Dunphy describes Ireland as a Kip, a Dump.

Doc Ruby

Lapin wrote: »

And in the unlikely event that you ever escape from cloud cuckoo land without your rose tinted glasses, you might just happen to notice that Gigino hit the nail firmly on the head.

They're really oozing out of the woodwork now. Its like watching an episode of the boondocks.

NakedNNettles

I knew a lighthouse once built by the brits, it fell down in a bad storm.

Duckworth_Luas

NakedNNettles wrote: »

I knew a lighthouse once built by the brits, it fell down in a bad storm.

I read about that. It was in a travel article written by a tourist, so you can take it as proof that I'm not making this $hit up.

Mike 1972

Kinetic Eye wrote: »

Eamon Dunphy in "trying to stir up controversy and wind people up" shocker.

I believe the expression is troll ?

Dudess

The people spewing out the usual simpering "We are inferior" stuff really should speak for themselves...

Chucky Norris

ahh irelands grand its just run by a shower of ****holes

gigino

NakedNNettles wrote: »

I knew a lighthouse once built by the brits, it fell down in a bad storm.

and what happened when you woke up ? were ye dreamin' of Nelsons pillar ? because one thing the Brits were good at - world class at in fact - was building lighthouses, in often very remote and inhospitable places.

Chucky Norris wrote: »

ahh irelands grand its just run by a shower of ****holes

correct. When the Queen was here last year, we should have done what Gay Byrne suggested years previously : hand the country back to her with a note of apology.;)

NickDrake

Dunphy is on 400k a year with RTE,things are pretty good for him.

Nodin

gigino wrote: »

...........


correct. When the Queen was here last year, we should have done what Gay Byrne suggested years previously : hand the country back to her with a note of apology.;)

Gay Byrne, noted intellectual, widely admired for his personality and financial acumen?

MyKeyG

NickDrake wrote: »

Dunphy is on 400k a year with RTE,things are pretty good for him.

And if he got up and said 'The country's in great shape there's plenty of money' you'd probably have a go at him with the same argument.

Sometimes you just can't win.

Doc Ruby

gigino wrote: »

correct. When the Queen was here last year, we should have done what Gay Byrne suggested years previously : hand the country back to her with a note of apology.;)

Speaking of waking up, what will you say when we're handing her a receipt for Northern Ireland instead?

NickDrake

MyKeyG wrote: »

And if he got up and said 'The country's in great shape there's plenty of money' you'd probably have a go at him with the same argument.

Sometimes you just can't win.

Who is he exactly? A former footballer with a bitter mind. for what reason? He has had a great life and earns big money.

We need to look at the positive here and don't need rich clowns like Dunphy trying to drag us down when he is fact has a wondeful life and has none of the financial worries people have

Doc Ruby

NickDrake wrote: »

Who is he exactly? A former footballer with a bitter mind. for what reason? He has had a great life and earns big money.

We need to look at the positive here and don't need rich clowns like Dunphy trying to drag us down when he is fact has a wondeful life and has none of the financial worries people have

Not to mention that he's a professional shit stirrer who has accumulated a total of seventeen years of bans for drink driving and has serious substance abuse problems.

MyKeyG

NickDrake wrote: »

Who is he exactly? A former footballer with a bitter mind. for what reason? He has had a great life and earns big money.

We need to look at the positive here and don't need rich clowns like Dunphy trying to drag us down when he is fact has a wondeful life and has none of the financial worries people have

Well maybe people should be a little less petty and appreciate that even people who have nothing to gain stand up and fight for the little guy!

Personally I'm more interested in the fact that it's being said rather than who says it. At the end of the day you, me and our dog have no voice. It belongs to liars, cheats and thieves. I have no problem with someone taking the opportunity to use his 'popularity' and telly time to fire out the criticism.

Just my opinion.

Solair

There's a couple of things to get straight here. Ireland is not a dictatorship, it's an extremely open democracy. For whatever idiotic reason, the people opted to keep re-electing Bertie + the lads despite umpteen warnings that disaster was imminent.

