Posted by Jason O on Feb 18, 2009 in
Irish Politics 
Fianna Fail leader, Thursday 03 Mar 2007.
” It was extraordinary that the director of the Office of the Director of Corporate Enforcement needed another 20 staff when he already had 36…….. the director, Paul Appleby, was getting additional staff, but not 20. It was a question of prioritising staff………………Mr Appleby’s office was getting four staff this year and it is hoped he will receive another four. “
Fianna Fail leader, Wednesday 18th February 2009
” I don’t know the identity of these people. It is under investigation by the Director of Corporate Enforcement and the regulator. ………………It’s a matter for the statutory authorities……………..If the regulator says the fraud squad needs to be involved so be it.”
Fianna Fail: Masters of the late barn door closure.
Posted by Jason O on Feb 18, 2009 in
Irish Politics,
Lisbon Treaty From the BBC. None of your high falutin’ political “ideas” or “policies” or any of that malarkey.
UEN GROUP, BRIAN CROWLEY
“Our group is the fourth biggest within the parliament. It’s holding the balance of power between the bigger groups, the left and the right divide, so it gives you a certain amount of power.”
The Union for Europe of the Nations (right-wing anti-federalists) holds 44 of the 785 seats in the outgoing parliament. Mr Crowley represents the Ireland South constituency.
Posted by Jason O on Feb 18, 2009 in
Not quite serious. Th
is has been doing the rounds for a few years on the web, and I find it very funny. To be honest, I doubt it is real, but worth posting for the simple reason that it is not the sort of thing that anyone could honestly say Silvio Berlusconi wouldn’t do!
Posted by Jason O on Feb 18, 2009 in
Books,
Irish Politics 
For a former PD like myself, reading Stephen Collins’s “Breaking the Mould” is a bit of a journey through a misspent youth, as I can recall many of the events in it.
Collins does a good job of painting the huge air of expectation that surrounded the founding of the party, and the belief that it could turn the Irish political system on its head.
I’d recommend, in particular, that PD haters read the book, as it paints a very accurate portrayal of a) how unideological the party actually was, and b) how the so-called “right wing” agenda was never more than a figment of some fevered left and right wing headbangers. Given the ugly right wing voices beginning to appear on the political horizon, they may look back nostalgically on the PDs.
What is most revealing about the party’s story is that after Haughey’s departure from public life the party absolutely struggled to define, even internally, what it was actually for, and how the party, from the Dail to us, the members, pretty much lost our nerve. That’s what killed the Progressive Democrats in the end.
Succinct and well written.
