In 1925, the Irish Free State awarded Siemens the contract for the electrification of the entire country. The power plant at Ardnacrusha was commissioned in 1929 and an extension of the plant was completed in 1933.

Siemens−Bau union (German construction Co) suffered losses of about RM 24.2m on the project.

(The RM isn’t Malaysian ringitts!)

@ Colm McCarthy

I like this line from your op-ed article in today’s IT:

“The public, willing consumers of spoon-fed Celtic Tiger rhetoric for a decade, has shown no appreciation that things could have been much worse. Purveyors of the daily diet of complaint (’austerity has failed’) promise, but never articulate, a coherent alternative.”

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/opinion/2012/0211/1224311623276.html

You are one of the few who advocate a reform focus wider than the narrow concentration on finances.

If the management consultancy jargon on vision, leadership etc was actually to be taken seriously, an internal candidate wouldn’t have a chance.

The reality is that the person appointed will never have taken a consequential decision in their professional lives.

I have had close and good relations with Germans through good times and bad for many years. The least I can do is be supportive now and again.
Ireland had a national electric generation, distribution and billing company called the Electricity Supply Board (ESB). Germany played a large part in the growth of the ESB when Siemens funded by the National Socialist Government built a hydroelectric generation plant on the Shannon river at Ardnacrusha in 1937.

The ESB up until recently had a monopoly position. It is being broken up into its component parts generation, distribution, sales and billing although the market is too small to support anything but an oligopoly/monopoly. The Irish government no doubt will divest its holdings in the near future under pressure from the ECB/IMF and the EC.

http://www.esb.ie/main/about-esb/index.jsp

One of the most interesting things I learned from a Culture Ireland night of a few years ago (on Fitzwilliam Sq.) was that property prices took a hundred years to recover after the Act of Union, when the gentry left Dublin. I’m not too sure that the run up to that was a speculative frenzy. The Act of Union might have come as an unanticipated asymmetic shock (the 1798 rebellion).

BTW, I’ve been reading Arthur Griffith recently (for research purposes); he was torn between admiration for Grattan’s Parliament and the admiration of most of his supporters for Wolfe Tone, who despised what Grattan stood for. I am beginning to worry that, in Greece at least, our history - and more importantly theirs - (Greece is a very fragile political entity) might come to repeat itself.

first let me as a German thank you for the nice summary of “what Germans want”. One thing I would add is, that I would be fine with others electing crazy governments, as long as I dont have to pay for. I have lived for quite some years in the US and I also say “no taxation without representation.

My fellow neighbors and co-citizens are that crazy, to not complain about 40 US cents / kWh, but get mad at me, if I want to reduce taxes.

Of all the countries in the world, Germany is the last one which needs raising taxes, they are already high, we have a balanced budget. But the left / green did decide on this, and if there would be elections they would have the majority. And from all ….. let me be polite … despicable persons in the whole European Union, whom did the invite for the tax raising party
congress ? Papandreou, after his resignation ! You could actually see him smile at these useful idiots.

And we have more than our fair share of all kinds of crazies, trying to sue the treasury for bankruptcy, cancer as a purely mental problem, just to name the favorites of the people I could buy booze from 3 am in the morning birthers are just boring in comparison.

Nuclear phobic are the clear majority here around.

But how is any of that unfair to Ireland or any other EU country.

With that baltic gas pipeline, it is actually Schröder, and not Kohl being involved with that, it is working since this summer, and in the last few days it actually became clear with it, that whatever blackmail, quibbling between Russia and Ukraine (whose former PM sits in jail in relation to that, and gets no medical treatment until she confesses), at least part of the under delivery is due to underproduction in Russia, which they nevertheless try to convert into some forced ownership of German distribution companies. Epic. With the new direct pipeline they can not blame Poles or Ukrainians anymore.

We did not privatize the power companies to see a foreign government taking direct control of them, we are at least not that crazy.

Bringing actually up the question of who owns the power companies in Ireland ?

The loses are much grater then the headline figures for recaptilisation - the losses are the defered investments hoping against hope these Dodos can produce wealth.
Its a form of deep sickness - this belief in products of a Bank credit / oil bubble - they are dead DED dead.

Its not logical Captain - by themselves these houses do not produce any wealth - they consume wealth as they are a consumer durable.

A country whose money supply was completly divorced from these absurd creatures would not care a jot what value was put on them.
I ask you what concern is it to a rational functional nation ?

I would be fairly sure that this is an IDA initiative and, from my study of the history of relations between the two, that the Dept of Finance would have been sceptical. You either have some degree of trust in the IDA’s judgement or you do not. I do. I doubt that this type of scheme is wholly amenable to rigorous analysis (at least until several decades have passed) so I didn’t get too agitatated by this one. The IDA and its sister agencies have come out of this catastrophe with their reputations largely unscathed.

Did your relations in Cavan have a’grey’ water issue as I mentioned above?

I checked with some of my neighbours today - none of them had a clue where their grey water was actually going ! and importantly none of them knew where their pipes were located other than what they could see above the ground. Fun and games ahead me thinks.

‘Many of the Nama loans are “non-performing”. Think moulding ghost estates in the midlands’

As Namawinelake will point out this isn’t exactly true. Nama isn’t as involved in the residential property market in the south of Ireland as many think.

Also I’d say that extroplating from the Bank of Ireland sale to give you an 80% capital loss isn’t great science. I’m not saying Nama won’t make a loss, I don’t know if it will, but I’d say a better starting point for guessing if it will can be found from Namwinelake

‘Following Swc 2011 CSO index, used to calculate the NWL Index shown at the top of his page (http://namawinelake.wordpress.com/) page which aims to provide a composite reflection of price movements in NAMA’s key markets since 30th November 2009, the NAMA valuation date. Residential prices are now down 26.6% from November, 2009. The latest results from the CSO bring the NWL index to 831 (20.3%) meaning that NAMA will need see a blended average increase of 20.3% in its various property markets to break even at a gross profit level’

- your ft link I would have to pay for.

- your Spiegel International link about opening hours in Germany.
What has that to do with being unfair to Ireland or anybody else ?
Opening hours are local rules. The locals decide.
Where I live I can buy a bottle of wine or spirits until 3 am in the morning, just walking 50 meters. The supermarket is open on Sunday.

Germany and Austria are not the “main beneficiary”. That we used up the temporal movement restrictions, and Ireland decided otherwise, how is that unfair ?

Your gegen-hartz link, what is it supposed to show ? Especially in relation to Ireland or Greece ?

Your NYT links says: “In 1969, the law was amended to permit non-Germans to be sweeps”
Where is the discrimination ?
Yeah, we had some relicts of the old guild system, like most of our neighbors. And I think most still have them somewhat, taxi driver licences is a pretty typical example, go for a cool one million in New York nowadays.

Your EU link, same thing.

Please try to focus on what these links are supposed to show, and how that relates to Germany being unfair to other EU countries.

Helmut Kohl? Surely you mean Gerhard Schroeder!

The single industry Greece has that can be profitable is shipping. Once upon a time Greece was associated with ship owners like Aristotle Onassis so I am surprised when the discussion of the Greek economy drifts off into tourism. Shipping as measured by the Baltic Dry Index is doing poorly so it is not surprising Greece is having trouble paying its fixed debts during the downturn of its key industry.

My survey of Greek industry:
Shipping - In a cyclical downturn.
Ocean engineering - Potentially an important industry, German ThyssenKrupp recently sold 75% of Hellenic Shipyards to Abu Dhabi Mar. Maybe petro dollars (or euros?) will be recycled into Greek bonds somehow.
Agriculture & Fisheries - Profitable but too small to save the day.
Tourism - You’re kidding right? You cheap ba$#&%@s barely pay more than costs.
Oil and minerals - currently too small to make a difference, but who knows what they might find?

Another ’service’ the Mediterranean nations provide, which is uncompensated, is securing Europe’s southern boarder. For some reason nations in the center feel that waves of persons from Africa and Asia should be stopped by Greece and others free of charge. So I think a more realistic sharing of the burdens of European defense will need to be put into effect.

“Something very dark lurks beneath this buffoonery as nobody can be that stupid.”

Link to post by Seafoid. All the ‘intelligent’ people in Ireland responsible for overseeing these matters thought Anglo’s Annual Report was so good that it was a symbol of Irish virility.
Ireland is a bottomless pit of cute hoor stupidity.
http://www.irisheconomy.ie/index.php/2012/02/09/progress-on-promissory-noteela-issue/#comment-237691

The rewards are fantastic for any long serving insider.

http://www.independent.ie/national-news/top-civil-servant-to-retire-on-540000-after-pension-boost-2998936.html

My question is what exactly is this country ? , its always been such a strange place for me - and I am born here !!!
Something very dark lurks beneath this buffoonery as nobody can be that stupid.

I have endeavoured to provide facts on this thread. You have not. You have provided varying, but equally trenchantly expressed, opinions. My anonymity should not invalidate any independently verifiable fact I’ve posted.

