Where is Brian Cowen now?

Jimmy Garlic

It seems like he just vanished into thin air. I am really worried.

Does anyone have any idea where he might be and what he is up to?

mfceiling

Probably in bed...

Galwayguy35

More than lightly sitting on his hole at home living off the 150 k a year he will get every year for the rest of his life.

A position he wasn't even elected to.

Cookie_Monster

Jimmy Garlic wrote: »

It seems like he just vanished into fat air.

FYP
:pac:

hollster2

The dail bar.......???? hiccup

Bloody*Mary

Doing very expensive courses at University,bettering himself, and struggling along at min 150k.

Along with a very good section of the cabinet he served in.

Hard old station.:mad:

Swampy

Probably living in Thsiland like a king on his pension. 150k over there would be like 500k plus over here.

Jimmy Garlic

mfceiling wrote: »

Probably in bed...

He would surely be up for mass.

Big Nasty

Poor old Brian. A daycent skin left to try pick up the pieces after Bertie left him high and dry. He never had the charisma to be taoiseach God less him.

SEPT 23 1989

Snoring loudly in a porter stained string vest with the remains of a half eaten 3 in 1 precariously balanced on his nation destroying belly

racso1975

Galwayguy35 wrote: »

More than lightly sitting on his hole at home living off the 150 k a year he will get every year for the rest of his life.

A position he wasn't even elected to.

I think you'll find he was elected to that position

efb

Galwayguy35 wrote: »

More than lightly sitting on his hole at home living off the 150 k a year he will get every year for the rest of his life.

A position he wasn't even elected to.

He was elected to it- in the dail. The people don't vote for a Taoiseach

T-K-O

Isn't he studying at Berkeley or Harvard ?

xzanti

I saw him in Dublin Airport around this time last year.. he sat at the table next to us having his breakfast. I think he was heading to Washington for some function at the White House iirc.

Nobody really bothered with him except for a Promo Model who was doing some MAC promotion in The Loop.. she insisted on having her photo taken with him.. Much to his delight.

Galwayguy35

efb wrote: »

He was elected to it- in the dail. The people don't vote for a Taoiseach

Yeah whatever.

Liamario

http://collider.com/wp-content/uploads/men-in-black-3-alien.jpg

squod

xzanti wrote: »

.....he sat at the table next to us having his breakfast.

Did he pay for it himself or leave the bill to the tax payers of Ireland like he usually does?

racso1975

Galwayguy35 wrote: »

Yeah whatever.

Stay classy

ThirdMan

Galwayguy35 wrote: »

Yeah whatever.

This is what I hate about Ireland.

Menelaun

He was in Kilbeggan a few weeks back looking for a phone charger in the betting office where my sister works.

Amirani

Galwayguy35 wrote: »

More than lightly sitting on his hole at home living off the 150 k a year he will get every year for the rest of his life.

A position he wasn't even elected to.

Either is Kenny, Cameron, Merkel or the heads of most national parliaments. US presidents are technically not elected by the people either.

Knifey Spoony

Jimmy Garlic wrote: »

It seems like he just vanished into thin air.

Surely you mean he disappeared into fat air??!

Galwayguy35

NiallSparky wrote: »

Either is Kenny, Cameron, Merkel or the heads of most national parliaments. US presidents are technically not elected by the people either.

Right, just to clear this up, I'm well aware we don't elect the Taoiseach.

The point I was making was that coming into elections we generally have a fair idea who the Taoiseach will be, i.e the leader of the party we are voting for and vote accordingly with the view that this person would be the best person for the job.

This wasn't the case in Cowens case as he got the job in a handover from Bertie.

I really didn't think this needed to be explained.

Amirani

Galwayguy35 wrote: »

Right, just to clear this up, I'm well aware we don't elect the Taoiseach.

The point I was making was that coming into elections we generally have a fair idea who the Taoiseach will be, i.e the leader of the party we are voting for and vote accordingly with the view that this person would be the best person for the job.

This wasn't the case in Cowens case as he got the job in a handover from Bertie.

I really didn't think this needed to be explained.

So the idea of vice-presidents, Tánaistí and deputy Prime Ministers is essentially useless? We should have elections every time there's a change in leadership of a party or a change in the political dynamics of a parliament? What if after the previous election, Richard Bruton had been elected Taoiseach? Should we have another election straight away?

Sean Lemass became Taoiseach in the same way as have countless U.S. Presidents.

I'd argue that it's irrelevant and that it's hypocritical to consider the current system flawed unless you're a supporter of direct democracy. We elect TD's to do a number of things, one of which is to elect Taoisigh, arguably far less important than the legislative responsibilities that we give them.

Mrs Garth Brooks

Down a sinkhole.

foggy_lad

Galwayguy35 wrote: »

Yeah whatever.

Is that you Brian?

monkeypants

Traces of his DNA were found in Birds-Eye ready meals.

ronaneire

He's asleep in the jacks lads

senordingdong

Galwayguy35 wrote: »

Right, just to clear this up, I'm well aware we don't elect the Taoiseach.

