69 thoughts on “De Saturday Papers

    1. Ron

      Leo was always being played for a fool by the EU political boo boo. He is just so inept, incompetent and inexperienced. They probably complimented his socks and that was enough for his ego.

      His legacy will be as the most hated Taoiseach of our time. The most incompetent Taoiseach of our time. The most inept Taoiseach of our time.

        1. Giggidygoo

          Bertie, however, had a major success on his CV – the Good Friday Agreement. And when you look at the goings on now, it’s that very agreement that’s part of the reason for a ‘proposed backstop’
          I can’t point to any success, minor or major, that Kenny, Cowan, or Varadkar has had.

          1. Ron

            Cowen, Kenny and Varadkar are all bound together under a common theme of ineptitude. Varadkar gets 5 stars for consistently being the most inept. Out of all the clever, capable, competent talented citizens we have in this country, this is the goon that we have as our ‘leader’. It’s embarrassing, but our banana republic political system rewards them by ensuring they can bypass an electorate and install themselves into these positions of power. However incompetent Kenny was, and he was certainly inept, at least the electorate saw what was on display and voted for him. The Irish people didn’t vote for Fine Gael to be in Government with Varadkar as the Taoiseach. The Irish people are essentially debarred from doing anything about it until the party of power decides that the electorate should get a say. It’s the democratic deficit that exists. No citizen enabled participation allowed outside of a general election. Not a thing any citizen can do until the politicalBoo boos allow people to have their say. The whole political system in this country needs to be dismantled and rebuilt.

            Why doesn’t Varadkar go to the people and seek a mandate if he is doing such a good job? Why doesn’t he just shut down his many detractors by getting his mandate? Because he knows he has no mandate and he knows he won’t get it. And he knows he has Fianna Fail by the short and curlies, tied into a confidence and supply arrangement because it’s the only hope they have of survival.

            Imagine a leader of a political party that was directly and collectively responsible for destroying this country with their ineptitude and then that same man trying to convince the people that he is the one to fix it! Lol. It’s incredible! Michael Martin is an old man now. He won’t be allowed lead FF into another election so it’s all about survival for Michael Martin now. Backbenchers getting nervous because they know they are in for a well deserved drubbing from the people. Fianna Fails only hope of surviving now as a party is to join up with Fine Gael.

            But the bit that makes me laugh most is when you hear goons in this country, in positions of great influence talk about how we don’t need a general election. When they talk about stability in the face of Brexit being the focus. lol. These goons genuinely believe that they are critical to our future as we watch them stumble from scandal to scandal. They are oblivious to the fact that they don’t have the capability to negotiate what’s best for Ireland. They have normalised their ineptitude in the minds of Irish people.

            Choo Choo!!!! The gravy train is pulling into a station near you. Stand back and allow your politicians board.

            Carpenters required to fix a broken cabinet in Leinster House. No tools needed, the building is already full of them.

          2. Clampers Outside!

            I’ve never voted FF, but “Michael Martin is an old man now” is laughable nonsense, he’s 58 FFS. Are you a Jamelia fan or something… (rhetorical)

          3. Ron

            58, yes he is an old man, past his sell by date and consistently out of his depth. In fairness he looks older than 58 but I guess the strain of always having to look over his back, always worrying that he will be eventually caught out for the incredible mess he has directly caused in this country.

            He is the cancer on the body politic and in order to fix the patient you need to remove the cancer.

            2019 will be the 30th anniversary of the day the people of Cork elected him and set in motion the events that have led to some of the most disastrous decisions and breathtaking displays of moronic decision making the country has ever seen. Time for him to be put out to pasteur where he can do no more damage.

          4. rotide

            Giggidy, a large part of the GFA sucess is down to the groundwork done by Reynolds, Major and Hume. But I won’t begrudge Ahern the work he did on that, it stands to him. He’l always be remembered by everyone bar you and Ron for nearly breaking this country apart.

          5. jusayinlike

            ironically, you’re in the minority with stupid opinions like that. I laugh in your general direction.

    2. topsy

      Gigg. Ah yes, is the EU going to put the saddle on the Irish donkey once more to carry the burden for our European masters, just as it did during the financial crisis. No problem Ireland will stand still to be mounted for the sake of British/EU relations.

      1. Giggidygoo

        Kenny spun out the line ‘Ireland pays its debts’ (of course when he was out of the country trying to impress).
        What’ll be the line the time round (especially after the hoohah in December 2017 with Vacron hiring, canceling and rehiring the podium to announce what was basically lies)

    3. ReproBertie

      You read far too much into a headline. There’s no suggestion of the backstop being watered down at all. Coveney is even quoted saying the EU27 is in complete solidarity with Ireland.

      1. Giggidygoo

        Did you read past the headline yourself? The proposed backstop isn’t the cast iron or politically bulletproof thing Varadkar was saying, is it. (‘proposed backstop’ by the way is what i’ve written.)

        ‘Mr Coveney stressed that, should Britain change its stance over issues such as single-market alignment, the Irish backstop may be removed as a thorny issue in the Withdrawal Agreement negotiations.’

