Search Results for 'Bertie Ahern'

At the height of our artificially inflated economic boom, or Celtic Tiger, the owners of a prominent builders’ suppliers told a friend of mine that although the year was not yet over they were ‘amazed at the phenomenal amount of Jacuzzis’ they were selling.

I must begin this column by talking about the late Seamus Mallon who passed away over the last week.

Oh, so much to talk about, so much to discuss. So where do we begin?

ONE OF the landmark events of 1980s Irish politics is brought to vivid theatrical life in Haughey/Gregory, by Colin Murphy, which plays the Town Hall Theatre next week.

I hope you had a lovely Easter and that you and your family and friends had some time together.

We might call last weekend’s rugby a success, but I call it a qualified success, and I’ll explain that as I go on. Firstly, the women played a magnificent game and triumphed over Scotland. Likewise, the under 20 team had a significant win in their joust with Scotland. So now we come to the big one last Saturday, Ireland versus Scotland. I settled myself down to look at it, turned off my telephone and my email and decided I would wallow in what I hoped would be a victory.

Well I have to start with rugby. I think Joe Schmidt when he was interviewed after the match was fully correct when he said, “it’s a reality check for all of us,” and by that he meant the team and himself as head coach. How true that was. Somehow we, the public, and I expect the team also, felt that we were poised to defeat England. We didn’t at all take into account that England under Jones were bound for revenge, and they got it.

The economic downturn had a severe effect on the lives of many people in the State. Many companies and individuals were hit hard. There was a view in some quarters that the growth during the Celtic Tiger years was just going to continue, and at worst, would simply level off.

Well, Longford has really emerged with a bang in this pre-Christmas season. We had two notable events in Longford over last weekend.

Now I know that all of us are becoming absolutely bored and worn out with all of the Brexit talk, and yet it is so important to each and every citizen in this country. If satisfactorily concluded, it will enable us all to continue on a decent economic path. If it is not satisfactorily concluded, well then everything goes awry in the business world and with that then goes the living standards of this country, north and south. It is extremely important.