I don't know how many scary George Lee and Prime Time investigates documentaries were broadcast during the boom, but there were plenty. There were all sorts of warning signs that we were in a massive property bubble. The ECB warned us directly that the economy was overheating and the Government laughed it off. That was years ago! Economists were talking about it, there were newspaper articles. The opposition parties were talking about it, particularly the smaller ones.

However, people kept voting for Bertie and Fianna Fail.

How many times has Fianna Fail been embroiled in unbelievable corruption scandals? Yet, how many times have people voted for them?

I sincerely hope that we have moved on and will not just go "oh the current lot are just as bad" and vote back in FF because FG+Lab are left with the horrendous task of cleaning up after them and it's painful.

It reminds me of the battered/absused-wife/husband syndrome where she begins to try and find nice points in her/his completely psychopathic partner who has been beating them or psychologically torturing them up for years.

Stop voting for complete muppets! Or, you will get complete muppetry !!

Second point:

Ireland's not a kip. It is suffering from a post-bubble market collapse made even worse by the collapse of a lot of global financial structures and the Euro starting to develop deep cracks. However, lots of things about the country remain quite positive and the standard of living is actually relatively high compared to a lot of neighboring countries.

The main gripes I would have is the public health service, aspects of which are just complete disasters and seem to be incapable of reform or progress. It's not about resources, it's about management!

charlemont

Solair wrote: »

There's a couple of things to get straight here. Ireland is not a dictatorship, it's an extremely open democracy. For whatever idiotic reason, the people opted to keep re-electing Bertie + the lads despite umpteen warnings that disaster was imminent.

I don't know how many scary George Lee and Prime Time investigates documentaries were broadcast during the boom, but there were plenty. There were all sorts of warning signs that we were in a massive property bubble. Economists were talking about it, there were newspaper articles. The opposition parties were talking about it, particularly the smaller ones.

However, people kept voting for Bertie and Fianna Fail.

How many times has Fianna Fail been embroiled in unbelievable corruption scandals? Yet, how many times have people voted for them?

I sincerely hope that we have moved on and will not just go "oh the current lot are just as bad" and vote back in FF.

It reminds me of the batter-wife syndrome where she begins to try and find nice points in her completely psychopathic husband who has been beating her up for years.

Stop voting for complete muppets! Or, you will get complete muppetry !!

Best post I'v seen in a long time.

MyKeyG

charlemont wrote: »

Best post I'v seen in a long time.

Agreed but disturbing that it has to be said. You'd think it's the sort of thing any sensible person would be able to figure out. There's too much witch hunting going on. Blame Bertie, yet we voted him in. Blame the bankers, yet we borrowed the money we now owe. Some people need to have a little look in house and face up to their responsibilities.

charlemont

MyKeyG wrote: »

Agreed but disturbing that it has to be said. You'd think it's the sort of thing any sensible person would be able to figure out. There's too much witch hunting going on. Blame Bertie, yet we voted him in. Blame the bankers, yet we borrowed the money we now owe. Some people need to have a little look in house and face up to their responsibilities.

Exactly its our own doing but sure lets blame the Germans anyway !!!

This country got the kick in the ass it needed but I still don't think people have learned from it.

Solair

It's actually even more worrying that! Unlike the US or the UK where you've basically got a 2-party system, Ireland actually has vastly more choice of political alternatives almost all of which are quite sensible, solid, main-stream alternatives, yet it kept going for the same thing over and over!

The electorate was prepared to turn a blind eye to corruption and this is what we got. We did not hold the politicians responsible because we kept voting for them!

Party politics / ideologically based politics gets ignored, and clientelism is rife.

How many TDs get voted into office because they made a few phone calls for some constituent to get a pot hole fixed, or get some welfare issue sorted out. The reality being in 99% of those cases, if the person had made a similar phone call themselves, or did a bit of research and wrote a letter or whatever, they'd have achieved exactly the same result.

The last elections were the first ever evidence I've seen of Irish people holding parties to account for their actions. Long may it go on!

