Our céad míle fáilte is not some uniquely Irish thing that foreigners wouldn’t understand: It’s just the Irish word for Wilkommenskultur. That didn’t help the Germans, and it won’t help us, either.
At every step along the way, Irish Governments over the last decade or more have pursued – consciously and with foreknowledge – a policy of higher energy costs.
Despite all the best efforts of politicians, journalists, authors, and cultural figures to show the world that Ireland has changed, the world refuses to much notice, or care.
The Mayor was happily photographed with a whole series of free willies, while – perhaps subconsciously – keeping his own paws strategically placed to protect his own:
There’s a certain cultural snobbery at play towards chaps from Newcastle with St. Georges Flag tattoos on their bellies who like to get drunk on beer and sing rude songs about the Germans.
We know, because we live in a world where 80% of American men are circumcised, that the procedure does no lasting harm to the human body’s ability to function.
Our immigration policy means that there are actually now 4,700 fewer Irish people in Ireland paying taxes and contributing to the economy.
Tweaking the levy and how it is applied to force the banks to become more competitive is something the Government should look at, but don’t hold your breath.
All most of these people want is reasonable limits on immigration, and more homes for their own kids. And there isn’t a candidate in the land with a shot at taking power who is willing to offer that formulation.
One of the problems Ireland and Irish leaders have is that if our problems could be solved by a few speeches at Beal na Bláth and some flowery rhetoric about our glorious republican dead, then this would be the wealthiest nation on earth.
There’s a fine line between “brave and principled” and just flat out weird.
Ironically, in this case, phones in schools is actually a pretty good example of why Government shouldn’t interfere with the small stuff: