bluereek

In my working life (25 years since graduating from engineering school in Trinity College) I have never before experienced the challenges now seen in Ireland. At the time I commenced my training contract in KPMG (then SKC) in 1984 I recall many recently qualified accountants being very concerned for their future. In 2000/2001 – three years into running our own consulting company (www.ciall.com) we faced real challenges in the post ‘.com’ dip. Today’s challenges are on a different scale.

During those 25 years Irish people have been to the fore in international affairs – be it commerce, arts, politics, education, charity. And by Irish people I refer to the 70 million or so who make up the global Irish population – including the 5 million or so on this island.

There must be a temptation within the international community to look at us – on the island of Ireland – as having had the benefit of major inward investment and squandered it. Part of facing our challenge now is to continue to take our place on the world stage. Those of us living and operating within the island of Ireland need to continue to play our part. There is a quid pro quo for looking to the greater diaspora and to Europe for further assistance and investment – we must play our part. We cannot simply get out the begging bowl. We are an established country and we’ve made some major mistakes, much of them rooted in greed. The most recent budget was the first step in convincing the international community that we are going to address our issues. The next budget must show real conviction about getting our cost base sorted.

Dan O’Brien’s article in the Irish Times is pretty hard hitting. He questions the calibre of the people representing Ireland in international affairs. He questions the effort made by the main political parties in the run up to the first referendum and their current effort in the runup to the second referendum. It does not make for pretty reading – but is deserving of reflection.

The next few years are going to witness more largescale emigration of talent from Ireland – without a doubt. Just for now the emigration options look limited – but given the changes we are beginning to see in overseas locations those opportunities will arise again. Many young talented Irish will choose to work and live overseas – not interested in staying to pay high taxes to pay off the sins of the past. A political system which is unwilling to cut overhead to match income will not provide the economic and social opportunites for many of our young talented people. Depressing though this may be, it will happen.

So let us at least recognise that this will happen – and that we need to play our part. Let’s make an effort to make it easier for international companies and individuals to interact with us. I had recent experience of an overseas student (seond generation Irish – US based) relocating here for 1 term of his undergraduate degree. He contacted the university – they advised him to come 4 weeks early and sort out his own accomodation. Given the level of fees we charge overseas students for this privilege I think this is a simple example of what’s wrong with this country at present.

Let’s make sure that the talent that goes abroad wants to continue to be part of Ireland – although they may never actually relocate to live here again. Let’s figure out a way to have them continue to be involved in the development of this country. Some of them may never contribute to our income tax revenues – but some of them may, down the line, bring the next Dell, Intel or Boston Scientific to Ireland. I, for one, would like to have them continue to have a direct role in electing our government.

I would not underestimate the challenges faced by our political leaders at present. (Nor should they underestimate the challenges faced by those of us trying to drive the economy forward). It’s not an easy time to be striding the world stage and advising the rest of the world how to do it. Nevertheless we must have a voice, have a view and play ourt part. The future for Irish business is the world stage – building international and global businesses out of Ireland, building products and delivering services to the global business community. Our innovators and our future business leaders need Irish political leadership which participates and contributes on an international level.

The first step – ensure Lisbon success.

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Today’s report in the Sunday Tribune represents a more positive spin from the Irish press on Ireland’s outlook – and takes a positive perspective on the recent ESRI report.  Credit to Minister Lenihan and his officials for managing to turn around the profile of the country – through definitive action in Ireland and better interntional communications programmes.

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It’s been a tough week on the homefront.  We’ve had the AGM’s for AIB and Irish Life & Permanent.  Very angry shareholders.  Directors facing the music.  And an additional €1.5bn privision by AIB.

However our Finance Minister has been out doing his stuff – on tour getting the Ireland message across.  Frank Millar assures us in today’s Irish Times that Lenihan has been well received and has demonstrated an indepth understanding of his brief.

I have heard plenty of objections to NAMA recently – developers, press, opposition parties.  In fact the head of the NTMA caused some concern by making it clear he does not have the resources to push forward with NAMA. Nationalisation of the banks has a great deal of logical appeal at this stage – if the State is to put in significant funding then the State should participate (proportionately) in the upside.

However the government cannot sit still – and needs to formulate and execute plans.  This feedback would at least indicate that we have someone in charge who can explain what they are trying to do – in direct confliect with much of what is reported in the dedia and suggested by opposition politicians.  I think all of this supports points previously made in this blog – there is a need for a National Agenda – preferably supported by a National Government.

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Today’s report in the Irish Times gives a reasonable summary of just how bad things are around Europe.  We have made some serious errors in Ireland – but there is a major international dimension to this.

Was interested in listening to economist John Fitzgerald today.  Even if we end up putting €20bn into rescuing our banks this number will pale into significance when we look at costs associated with government spending – be that public sector or unemplyment payments.

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I could not agree more with Noel Whelan in today’s Irish Times.

George Lee has been the anchor commentator for RTE on the economy and the actions taken by the government throughout the current crisis.  He now puts himself forward as a candidate for the main opposition party in the forthcoming by- election.  I think three months off – between the RTE job and being a FG candidate would be entirely appropriate.

The more I look at it the more I believe we need national government.   The government has started to prescribe the tough medicine – with a lot more to come.  We do  not need party politics at this time.  We need choices from the right and left of centre.  Time for FG/FF to be big boys and bury the hatchet.  And there should be a left of centre alternative – to be led by Labour.

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Great piece in the Irish Times introducing a number of the top financial blogs – for those interested.  Ironically another example of a challenge to the newspapers – provided by a combination of economists and journalists.

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Interesting piece by Emmet Oliver in today’s Sunday Tribune – comparing the situation faced by Ireland and the UK.  Times are tough (grim) on both sides of the Irish Sea.  For us the massive devaluation of Sterling has been a killer – hitting our exports and producing this cross border shopping frenzy (further exacerbated by the VAT situation).

The UK has the 60m population to work with – and a currency of which it has control.  We have the young population, the low CT rate, the Irish diaspora, a small population and no control of the Euro currency.

Our very real crisis has forced the government to confront the population with a nasty budget.  The UK approach for now seems to include putting off the evil day.  This would also appear to be the case in the US – although Bernanke is beginning to remind people that having put all this extra money into the economy he will have to take it out again when growth appears again.

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