The point I was making was that coming into elections we generally have a fair idea who the Taoiseach will be, i.e the leader of the party we are voting for and vote accordingly with the view that this person would be the best person for the job.

This wasn't the case in Cowens case as he got the job in a handover from Bertie.

I really didn't think this needed to be explained.

Here here.
What a pig.

Logical_Bear

Galwayguy35 wrote: »

Yeah whatever.

an excellent reply for getting caught posting sh1te:D

RikkFlair

I heard he was in hiding on some remote island, keeping a low profile beneath a mountain of chocolate eclairs and hang sangwiches.

books4sale

From what I heard, wasn't he in America, enrolled in a business school and preparing to tour the lucrative 'lecture circuit' addressing CEO's, prominant business people, students etc, .....similar to Bertie?

fergiesfolly

Well he's not sitting somewhere, wondering what the feck we're doing, thats for sure!

dj jarvis

more to the point , who cares where, or what the fat **** is up to , waste of skin IMO

dd972

guzzling Guinness and wiping his posterior with €20 notes,







.....until he dies

Pudders

Whilst I know it won't be a popular view, the man has left politics and is entitled to some privacy. OK he made some horrendous decisions but I'm not sure anyone would have made decisions any better or worse.

And no I have never voted FF in my life but think some of the bile and abuse Cowen has suffered reflects very badly on the lack of forgiveness in this country.

Lapin

HardLuckWoman wrote: »

Down a sinkhole.

Too soon......

SEPT 23 1989

Pudders wrote: »

Whilst I know it won't be a popular view, the man has left politics and is entitled to some privacy. OK he made some horrendous decisions but I'm not sure anyone would have made decisions any better or worse.

And no I have never voted FF in my life but think some of the bile and abuse Cowen has suffered reflects very badly on the lack of forgiveness in this country.

In a less civilised society he would be swinging from a lamp post

he is lucky its only a few words on an internet forum

Ted_YNWA

racso1975 wrote: »

I think you'll find he was elected to that position

The people vote for TD's, the Taoiseach is usually the leader of the majority party elected in.

T-K-O

Pudders wrote: »

Whilst I know it won't be a popular view, the man has left politics and is entitled to some privacy. OK he made some horrendous decisions but I'm not sure anyone would have made decisions any better or worse.

And no I have never voted FF in my life but think some of the bile and abuse Cowen has suffered reflects very badly on the lack of forgiveness in this country.

As someone who never voted for FF I tend to agree with your post. However the powers that be constantly rub our nose in it, as a result you have some very nasty comments about former politicians.

efb

I'm sure Brian Cowen gives a sh1t what a few angry Internet nerds thinks

hatrickpatrick

In prison awaiting trial for negligence and possible corruption.

Oh wait sorry I forgot, the Western World has absolutely no concept of "justice" anymore

dj jarvis

Pudders wrote: »

Whilst I know it won't be a popular view, the man has left politics and is entitled to some privacy. OK he made some horrendous decisions but I'm not sure anyone would have made decisions any better or worse.

And no I have never voted FF in my life but think some of the bile and abuse Cowen has suffered reflects very badly on the lack of forgiveness in this country.

the man was finance minister when the country was run into the ground
he held the purse strings - and he royally ****ed it up , not just my assertion
but the international view

he deserves every bit of derision he gets and more - he was super well paid to do his job - a job he was NEVER qualified for , a job he was a disaster at
and walks away whistling a happy tune , becasue he will never have to worry about the ESB bill or shoes for his kids

as some one just said , he is lucky he is not hanging from a lamp post in offaly

Boombastic

books4sale wrote: »

From what I heard, wasn't he in America, enrolled in a business school and preparing to tour the lucrative 'lecture circuit' addressing CEO's, prominant business people, students etc, .....similar to Bertie?

This and complaining about the irish media reporting about him, he got some sort of grant for doing it too

Irish Steve

What's even more worrying is that "the people" seem to have learned nothing from this massive mess that we were dropped in to by whoever you care to blame.

"The people" are still voting for teachers on career breaks, barristers, solicitors and the like, and then expecting them to have some sort of idea of how to run a country, when most of them have never worked in real business.

As someone remarked to me a while back,

"Those that can, DO. Those that can't become teachers. Those that can't teach, teach teachers, and the ones that can't teach teachers become politicians"..................

Then there's the subtle issue of letting them STILL get away with paying themselves way over the odds for the job, and having what are probably the most generous allowances and expenses in the western world, and there's been next to no uprising from "the people" to say that this is no longer acceptable.

The Irish attitude towards this was well summed up by words I heard one morning on Gay Byrne, when Joe Duffy was interviewing people around Ballymun when the CJH story first broke "Wasn't he a coot Hoor for getting away with it for as long as he did"

How many TD's have we seen hauled up in front of tribunals or courts for corruption, or graft, or brown envelopes, or similar?

For however long it was, the Brits ruled things, and the attitude became engrained into the Irish Culture, "Feck ye and yer rules".