I think the fundamental problem in Ireland is that there has been an inability to distinguish between local councillors and national politicians. TDs behave like councillors worrying about really minor constituency issues and national politics is just ignored.

Perhaps it's just a fundamental flaw in the PR-STV voting system or the fact that local government systems are basically neutered and powerless with the national Government getting involved in things that councillors should be doing themselves.

I'm sure political scientists have analyzed this, but it needs urgent reform and addressing. I can't see the status quo shifting though as TDs are all locked into this model of operation and are unlikely to vote to change the system if it means they might undermine their own election chances if they suddenly are expected to have opinions on economics and big picture issues rather than just being a good laugh in the local pub and being able to ensure that the local roads get surfaced.

The usual scenario here was that major decisions and policy directions were being decided by the cabinet and senior civil service and the Dail couldn't even be bothered turning up to debate them because they were too busy ensuring that Mrs Murphy's drains were dealt with back in the constituency.

This lack of interest by TDs also made space for over-involvement of political advisors, lobbyists etc in the policy making process.

The other scary aspect of the Irish system was social partnership. A totally non-transparent system where by selected lobbyists and interest groups are brought in-house to participate in policy formation. That's not a very sound basis for a healthy democracy!

Nobody should have special insider status in policy making. It's known as corporatism and in general it's regarded as a not so brilliant idea as it can lead to vested interests developing and their needs being put ahead of the needs of the nation.

Case and point : civil service wage bubbles etc etc.

I think we need major reform:

1) Strengthen local Government and ban TDs from participating in it in anyway. E.g. a smaller number of local authorities with executive mayors and direct responsibility for policy making / execution.
2) Abolish social partnership and replace it with open and transparent lobbying where groups can come in and speak to the houses on particular days (in public) e.g. the Seanad could be used for this role.
3) Look at reform of the electoral system. Bigger constituencies or some combination of locally and nationally elected TDs might work to get rid of the deep local politics bias in the Dail and get some focus on national issues and encourage more useful debate!

(Apologies for the long post, but there's a lot that needs to be said to explain all of the above!)

Dudess

We didn't all vote FF - why are people pretending that's the case?
Many had a role to play, not just politicians and bankers, but the blame is not equal.

MyKeyG wrote: »

NickDrake wrote: »

Dunphy is on 400k a year with RTE,things are pretty good for him.

And if he got up and said 'The country's in great shape there's plenty of money' you'd probably have a go at him with the same argument.

Sometimes you just can't win.

Well that would also be incorrect. Why would it just be one or the other? There's an ocean of a grey area in between, which neither the "Ireland's a kip, we're useless" stuff nor the "Ireland's great, get out if you don't like it" stuff take into account.
I often agree with Dunphy but this statement of his is arrogant IMO.

Dudess

gigino wrote: »

When the Queen was here last year, we should have done what Gay Byrne suggested years previously : hand the country back to her with a note of apology.;)

Yes, because she'd really want it.

Inverse to the power of one!

stevedublin wrote: »

House staff? :eek:
In Ireland?
Do you live in Killiney?

Get with the euphemism

Agricola

Dunphy might be a bit sensitive and emotional but he does care about the country. He did say that hes in a priviledged position, but that doesnt disqualify him from giving an honest appraisel of the situation we ourselves in.

People were angry in the 50s when they had to emigrate because the country was is the shít, they are certainly right to be angry now to see the state we're in after all the prosperity we had was squandered due to greed.
Injustice, be it on the football field or on the streets of the nation, angers Dunphy. You could see it in his face. At least he fúckin cares, not like that silver spoon twát that was interiewing him.

MyKeyG

Dudess wrote: »

We didn't all vote FF - why are people pretending that's the case?
Many had a role to play, not just politicians and bankers, but the blame is not equal.

Well that would also be incorrect. Why would it just be one or the other? There's an ocean of a grey area in between, which neither the "Ireland's a kip, we're useless" stuff nor the "Ireland's great, get out if you don't like it" stuff take into account.
I often agree with Dunphy but this statement of his is arrogant IMO.

