financial crises hit did we hit the buffers. I think alot of people forget not every country in the world were hit as bad as Ireland. The reason why is mainly down to better management. Brian Lenihan was in that government.198725th44.2%81Fianna Fáil government198926th44.2%77Fianna Fáil–Progressive Democrats government199227th39.1%68Fianna Fáil–Labour Party[A]199728th39.3%77Fianna Fáil–Progressive Democrats government200229th41.5%81Fianna Fáil–Progressive Democrats government200730th41.6%77Fianna Fáil–Green Party–Progressive Democrats government
198725th44.2%81Fianna Fáil government198926th44.2%77Fianna Fáil–Progressive Democrats government199227th39.1%68Fianna Fáil–Labour Party[A]199728th39.3%77Fianna Fáil–Progressive Democrats government200229th41.5%81Fianna Fáil–Progressive Democrats government200730th41.6%77Fianna Fáil–Green Party–Progressive Democrats government

steelcityblues

james no.1 wrote: »

and another point is that he was an excellent politician and minister for finance, he made the tough but necessary decisions which were unpopular at the time but which are crucial for our country's recovery

What about that 5.8 pc interest rate right now?

BrianD

james no.1 wrote: »

and another point is that he was an excellent politician and minister for finance, he made the tough but necessary decisions which were unpopular at the time but which are crucial for our country's recovery

Despite having no time for FF I would be inclined to agree.

You have to remember that the person has died. The policies that he was implementing were that of the Government and the parties involved. Most people have problems with the policies that he was tasked to implement as Minister for Finance. There is a difference.

careca11

james no.1 wrote: »

and another point is that he was an excellent politician and minister for finance, he made the tough but necessary decisions which were unpopular at the time but which are crucial for our country's recovery

he sold our soul to the devil (eu/ecb).........................how can he be deemed Patriotic

james no.1

handlemaster wrote: »

And why was Ireland put in this position in the first place.... FF had a few excuses for that .... remember it was all to do with "Lehmans ". No one would run a business with such reckless regard to finances and if they did they wouldn't be in business to long. How long after the financial crises hit did we hit the buffers. I think alot of people forget not every country in the world were hit as bad as Ireland. The reason why is mainly down to better management. Brian Lenihan was in that government.198725th44.2%81Fianna Fáil government198926th44.2%77Fianna Fáil–Progressive Democrats government199227th39.1%68Fianna Fáil–Labour Party[A]199728th39.3%77Fianna Fáil–Progressive Democrats government200229th41.5%81Fianna Fáil–Progressive Democrats government200730th41.6%77Fianna Fáil–Green Party–Progressive Democrats government
198725th44.2%81Fianna Fáil government198926th44.2%77Fianna Fáil–Progressive Democrats government199227th39.1%68Fianna Fáil–Labour Party[A]199728th39.3%77Fianna Fáil–Progressive Democrats government200229th41.5%81Fianna Fáil–Progressive Democrats government200730th41.6%77Fianna Fáil–Green Party–Progressive Democrats government

well, you have to blame the banking crash and subsequent slow down in the economy equally between the government and the regulators. the regulators allowed the banks to trade recklessly and they invariably would as they are out to make a profit while the government should have directed the regulator. that government though, had bertie as taioseach, not lenihan, bertie set the precedent and left cowen and co to pick up the pieces, admittedly, cowen was poor in his media relations but his govt. and lenihans finance ministry did very well, setting up nama, nationalising anglo, and securing the imf bailout. now all of these were much fought over and criticised decisions but ultimately they were the right ones. nama, hopefully, will create a profit, if we didnt nationalise anglo, letting them collapse would have had much more serious implications on the economy than atm, eg. lehmann bros. and the bailout, while it is not a great rate, it was non negotiable, we had our hands tied, perhaps our only bargaining chip was our corporate tax rate which is vital so we agreed to the deal as we would have gone under like iceland and faced international condemnation from markets etc and our export industry would collapse. with the current rate, we are atm paying it back, if in the future we cant pay it back ,it will be acknowledged that we made every effort to pay it back and this will be looked on with sympathy and we'll still be open for trading, thus, it was a good decision accepting the bailout.

flogen

While I appreciate it is impossible to completely separate the two issues I would ask people to stick to the media discussion here, not the political one.

There's a politics forum if you want to get into the rights and wrongs of Lenihan & FF full on, this is about the perceived lack of criticism in the Irish Times (and perhaps other places) following his death.