• Honohan on the Economy, Banks and the Job Market Governor Honohan delivered a speech to the Trinity College Alumni Career Network this morning: you can read it here. ..more

• Iceland! Iceland! Collapse! Collapse! I?ve noted on a number of occasions that both Brian Lenihan and Brian Cowen are very fond of misleading analogies in which any proposals to nationalise the two main Irish banks are linked to events in Iceland. For example, I noted recently that in an interview with Business and Finance, Minister Lenihan linked Iceland’s banking system collapse to a decision to [...]..more

• IMF on NAMA and lending As promised below, there is a story in today’s Irish Times that: “THE INTERNATIONAL Monetary Fund (IMF) told Minister for Finance Brian Lenihan last April that the National Asset Management Agency (Nama) would not lead to a significant increase in lending by the banks.” I dare say that this (NAMA not resulting in increased lending) does not come [...]..more

• Financing Infrastructure Today?s Irish Times reports that the IMF had warned that NAMA would not significantly increase lending (separate thread). Increased lending is something businesses are looking for, but with public budgets being squeezed one area of investment that will also need to attract significant non-public funds is infrastructure. A story by Louise McBride in the Sunday [...]..more

• George Lee resigns from Fine Gael and his Dail seat I just spotted this - had to check I got the date right as this seems to much like a first of April story, but sure enough his former (???) colleagues at RTE, and the Irish Times have reports on this.  At the time George got elected a number of comments on this blog made the point [...]..more

• A Full Blown crisis for Fine Gael All day, Fine Gael TDs hav3e publicly expressed disappointment at George Lee’s bolt out of the blue. What the should have been expressing is: Share This ..more

• Short Visits Make Long Friends: The Case of George Lee The recruitment of George Lee and his subsequent by-election success were the best things that happened to Fine Gael for years. Now he’s gone: just like that. Share This ..more

• Cowen off the cuff but still off the track It has been one of few moments that Brian Cowen has been on fire since becoming Taoiseach. Last year, he stood up at the Dublin Chamber of Commerce Annual Dinner and, without warning, delivered a master class in rhetoric.  First of all let’s pile up the negatives. His lacklustre record as Taoiseach. His general inaccessibility. His [...]..more

• Mattie McGrath and the spirit of 1968 Fianna Fail’s claim as the great catch-all party can in a sense be personified by the two honourable members for Tipperary South. I don’t think there is any other constituency where the contrast between party colleagues is more glaring. Share This ..more

• Artist Puts Comic in the Picture This particular blogger has devoted much time and energy to the fall-out from the Holocaust “joke” from our own Tommy Tiernan. The responses have been fairly dispiriting by and large and have weakened my faith in human nature - at least in its blogospheric manifestation. Share This ..more

• Never in the history of the State have so many people been out of work Image by jaqian via Flickr FF: no jobs, no plan & no hope   Never in the history of the State have so many people been out of work, Fine Gael Enterprise Spokesman Leo Varadkar TD said today as the live register climbed by 13,300 in the last month.   ?At the end of last year the Government was trumpeting [...]..more

• Coughlan refusing to act on loan guarantee for cash-strapped companies Image via Wikipedia Speaking in the Dáil today (Tuesday) during Enterprise questions, Fine Gael Enterprise Spokesman Leo Varadkar re-iterated Fine Gael?s call for the introduction of a Government-backed loan guarantee for small & medium enterprises.   ?Credit is the lifeblood of the economy but small & medium enterprises are being starved of credit by the banks. There are [...]..more

• Fine Gael slam decision to grant permission for major development in Castleknock Village Image via Wikipedia Local Fine Gael representatives, Leo Varadkar TD and Cllr. Eithne Loftus have condemned the decision by An Bord Pleanala to grant permission for the building of a major new village centre in Castleknock. This decision was against the advice of the planning inspector who recommended a refusal of permission, and if the development [...]..more

• Work to rule will hurt vulnerable much more than Govt Work to rule will hurt vulnerable   With public sector unions escalating their work to rule this week, Fine Gael Enterprise Spokesman Leo Varadkar TD has warned their action is not an effective way to bring the message home to Fianna Fáil and the Greens, and will have a bigger impact on the vulnerable.   ?The work to rule [...]..more

• Ireland needs new corporate culture to restore battered reputation Image by Getty Images via Daylife Ireland needs new corporate culture   Addressing the Irish Stock Exchange Conference in Dublin, Fine Gael Enterprise Spokesman Leo Varadkar TD called for a new corporate culture to restore Ireland?s battered reputation overseas. Deputy Varadkar addressed the conference on the issue of corporate governance as an invited panellist.   ?The reputation..more