Hey smug Enda. I didn't spend spend spend.

liaconn said:

Also, people didn't know, and certainly weren't informed, that property prices would go down. We were lead to believe they would keep going up for a time and then stabilise.

Click to expand...

the thing with property is that it seldom dose stabilise, its nearly always going either up or down.

What mainstream commentators? People on sites like AAM and property pin had more idea than anyone reported in the media.

From wikipedia

Crash predictions

• In February 2000, William Slattery (then former Deputy Head of Banking Supervision in the Central Bank of Ireland) predicted a property price fall of 30%-50% possible if credit growth not curbed.[22]

• The International Monetary Fund in 2000 stated that no industrial country in the last 20 years had experienced price increases on the scale of Ireland without suffering a subsequent fall.[23]

• The International Monetary Fund in 2003 stated that residential property in Ireland was overvalued.[24]

• The Economist news magazine suggested in June 2005 that a large bubble exists in the Irish market.[25]

• The Economic and Social Research Institute in Ireland said that a bubble probably existed.[26]

• The OECD and certain senior Irish officials[who?] of the Central Bank of Ireland agreed in November 2005 that Irish Property is overvalued by 15%. However this was only released to the public by The Irish Times shortly afterwards.[27] The Central Bank denied that they had deliberately withheld this information to avoid triggering a crash, and in April 2006 said the housing boom may be "unsustainable" and poses a "significant risk" to the economy.

• Most economists think that property prices are unsustainable because rental yields have fallen below the risk free rate of over 3.5% offered by Government bonds.[28]

• The Economic and Social Research Institute issued a statement on 18 April 2007 in light of the RTÉ documentary on 16 April 2007 stating that the only activities there is economic certainty in is cigarette manufacturing and undertaking.

Click to expand...

From memory:

David McWilliams, writer with the Sunday Business Post and later Irish Independent, radio show host and national TV presenter, predicted a house price crash & debated this in detail with bank economist Austin Hughes on RTE's Prime Time show in 2003.

Economists Morgan Kelly and Alan Ahearne were also saying something similar around the mid-2000s. Ahearne had his own column in the Sunday Independent. Kelly used write an odd article for the Irish Times.

Bill Tyson, then personal finance journalist with the Irish Independent, predicted a crash in 2002/03.

And what happened after one of those reports? You had banks, estate agents, government ministers, academics etc etc rushing out with their people to ridicule the reports. You might be financially savy enough to see the warning signs but some poor fecker being given the sales pitch from some sub prime lender might not have been. I refuse to condemn them for that.

By the way, How many ordinary people read regular economist or OECD reports? Want to go back and look at media coverage. Willing to bet none were front page headlines like you see now.

How many people in Ireland 8-10 years ago didn't know who David McWilliams was, and why he was famous?

PS like you,I condemn nobody. However its ridiculous to say that nobody was ever told that price falls were possible. To say this isn't condemning anyone.

It was and is rather disheartening to see the media wheel out estate agents to answer questions on the future trend of the housing market.
RTE still do this a lot - will they ever learn? Do they care?

You'd think at least at this stage they would preface what the person is about to say by "WARNING, this next piece is by a shill" - instead of sitting there and listening to another "now is the perfect time to buy a house".

Enda Kenny was not wrong in what he said. Most of us didn't jump on the lunatic spend bandwagon. Some of us had some sense knowing that in a country that never knew anything but depression the boom was only temporary. But, the banks showered money on people. Customers went to banks asking for loans for second hand cars and came out with offers of loans for new four wheel drives and a run-around. The conversation everywhere was that the country was awash with money. Suddenly people who could barely afford a holiday previously were now buying holiday homes. The local bank managers were egged on by bonuses etc. It was like giving sweets to hungry children. Unfortunately, many of these adult children could not get enough sweets. Consequently, we are now back in "normal times."

The country went mad on greed - there is no other word . . . and the people who caused our national disaster will never have to answer for their misdeeds.

Watching Enda on the TV clips waltzing around Sarkozy, putting his arm around him, patting him on the back, "whup ya Boyo", I have to say made me want to throw up. I think he is very false.

SlurrySlump said:

Watching Enda on the TV clips waltzing around Sarkozy, putting his arm around him, patting him on the back, "whup ya Boyo", I have to say made me want to throw up. I think he is very false.

Click to expand...

Agree 100%. Although Enda doesn't appear too sincere either

Leper said:

and the people who caused our national disaster will never have to answer for their misdeeds.

Click to expand...

Indeed this is the most depressing part. Many of them ended up benefiting from it.

SlurrySlump said:

Watching Enda on the TV clips waltzing around Sarkozy, putting his arm around him, patting him on the back, "whup ya Boyo", I have to say made me want to throw up. I think he is very false.

Click to expand...

If you look closely you will see his tail wagging!

Watching Enda on the TV clips waltzing around Sarkozy, putting his arm around him, patting him on the back, "whup ya Boyo", I have to say made me want to throw up. I think he is very false.

Click to expand...

Disgusting alright. Both of them.

Sarkozy doesn't act like that with others. Enda is giving off the eejit vibes.
When Enda was giving his address to the nation this was scripted for him. When he was talking in Davos it wasn't scripted.