Topaz and Brian Cowan

stoneill

Topaz is now on my boycott list.
Not supporting that fecker.

Join my boycott, or don't, I don't care what you do, but I'm not spending any money there ever again.

Wacker The Attacker

I don't anyway

dmc17

He's hopeless at making sandwiches. The arse falls out of them like everything he touches.

pablo128

I wonder does he turn up for work mouldy drunk there too?

Holsten

You'll make such a dent into Topaz!

Go you!

Bubbaclaus

stoneill wrote: »

Topaz is now on my boycott list.

Why so?

mickydoomsux

This is about the millionth thread on this subject and Topaz are still in business.

MJ23

Are we supposed to guess the reason?

Mickey H

What has Brian Cowen got to do with Topaz?? Did he eat it or something?
Texaco FTW.

jetsonx

Last week, I needed petrol.

I was passing a Topaz garage, then flashbacks of Cowan's goverment in power came back to me. The lies, the deceit, the incompetence, the arrogance...and FF's bank bailout.

I drove on half-a-km further to fill up at Texaco instead.

Days 298

Im happy. Inevitable FF get to power few winks and some brown envelopes and cheaper petrol for all

My name is URL

Mickey H wrote: »

What has Brian Cowen got to do with Topaz?? Did he eat it or something?

Himself and Colm Doherty (former AIB chief) were appointed as company directors by Denis O'Brien.

Nice work if you can get it... not much of a reason to boycott the company though, imo

http://www.irishtimes.com/business/sectors/retail-and-services/brian-cowen-and-former-aib-chief-appointed-to-board-of-topaz-1.1782038

SimonLynch

I had to use a Topaz today, they seem to be making buying fuel itself as hard as possible. I ran service stations myself years ago and if it took so long to start the pump and pay for your fuel we'd have been out of business.

They seem to be focused on coffee/deli/shop sales/stocking shelves, must be where the money is now. Up to them, I'll use any other chain where possible.

stoneill

My name is URL wrote: »

Himself and Colm Doherty (former AIB chief) were appointed as company directors by Denis O'Brien.

Nice work if you can get it... not much of a reason to boycott the company though, imo

http://www.irishtimes.com/business/sectors/retail-and-services/brian-cowen-and-former-aib-chief-appointed-to-board-of-topaz-1.1782038

It's a good enough reason for me.

My name is URL

stoneill wrote: »

It's a good enough reason for me.

Fair enough, and each to their own. I've boycotted stuff before myself.

Do people think that O'Brien or Cowen are going to be the ones to feel the effects of it though?

DeanAustin

jetsonx wrote: »

Last week, I needed petrol.

I was passing a Topaz garage, then flashbacks of Cowan's goverment in power came back to me. The lies, the deceit, the incompetence, the arrogance...and FF's bank bailout.

I drove on half-a-km further to fill up at Texaco instead.

Most of that came from the governments before Cowan's (which he was a part of too to be fair).

I find this demonisation of Cowan to be a little sickening to be honest. It's like we've found a boogeyman/villain and he's going to be held solely responsible for our plight. It doesn't matter that the reasons for it go far beyond one man and one political party.

Bet if Bertie had been appointed to the board of a fuel supplier in 2006, no one here would have been suggesting to boycott it.

Senna

If he came out of the shop to put my petrol in....... I'd let him.

jetsonx

DeanAustin wrote: »

Most of that came from the governments before Cowan's (which he was a part of too to be fair).

I find this demonisation of Cowan to be a little sickening to be honest.

I agree with you. The problem has deep roots with many players. Brian Cowan should not be made the bogeyman.

But, what people see is not so much as an ex-Taioseach but two representatives (Cowan and O'Doherty) from the old guard when the ship ran aground.

pablo128

DeanAustin wrote: »

Most of that came from the governments before Cowan's (which he was a part of too to be fair).

I find this demonisation of Cowan to be a little sickening to be honest. It's like we've found a boogeyman/villain and he's going to be held solely responsible for our plight. It doesn't matter that the reasons for it go far beyond one man and one political party.

