Interested in maladministration. Estd. 2005
RTEs Sarah McInerney ? Fianna Fail supporter? Anthony
Joe Duffy is dishonest and untrustworthy Anthony
Robert Watt complaint: Time for decision by SIPO Anthony
RTE in breach of its own editorial principles Anthony
Waiting for SIPO Anthony Public Inquiry >>
A Blog About Human Rights
UN human rights chief calls for priority action ahead of climate summit Sat Oct 30, 2021 17:18 | Human Rights
5 Year Anniversary Of Kem Ley?s Death Sun Jul 11, 2021 12:34 | Human Rights
Poor Living Conditions for Migrants in Southern Italy Mon Jan 18, 2021 10:14 | Human Rights
Right to Water Mon Aug 03, 2020 19:13 | Human Rights
Human Rights Fri Mar 20, 2020 16:33 | Human Rights Human Rights in Ireland >>
News Round-Up Fri May 03, 2024 00:32 | Richard Eldred A summary of the most interesting stories in the past 24 hours that challenge the prevailing orthodoxy about the ?climate emergency?, public health ?crises? and the supposed moral defects of Western civilisation.
The post News Round-Up appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.
?I?m Not a Covid Conspiracy Theorist. I was Right? Thu May 02, 2024 19:18 | Will Jones "I?m not a Covid conspiracy theorist. I was right." Allison Pearson defends her pandemic record against detractors who still haven't noticed that sceptics got it right and conformists were consistently wrong.
The post “I’m Not a Covid Conspiracy Theorist. I was Right” appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.
Cost of Driving Jumps 50% in Three Years as Net Zero War on Motorist Heats Up Thu May 02, 2024 17:00 | Will Jones The cost of running a car has soared by £700 to £2,100 a year in the last three years ? a 50% rise ? as a result of the Net Zero war on motorists and rising inflation.
The post Cost of Driving Jumps 50% in Three Years as Net Zero War on Motorist Heats Up appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.
Google and the End of the Employee Activist Thu May 02, 2024 15:00 | C.J. Strachan Google's swift sacking of 50 employees protesting over Gaza is the beginning of the end of the employee activist, says C.J. Strachan. Across the West companies are realising a politicised workplace is a dysfunctional one.
The post Google and the End of the Employee Activist appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.
Colds, Flu and Covid Are Mainly Spread Through the Air, WHO Report Finds Thu May 02, 2024 13:00 | Will Jones Colds, flu and Covid are mainly spread through the air and not by sharing cups and getting close to one another, World Health Organisation experts have suggested in a new report.
The post Colds, Flu and Covid Are Mainly Spread Through the Air, WHO Report Finds appeared first on The Daily Sceptic. Lockdown Skeptics >>
Voltaire, international edition
Paris 2024 and Berlin 1936 in the service of an impossible imperial dream, by Th... Tue Apr 30, 2024 07:07 | en
Georgia and the financing of political organizations from abroad Sat Apr 27, 2024 05:37 | en
Voltaire, International Newsletter N°84 Sat Apr 27, 2024 05:35 | en
Israel's complex relations with Iran, by Thierry Meyssan Wed Apr 24, 2024 05:25 | en
Iran's hypersonic missiles generate deterrence through terror, says Scott Ritter... Mon Apr 22, 2024 10:37 | en Voltaire Network >>
|
Wake Up Time for Ireland! Public Enquiry Needed
national |
eu |
opinion/analysis
Wednesday December 15, 2010 04:48 by Anthony Coughlan, Emmett O'Connell - National Platform EU Research & Information Centre info at nationalplatform dot org (01) 830 5792
A public enquiry is needed into how the Irish people have been turned into indentured debtors of the EU, the European Central Bank and the IMF.
We need to know this if we are ever to recover. We need to know who was ultimately responsible for the situation we now find ourselves in, trapped inside the Eurozone when we did not need to join it. EU Member States outside the Eurozone like Britain, Denmark, Sweden, Poland and the Czech Republic are not caught up in the current torments of the Euro. They can weather the economic recession better because they have kept their national currencies and with it control of their rate of interest or exchange rate.
Most Irish economists, the National Platform and several non-governmental groups warned at the time of our 1992 Maastrict Treaty referendum that abolishing the Irish pound would be the biggest mistake the Irish State ever made (John FitzGerald’s ESRI was an influential exception). The second biggest mistake – largely a consequence of the first - was the 2008 blanket guarantee of all the debts of our private banks
The period 1993 to 2000 was the only period in the history of the Irish State when it followed an independent exchange rate policy and effectively floated the Irish currency. That gave us a highly competitive exchange rate and with it the “Celtic Tiger” growth rates of over 7% a year.
