Noonan and Feta Cheese.

Bullseye1

I cringed when I saw this interview on Bloomberg. The guy is a embarrassment to this country.

http://www.broadsheet.ie/2012/05/16/the-pathetic-insularity-of-michael-noonan/

Lapin

Feta cheese is the last thing I'd put in my basket.

THENORTHSIDER

He is the man to lead us to the promised land :eek::eek:

Bullseye1

THENORTHSIDER wrote: »

He is the man to lead us to the promised land :eek::eek:

Atlantis!

carveone

It was a harsh comment but grimly accurate. The only exposure to Greece is from the usual parasites who play their little credit default swap betting games. It's a sad state for a country to find itself in. Ireland is diametrically opposite - we've practically busted our asses to boost exports, improve competitiveness, attract investment and show we don't wear yellow trousers or talk about stupid tigers any more... It hasn't been nice but it beats being in Greece right now

jimmycrackcorm

I prefer his comments, telling it as it is, compared to the utter crap for example that is expounded by the likes of SF and the Left on the Fiscal treaty.

StupidLikeAFox

Im not sure how one isolated comment taken out of context means anything. Have you got a link to the full interview? (the link on the site doesnt seem to be working)

K-9

Greece would be as dependent on tourism as we'd be on multi-nationals so he has a point. It is broadsheet.ie though so probably taken out of context.

femur61

I heard his comment on the 12 O clock news. Newstalk had an economist on thier lunch time show talking about the contagion effect, and she didn't mention feta cheese. I had such high hopes for this governemnt but at the moment the comments;
Noonan - "economy will take off like a rocket"
Enda- "get a job"
HOgan- "go home and look after the kids"

Varadakar made some inane comment recently as well but too early in the morning to remember it.

Bullseye1

K-9 wrote: »

Greece would be as dependent on tourism as we'd be on multi-nationals so he has a point. It is broadsheet.ie though so probably taken out of context.

I'm sure it's available to look at. It was pathetic to talk of another countries woes with little or no regard for its citizens. And he was laughing.

golfball37

jimmycrackcorm wrote: »

I prefer his comments, telling it as it is, compared to the utter crap for example that is expounded by the likes of SF and the Left on the Fiscal treaty.

We are in hock to Greek banks for just under a billion of OUR money. I wish someone would put aside petty concerns over political nobodies and see the big picture.

The man is an embarrassment to this country end of, this has nothing to do with treaties or upcoming votes either. The man is a caricature of a creature and completely out of his depth.

blowtorch

Greece - only recently joined the Euro. Up until they joined, what were their financial difficulties? I have a vague memory that they 'fiddled' the books in order to be accepted into the Euro.

- Was their financial position worse than now? If not, was it joining the Euro that caused
the meltdown?

- Was their financial position better than now? If so, exiting the Euro may allow them to
re-invent themselves back into Greeks, and re-develop their economy.

?

blowtorch

jimmycrackcorm wrote: »

I prefer his comments, telling it as it is, compared to the utter crap for example that is expounded by the likes of SF and the Left on the Fiscal treaty.

Here he is telling us as it is. (From Bloomberg, yesterday) http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-05-16/noonan-says-ireland-alone-can-pass-eu-treaty-in-region.html

"There isn’t a country of the 17 euro countries at present who could carry this in a referendum, there isn’t a single country bar Ireland. If we can carry this that will send a signal out to Europe.”

What signal? The signal to say that we, if we vote no, are in disagreement with the majority of the population of the 17 countries?

RobbieTheRobber

blowtorch wrote: »

Greece - only recently joined the Euro. Up until they joined, what were their financial difficulties? I have a vague memory that they 'fiddled' the books in order to be accepted into the Euro.

- Was their financial position worse than now? If not, was it joining the Euro that caused
the meltdown?

- Was their financial position better than now? If so, exiting the Euro may allow them to
re-invent themselves back into Greeks, and re-develop their economy.

?

