Economy
#CATJRF: How asset transfer can blur the boundaries between rival communities…
This is another case study interview, about another pretty impressive long term well managed community resource which is, thirty year after it began with the issue of community bonds (each costing £75m, but purchasable in weekly instalments of a pound), the Ashton Community Trust. The trust, headquartered in the nationalist New Lodge area is now [...] more »
Why did the next Chinese leader spend three days in Ireland?
The news of a thousand new jobs in Dundalk from Paypal might just have enough people thinking that Ireland is on its way back. The general excitement is not dissimilar to the time when the Bank of Scotland blew into town taking advantage of light touch regulation, and throwing easy credit all over the place. [...] more »
“However, the Minister told us that she was too busy to see us.”
With potential European Commission fines still pending for the Northern Ireland Executive’s failure to protect a special habitat in Strangford Lough, another area of contention, environmentally, has opened up – with further potential EC fines. This time, it’s commercial salmon fishing. And the Department responsible for licensing the nets used is the NI Department of Culture, Arts [...] more »
Enforcing moral hazard the Icelandic way (though Ireland may have better longer term prospects)…
There’s a good piece in the San Fran Chronicle which compares Iceland’s handling of the debt crisis favourably with the US’s. It doesn’t say it, but you might also compare it unfavourably with the Eurozone’s mishandling of its crisis too. Iceland’s special prosecutor has said it may indict as many as 90 people, while more [...] more »
“Freedom of information it isn’t…”
In the Irish Times, Noel Whelan takes a look at the Irish presidential candidates’ declared expenditure. [So you don't have to? - Ed] Indeed. He starts by comparing that declared expenditure with what they said, during the campaign, they would spend. From the Irish Times article One of those mental notes was made during the [...] more »
Euro crisis: “It might be something which would allow Greece also to at least, to some extent, get a new start.”
Have the Greek coalition partners in Government, led by the technocratic former Greek and European central banker, Lucas Papademos, done enough to meet the demands of Germany their eurozone partners? Maybe… and maybe not. As the Guardian’s live-blog noted today Jean-Claude Juncker, who is also prime minister of Luxembourg, says the Eurogroup was still missing information from [...] more »
UK business lending slashed in face of lowered growth prospects…
Paying down baby debt may have sounded like a good policy in opposition, but George Osborne’s intervention to try and get banks (those largely publicly funded institutions) to lend money in an economy that’s as close as Ireland to contracting again, is faltering… The Daily Mail reports lending to business is down by £10 Billion [...] more »
Fiscal apocalypse: Northern Ireland spending exceeds tax by 39.3% of its GDP
There’s been a lot of complaining, mostly though not entirely from the SDLP, and certainly the unions, that OFMdFM ought to be fighting a better fight with Whitehall, and in particular HM Treasury… Well, according to Douglas McWilliams (H/T reader Stuart), here’s what Sammy Wilson is up against when it gets close and personal with Mr [...] more »
Time for Ireland to align with London rather than Boston or Berlin?
It’s a brave taoiseach that would abandon years of coaxing investment from the US, to begin to cultivate a closer relationship with the British. You might say that one of the critical differences between Greece and Ireland is that Ireland’s export industries(seeded with US capital) have far outperformed its indigenous industries. Nonetheless, Paul Allen argues [...] more »
Euro Crisis: Cold morning after a hot night in Athens…
Twitter was burning with indignation last night (as it often is) that the MSM did not throw any attention on the crisis in Athens as the Greek Parliament acted upon the German ultimatum to impose an austerity package that may see the new government washed away in the upcoming general election in April. I suppose [...] more »
Sinn Fein upgrading Southern economic policies?