        Some backstop that would be alright.

        1. Ron

          and wait until they realise they need the Irish Army more than ever post Brexit. They won’t get away with their pay them almost minimum wage strategy that has guided them thus far.

          The nurses are first to rightfully claim what they are entitled to. I hope the Gardai follow and most likely the ambulance services after.

          National Ambulance Service has apparently suspended 2 employees who reported health and safety concerns. Leo’s winter of discontent and all down to his ineptitude, incompetence and arrogance. I hope many sectors of Ireland follow pay claims and I hope they ground this country to a halt in defence of their pay claims… Leo and his band of merry Muppets have no idea what’s in store for them.

          Anyone else notice the Garda powers did a recent rebrand of the traffic corp to the Roads Policing Unit. Let’s whitewash all that happened previously and give it a new name. A bit of marketing will make people forget. How much did the rebranding cost the Irish Taxpayer? Didn’t they try similar with the HSE?

          Choo Choo! The gravy train is approaching the station, regular citizens stand back behind the line and let the political booper-pants exit and board first.

        2. ReproBertie

          Coveney’s right. If the Sasamach’s change their red lines the backstop won’t be as much of an issue because it won’t conflict with their red lines. It’s not about the backstop changing, it’s about the Sasamach’s reasons for resisting it changing.

  1. Otis Blue

    “Not so much a statesman as an Oxfam donation bag torn open by a fox”

    Marina Hyde captured the essence of the clown Johnson earlier this week. Foster didn’t escape her wrath either described cuttingly as having “all the warmth of the matriarch of a remote farm who retains the passports of her labourers.”


    1. Ron

      Ireland is not in any position to be calling out clowns in the UK. We have a building full of them in Leinster House.. So many clowns.. So many

      1. Otis Blue

        We have some beauts for sure.

        For all that though, we’ve yet to see the chronic ineptitude displayed by the British political class over the Brexit shambles.

  2. Eoin

    State-funded Dublin City University caught rapid spending money to ensure they, and they alone, appeared on the Dublin edition of Monopoly.

    How much of our money did DCU shell out? They won’t say but the correspondence between DCU and the board manufacturers is extensive and suggests it wasn’t cheap.
    Was it value for money? DCU won’t say because the Times Ireland has appealed a refusal of the FoI request about the amount paid.

    Nice work from Catherine Sanz at the Times Ireland.

      1. SOQ

        Ha. When the original Metro North was being designed, it was to run under Trinity College up to Stephens Green but they discovered that Trinity did not have enough secure foundations so there was a possibility of it disappearing into a big hole.

        The Irish civil engineers, all from UCD, argued that this was a reasonable risk to take.

  3. Eoin

    “Sources who have worked in Paddy Power Betfair and other bookmakers have told how staff carry out extensive background checks and gather information on certain customers as part of efforts to prevent successful gamblers from winning and to entice losing punters into betting more.

    Staff in the company have said the social media accounts of customers are routinely checked to see if a person is friends with anyone who may be of interest to the bookmaker. They also checked to find out where a person lived if they were betting a lot of money.”

    The Times Ireland have a huge investigation into the dark side of gambling companies which is truly scary. And well written. I must say I was wavering about the €60/year online subscription to the Times and Sunday Times, but these investigations probably justify the subscription (there’s still a huge amount of press releases and yesterday’s news and randomers’ opinions, but there is genuine new work here that isn’t available elsewhere).

  4. Eoin

    Funny how Irish media is not naming the man arrested in NY on sex abuse charges in Ireland (you’ll find the name and full details of the charges in the US media). US media actually claims the man was charged with the offences in Ireland but fled to the US before the court hearing.

    Funny in particular to see the Indo being so coy. Anyone remember the Indo a few weeks ago naming a certain person as the prime suspect in a serious crime investigation. And before that certain person had even been questioned by Gardai, let alone arrested or charged.

    Funny standards. Obvs, the media needs to avoid prejudicing any court proceedings and there’s the question of defamation also and potentially protecting the identity of victims. It looks strange though.

  5. Johnny

    Digicel has to service its debt load in US dollars but collects in local currency.One of its most lucrative and profitable markets has been Haiti.However,it’s slipping towards anarchy with the local currency devaluing against the US dollar,this development will have a significant negative impact on Digicel ,it’s bonds and the CEO Dennis O’Brien.

    ‘As Haiti’s largest mobile-phone provider, Digicel burns about 650,000 gallons of diesel a month to keep its cellphone towers running and the lights on in all of its buildings, including the $45 million Marriott hotel, which it operates in Port-au-Prince.’

    “Three gas companies are out of stock. All companies will be out of stock of diesel in 3 days. Crisis repeated! Who benefits from the crime? Novum? @bmpadhaiti? ” Maarten Boute tweeted, referring to the company that has fuel on ships off the Haitian coast and the Haitian agency that buys fuel for the country.

    Instead of responding to Boute, Haiti’s government slapped him with a summons to appear before the Port-au-Prince chief prosecutor to explain himself.

