FF Ministers for Agriculture

if it had stopped at Clifden maybe some early remorse would have sufficed.

I agree, but the RTÉ interview really incensed people.

Besides his fudge of the Covid requirements, about 10:30 into the interview with Tony Connolly, when questioned about being stopped for using his mobile phone, he claimed that if the Gardaí knew he was a European Commissioner or a politician they wouldn’t have stopped him.
 
I agree, but the RTÉ interview really incensed people.

Besides his fudge of the Covid requirements, about 10:30 into the interview with Tony Connolly, when questioned about being stopped for using his mobile phone, he claimed that if the Gardaí knew he was a European Commissioner or a politician they wouldn’t have stopped him.
It's a shame he couldn't have done the interview on the Late Late Show, just for the sake of historical context.
At least he won't have the expense of keeping three homes anymore.
 
The late late show should be put out of its misery, non stop sob stories and misery porn. Its supposed to be light entertainment, it used to be with Gay Byrne at the helm when celebrities actually wanted to appear with him.
 
The late late show should be put out of its misery, non stop sob stories and misery porn. Its supposed to be light entertainment, it used to be with Gay Byrne at the helm when celebrities actually wanted to appear with him.
Celebrities such as P. Flynn, the father of a Class Act.
 
Only Gay Byrne would have been good enough to interview Phil, just as he did with P Flynn.
Ryan would be a lightweight interviewer.
 
Only Gay Byrne would have been good enough to interview Phil, just as he did with P Flynn.
Ryan would be a lightweight interviewer.
I agree, it would have provided a nice historical symmetry though.
 
But gay Byrne was light entertainment first, if he had politicians on he approached it from that view point, he let them talk and went down interesting avenues if that's where the conversation was going, that's how pauric Flynn hung himself. Tubridy tries to be hard hitting, it's as if he is not his own man and a creature of his background team, you always get the impression that someone else is pulling the strings
 
My last word on Golfgate . If any of the 81 get Covid symptoms could we trust them to get tested ?. I hope that they dont, by the way, for everyone,s sake.
 
My last word on Golfgate . If any of the 81 get Covid symptoms could we trust them to get tested ?. I hope that they dont, by the way, for everyone,s sake.

I didn't hear any of them declaring they were self isolating for 2 weeks ... I would have cut them a lot of slack for that.
 

great article in the irish times about how we shot ourselves in the foot by jettisoning Phil Hogan and the important trade commission role

"In Ireland, the Government’s unease at a health system with very limited capacity has made Irish people afraid of travel, afraid of tourists, seemingly afraid of themselves. Instead of utilising best-practice examples from around Europe, Ireland has largely ignored EU guidelines for safely restarting international travel.
This is Irish exceptionalism of the worse kind. And by allowing the parochialism of Ireland’s domestic politics to dominate its engagement in European affairs, Dublin has blundered badly. It may take us a generation in Brussels to repair this damage."
 
Ursula asking for a male and a female candidate. How silly is that?
If she chooses F it is because she is F.
If she choses M then it would signal that F must have been really bad.
We should put up one candidate and avoid this nonsense.
 
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I cannot see, from that article, how we shot ourselves in the foot. It's just a pet-piece of adulation. It diminishes the performances of Mccreevy and Geoghegan Quinn, but what else would you expect from FG. Ask any FF at the time and they would be as gushing in praise for Mccreevy /Quinn as this piece is for Hogan.
The reality is Commission appointees are assigned on a basis EU parliamentary committee evaluation. Portfolios are assigned thereafter.
It is naive to think that an Irish EU Commissioner have "Irelands interest at heart", when our own parliament shows that what's considered in "Irelands interest" can vary from party to party.
For instance, is it in Irelands interest to cede sovereignty with regard to our corporate tax regime and agree to align it with members States? According to this article Hogan was agreeable to a softening of Irelands stance (I wonder if this view is what clinched the portfolio in the first place?). If you were to listen to our representatives here, our corporate tax policy is not for debate.
So its to hard to see how an EU Commissioner, soft on tax sovereignty, is in Irelands interest at all.
 
We have a new Minister for Agriculture... I give him 6 months before some dalliance on whatsapp with someone other than his partner takes him out :)

Fianna Fáil's Charlie McConalogue has been appointed as the new Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine.
 
michael martin has finally caved in on opening the pubs soon. looks like there was going to be an open revolt in the government. Mark Mcsharry came out openly and called the latest regulations "stasi" like, they were facing fierce criticism even from labour TDs like Michael mcnamara and Alan Kelly, not the normal allies of publicans. By not opening all the pubs by August 10 the government turned the "wet pubs" (what an awful phrase) into a sort of fetish that only Ireland unique in Europe could not be trusted with.
 
Could be a lot of trouble for the guards with regard to the Barry Cowan sacking and the leaking of confidential information by gardai to politicians and subsequently the media. They reckon a senior td knowing this information chose the most opportune time to leak this and cause maximum damage to Barry Cowan. There is going to be a lot more to this
 
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