Ireland 2010- The good, the bad, the Ugly

georgyporridgy

IMF?
Didn’t they have that hit single ‘unbelievable’ back in the day?
Well, the dominos are falling now, I guess ‘ol Eire will be a different place in 12 months time. As I see it, we are still ~4 million people who have been reared with common sense and know our game has to change.
THE GOOD

• Morgan Kelly, economist (Give this man a medal, this lone voice in the wilderness speaks more truth in his periodical writings than our entire overpaid economists, politicians & consultant hangers-on put together)
• The McAleeses, President & her husband (In the depths of this crisis they still tried to encourage innovation with ‘your Ireland your call’, they appealed to our better nature)
• Willie Casey, boxer & Mary Byrne, singer (2 outstanding individuals who are doing us proud taking on the world with cheery good humour)
• Our multinational corporations. (despite Dell leaving, Intel and others holding firm here sends a powerful message to the world)
• We speaky Engrish (Yes, this is a good thing, and an asset to our emigrants)

THE BAD

• The Catholic church. (You’ve let everyone down. I’m glad my grand parents aren’t alive to see what you’ve done. Repent and restore hope among the faithful)
• Rip off rents. (Exorbitant rents for shops & companies make this a very expensive place to do business, not to mention rent allowance)
• ESB Rip off (Electricity should be free for schools, also we are among the highest in the EU per kwh, HELLO? REGULATOR?)
• Broadband (Overpriced & laughable by EU standards, but maybe theres still hope)
• RTE Daytime TV (A national disgrace, most unemployed people will never be inspired to do something or learning anything from this bought-in, regurgitated trash. At least TV3 try to keep things relevant and topical)
• FAS (Forklist courses for all work-dodgers. I’ve see a leaflet from them which advertises a ‘lone parents’ course. Anyone working 40 hours a week and paying tax for this molly-coddling crap, please try not to get too angry.)

THE UGLY
· Science & Maths in Secondary education (Teachers get ~E35,000 a year to teach CIVICS, RELIGION and other topics that should be taught in the home. Hardly any Maths teachers are qualified with a degree in the subject, and they’ve dumbed down this most ancient of subjects, to try to make results look better. Note to parents: You child can do Science, but you’ll have maybe to spend a fortune on grinds and/or private schools.
· Mental health. (A horribly neglected area. Kids in adult wards. Stigma. Suicide.)
· Welfare. (Its destroyed Ireland. Its killed communities quicker than any bomb or plague. I Me Mine. I Me Mine. Taxpayers: You’ve been had. Non working families have been laughing at you for years and years. WORK is the glue that holds communities together, not these digusting handouts)
· Consultants (Oh yes, the hospital ones. 70% of the Health budget goes into personal bank accounts, as pay. These consultant leeches take the biscuit. We Irish are SUCKERS for deference to authority. First the clergy, now its these ‘consultants’, charging hundreds of thousands EACH to the taxpaper each year. That’s why my mum slept in a hospital trolley.)
· The Irish Financial regulator ~ boom years(More than any other department this deserves our full anger. Bankers will always test their limits, politicians will always get it wrong, but, YOU GOT PAID TO DO ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT JOBS IN THE COUNTRY AND BOY, DID YOU FAIL. This is Ireland at its most ugly, we needed a tiger to monitor our ‘tiger’, we got a soft, fluffy kitten instead.

i57dwun4yb1pt8

the Mcaleeses ?

are you off your head ?

parasites of the highest order .

Tim Robbins

This is better suited to a blog - rather than a discussion forum.

seamus

georgyporridgy wrote: »

Teachers get ~E35,000 a year to teach CIVICS

They do? Because I don't remember ever being taught civics in school. No classes discussing the constitution. Nothing on how our national & local governments are structured, elected and formed. The role of the cabinet, senate and the various ministries is not something any teacher ever discussed with me in 14 years of schooling.

It might seem like I'm going off topic here, but it's quite relevant. There's an us -v- them attitude in Ireland about government. Joe on the street seems to be under the impression that his government are his enemy, out to screw him over and take his money and rule over him. He doesn't understand the nature of a democratic society and the purpose of taxation and law. All he see is "the man" trying to rob him of his hard-earned cash and arrest him for driving too quickly, oblivious to his part in the running of the country.

Civics should be a core junior cycle subject at secondary level. To replace religion. People might actually understand the power of their vote then and use it correctly in future.

georgyporridgy

Yes, Civics was a subject in my school. Its wasn't examined and it didnt deal with the intricacies of the constitution, more rights of us citizens & our responsibilities. Pretty basic

cson

seamus wrote: »

They do? Because I don't remember ever being taught civics in school. No classes discussing the constitution. Nothing on how our national & local governments are structured, elected and formed. The role of the cabinet, senate and the various ministries is not something any teacher ever discussed with me in 14 years of schooling.

It might seem like I'm going off topic here, but it's quite relevant. There's an us -v- them attitude in Ireland about government. Joe on the street seems to be under the impression that his government are his enemy, out to screw him over and take his money and rule over him. He doesn't understand the nature of a democratic society and the purpose of taxation and law. All he see is "the man" trying to rob him of his hard-earned cash and arrest him for driving too quickly, oblivious to his part in the running of the country.

Civics should be a core junior cycle subject at secondary level. To replace religion. People might actually understand the power of their vote then and use it correctly in future.

georgyporridgy wrote: »

Yes, Civics was a subject in my school. Its wasn't examined and it didnt deal with the intricacies of the constitution, more rights of us citizens & our responsibilities. Pretty basic

Just as an fyi for the two of you; Civics is on the Junior Cycle and is examined at Junior Certificate Level. In my school it was a once a week class taught by a teacher who primarily taught another subject during the week.

The teaching content is pretty much is as described by Seamus above which means I'm kinda suspicious that he might be taking the piss?

Edit: It's referred to as CSPE [Civic Social and Political Education]

Nehaxak

cson wrote: »

Edit: It's referred to as CSPE [Civic Social and Political Education]

I would've loved to have had that thought to me when I was in school, probably would've been the only thing to keep me there.
I'd like that thought to kids in primary school too, start them off early to get an understanding of the whole system, before they start rebelling in their teenage years.

georgyporridgy

Cheers cson,
Maybe I was harsh on Civics, but I resented so much time spent in secondary school spent on stuff that made me have to work like a mule to follow 1st year college level math & science modules.

Scofflaw

If you had your own blog, you could get comments that way as well.

moderately,
Scofflaw