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Now that the dust has settled on the government decision to end the state guarantee of the banks some commentators are asking if the timing was right and if any long term advantage will come at too high a price for tax payers in the short term. This is because the banks were paying one billion euro per year for the guarantee and given that it has now been removed that revenue tap for the exchequer has been turned off.
This morning, we hear that it’s very likely that we’re going to get a deal on extending the maturity of our bank debt which should make it much easier for us to fully return to the markets.
Tony Foley, senior lecturer in economics at Dublin City University business school is on the line as was Labour Party TD for Galway West Derek Nolan.
The second day of the trial of an American man accused of murdering Wexford woman Nicola Furlong in Japan last year has heard she died of strangulation. Richard Hinds from Memphis, Tennessee, denies murder.
Joining us from Tokyo, Paul Murphy who is reporting on the case for the Irish Independent.
Given the ongoing economic crisis and the level of cutbacks and tax hikes which the government is imposing - it’s probably not that surprising that we’re seeing a fall-off in support for the two governing parties in many recent opinion polls. Up until last Sunday’s Millward Brown poll for the Sunday Independent, Fianna Fail looked to be the major beneficiary with the party taking number one spot in two polls carried out since the beginning of the year. Sinn Fein and the independents are also performing well so what does that say about opposition politics here ?
Joining Pat to take a look at how the opposition is doing the business of taking on the government and in particular how Fianna Fail seems to be re-emerging from the drubbing the party received in the 2011 election were Gerard Howlin, public relations consultant and former advisor to Fianna Fail; Fionnan Sheahan, political editor of the Irish Independent and Dr Theresa Reidy who is a lecturer in the Department of Government in UCC but is on sabbatical in Germany at the moment.
By Andrew Solomon
In Far from the Tree, Andrew Solomon tells the stories of parents who not only learn to deal with their exceptional children but also find profound meaning in doing so.
Solomon’s startling proposition is that diversity is what unites us all.
He writes about families coping with deafness, dwarfism, Down syndrome, autism, schizophrenia, multiple severe disabilities, with children who are prodigies, who are conceived in rape, who become criminals, who are transgender. While each of these characteristics is potentially isolating, the experience of difference within families is universal, as are the triumphs of love Solomon documents in every chapter.
Andrew Solomon spoke to Pat this morning
Tomorrow week, Wednesday 13th March the Moscow State Opera’s production of Carmen will open at the Bord Gáis Energy Theatre in Dublin. It’ll run until Patrick’s Day and playing the lead role as Micaëla will be Celine Byrne who was here to give us a taste of what to expect.
Dearbhail McDonald, Irish Independent.