Bet if Bertie had been appointed to the board of a fuel supplier in 2006, no one here would have been suggesting to boycott it.

Cowen was finance minister during the boom, and then taoiseach when the other dirtbag jumped from the sinking ship. Turned up buckled drunk one morning for a radio interview too while leader of our country.
Topaz can have the useless bollox. I'm sure he'll be great craic at their christmas party. If they have a free bar, they're fcuked!

thirdtime

It's just not on

riveratom

Side note - there was a seriously hilarious Gift Grub on Today FM on Thursday, so funny. Anyone got the link to it? Can't find it on the site and really want to hear it again!

amorphous

riveratom wrote: »

Side note - there was a seriously hilarious Gift Grub on Today FM on Thursday, so funny. Anyone got the link to it? Can't find it on the site and really want to hear it again!

No, the elites have censored it.

hfallada

SimonLynch wrote: »

I had to use a Topaz today, they seem to be making buying fuel itself as hard as possible. I ran service stations myself years ago and if it took so long to start the pump and pay for your fuel we'd have been out of business.

They seem to be focused on coffee/deli/shop sales/stocking shelves, must be where the money is now. Up to them, I'll use any other chain where possible.

Its where the money has always been in Ireland. The margin on fuel is about 2-3% max. Money has always been made on the forecourt sales like papers, cigarettes, etc. You never see self-service petrol station where you pay for your fuel at the pump in Ireland. As the real money is made when you buy other stuff like cigarettes(especially in Ireland because we dont sell them in vending machines like Germany and Austria)

suicide_circus

I boycott all boycotts

jimgoose

stoneill wrote: »

It's a good enough reason for me.

And me. In fact, I was out the gap as soon as I heard Fathead O'Brien.

donegal__road

Topaz was bought with a 'loan' acquired from Anglo of €185 million.. which was made possible when B Cowan nationalised Anglo Irish Bank.

bodhrandude

I thought that Brian Cowan had converted to tofu burgers or something like that.

EyeSight

DeanAustin wrote: »

Most of that came from the governments before Cowan's (which he was a part of too to be fair).

I find this demonisation of Cowan to be a little sickening to be honest. It's like we've found a boogeyman/villain and he's going to be held solely responsible for our plight. It doesn't matter that the reasons for it go far beyond one man and one political party.

Bet if Bertie had been appointed to the board of a fuel supplier in 2006, no one here would have been suggesting to boycott it.

ah now. His government had the most blatant lies. How many times did he deny a bank bailout, while he was arranging the damn thing?
How many times did he deny we were in recession when the data blatantly showed we were in a recession?
He showed up to a radio interview obviously still drunk, but denied that too.
In fairness, when FF got killed in the elections, his old cronies decided to turn around and say they were against everything and it was all Cowen :rolleyes: But still, he blatantly lied through his teeth constantly

Dublinstiofán

Fuel is ****e
Board is ****e
And they're Shell in disguise that's enough for me

rockbeast

Is Cowen "suckin' Diesel" ? :pac::pac::pac:

DeanAustin

EyeSight wrote: »

ah now. His government had the most blatant lies. How many times did he deny a bank bailout, while he was arranging the damn thing?
How many times did he deny we were in recession when the data blatantly showed we were in a recession?
He showed up to a radio interview obviously still drunk, but denied that too.
In fairness, when FF got killed in the elections, his old cronies decided to turn around and say they were against everything and it was all Cowen :rolleyes: But still, he blatantly lied through his teeth constantly

I don't recall him lying about the bank bailout at all. Got quotes for that?

I also don't recall him lying about recession?

He went on air hungover. He wasn't drunk. It wasn't right but the man was under unimaginable pressure at the time. He was at a do the night before and had obviously had a few. Hardly a hanging offence.

Bubbaclaus

DeanAustin wrote: »

He went on air hungover. He wasn't drunk. It wasn't right but the man was under unimaginable pressure at the time. He was at a do the night before and had obviously had a few. Hardly a hanging offence.