Here is a good article on Greece's problems from Vanity fair.
http://www.vanityfair.com/business/features/2010/10/greeks-bearing-bonds-201010

Link taken from another thread on boards

seamus

blowtorch wrote: »

Here he is telling us as it is. (From Bloomberg, yesterday) http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-05-16/noonan-says-ireland-alone-can-pass-eu-treaty-in-region.html

"There isn’t a country of the 17 euro countries at present who could carry this in a referendum, there isn’t a single country bar Ireland. If we can carry this that will send a signal out to Europe.”

What signal? The signal to say that we, if we vote no, are in disagreement with the majority of the population of the 17 countries?

What he means is that of the 17 countries, he believes that Ireland is the only country whose population would vote yes to this if given the chance.

And he's probably right - for many of the other countries like Germany or France, the treaty is a self-imposed shackle that could kick them in the arse later on. For other countries like Greece or Spain, voters are so scattered and disillusioned at the moment that any government-backed treaty would likely fail out of protest.

Yet it appears in this country that there's fairly strong support for it.

The "signal" he refers to is the signal to the rest of Europe that the Irish population are still committed to the european project and to finding reasonable and sensible ways to pay back our debt and work out our issues.
Which may be a surprisingly important sentiment in the markets, when we have other countries like Greece who appear to saying the exact opposite.

Tazz T

Metro headline in August:

IRISH HOLIDAYMAKERS ATTACKED IN GREECE FOR NOONAN'S ANTI-GREEK RANT

20Cent

Very ill informed comment by Noonan, also laughing while saying it, so much for European solidarity. Also where is our cheese thought we were supposed to be getting some.

sarumite

20Cent wrote: »

Very ill informed comment by Noonan,

How so?

Bullseye1

sarumite wrote: »

How so?

You think his comments and laughter was appropriate?

seamus

Bullseye1 wrote: »

You think his comments and laughter was appropriate?

Who or where gives any indication that he was laughing about it?

Bullseye1

seamus wrote: »

Who or where gives any indication that he was laughing about it?

He was laughing while saying it. Have you watched the interview?

yosemite_sam

I heard his comments, sad reflection on a senior representative of our country. He has form for letting himself down before and should be retired, so someone with tact could fly the flag abroad.

yosemite_sam

He was laughing

seamus

Bullseye1 wrote: »

He was laughing while saying it. Have you watched the interview?

Nobody's posted a video yet.

Bullseye1

yosemite_sam wrote: »

I heard his comments, sad reflection on a senior representative of our country. He has form for letting himself down before and should be retired, so someone with tact could fly the flag abroad.

Exactly. He is an embarrassment.

sarumite

Bullseye1 wrote: »

You think his comments and laughter was appropriate?

Appropriate is not the same as ill informed.

Bullseye1

sarumite wrote: »

Appropriate is not the same as ill informed.

He is representing this country while he is abroad or talking with international media. And him laughing like a fool while talking about Feta Cheese and the woes of the Greeks is wholly inappropriate and embarrassing. It's one thing to give it to us straight but his performance yesterday was pathetic, small minded and worrying.

sarumite

Bullseye1 wrote: »

He is representing this country while he is abroad or talking with international media. And him laughing like a fool while talking about Feta Cheese and the woes of the Greeks is wholly inappropriate and embarrassing. It's one thing to give it to us straight but his performance yesterday was pathetic, small minded and worrying.

Again, I didn't ask about the appropriateness of it. Ill informed and inappropriate are not the same thing.

Bullseye1

sarumite wrote: »

Again, I didn't ask about the appropriateness of it. Ill informed and inappropriate are not the same thing.

The OP is not about "ill informed" it's about appropriateness of our politicians. Where have I mentioned the term "ill informed"? Your the one going off topic.

sarumite

Bullseye1 wrote: »

The OP is not about "ill informed" it's about appropriateness of our politicians. Where have I mentioned the term "ill informed"? Your the one going off topic.

sarumite wrote: »

20Cent wrote: »

Very ill informed comment by Noonan,

How so?

