Category Archives: brian lenihan

Convert % of bank deposits into Bank Equity?

Could we, overnight, convert a % of deposits into equity for the banks? Or is this simply a bonkers notion? Say 2.5% of all deposits under €20,000 which was the previous limit up to September 2008 and say 5% from … Continue reading

Posted in anglo-irish, bank bailout, bank of Ireland, brian lenihan, irish politics | Tagged , | 1 Comment

Is Brian Lenihan off his game?

I suppose someone at some point has to ask the awful question but this incident whereby the government forgot to oppose a Labour party amendment to the Finance bill and following on from the manner of his defence of Willie … Continue reading

Posted in brian lenihan, democracy, Fianna Fail | Tagged , | 4 Comments

The Government Trio

Does anyone else think that the Trio at the top of government are like teenagers left in charge of the house while their parents are abroad? They know that mundane daily tasks like the washing has to be done and … Continue reading

Posted in brian cowen, brian lenihan, mary couglan | Leave a comment

What if McCreevy had continued to extend medical card threshold?

I mentioned yesterday that I’d take a look at a counter factual where instead of abolishing income as a factor for the allocation of medical cards to those over 70 that the minister of finance had simply continued to aggressively … Continue reading

Posted in brian lenihan, budget 2009, charlie mccreevy, medical cards | 1 Comment

What McCreevy hadn’t given the medical card to everyone?

Back in 2000 when Charlie McCreevy announced the plans for the extension of the medical card in Budget 2001 to all over 70s irrespective of income he was introducing it as the next step of a process by which the … Continue reading

Posted in brian lenihan, budget 2009, charlie mccreevy | 1 Comment

There’s a hole in the budget, dear Brian. A hole!

So it seems the threshold for the over 70s medical card is to be raised again. And FF (or the cabinet at the very least) must be hoping that this will lower the temperature enough that they can get through … Continue reading

Posted in brian lenihan, budget 2009, imo, medical cards | Leave a comment

Possibly solution to the over 70s Medical Card mess

I’m talking out of turn here, but if anyone is interested in a practical solution to the over 70s medical card fiasco, there’s my tuppence worth. I might be asking a rather obvious question here but if the GPs charge … Continue reading

Posted in brian cowen, brian lenihan, Fianna Fail, mary harney, medical cards, over 70s | 1 Comment

Live Blogging of Budget 2009

I know there’s a good few others having a crack at this, but the more the merrier I say. You can do a sort of speed read of the previous budgets here as homework if you like. NB: This is … Continue reading

Posted in bank of Ireland, brian lenihan, budget 2009, live blogging | 2 Comments

Alternative budget proposals

With all the talking down of the budget prospects, I’ve been thinking about a few silver bullets of my own. a) create an immediate slave caste from those under 5′ 6″ tall. b) designate 1 in 40 taxpayers as ‘the … Continue reading

Posted in brian lenihan, budget 2009 | 5 Comments

Battlestar – Irish Government cross over episode

It’s not hilarious I admit but it’s more a test of what might be possible once the telly card comes out of the plastic wrapping and into the maw of the machine.

Posted in battlestar, brian cowen, brian lenihan, Fianna Fail | Leave a comment