What I find funny is that people clearly hold politicians to higher standards. Like this for example, they are apparently not allowed have a few drinks and have a sore head in the morning like Biffo had.

And then, despite holding them to higher standards, they complain about their salary saying they shouldn't be paid anymore than the rest of us :rolleyes:

stimpson

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WNGmTvuLo8U

He's slurring his words. He's not hungover. He's definitely pissed.

If you stick "Brian Cowen" into google, the first autocomplete is "Brian cowen drunk".

Elessar

I could care less who runs it. I find I get better mileage on Topaz fuel than I get from anywhere else. Happy to buy my fuel there and will continue to do so!

Heroditas

Non-executive board member. He'll turn up for a few meetings a year and get paid about €10k (if even).

Kensington

Bubbaclaus wrote: »

What I find funny is that people clearly hold politicians to higher standards. Like this for example, they are apparently not allowed have a few drinks and have a sore head in the morning like Biffo had.

And then, despite holding them to higher standards, they complain about their salary saying they shouldn't be paid anymore than the rest of us :rolleyes:

You wouldn't turn up to a bloody job interview drunk, well not unless you were a halfwit moron, unfortunately for our oul matey Cowen, the job that's in it is pretty much a daily interview which is scrutinised by the international media - which incidentally is exactly what happened as the story was reported on by most international media outlets.


Anyway, on the point of Topaz they're a ripoff anyway, they're nearly always 2-3c dearer than the local Esso or Applegreen stations.

riveratom

amorphous wrote: »

No, the elites have censored it.

That's what I was thinking myself...

Bubbaclaus

riveratom wrote: »

Side note - there was a seriously hilarious Gift Grub on Today FM on Thursday, so funny. Anyone got the link to it? Can't find it on the site and really want to hear it again!

A gift grub that is funny?


I'm calling BS on that one

fullaljackeen

ApozT to Topaz

AlekSmart

DeanAustin wrote: »

I don't recall him lying about the bank bailout at all. Got quotes for that?

I also don't recall him lying about recession?

He went on air hungover. He wasn't drunk. It wasn't right but the man was under unimaginable pressure at the time. He was at a do the night before and had obviously had a few. Hardly a hanging offence.

One of BC's less publicised quotes came very shortly before he left office ...I cannot find any links,but his point,as I recall it,was that Irish People were going to have to accept a 10% drop in Living Standards across the board.

This level of adjustment is,to my mind,VERY significant :eek:,and I fear it underlines a widespread ignorance of what the term "Living Standards" actually encompasses ?

I believe BC was a very poor choice for Taoiseach,I feel he was never a politician capable of leading a country on the EU or World Stage,but that does not mean he was incapable of delivering an accurate summation of things every now and then....

"10% Reduction in Living Standards"

...have we reached that level yet ???

DeanAustin

AlekSmart wrote: »

One of BC's less publicised quotes came very shortly before he left office ...I cannot find any links,but his point,as I recall it,was that Irish People were going to have to accept a 10% drop in Living Standards across the board.

This level of adjustment is,to my mind,VERY significant :eek:,and I fear it underlines a widespread ignorance of what the term "Living Standards" actually encompasses ?

I believe BC was a very poor choice for Taoiseach,I feel he was never a politician capable of leading a country on the EU or World Stage,but that does not mean he was incapable of delivering an accurate summation of things every now and then.......have we reached that level yet ???

Have we?

Joe prim

Elessar wrote: »

I could care less who runs it. I find I get better mileage on Topaz fuel than I get from anywhere else. Happy to buy my fuel there and will continue to do so!

Thinly disguised "i'm chairman of Offaly Fianna Failures selection comitt-eee" post.

PizzamanIRL

The real issue here is do you play or park?

donegal__road

AlekSmart wrote: »

One of BC's less publicised quotes came very shortly before he left office ...I cannot find any links,but his point,as I recall it,was that Irish People were going to have to accept a 10% drop in Living Standards across the board.