I specifically asked 20cent how his comment was ill informed.

20Cent

sarumite wrote: »

How so?

I think our connections with Greece consists of more than a few products on the shelves and holidays.

sarumite

20Cent wrote: »

I think our connections with Greece consists of more than a few products on the shelves and holidays.

Such as?

Bullseye1

Your question has nothing to do with the OP, which was about Noonan acting like an idiot on a well known and respected business news outlet.

You still haven't given an opinion on the original OP but have instead resorted to talk about appropriate terminology. However, since you have gone down that route Noonon is extremely ill informed if he thinks a Greek withdrawal of the euro won't have an effect on us.

Bullseye1

sarumite wrote: »

Such as?

The Euro and it's possible collapse.

Bullrush

Stupid statement. Made him look like an idiot and did nothing for any European ideals. It wasn't exactly supportive - "I'm ok, Jack."

sarumite

Bullseye1 wrote: »

Your question has nothing to do with the OP, which was about Noonan acting like an idiot on a well known and respected business news outlet.

I was asking a poster to clarify their comment.

You still haven't given an opinion on the original OP but have instead resorted to talk about appropriate terminology. However, since you have gone down that route Noonon is extremely ill informed if he thinks a Greek withdrawal of the euro won't have an effect on us.

I don't believe its in the forum charter that I must provide an opinion on the original OP to post on a particular thread or ask another poster to clarify their position.

This is what the article said

“Apart from holidaying in the Greek islands, I think most Irish people don’t have a lot (of connections with Greece),” he said.
“If you go into the shops here, apart from feta cheese, how many Greek items do you put in your basket?”

At face value I agree with those words. He is right that most Irish people do not have a lot of connection etc.

mawk

I watched it yesterday. the man made my skin crawl. he had such creepy manner to him. slouching back, laughing inappropriately and using his best "get in my van" voice.

*unclean!*

Bullseye1

Watch the video if you can. The words don't tell the whole story plus it takes no account of a Greek exit from the Euro.

golfball37

sarumite wrote: »

Such as?

The 600m or so they owe us after we helped bail out their banks.

serfboard

I saw this on the telly last night and heard it on the radio this morning. And like anything else, tone is important.

I think it was an unbelievably stupid thing to say. I can imagine civil servants in the Departments of Finance and Foreign Affairs cringing at this one.

Bullseye1 wrote: »

Noonon is extremely ill informed if he thinks a Greek withdrawal of the euro won't have an effect on us.

Agreed. It's already having an effect. Look at our bond yields - 10 year money up 0.5% and shorter term money up 2% :eek:.

There's also a lot of arrogance about this which is reminiscent to me of Celtic Tiger times - "we're the good boys now, paying our bills and quietly getting on with it, and oh-ho-ho, would you look at them pathetic Greeks".

If he thinks that the only link between Ireland and Greece is holiday makers and feta cheese buyers, somone would want to sit him down and give him the ABCs of how financially inter-connected we all are.

K-9

Bullseye1 wrote: »

I'm sure it's available to look at. It was pathetic to talk of another countries woes with little or no regard for its citizens. And he was laughing.

Well pointing out that Greece doesn't have a great export sector is self evident I would have thought, If he was laughing and thought he was being funny, well very ill advised.

KINGVictor

Bullseye1 wrote: »

I'm sure it's available to look at. It was pathetic to talk of another countries woes with little or no regard for its citizens. And he was laughing.

The exact reason why in the long run, the possibility of a fiscally,politically united Europe looks increasingly unlikely. So much talk about solidarity and unity but in reality what we see is grandstanding, brinkmanship, nationalistic interests and the apportion of blames.

In my opinion, that is why the Greeks voted en masse for left wing parties like Syriza, a party whose message is that Europe cannot afford to let Greece leave the monetary union. In a sense, they are quite right.

