Yawn and what does the Irish Government do with every red cent it can get it's hands on? It chucks it on the bonfire and down the whopping great whole out the back...

EDIT: YM has eloquently just said the same thing...

To point out these kind of ridiculous semantics is just being really wood for the trees, dude...

I found it highlarious to watch the news last night and have the grand theories we expounded here on how bust banks were kept running repeated verbatim...

The only last thing to fall into place is what YM touched on above and that's whether the ECB will ever be repaid and I don't believe they have the expectation, legitimate or otherwise, that they will be...

I don't think they *should* have that expectation, but at the moment they do. And the mechanism is going to be to pile all that debt on the state.

Total requirement, I reckon, about 150 billion...

What Ireland needs is a leader who would stand up and say the senior bonds holders will have to take a 25% haircut, the shareholders and subordinate bondholders should be totally written off.

The gaurantee should be torn up as it was obtained by deception and lies. Ireland is still a soverign state, at the moment we can still do this.

I feel like I'm about to live through a star wars film.... down with the republic -

If we have to ..any chance of getting a long term loan, interest free with a haircut?

FFS..how can he be late twice?

from Guardian blog..
10.31am: 10.20am: Brian Lenihan is late, again, for this morning's EU finance minister's meeting in Brussels, Elena Moya tells us.

Yesterday, of course, Lenihan arrived for the crunch talks an hour and a quarter after they were due to begin -- one reason that the press conference began two hours late.

Roll on the "health concerns" spin or whatever but I reckon he's getting a bit late getting the latest hourly solvency or is it liquidity reports from the ICB on our other majors not so major

Erm....

Tomorrow the IMF are in Dublin to assess the situation on the ground.

So, is that "it"?...is this "The IMF coming in"? Loike, tomorrow??

as soon as the polls close in Donegal

bye bye index linked (upwards only) pensions

Is it just me, or is there something of the "grumpy drunk" about the way in which our government is conducting itself during this crisis.

You know, you have a friend who always gets "messy" with a few drinks, the one night after being out with them, they fall over and crack open their skull. As the blood streams down their face, you, as any good friend would, offer to help, only to be met with a flailing arm in your direction backed up by a barage of abuse and the inevitable "F#*k off, I'm all right, just leave me along, I'll be OK", as they gingerly pick themselves up and stagger aimlessly along the street, haemorrhaging.

Blue Horseshoe

Should the cabinet be breathalyzed before during and after each working day?

I believe I am forming the opinion that they are all drunk all of the time.

The IMF . There is not a employee of the IMF on the face of the earth who could not be bought and sold by your average FF 'er in about 5 minutes . Wait till they cop a load of Healy Rae and Son

They will visit Government buildings and will be met by some very grave and serious men . There will be lots of stroking of chins and what not .Charlie Bird will swallow the micrphone as the tension outside government buildings will be so high .

After that it will all be a blurr and they will wake up the next morning with a shocking hangover with The Book Of Kells ( Its priceless ) and a tenancy agreement on several of 40 gaffs properties .

They should have electronic voting in the Dail with breathalyzers attached. No vote if you are over the limit.

We're playing with the big boys now, I don't think that FFers (or any other Irish Politicians) will be able to get one over on these guys.