According to the Sindo… The party spokesman on European affairs Padraig Mac Loughlainn told the Sunday Independent that it was important to speak to such people when formulating credible economic policies. He said that in conjunction with the party’s two in-house economic advisers — Joanne Spain and Eoin O Broin — the party had sought [...] more »
Euro crisis: You have six days to comply…
That’s the message to Greece from Germany the EU finance ministers. Despite initial reports, prompted by the Greeks themselves, what was agreed yesterday between the party leaders there fell short of what was required – by some €300-odd million. From the Irish Times report The ministers imposed a six-day deadline on Greek authorities to comply [...] more »
raising an old issue like employment
At the moment, as Pete flagged a couple of days ago, Bill Clinton is doing some heavy lifting in the US for job creation on behalf of the Republic of Ireland’s government. Over at the Belfast media group, Jude Collins provides an interesting contrast, highlighting the uneven results of Invest NI’s work: During 2010/2011, Invest NI [...] more »
Bill Clinton to host “Invest in Ireland” event in New York
As the BBC reports Former US president Bill Clinton is to host an “Invest in Ireland” discussion in New York on Thursday. Well, he’ll ”attend for the beginning of the event where he will make some opening remarks”. You get the point. *sniff* He used to have such big [economic] ideas for here… The Merrion Street [...] more »
Euro crisis: “We are not fully in control of the sequence of events…”
Having watched as yesterday’s ‘deadline’ went whooshing past their heads, Greek party leaders are due to meet later tonight to consider another draft bail-out deal – once it’s been translated into Greek… You can follow events as they unfold at the Guardian’s live-blog. Meanwhile, as promised, Frau Bundeskanzlerin has joined Nicolas Sarkozy on the campaign trail [...] more »
Contested Space Programme: “What’s strange is that we haven’t heard anything about this until now…”
On 22 January, after the International Fund for Ireland (IFI) announced their £2million Peace Walls Programme, I asked about the absence of OFMdFM’s £4million Contested Space Programme – announced in March last year. On 27 January the Northern Ireland Executive Junior Minister, Sinn Féin’s Martina Anderson, launched the Early Years Faces and Spaces – Children’s Shared [...] more »
Where would a No vote for the ‘Fiscal Compact’ leave Ireland?
Apparently, according to economist Jim Power in today’s Irish Examiner, in a very odd place indeed: It is intended that 12 out of the 17 eurozone member states would be sufficient to ratify the treaty. It appears this will be achieved easily enough. Consequently, unlike the case with the Lisbon Treaty, if Ireland were to [...] more »
What’s in Belfast City Council’s draft investment programme?
Belfast City Council launched their 2012-2015 Draft Investment Programme (PDF) this morning. The 44-page colour brochure is packed with optimism, bullet points and potential. But away from the headline £233m figure and the photocall with Peter Robinson, Martin McGuinness, Niall Ó Donnghaile and Deirdre Hargey, what’s the real story? It should be recognised as a [...] more »
Sarkozy: “I did not know she voted in France…”
At the Guardian’s Politics Blog, Michael White has some fun with reports that Nicolas Sarkozy has enlisted Frau Bundeskanzlerin in his French presidential re-election campaign. Although this post’s title quote, from the Wall Street Journal blogs, suggests he may already be having second thoughts… ANYhoo… From Michael White’s post We can assume that pollsters have advised [...] more »
RBS bonus: Obscene or a nice piece of business?
One thing, I think, that is better, or at least more widely, understood in the Republic than in the UK is that the credit crunch is still screwing up almost every other well intentioned effort to get our economies moving again. This is because the banks still haven’t owned up to the extent of their [...] more »
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Total Politics: Top 20 NI Blogs…
Fair play to Iain, he managed to get over 2,200 people voting in his poll for the top Northern Irish blogs this year… We (just, I imagine) retained our top spot, with Splintered coming straight in at number 2, no doubt his pet subject du jour will have garnered him a lot of fans… I’ve [...] read our review »
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Turas, by Colin Neill – a story of strangers in a strange land
Colin Neill’s first novel Turas peeks into a world in which many Ulster Protestants feel uncomfortable. It’s 2020 and the Irish unification that unionists and loyalists confidently predicted would never happen has become a reality. President Adams is ensconced in Phoenix Park. The newsreader reported that … a short ceremony at Stormont had confirmed the [...] read our review »
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Legion of the Rearguard – Dissident Irish Republicanism by Martyn Frampton, Book Review
Are you confused about ‘dissident’ Irish Republicanism? Anxious about its existence and its seemingly increasingly deadly capabilities? Martyn Frampton’s new book, Legion of the Rearguard: Dissident Irish Republicanism (Irish Academic Press, 2011) serves both as a primer on active dissident groups and a timely analysis of their historic significance and contemporary capabilities. This book clears [...] read our review »
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