(I have also, in the odd post, used the word “obviously”, in a doffing of my cap to your certitude in one of the opening posts on the thread. If you want to call this pseudonymous sniping, carry on.)

BTW, I’ve no way of verifying that your user name is your own - but I’ll take your word for it. Obviously!

ys, I wish I was as certain about anything as you appear to be about so many things,

I fail to see how any comparison can be made between Hungary and Ireland other than we belong to the same continent and are members of the European Union.

Unless ,of course , one is a “contrarian” writing in a American newspaper.

However IMHO even that is “stretching it a bit” as New York is in a part of the USA which is comparatively well informed about Ireland.:)

As I understand it for the last ten years all accession states have to “aspire” to join the monetary Union.

IMHO the majority of accession and “acceeding” states have a history of quietly distinguishing between political rhetoric and political reality.

In my experience the easiest way for a new member state to “think seriously” about joining the monetary Union is to sign on the bottom line and narrowly (but of course “unfortunately”) continue failing to meet the the EZ criteria.

For former members of the Yugoslav Federation, Soviet Union and Marxist (or “whatever your having youself socialism”) one party states, the distinction between political reality and political rhetoric is no problem whatsoever.

Sometimes it seems to me that the only countries who really take democracy and the European Project seriously are Ireland and a ( slowly diminishing) number of West European states. Perhaps it is time for us to become alert to the fact that Western Europe has “compromised” a lot (possibly too much) when it comes to democracy and the European Project.:)

Thanks for the link. Very interesting reading.

What is Host Gator?

The bill for AIB won’t be far short of Anglo.

It’s 60% of it already, and Anglo didn’t give out mortgages.

Interested? Details here.

>Implying that an internal candidate hasn’t already been marked for the position.

Where I am now in Canada I pay 6c 7 PM to 7 AM, 9c mid peak and 11c peak (CAD).

http://www.powerstream.ca/app/pages/yr_res_10.jsp?para=showPage&docId=TOU_Rates&section=SMARTMETER

There is also a Delivery, Regulatory and Debt Retirement charge. These make the total 9c, 12c, and 14c (CAD).

http://www.powerstream.ca/app/pages/yr_res_10.jsp

As you can see there is a three tier system Generation which is competitive with a large state owned portion, Distribution state owned arms length regulated not for profit, local distribution which in this case is Powerstream owned by a number of municipalities. Oversight is by the Provincial (Lander) government using an arms length not for profit agency. All the costs are passed on to the consumer.

The stranded debt charge is to rescue the large Nuclear Power Generation entity owned by the Province which ran up debts caused by the Province
not allowing it to pass on the cost of production in order to save the industrial sector (steel and auto manufacturing) during recessions. Nuclear is seen as safe and essential here along with being cost effective. My first job in Canada was designing and fabricating communication and control modules for the experimental Nuclear facility at Chalk River. The bread and butter business was modules for the pulp and paper industry. Quality control in the nuclear industry was extremely demanding I have a lot of respect for that business. I might add that either the federal or provincial governments owned and operated the businesses with the major player in production being Atomic Energy Canada Limited (AECL). I moved on in government into communication and control in Air Traffic and Weather Services also areas where your first mistake is likely to be your last.

My take on wind and solar is that on the longest coldest night of the year there is not a puff of wind and on the warmest longest day of the year the winds are light and the power of sunlight is much diminished. Until storage technology becomes cost effective I do not see wind/solar as being anything but a niche industry. This means the base power generation capacity cannot be reduced but will become the swing supplier that makes nuclear non competitive but favours natural gas and to a lesser extent coal. The Ontario Gov’t is presently paying up to 80c/kWH for residential rooftop PV panel installations tied into the grid with less than 10kWH capacity. All costs passed on to the end users, already a political hot potato. I am familiar with the widespread use of wind/solar/PV in Germany but I am not familiar with the subsidy details. I see your 40c (US)/kWH charge and I am wondering if the green power generation industry is being heavily subsidised with the costs being passed on to all end users. I heard a lot of complaints in Germany about Angela Merkel’s knee jerk reaction after the Japanese debacle where she accelerated the shutdown of nuclear power generation. I heard no complaints about the high cost of electricity which if they are all paying 40c US surprises me. Helmut Kohl’s involvement in the Baltic gas pipeline that bypasses the pesky Poles is also a lively topic of conversation in right wing circles. A lot of people I talk to in Germany know the cost and value of everything as opposed to Oscar Wilde’s people who knew the cost of everything and the value of nothing.