This level of adjustment is,to my mind,VERY significant :eek:,and I fear it underlines a widespread ignorance of what the term "Living Standards" actually encompasses ?

I believe BC was a very poor choice for Taoiseach,I feel he was never a politician capable of leading a country on the EU or World Stage,but that does not mean he was incapable of delivering an accurate summation of things every now and then.......have we reached that level yet ???

Ask any hospital consultant and your answer would be yes. Ask any rural publican and your answer would also be yes. At a guess Id say there would be very few people (outside of parts of south county Dublin) that would say that they haven't experienced a significant drop in living standards.

flutered

My name is URL wrote: »

Himself and Colm Doherty (former AIB chief) were appointed as company directors by Denis O'Brien.

Nice work if you can get it... not much of a reason to boycott the company though, imo

http://www.irishtimes.com/business/sectors/retail-and-services/brian-cowen-and-former-aib-chief-appointed-to-board-of-topaz-1.1782038

also did not o brein get the company at a knockdown price, write off etc included, ah yes.

flutered

My name is URL wrote: »

Fair enough, and each to their own. I've boycotted stuff before myself.

Do people think that O'Brien or Cowen are going to be the ones to feel the effects of it though?

eventually it may trickle up.

EyeSight

DeanAustin wrote: »

I don't recall him lying about the bank bailout at all. Got quotes for that?

I also don't recall him lying about recession?

He went on air hungover. He wasn't drunk. It wasn't right but the man was under unimaginable pressure at the time. He was at a do the night before and had obviously had a few. Hardly a hanging offence.

Excuse my mistake. I meant the IMF bailout. Something he denied many times even when it was secretly being discussed. I don't have time to find a link for every time(I'd be surprised if you don't remember as it was huge news) but here is one:
http://www.rte.ie/news/2010/1117/294497-economy/

He was still drunk from the night before. I know what it's like to party hard, sleep for 4 hours and wake up "hungover" but still feeling drunk in a way. I just wouldn't do it if i was leader of the country and had an interview in the morning. But lets say he was hungover.
Here is a link denying he was even hungover :pac:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1312058/Irish-PM-Brian-Cowen-denies-drunk-hungover-radio-interview.html
Sorry it's a DM link, i don't have time to copy all of the links. Google it if you need more.

Again, i don't have too much time to find a link. I will admit i cannot find much on him denying the recession. But I can remember it from the summer of '08. I have found a link where the opposition reference how him and FF denied it. This was the first time he accepted we were in recession, even though the figures and warning signs had showed it was here/coming.
http://www.irishexaminer.com/archives/2008/0926/world/celtic-tiger-dead-as-recession-bites-73270.html

There were other small lies too. His meeting with Sean Fitz and the other anglo guys. He even lied when he said he would never step down as taoiseach voluntarily, soon after he then resigned - His hands were tied, but why even make such a comment?
Don't get me wrong. I don't blame him for all of his governments failures. FF as a group were rotten and lied. They still don't admit they screwed everything up, they just blamed those like Cowen who retired. But I will always resent him for his blatant lies because it showed that he really didn't respect the people he was meant to represent

jimgoose

Elessar wrote: »

I could care less who runs it. I find I get better mileage on Topaz fuel than I get from anywhere else. Happy to buy my fuel there and will continue to do so!

I'll be giving them a skip. I do not deal with criminals. End of.

jimgoose

Kensington wrote: »

...Applegreen stations.

I will piss into my fuel tank before I will darken the door of one of these "Applegreen" things.

TheDriver

if you take a look at boards of many companies, you would be quite unhappy with who is on them. Cowen is only a non exec member so who cares, if topaz are good price and good fuel then I will buy there as I am not going to cut off my nose to spite my face.
Topaz can be cheapest in area one day, dearest somewhere else another day.........

arybvtcw0eolkf

As they're the most expensive fourcourts in the country I've only ever used them in extrem emergencies and shall continue to boycott Topaz on those grounds and feck all to do with a fat bastard from FF.