The consequences will be dire, ignore the rhetorics and soundbites, the markets will destroy the Euro zone in less than a year if Greece were to leave.

I was so annoyed a few years ago when a French politician went on air after the Irish voted No to an EU referendum and said they were biting the fingers that fed them, I thought that comment was disingenious, uncalled for and very inappropriate. Never did I think that an Irish politician, talkless of (a Finance Minister that would be aware of the connotations and the weight of his utterances) will be making a similar hurtful remark. Disgraceful!

Icepick

That feta cheese would actually get cheaper so that wouldn't be such a bad thing.

Defiler Of The Coffin

serfboard wrote: »

If he thinks that the only link between Ireland and Greece is holiday makers and feta cheese buyers, somone would want to sit him down and give him the ABCs of how financially inter-connected we all are.

I would find it very hard to believe that Noonan thinks this. The dogs on the street know that if Greece goes down it would make life very difficult for Ireland. Seems to me he was trying to play down the effects rather than entirely dismiss them. He could've been a lot more tactful though.

later12

serfboard wrote: »

If he thinks that the only link between Ireland and Greece is holiday makers and feta cheese buyers, somone would want to sit him down and give him the ABCs of how financially inter-connected we all are.

While his comments were exaggerated in that a Greek exit would adversely affect Ireland, it's not quite clear that it would adversely affect Ireland worse than the rest of the Eurozone, or at least worse than Portugal, Spain or Italy.

We have no tangible economic connection to Greece - Noonan is quite right there. In this case, I think people are confusing the terms 'economic' and 'monetary'. We live in a monetary union, not a real economic union.

seamus

Indeed, think about it in context.

If the UK went tits up, we would quickly follow them. We export huge amounts of good to the UK and import huge amounts of goods from them.

The same can't be said for Greece, we do relatively little trade with them. Greece crashing and burning would have practically no effect on our exports.

That's what he meant.

Tazz T

Just feta cheese?

How about that gorgeous 1ltr tub of greek yoghurt from Lidl and the rest of the greek range they do comes from Greece - tzatziki, stuffed vineleaves, those little stuffed peppers. K

Kalamata olives are the only ones I eat. Ouzo - v.cheap and good from Lidl. Wish we could get more retsina instead of the pricey retinitis stuff from odd bins.

Pitta breads? Most farmed sea bream here comes from Greece.

femur61

Tazz T wrote: »

Just feta cheese?

How about that gorgeous 1ltr tub of greek yoghurt from Lidl and the rest of the greek range they do comes from Greece - tzatziki, stuffed vineleaves, those little stuffed peppers. K

Kalamata olives are the only ones I eat. Ouzo - v.cheap and good from Lidl. Wish we could get more retsina instead of the pricey retinitis stuff from odd bins.

Pitta breads? Most farmed sea bream here comes from Greece.

aa

johngalway

Slow news day for the opposition I see.

RichardAnd

femur61 wrote: »

I heard his comment on the 12 O clock news. Newstalk had an economist on thier lunch time show talking about the contagion effect, and she didn't mention feta cheese. I had such high hopes for this governemnt but at the moment the comments;
Noonan - "economy will take off like a rocket"
Enda- "get a job"
HOgan- "go home and look after the kids"

Varadakar made some inane comment recently as well but too early in the morning to remember it.

Not to mention Sherlocks comments about the online community.

Icepick

Tazz T wrote: »

Just feta cheese?

How about that gorgeous 1ltr tub of greek yoghurt from Lidl and the rest of the greek range they do comes from Greece - tzatziki, stuffed vineleaves, those little stuffed peppers. K

Kalamata olives are the only ones I eat. Ouzo - v.cheap and good from Lidl. Wish we could get more retsina instead of the pricey retinitis stuff from odd bins.

Pitta breads? Most farmed sea bream here comes from Greece.

If made in Greece, they would get cheaper.
What could bother us is what Irish goods the Greeks put into their baskets. And it's nothing to worry about.