For lo, a wise man did stand up before a collection of Southside Dublin worthies, and he did say, "Biffo, let my people go!" And the people saw this, and they said that this was good, except for the Unions, cause they hate Michael McDowell.
Yes, former justice minister Michael "Mad Dog" McDowell seems to be coming back, but he is being remarkably coy about in what manner exactly his reemergence will occur. He seems to rule out his running for office in the linked article, and yet his phrasing
“I love my country and I am deeply ambitious for it, but at this point I have to say with this outcome at this stage of my career it makes it very clear that, as far as I am concerned, my period of public life as a public representative is over.”
would seem to leave open the possibility of acting as Chairman of a new party, or of being "encouraged" to run for Fine Gael (at this stage of my career ... as far as I am concerned).
I would dearly love to see a new liberal party start up, but would McDowell merely sink such a movement given the divisive nature of his legacy? Or would he be the cornerstone around which a mighty structure might be constructed?
EDIT: Boy, I said "seems" a lot in this entry. Seems I'm fond of that term...or so it seems.
Showing posts with label Irish politics. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Irish politics. Show all posts
Friday, July 30, 2010
Wednesday, May 19, 2010
Pfizer - the end is not nigh!
Now, I am as grumpy a doom-monger as you are likely to meet. I mean, I really will not buy a house in Ireland till someone offers to pay me to take it off their hands; that's how pessimistic I am about the property market, chances of recovery etc.
But even I can't help but feel that the gloom merchants have spun into overdrive on the back of Pfizer's recent announcement of redundancies (275 confirmed and up to 800 potential) in Cork Dun Laoghaire and Kildare
From what I can see, these redundancies are purely on the back of:
1) The merger between Pfizer and Wyeth, and the consequent rationalisation of their workforces, assets etc.
2) Pfizer ensuring that it is lean enough to compete as it's branded drugs (most especially Lipitor) are soon to come off patent and face competition from generic brands capable of offering consumers the exact same health benefits.
Of course, 800 jobs fleeing the Irish economy at this point in time is bad news, and the personal impact is immeasuarable for those who have just been made redundant or are under threat, but the jobs that remain are more secure, and I suspect will be higher up the value chain. What's more, Pfizer's Ireland operations are now well placed to compete for higher-end jobs, especially in the area of R&D.
The real tragedy is not that Pfizer is leaving, but that successive Irish governments did not seize the chance to grow domestic pharma companies on the back of Pfizer's business here. Such an indigenous company would, if successful, not only offer more Life Sciences jobs in Ireland, but would also contribute significantly to our export earnings.
After all, as we know, pharm is "recession proof". OK, not strictly true, but even on the back of the Wyeth acquisition, Pfizer still posted profits of $4.88 billion.
But even I can't help but feel that the gloom merchants have spun into overdrive on the back of Pfizer's recent announcement of redundancies (275 confirmed and up to 800 potential) in Cork Dun Laoghaire and Kildare
From what I can see, these redundancies are purely on the back of:
1) The merger between Pfizer and Wyeth, and the consequent rationalisation of their workforces, assets etc.
2) Pfizer ensuring that it is lean enough to compete as it's branded drugs (most especially Lipitor) are soon to come off patent and face competition from generic brands capable of offering consumers the exact same health benefits.
Of course, 800 jobs fleeing the Irish economy at this point in time is bad news, and the personal impact is immeasuarable for those who have just been made redundant or are under threat, but the jobs that remain are more secure, and I suspect will be higher up the value chain. What's more, Pfizer's Ireland operations are now well placed to compete for higher-end jobs, especially in the area of R&D.
The real tragedy is not that Pfizer is leaving, but that successive Irish governments did not seize the chance to grow domestic pharma companies on the back of Pfizer's business here. Such an indigenous company would, if successful, not only offer more Life Sciences jobs in Ireland, but would also contribute significantly to our export earnings.
After all, as we know, pharm is "recession proof". OK, not strictly true, but even on the back of the Wyeth acquisition, Pfizer still posted profits of $4.88 billion.
Monday, May 17, 2010
Our Only Hope?
I wonder is it even beggining to dawn on our main opposition party, Fine Gael, that winning the next election will simply not be enough? It's no good if FG simply replace Fianna Fail government hacks, cronies and gombeens with their own insiders, clogging up the apparatus of power with more incompetent, irrelevant bods who are just marking time till they can claim their massive pensions.
No, it's clear that FG need to do much more than simply win the next election; they need to lead a revolution. True, a very boring, grey middle-class kind of revolution, but a very necessary one at that. One based on the appropriate spending of taxes and the slicing down to size of unnecessary pork. Most importantly of all, I would argue that it is vital that FG introduce a major overhaul of the electoral system, introducing a national list system or some other mechanism with which to break the link between national government in Ireland, eh sorry, "Lyonnesse", and the parish pump politics that has hamstrung government on our island with the most asinine of parochial concerns.
But how will Labour, FG's obvious partner in any coalition government, view the above steps, necessary though they are. I would suspect that Labour and the Labourites, prone as they are to bouts of intelligence unbecoming of Irish politicians, will see in the long term the necessity of a national list system. But could they stomach trimming down the fat in our national budget? I'm afraid I think not. Will revolutionary red Labour be the main roadblock to change in our country?
No, it's clear that FG need to do much more than simply win the next election; they need to lead a revolution. True, a very boring, grey middle-class kind of revolution, but a very necessary one at that. One based on the appropriate spending of taxes and the slicing down to size of unnecessary pork. Most importantly of all, I would argue that it is vital that FG introduce a major overhaul of the electoral system, introducing a national list system or some other mechanism with which to break the link between national government in Ireland, eh sorry, "Lyonnesse", and the parish pump politics that has hamstrung government on our island with the most asinine of parochial concerns.
But how will Labour, FG's obvious partner in any coalition government, view the above steps, necessary though they are. I would suspect that Labour and the Labourites, prone as they are to bouts of intelligence unbecoming of Irish politicians, will see in the long term the necessity of a national list system. But could they stomach trimming down the fat in our national budget? I'm afraid I think not. Will revolutionary red Labour be the main roadblock to change in our country?
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