A link to micro fit power generation with the tariff.
http://microfit.powerauthority.on.ca/sites/default/files/microFIT%20Program%20Overview%20v%20%201%206%20FINAL%20.pdf

I could keep this up indefinitely and find similar examples for any of the countries of the EU, notably the Continental ones. I will close with a link to the Commission’s homepage on the Services Directive.

http://ec.europa.eu/internal_market/services/services-dir/index_en.htm

It’s a joke! Can you imagine such a situation in the United States? Get on to your “single (friendly) point of contact” and the staff will explain all the local rules and regulations with which you must comply and which will make it next to impossible for you to actually compete.

And the leaders of Europe decided to share a single currecny against such a background!

My objective is not to single out Germany but to demonstrate the point that, without the creation of a genuine single market, with something approaching equality of treatment across all the factors of production (the level playing-filed to which Monti refers), the euro will collapse.

I have followed endless discussion on this blog about the euro crisis which is simply a symptom of the inevitable imbalances which result from this situation i.e. the lack of balanced growth across the EU. The resultant footloose financial surpluses are what caused the financial damage. But what caused the surpluses?

http://www.spiegel.de/international/0,1518,415714,00.html

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/30/business/worldbusiness/30iht-sweep.3335734.html

http://www.gegen-hartz.de/

Very off topic.

The Philip Lane post on “Corporate Balance Sheet Adjustment”, might have been important and looked ignored so I went back, had a look and commented there.

Ever wanted to make a post, but were afraid to try? Want to be part of the debate, but can’t find the right words? The irisheconomy is all about rigorous constructive debate - why shouldn’t you be part of it?

Try this easy, simple to use”assemble your own post” guide, and soon you will be the envy of all your friends.

Gasp as top economists take your point on board! Blink as DOCM agrees with you, but in a completely baffling manner! Squirm as Shay Begorragh denounces you for class treachery! Wince as Michael ‘Eyeore’ Hennigan dashes your hopes with a demoralising hoof to the arse.

Are you ready to begin? Do you have percentile dice? If you understood that last question and/or actually have percentile dice, then you are in the wrong place! Why not log in to Everquest and see how your drow archer is getting on?

Now, do you have a perfectly normal die? Great - then all you have to do is roll randomly on each of the below, and soon you will be conducting economic fisticuffs with the experts.

@

(1) The Dork
(2) grumpy
(3) Karl Whelan
(4) seafóid
(5) Paul Hunt
(6) Colm McCarthy (gulp)

I welcome the contribution you have made above and…

(1) see you did not earn your ’slasher’ nickname for nothing
(2) am amazed at your complete omission of the European dimension
(3) am confirmed in my opinion that you have been captured by the financial elete
(4) need only add that yet again you are deflecting from the real issues that can be dealt with here in Ireland
(5) if I could only understand it, would comment further
(6) heartily concur.

Where, in your post, you say:

(1) Quote sentence one
(2) Quote sentence two
(3) Quote sentence three
(4) Quote Shakespeare
(5) Quote for insurance
(6) lua i nGaeilge and blame google translate

I can only think…

(1) you’ve been at the Beamish again
(2) of the recent IMF survey of Central Banking regulation
(3) longingly of the fjords
(4) you are some kind of internet backstabber
(5) that your excellent report should be implemented in full
(6) slowly

But it is important to note that the real cause of the current crisis is…

(1) Nixon taking the US completely off the gold standard
(2) A bunch of 20 year old lapdancing afficianados making out like bandits
(3) Sovereign profligacy
(4) A badly designed monetary ystem
(5) An unholy alliance of Irish politicians, property developers and a subservient meeja
(6) The St Bartholemew’s Day Massacre

As…

(1) Krugman
(2) Koo
(3) Mankiw
(4) Bill Mitchell
(5) Schauble
(6) Ken Rogoff

puts it…

(1) Stimulus, stimulus, stimulus
(2) It’s a balance sheet recession
(3) Why aren’t there any students here?
(4) A truly sovereign state can never run out of currency
(5) Sign it and we won’t f**k you like the Greeks
(6) Your move: but its mate in three.

And with that roll once for down and once for across, pick the word, repeat three times - slap the three selected words into a youtube for that incisive and oh-so-important link.

economy crisis debt euro deficit default
Merkel Sarkozy Kenny Papandreou Draghi Monti
Hayek Keynes Ricardo Smith Marx Minsky
IMF ECB DCU EU EMF RTE
Rhianna Madonna Lady Gaga Jessie J Beyonce Clint Eastwood
1971 1999 1815 1848 1916 2525

Then add ‘oh for an internet spellchecker’ for that human touch

And with that, your post is complete.