The Brits lost control nearly a century ago, but the culture is still "Feck ye..........." and as has been clearly demonstrated to the rest of us, it goes to the top.

Massive Pay rises, massive pensions, holidays that are even longer than school holidays ( now there's a surprise), the whole expenses and allowances issues, misuse of Dail facilities and postal service, the list is endless.

When the people see the people at the top doing things like this, and often getting away with it for years, then the reaction is to do the same, and to say little, on the basis that if they all have their snouts in the trough, they won't be looking too closely at what's happening further down the line.

I'm not far off retirement age. My pension has been destroyed. My property is worth next to nothing at this stage, and was meant to have been a lump sum to go into my pension when we downsized. The very few shares I had are worthless. The cash we had saved got ploughed into keeping a business going for a while because we believed Ahern when he told us that "the recession would be short, and the property market will have a soft landing". Yeah, right, we've seen the truth now. Can't unspend the money though

I've been self employed for a good while, and a number of the companies I used to work for no longer exist. Social Welfare? No chance, they sent me a letter telling me not to even bother signing on. Right now, I am thinking that I will be lucky to retire before I die, the chances of the property market recovering sufficiently for me to downsize and have enough left to buy something smaller after the debts are paid is unlikely to happen in my lifetime.

So, do I despise people like Cowen and Ahern? Damn right I do, because they were only looking out for their own narrow personal agenda, and they did it in ways that secured their own future and security, with no care or interest in what happened to the people that had put them in there to represent them.

What's adds insult to injury is that there is no will or recognition from the latest bunch that are supposedly running the country to do anything to change it, or even to put some of the people responsible behind bars for their activities.

Brutal reality? The republic as presently structured and run has failed. A new republic, and a new political system is needed, with reform from the very bottom of the structure to the top, with laws in place that give the people the power to make politicians accountable for their actions, and something at constitutional level that if more than a certain % of the population sign a petition or similar, the government cannot ignore it, and has to respond within a constitutional time scale, or face sanction.

Probably won't happen in my lifetime, the real people that are running the country, the top civil servants, will do everything they can to make sure that the status quo is not disturbed, the system works too well for them to want it to change any time soon.

Shades of Yes Minister, and Yes Prime Minister. If it wasn't so serious, it would be funny that it's been allowed to happen for so long with so little reaction.

IvySlayer

Galwayguy35 wrote: »

Right, just to clear this up, I'm well aware we don't elect the Taoiseach.

The point I was making was that coming into elections we generally have a fair idea who the Taoiseach will be, i.e the leader of the party we are voting for and vote accordingly with the view that this person would be the best person for the job.

This wasn't the case in Cowens case as he got the job in a handover from Bertie.

I really didn't think this needed to be explained.

We live in a republic, we don't make these decisions, we just choose the people who do.

Grayson

Pudders wrote: »

Whilst I know it won't be a popular view, the man has left politics and is entitled to some privacy. OK he made some horrendous decisions but I'm not sure anyone would have made decisions any better or worse.

And no I have never voted FF in my life but think some of the bile and abuse Cowen has suffered reflects very badly on the lack of forgiveness in this country.

Shure he only ****ed up a country.

xLexie

Wonder how many posters complaining about Brian cowen running the country into the ground took out mortgages they couldn't afford?

Zebra3

MCMLXXV wrote: »

Poor old Brian. A daycent skin left to try pick up the pieces after Bertie left him high and dry. He never had the charisma to be taoiseach God less him.

As much as I hate Bertie, it was Biffo in charge when private debts of the banks were shifted on to the backs of the taxpayer.

squod

xLexie wrote: »

Wonder how many posters complaining about Brian cowen running the country into the ground took out mortgages they couldn't afford?

lol. Even if everyone took out two mortgages they couldn't afford it'd be a fraction of what we owe. Anglo was on the hook for every Tom, Dick and Harry from here to Timbuktu. Cheap & easy credit and poor regulation made us a hotspot for shonky investments.

The ''banking crisis'' (mass fraud) caused domestic mortgages to start failing, some years later.

It took that b*stard a couple of hours of trickery to leave this country with a 100% win for banks and speculators and a total loss for the tax payer and citizen.

dj jarvis

xLexie wrote: »

Wonder how many posters complaining about Brian cowen running the country into the ground took out mortgages they couldn't afford?

i wonder how many of those people took out mortgages that they COULD afford becasue they had jobs at the time , im getting sick of the smug ****ers who look down on the majority of people who borrowed on the strength of the employment they had at the time - only to have the job taken away from under them

you do understand that is how it works dont you?
grown ups that have jobs and kids buy houses over a long period based on their PRESENT employment and future earnings as far as they can predict,
no one predicted the **** storm that followed or how badly cowan and his merry band of gangsters would drop us in it

did you see this coming? , did you warn your family and friends?
the country is full of know it all people after the fact

do you honestly think people would have taken out these loans if they had half a hint that this was going to happen ?

your post is childish and somewhat offensive - grow up