Marking Time

[Central Bank Governer John Hurley] also said the level of household debt was now very high by international standards, while inflationary pressures were further eroding competitiveness. He added that Ireland was more dependent on oil than most developed countries, and therefore more at risk from volatility in prices.

RTE Business, 12 July 2006

The chief executive of small business group ISME, Mark Fielding, said Irish inflation running at 1.4 points over the European average of 2.5% is creating serious difficulties for the business sector, which is being priced out of major international markets.

RTE Business, 13 July 2006

Taoiseach Bertie Ahern said yesterday higher inflation was a sign of a strengthening economy: “In actual fact the reason it’s on the rise is because probably the boom times are getting even more boomer.”

Irish Times 14 July 2006

Bringing fresh insight to the War On Terror, veteran broadcaster Gay Byrne today urged suicide bombers to contact the Samaritans as a means of reducing the daily carnage in Iraq.

Well he didn’t exactly, but in his role as “road safety tsar” he’s advocating much the same approach to solving the carnage on Irish roads.

“The waves of bereavement and remorse and sadness going out from all of these individual deaths, particularly the young deaths, it’s just overwhelming,” said Mr Byrne.

“Apart from asking people again and again and again to slow down and to be careful about drink-driving, I don’t know what else we can do.

Gay Byrne 11 July 2006

What next? We’ll be trying to cut crime by appealing to the better nature of criminals. “It’s not a problem of resources no. Those damn criminals just won’t play nice.”

• William Gibson - Rize
  “He brought the thumb down, firing an imaginary shot, then lowered his arm, having no idea at all what to make of whatever it was that had just happened.”
  (tags: Politics)
• Limerick Clare Energy Agency - Energy Solutions Conference 2006
  I was at a sustainable energy roadshow at the weekend. Very interesting, inspiring and a little frightening. What struck me most was that almost all of the audience was over 40.
  (tags: Irish economics Politics)