    “We have considerable villages and towns that we cannot serve,” Boute said. “It has an impact on our customer satisfaction because people blame Digicel, not the government or the [fuel companies], and it has a negative impact on our brand. … The uncertainty it is creating is not necessary; we don’t need this right now in Haiti.’

    The most certainly do not !


    1. Eoin

      That’s an interesting read Johnny, you can see how Haiti is descending into chaos with a state agency insisting on buying all the county’s fuel which is then sold to private operators. That’s a recipe for skullduggery.

      Mind you, they’re not building a 1.5 million square foot national childrens hospital at a cost of €1,200 psf when commercial construction is running at around €300-400 per square foot! No, at least Haiti isn’t that much of a banana republic!

      1. Johnny

        The appointment of Jean-Yves Charlier to the board was reported first on here,with quite a few unanswered questions regarding Les Buckley’s reduced status.He was very close to the recently deceased CEO Alex Matuschka von Greiffenclau,they had both worked at Veon for many years.Jean-Yves …’served as the Chief Executive Officer of VEON from 2015 to 2018 and led the transformation of the US$10billion telecoms group serving 240 million customers across the world.‘

        It’s widely expected/rumored that Jean will now step down which will be absolutely devastating for DOB and Digicel,you could argue this is already priced in.The Board at Digicel is full of insiders and DOB’s cronies,the loss of Alex and now possibly Jean has shaken bondholders and rating agencies.

        I’m working on a design build for a lab (testing thc/cbd) and have been surprised by the initial cost estimates,it needs a super level floor for the equipment etc,have no idea on hospital costs in Ireland and haven’t really followed it,but this lab which has a clean room and is very high tech is pencilling around 1,000 sq.ft.


        1. Johnny

          This is part of a medical city outside Orlando,Florida called Lake Nona.Its a state art children’s hospital,the entire complex is incredible,part of a life sciences park.Not sure what the metric utilized to compare hospitals,but here is a comp.

          ‘The Children’s Hospital is a “smart” building in many ways: A “command center” monitors an array of clinical and facility-related metrics, the technology integration is both functional and fun, and the sustainability goal is reaping far more rewards than just energy savings.’

          ‘The project’s 630,000-square-foot, $225-million facility includes a landscaped entry court, 95 inpatient beds and 76 exam rooms, emergency facilities, a central energy plant and a parking deck. Shell space can accommodate another 32 beds and 24 exam rooms. The master plan anticipates expansion of inpatient and outpatient spaces, as well as additional medical offices, research and support facilities.’


    1. Clampers Outside!

      That’s a great read. Particularly liked the ‘Norway Plus’ link to Bloomberg too.
      Ta for posting

      1. SOQ

        Although there are many reasons for this crisis, it derives ultimately from the fact that the Leave campaign did not specify, and therefore the leave vote could not endorse, what Brexit actually meant. That was entirely irresponsible, but it was not accidental. Only by holding together disparate and incompatible versions of what Brexit meant was it possible to win the vote…

        It meant that any attempt to implement the result was always doomed to fragment the coalition that brought it about.

        Best analysis I have seen yet.

          1. SOQ

            Yes they won the right to decide how to leave the EU.

            Since then, it has been like the EU are hoarding mice at a crossroads.

          2. SOQ

            Bad troll. Consider yourself spanked, but only if in the 30-50 male age range with pictures on Growl.

  6. Catherine costelloe

    512 patient en-suite rooms built in 3 years, ( opened 2011) at cost of 230 millon , Kent & Sussex Hospital.
    380 single , en-suite National Childrens Hospital proposed cost 1:433 billon and rising.
    We should have an independent audit immediately.

    1. Ron

      Why is the Comptroller and Auditor General not all over this? Why are we all surprised? It’s not as though Leo and his band of merry Muppets have a track record in delivering value for money. They have consistently squandered our wealth. Root Cause Analysis: Inexperienced, incompetent and inept politicians led by Varadkar.

      The fact they have no shame tells you everything you need to know about their moral compass.

      Would you allow an electrician perform a life saving operation on you if you were in need? No you wouldn’t, so why do you accept unqualified, incompetent and inept politicians make even more important decisions for you that affect your life.

      Drain the swamp. Remove the political boo boos and let’s rebuild.

      1. SOQ

        Does draining the swamp include SF?

        Their influence in recent planning applications within the Newry and Mourne council zone would indicate that a spray bottle of bleach is required but that is a different country yeah?

          1. Ron

            I suspect we have very different views on how a political system should operate. one that is grounded in ethical dealings would be a start.

  7. Dave's Carer

    Ron’s explanation of political workings in this country, seems to have been cut short – has he been flushed out with all the BOO BOOS in the drainage of the swamp?
    We may never know.

  8. Dave's Carer

    Why have you put BOO BOOS in place of boo boos? Why can’t Ron say it repeatedly, yet I can’t?

  9. Dave's Carer

    Thanks for twinkling with my last ning nong too and changing “fluffy pinkles” to “tootly pootles”. Slow pootie-pie obvs.

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