This man is living in his own bubble. It was his government that squandered our taxes, got into bed with the public sector unions, bloated the same sector and encouraged people left, right and centre to get onto the property ladder.
Unbelievable.
Can’t say I’m surprised. All growth is always attributed to the government in power, all contract is attributed to external factors. Probably rule 1 of politics in most countries.
Crap populist gladhandler talks shit shocker…
Inside on Page 3, Ireland gets what it deserves for electing a gobshite…
Rumours of Bubbles the chimp’s death exaggerated…
What a brass neck.
The bust is getting bustier Bertie.
I wish they would give him his full title and say former T and Carpark Attendant, Alleged Backhand Reciever and Destroyer Of Economies not to mention All Round Gobshite etc…
You know he probably believes it.
…like the speeding motorist that blames the accident on what appeared just beyond the blind bend.
Jay*** what does that say for the rest of that party who are still in government then? 
“However, speaking to reporters in Dublin today, Mr Ahern claimed the Government would have been well able to manage the property crash if the international banking crisis hadn’t happened at the same time.”
if the banks were made to act responsibly then there wouldn’t have been a housing bubble in the first place. couldn’t even run the country without having to pay Eur 5m a year to your advisors for their world class opinions.
wonder if he stands again at the next election!
Fu*K that man annoys me.
King Prick.
Why oh why has he not been egged or flour bombed to date?
He oversaw and encouraged the financial butchering of an entire generation.
Public derision is what’s needed. Fu*king Clown.
Only in Ireland.
To be fair the British are screwed as well. Notice how both Cowen or Brown weren’t voted in, and Brown likes to blame the Americans for his countries problems.
On a per capita basis, banking losses and fiscal deficits in the UK are, while awful, not even close to the situation here.
I’m not having a pop at you Mossy, but I often hear “yeah, but the Brits are also banjaxed” from people and its an indicment of the level of denial in Ireland today.
We must face up to our situation, like an alcoholic must accept his problem before he begin treatment. What scares me is that most of the ex-teachers in the Dial don’t remotely understand the reasons why we are here, let alone how to get us out it.
We need tens of billions. We cannot tax it out of the economy. We cannot borrow it. There is only one thing left - we must hold our hands up and accept international assistance.
And you’d think Bertie would have the humility to shut his gob now. It’s this sure-I’d-have-it-sorted-grand-so attitude that serves to trivialise this tragedy (which is not too strong a word) and contributes to the denial out there.
I do agree, I think we are in a bigger mess than Britian but Gordon Brown has some serious problems that he refuses to face up to. He is continuing to spend billions that the UK doesn’t have, his mental health has being called into question and he doesn’t listen to anyone unless it’s a spin doctor or some such. This doesn’t bode well for that country.
As for FF to call for international help, I don’t see what good that would do for us? Or maybe I’m being a bit naive? If we were to call in the IMF, they would slash our public spending massively and leave us with a stigma as a basket case, even though we are closer to a basket case as it stands.
Would it not be better for our government to make all the painful but necessary choices rather than the IMF.
Problem is though, we have politicians that don’t know what to do and don’t have the balls to do it when they realise what’s to be done.
Another major difference is that when Tony B. resigned, he didn’t hang around the halls of power like a bad rash. Did Bertie resign or just step down from the Big Gahunna role but retain salary and perks? Still appears to be driven round in a Black Chariot. If only he could loan his balls and hard neck to BIFFO.
+1
The more I read Ahernes musings, the more I get the impression that he is a Walter Mitty type ‘an ordinary, often ineffectual person who indulges in fantastic daydreams of personal triumphs’ rather than the ‘most cunning of them all’ character bestowed upon him by his former boss.
In an ideal world, it would be better to deal with this ourselves. Like the NAMA bad-bank plan which, as an idea to deal with a banking crisis, is not a bad one. The issue is that the scale of our liabilities are such that no structure can adequately deal with them, without help from the EU and/or IMF.
To most drongos in the Dial, NAMA is a good idea because “They did it in Sweden and it worked there, so it’ll be grand”. They have not an ounce of understanding vis-a-vis how our situation compares with that of Sweden during its crisis.
IMO, Brian L has the brains to get his head around this and is trying to get the message across that things will get a whole lot worse, but he’s wasting his breath with some, even in his own party.