Irish government of the brink

[Old Greg]

Why would the Norwegians want anything to do with a bunch of bankrupts?

To make them beg like little doggies for some precious precious oil.

[The_Equalizer]

Renege on all national debt.
Renege on all nationalised bank debt.
Pursue property developers' wealth, including retrospective legislation and international arrest warrants for those who've disposed of assets to the missus.
Disband and hold an election.

I think you'll find that is what Gerry Adams pretty much said yesterday. Go Shinners!

[Old Greg]

I think you'll find that Gerry Adams said pretty much that yesterday. Go Shinners!

I prefer Joe Higgins MEP myself.

[The_Equalizer]

I prefer Joe Higgins MEP myself.

I think I'd prefer anyone else over Adams.

[Paddy]

Join the Euro, rely on the strength of the currency to borrow money and gamble it on the stock market. F’up the country for the next 30 years. They should hang the politicians .

[Old Greg]

I think I'd prefer anyone else over Adams.

I'd choose Adams over Cowen.

[Mich the Tester]

Oi tink the Oirish made the same mistake as the Brits in thinking that you can carry on making loads of money out of financial services without actually getting mucky fingers from making stuff. Look at anything Irish you might want to buy, except for food products. Waterford crystal had the genius idea of outsourcing production to Elbonia or some other Eastern European country. Magee tweed have moved production of clothing to Asia and only source some of the tweed in Ireland, but do the clean fingered design work in Ireland. I'm sure there are other examples of premium brand products being devalued this way; you can't keep charging top dollar for this stuff if it isn't made by craftspeople in the place it's meant to come from. You could sell Donegal tweed for twice the price and the demand would probably rise, like a Bevlen good, bringing in more revenues. Likewise Waterford crystal. But it only works if you can keep the story alive of skilled, perfectionist craftspeople working away at it. Some brainboxes with MBAs got all greedy and destroyed what were fine manufacturing industries. Small scale, but high margins is the way to go; Europe can't compete by doing things on the cheap.

They've still got the world's best oysters in Galway though.

[Old Greg]

Oi tink the Oirish made the same mistake as the Brits in thinking that you can carry on making loads of money out of financial services without actually getting mucky fingers from making stuff. Look at anything Irish you might want to buy, except for food products. Waterford crystal had the genius idea of outsourcing production to Elbonia or some other Eastern European country. Magee tweed have moved production of clothing to Asia and only source some of the tweed in Ireland, but do the clean fingered design work in Ireland. I'm sure there are other examples of premium brand products being devalued this way; you can't keep charging top dollar for this stuff if it isn't made by craftspeople in the place it's meant to come from. You could sell Donegal tweed for twice the price and the demand would probably rise, like a Bevlen good, bringing in more revenues. Likewise Waterford crystal. But it only works if you can keep the story alive of skilled, perfectionist craftspeople working away at it. Some brainboxes with MBAs got all greedy and destroyed what were fine manufacturing industries. Small scale, but high margins is the way to go; Europe can't compete by doing things on the cheap.

They've still got the world's best oysters in Galway though.

Irish manufacturing (and agriculture) is big, particularly electronics, pharmaceuticals, optics. There have been some sad departures recently, such as Dell from Limerick.

[Mich the Tester]

Irish manufacturing (and agriculture) is big, particularly electronics, pharmaceuticals, optics. There have been some sad departures recently, such as Dell from Limerick.

So actually, if they just stick at producing high quality goods, both high-tech and low-tech, they'll be alright in the long run.

[Old Greg]

So actually, if they just stick at producing high quality goods, both high-tech and low-tech, they'll be alright in the long run.

No, because (as you said) companies like Dell will move to Eastern Europe.