It is impossible to have a lasting monetary union that is not also a fiscal union, part of one State, with common taxes and a common budget. However Ireland’s Euro-fanatics pushed us into the Eurozone against all the economic arguments. They were impelled by their zeal to help build an EU superstate led by Germany and France, without any national democratic control.
Such a construct would inevitably lack the mutual identification and solidarity between its members which would sustain transfers from the rich countries to the poorer ones sufficient to compensate the latter for loss of their capacity to run independent budgetary policies or restore their economic competitiveness through currency devaluation.
It was profoundly irresponsible to abolish the Irish pound in order to join a monetary union with States with which we did only one-third of our foreign trade, while simultaneously halving interest rates at the height of an economic boom.
That made things “boomier”, as Taoiseach Bertie Ahern put it. It set us on the borrowing binge that followed, and the catastrophic course Ireland’s Government has since taken with its Banks.
It is the grand panjandrums of Irish Euro-fanaticism: Peter Sutherland of Goldman Sachs, Garret FitzGerald, Alan Dukes, Pat Cox, Brigid Laffan, Brendan Halligan, Ruairi Quinn and David Begg, who ultimately impelled us to surrender our political independence and democracy in the Eurozone.
As influential, although their names are unknown to the public, are the “career federalists” of Ireland’s Foreign Affairs Department in Iveagh House, who form the policy and write the speeches of successive Foreign Ministers. They are keeping their heads down these days and are happy to let the Department of Finance take the rap for our current economic debacle.
However it is they more than any other element in Ireland’s civil service who have steered our ship of state on to the rocks. Cheering them on throughout have been uncritical elements in our media, above all in the editorial office of the Irish Times.
There is deep irony in the fact that their zeal for ever more EU integration has turned Ireland into a bomb inside the “infernal machine” of the Euro-currency, hastening its inevitable demise, and in the process possibly plunging much of the world into the second phase of a W-shaped recession.
Henceforth we should be more critical of what these people say when they enthuse for ever “more Europe”.
- Anthony Coughlan
- Emmett O'Connell
http://www.nationalplatform.org/100521_NewsTalk_Dunphy_Coughlan.m4a
Eamon Dunphy ("The Eamon Dunphy Show": NewsTalk106fm) has Anthony Coughlan on with a panel of guests
http://www.nationalplatform.org/The_Consequences_of_Monetary_Union_1972_Emmett-O-Connell.pdf
George Hook ("The Right Hook": NewsTalk106fm) interviews Emmett O’Connell about the Consequences of Monetary Union
|
View Comments Titles Only
save preference
Comments (6 of 6)
Jump To Comment: 1 2 3 4 5 6Do you have some sort of political reason for calling Ireland (Republic of Ireland) the Irish Free State? Makes your whole article less credible.
You are absolutely correct. Within the EU Ireland cannot be competitive and grow its economy. A coop, not union, with the right countries (all maintaining their own currency) would be good for Ireland. I have in mind cross training and hiring of civil servants and bank regulators: Ireland would get some professionals outside the cozy connection system, and Irish civil servants would get some training and some jobs abroad before returning (if they want) to Ireland. This kind of coop might help to integrate certain industries across borders, especially banking. At this point I would fear Ireland's having its own overly political banks.
Well done Anthony this is a great article after reading what ICTU the Labour Party, Sinn Fein and others have written about the Euro I was confused and disillusioned. This article is much clearer and makes much more sense. I would like to get Anthony's expert opinion on whether Ireland should leave the Euro now or would it be better for the Irish economy to devalue the Euro and stay in the Euro for a couple of years until this crisis is over?
Not sure why the audio doesn't load on my computer, but the links for above interviews/discussions are:
Eamon Dunphy (”The Eamon Dunphy Show”: NewsTalk106fm) has Anthony Coughlan on with his panel of guests --
Online - http://www.nationalplatform.org/100521_NewsTalk_Dunphy_...n.m4a
Via iTunes - http://itunes.apple.com/podcast/the-national-platform-e...43305
George Hook (”The Right Hook”: NewsTalk106fm) interviews Emmett O’Connell about the Consequences of Monetary Union --
Online - http://www.nationalplatform.org/100510_newstalk106_cons...n.m4a
Via iTunes - http://itunes.apple.com/podcast/the-national-platform-e...43305
In addition you may be interested in:
The Consequences of Monetary Union and its Affect on Peripheral Regions (1972) (PDF) - Emmett O’Connell --
http://www.nationalplatform.org/The_Consequences_of_Mon...l.pdf
All the politicians in the Dail sing, we're on the one road, the road to God knows where.
Merkel sings 'a spoonful of sugar makes the medicine go down'
like the labour voter above I am also not sure if Ireland should leave the Euro ASAP? or should the Euro be devalued as this would lessen the excuse the government uses to cut wages?