OK that's a fair point. Yes the language was robust and maybe a little arrogant but I'm a big fan of cutting through the BS and interpreting the meaning. Who cares how it's said so long as it's said kind of thing.

In general his point of view struck a cord with me. Ireland is currently a horrible place to live for a lot of people.

Doc Ruby

Agricola wrote: »

Injustice, be it on the football field or on the streets of the nation, angers Dunphy

Except when it comes to getting his driving ban overturned a few years early, of course.

Some amount of crap being spewed on this thread.

Dudess

MyKeyG wrote: »

Ireland is currently a horrible place to live for a lot of people.

I agree. But by the same token, there are people here who haven't a clue of hardship and how good they have it - because they were born from the second half of the 80s on and only know Celtic Tiger Ireland.
Calling it a dump and a kip is such foot-stamping childish crap from a man in his 60s. It reminds me of kids who "hate" their parents and are "SO out of here" when they graduate...

privacyconcern

Dudess wrote: »

I agree. But by the same token, there are people here who haven't a clue of hardship and how good they have it - because they were born from the second half of the 80s on and only know Celtic Tiger Ireland.
Calling it a dump and a kip is such foot-stamping childish crap from a man in his 60s. It reminds me of kids who "hate" their parents and are "SO out of here" when they graduate...

The country is an economic basketcase. Suicide is on the increase. Make no mistake, this country is run by criminals. Just because we don't live in North Korea, it does not mean the country is fine.

Ireland is a dump. I will agree on that point. Bizarre logic this "Ireland is not a dictatorship" stuff. It's moving pretty fast in that direction, you can be assured of that. Disgusting situation with the Troika and inept Civil servants. Truly deplorable stuff.

I am ashamed to be Irish. I've given the country many chances, but my patience has worn thin. I can't make a real living here, forced emigration essentially. Why should I be proud of a country that has failed myself and many others?

I've given up on Ireland. The Politicians/slavemasters still get paid for this joke. Most people here have been sold to serfdom for the elite. This is just morally reprehensible.

Faith+1

privacyconcern wrote: »

The country is an economic basketcase. Suicide is on the increase. Make no mistake, this country is run by criminals. Just because we don't live in North Korea, it does not mean the country is fine.

Ireland is a dump. I will agree on that point. Bizarre logic this "Ireland is not a dictatorship" stuff. It's moving pretty fast in that direction, you can be assured of that. Disgusting situation with the Troika and inept Civil servants. Truly deplorable stuff.

I am ashamed to be Irish. I've given the country many chances, but my patience has worn thin. I can't make a real living here, forced emigration essentially. Why should I be proud of a country that has failed myself and many others?

I've given up on Ireland. The Politicians/slavemasters still get paid for this joke. Most people here have been sold to serfdom for the elite. This is just morally reprehensible.

Ask not what your Country can do for you but what you can do for your Country.:cool:

privacyconcern

Faith+1 wrote: »

Ask not what your Country can do for you but what you can do for your Country.:cool:

I want to be proud of this small country. I really do. But the situation with the crony government supported banks and our slavemaster politicians is a huge problem. Irish people are a resilient race, I won't forget and still support my heritage, but I won't apologise for the state of the country by burying my head in the sand.

Lawrence1895

privacyconcern wrote: »

The country is an economic basketcase. Suicide is on the increase. Make no mistake, this country is run by criminals. Just because we don't live in North Korea, it does not mean the country is fine.

Ireland is a dump. I will agree on that point. Bizarre logic this "Ireland is not a dictatorship" stuff. It's moving pretty fast in that direction, you can be assured of that. Disgusting situation with the Troika and inept Civil servants. Truly deplorable stuff.

I am ashamed to be Irish. I've given the country many chances, but my patience has worn thin. I can't make a real living here, forced emigration essentially. Why should I be proud of a country that has failed myself and many others?

I've given up on Ireland. The Politicians/slavemasters still get paid for this joke. Most people here have been sold to serfdom for the elite. This is just morally reprehensible.

A dictatorship? Which one, if I may ask.