Irish Hospitality.
Legendary, isnât it? Irish hospitality. When theyâre down to their last slice of Soda bread, theyâll cut it in half and share it with you.
Except theyâre way beyond their last slice of Soda bread. Theyâre down to OUR last slice of Soda bread â and theyâre still sharing it. In fact theyâre throwing a party. The finest Soda bread for all!
Imagine the feeling you get when you lend a friend in desperate circumstances thousands of pounds you canât afford, and they buy themselves air tickets to a holiday destination for a âmuch needed breakâ before even starting to repay you, and then multiply it billions of times over.
Last October, the Irish gave up trying to flog the tax receipts from their unborn grand-childrenâs labour on the international market, and held out the begging bowl.
The British responded with £7 billion pounds, to help a âfriend in needâ in George Osborneâs words. The rest of Europe gave them ten times that amount – £77 billion.
Now the response of normal people forced to beg from friends, is to get a job, dig potatoes, whatever; cut down on luxuries, trim the budget, forget about holidays. A little humility is the least the lender can expect, not posturing and arrogance.
Not the Irish. Would you like to know where our money is going?
In a monthâs time, President Obama will be making a state visit to the impoverished Irish. Â Apparently itâs his ancestral home â not Hawaii, or Kenya as you might have imagined, but little old Moneygall in Offaly. Jesse Jackson says it will be a ‘rebirth’ . Lets hope he gets a proper certificate this time. Obamaâs visit is âjust one example of how the Taoiseach, Enda Kenny, is highlighting Ireland’s strengthsâ â or how Ireland is spending the money we lent her. Obama doesnât come alone; he travels with an armoured limousine, helicopters, 200 US secret service staff, a six-doctor medical team, another 300 âessential staffâ and a team of chefs. We will be paying for all that.
Now that Gerry Adams has given up raiding the Northern Bank, and found a way to raid British coffers directly that doesnât offend his republican sensibilities, the Queen is calling in to congratulate him on his transformation.  She has also been told to expect a genuine Irish knees up. It has outraged Irish republicans â âthe Queenâs visit will cost you â¬8 million Eurosâ scream the headlines â er, itâs not your 8 million Euros pal, we lent it to you!
Minor royalty, determined not to be left out of this party fest, is also dropping in. H.S.H. Prince Albert II of Monaco and his fiancée are also being hosted at a âState Visitâ next week. More banquets, more junkets we have paid for.
Next week the Dalai Lama is spreading his message of freebies for all in Dublin. Arriving with his entourage:
âIt will be especially important to visit at a time when Ireland is facing serious turmoil, as is the world as a whole, grappling as it is with economic upheaval, climate change, and great and growing chasms between rich and poor.â
Course it is, Dalai, it’s just that with the great and the good gobbling up all this rich food at our expense, some of us wonder whether we might have kept that £7 billion at homeâ¦..
No, they havenât finished partying yet! Wouldnât you just know it! The bally Pope has got wind of the Irish largesse; heâs heading over there too, with his entourage. Perhaps he could give our £7 billion the last rites whilst heâs there, I canât imagine there will be much left of it by then.
There is nothing quite like watching a bankrupt pretend to stride the world stage at your expense. Yesterday the Irish put their hand out again for another loan.
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March 30, 2011 at 10:01 -
Unbelievable.
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March 30, 2011 at 10:54 -
Mine’s a Guiness, thanks
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March 30, 2011 at 10:59 -
Well Anna, at least the quality people are receiving their due in Ireland. We serfs shouldn’t mind paying for that, surely? I’m sure the common folk of Ireland won’t mind paying either.
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March 30, 2011 at 14:38 -
They’re as cynical about their politicians as we are, and there’s an extra dimension, nepotism (hard to spot with the limited range of surnames).
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March 30, 2011 at 12:00 -
By “we”, I assume you mean, EU members?
An old Irish friend, who worked in the States for a while and now lives in Toronto, said that the American Oirish made him ashamed. Couldn’t stand them. One can understand why
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March 30, 2011 at 12:29 -
Whilst Iâm sure the cost of security &c. for all the others will be defrayed as you describe, Anna, I think youâll find the army that accompanies the President of the United States is paid for entirely by American tax-payers.
Î Î
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March 30, 2011 at 15:29 -
In fairness, it was our callous stupidity to give this money in the first place. We should have no more fed more debt to over over indebted Irish friend than we should buy a friend in a drunken stupor another Guinness.
More debt is not and never has been the solution to a debt crises.
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March 30, 2011 at 21:02 -
“In a monthâs time, President Obama will be making a state visit to the impoverished Irish.”
That’ll be President O’Bama I presume?
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