What's wrong with Leo V calling it as he sees it?

H

horusd

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What the hell is wrong with Leo V. callin it the way he sees it? We probably will need a 2nd bailout. The taoiseach etc all rushing to deny this, and reports that his cabinet colleagues are furious with him don't make what he says less likely.

Brian ? the political guy on RTE said that altho Leo might be right it's better not to draw attention to ourselves and spook the markets,(does he think the City/ NY/Frankfurt can't tune into RTE news?) so we should all hush up. I just don't get this!

After all the crap that's been brushed under carpets haven't we got to the stage that honesty would be best? Donnelly the Wicklow TD said we should stand-up to our EU "partners" and say it as it is. He's right, and so is Leo.
 
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There is a difference between saying how it is and loose talk. He is minister of transport. He is not minister of finance. If he doesn't agree with the strategy he should fight his corner at the cabinet table, not in the media. This crisis is getting worse and worse because politicians in every country keep opening their mouths and playing to public galleries.
External analysts aren't stupid. Many agree with what he said but his comments were reported internationally and because it is a Government Minister, outsiders assume he has inside knowledge. They don't know Leo's track record. He should concentrate on his own job and cut down on photo calls and other PR exercises.
 
Sunny I get the fact that he's talking beyond his brief, but there is a reality to the situation that should be faced up to. I'd rather see the gov't deal with this up front, and say another bail-out is a possibility, and apply more pressure to the troika. Could Leo in fact be flying a kite here?

Fact is tho, I like Leo's forthrightness. He's the kind of man I would do business with and most likely a future taoiseach. There's no touch of the sleeveen about him.
 
I have time for Leo as well but just because the Government don't talk about something publically doesn't mean they are not facing up to it. It is just at the moment that talk is very dangerous. Joan Burton was at it as well this morning. Ministers should concentrate on their own brief. Questions on bond yields, funding requirements, bailouts etc should be directed to the Department of Finance or the NTMA. Otherwise the message that Ireland is trying to put out gets confused.
 
You can't just have individual Ministers making random comments about someone else's portfolio with no prior agreement from the Party leader. He was well out of order.
 
Leo previously gave guff about not putting more money into the banks.

His completely out of order on this. It would be more of his line to comment on how much Failte Ireland are paying in relation to the hanging garden of Cork. Does he support this expenditure & If it represents government policy to spend money in this way.
 
Leo said:
Phew, I thought this was going in a whole other direction
Click to expand...


You're safe... for now! We only attack one Leo at a time. Anyway ye can kick us all off. You will of course notice that I'm the only one defending him btw.

Okay I concede he's talking out of turn on a subject better left to the supposed cunning rotweiler Noonan. But he's upfront and honest, and I like that. So I don't like to see him getting rubbished for saying what is probably true anyway.

And in the bigger picture, it's probably no harm that he is rattling a few people and getting over 2,000 news reports (according to St Martin of FF...none so pure...) around the world. I'm not sure that the subtle approach of the gov't is really working. The EU is a strange beast. Everything seems to go to the wire and lurch from one crisis to the next. Maybe a bumping up this issue is exactly what needs to happen. Even if Leo went about it in the wrong way.
 
What about the damage to our already tarnished name he might do? We are trying to attract people to come and invest here not put them off.
 
liaconn said:
What about the damage to our already tarnished name he might do? We are trying to attract people to come and invest here not put them off.
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The biggest damage to our reputation is denial and obfuscation. Markets and the like can cope with reality, but the smell of denial and misrepresentation leads to distrust. Have we not learned this after three years of it?
 
The dogs on the street know that we will need a second bailout.

We are still massively overspending, and have a cost base that is way too high for a small open economy.

The options we have are:
1) Dramatically cut public wages and welfare - down to UK levels
or
2) Default on our debt and leave the euro to depreciate our way out of this mess

Higher taxes and raising the minimum wage have really made matters worse for our country.

The government now has the mandate to take radical action, but lo-and-behold, neither party have the spine to do it. Just as bad as FF/Greeens
 
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