A bit rich coming from Michael McDowell.
Writes Simon of The Dossing Times on March 27th, 2007
Comments »
Read more about: Economy, Progressive Democrats
Ahh Michael what are you doing to me. What happened the intelligent well thought out points of old. Now you are reduced to this crapola. As he unveiled the latests contestant in I am a celebrity get me a PD nominiation. From Ireland.com
A “flight of capital” from the State will occur if Fianna Fail and the Progressive Democrats are not re-elected, Taniste and PD leader Michael McDowell has said.
First things first. The reason that American capital is here is because of low taxation not Fianna Fail and the PD’s. If the coalition keeps those policies the capital will stay. The actually composition of the government matters little. They care about one thing profits, and nothing else.
“People worried about their children’s job prospects should think long and hard about electing an inexperienced divided and mutually inconsistent group in Dail Eirieann,” he added.
This was said while launching a candidate who’s answer to the question something like “Health system failling apart etc your party has been in government for ten years. “Was “Well, to be fair, I’ve only been a member for the last two hours.”. I mean how can you use the word inexperienced while launching a candidate with two hours in a political party? I mean how difficult is that. And also his take on Gay marriage would differ a lot I would guess from Colm O’Gorman’s. So divided is also a word I would not use.
As for
“economic consequences in the short, not just the medium or long term
Ben would have something to say about that which is I am not sure goes with Michael’s thinking.
Also
“We can’t assume that Ireland’s success is taken for granted and that now is the time for a free vote just to spend it on peripheral issues to do with quality of life.
So Health Crime Transport etc are peripheral issues?
Irish Election are pleased to announce our collection of Irish 
Well, if the quality of legislation we have gotten from McDowell in the last 12 months is what we can expect from experience, I say we should be electing 18 year olds straight out of school.
did he really say ‘well, to be fair, I’ve only been a member for the last two hours”? Oh man. but you’re right about multinationals and government. The latest multinational report on Ireland, “returning the Growth Engine” shows quite clearly how that block sees future policy, regardless of who wins in May.
Oh, I’ve just read the gay marriage link to Maman Poulet. Civil Unions not gay marriages? Pioneer badges? God… McDowell’s avant-garde approach to Irish politics is quite the sideshow these days.
About 9 minutes in. When asked about what is he going to do about the Health service that hasn’t been done in 10 years or something. Of which he said “I’ve only been a member for the last two hours”
http://dynamic.rte.ie/quickaxs/209-rte-liveline-Monday.smil
Thanks Simon. The issue with that quote is that it was me paraphrasing (in real time
) from Liveline, and I can’t access RTÉ streams so I wasn’t able to double-check it. I originally put the comment as a summary rather than a quote on Suzy’s blog here and repeated on my own page here. But I’m glad to see that it was fairly close to the mark!
The inside of Mr. McDowell’s brain is a sideshow waiting to happen. The matter of his taking a crossword into the Dail has a bearing on the way in which his policy is composed. The Minister’s political mind is thoroughly engaged in the furtherance of obscurity. This form of aberrance, which he achieves almost effortlessly, is balanced by the credibilty he earns from furtively providing accurate answers to the puzzle in the Irish Times. He reaches a state of equilibrium. Whether he appreciates that state is another question.