Tánaiste claims people only going across the border to buy cheap booze

national | miscellaneous | opinion/analysis

Saturday April 11, 2009 16:20

by Not Jimmy - SCSS

macillin07 at gmail dot com

Mary Coughlan 'The Sarah Palin of South Donegal', manages to insult the whole country

On Ocean FM's 'Paddy Clancy' show, (Saturday 11/04/09) , the Tánaiste informed listeners how everyone knows that shoppers are only going across the border for cheap booze. Appearently the €800million in vat revenues lost to cross border shopping is as a result of the legions of Irish people searching out bargain booze in the north of Ireland.

Since becoming Tánaiste, Mary Coughlan has rapidly developed a habit of opening her mouth only to quickly stick her foot in it. There are too many examples to list here but most recent examples include her lack of understanding of how a levy on your salary is taken at 'source'. Coming from the so-called Minister for trade and employment, its not clear whether this should be considered funny or extremely worrying, many sources lean towards the latter.
Another classic example was heard recently at the opening of a new unit at Sligo General hospital in March. The 'Sarah Palin of South Donegal' claimed she knew of people who had 'gone to their eternal reward but NOW wish they had recieved better care then they had at Sligo General', needless to say these comments were less then well received by the people of the Northwest.

And then of course todays example, when Coughlan told an astounded Paddy Clancy, that all these shoppers travelling to the North of Ireland were only looking for cheap drink, failing to recognise the market forces that are driving people across the border to buy food, nappies and essential household items, she continued to labour the point by claiming 'and everyone knows it'. Even Clancy, a wiley, experienced journalist seemed stunned by the idiocy of the Tánaiste's statements.
We estimate that by Mary Coughlan's 'logic' this would mean the amount spent on Booze in Northern Ireland by Southern Irish shoppers since October 2008 at approximately €4 BILLION, its no wonder theres such a deficit and miraculous that anybody in the country is sober enough to work at all.

A request for the clip from Ocean fm today has been requested and will be posted here as soon as possible.

To hear the Tánaistes commenting on the results of her Deceased opinion polls, listen to the clip below.

http://www.sligocentre.net/ab_site/Audio/Tanaiste%20on%20Ocean.mp3

Embedded audio: http://www.sligocentre.net/ab_site/Audio/Tanaiste%20on%20Ocean.mp3

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Comments (4 of 4)

Career civil servants

by Brassed Off

Thu Apr 23, 2009 14:54

I agree with the above.
All of our politicians seem to be brought up in the civil or public service mish-mash.
None of them have any proper experience in the private sector let alone run their own business.
When the government was trying to pay senior civil servants higher renumeration or compensation or what ever they call it now, they expounded on how ministers should be paid in comparison to similar positions in the private sector.
Now, in the private sector, if you apply to be the chief financial officer of a very large company, for example CRH, you would be expected to every qualification under the sun and have been in a similar position in a smaller company for years.
Hmmmm. Hang-on, Brian Lenihan is the chief financial officer of Ireland. But he is a barrister! Why are none of our politicians qualified for their jobs? What on earth were we thinking?

'Way out of her depth, but she's not alone.

by Fred Johnston

Tue Apr 14, 2009 15:59

Yes, Mary Coughlan is inordinately out of her depth, unprimed, uninformed, better suited to a parent-teacher committee, I'd imagine, but it is the nature of Irish politics to haul that sort of person on board. Her remarks about going North only for booze really are too silly for comment. The only qualifications Fianna Fáil ever ask for is a candidate's ability to win or hold a seat; intellectual or other experience are not required. Thus the politics of parish and rural hamlet can be preserved, tribal as it is and narrow. It's not politics in any European sense of the word, more like a group of Tidy Towns committee meetings.

That crowd in Fianna Fail could not organise a piss up in a brewery

by Vomit Smirnoff - Vodkar society of ireland

Sun Apr 12, 2009 23:42

Run every one of those T.Ds ,the whole shaggen lot, up to the North Of Ireland ,we dont want them here any longer .

Replace the 166 with intelligent educated people who would get this country out of despair within 3 years , and keep us out of trouble .

Not at all Surprised.

by Arm-a-Gedden

Sun Apr 12, 2009 23:15

Appearently the €800million in vat revenues lost to cross border shopping is as a result of the legions of Irish people searching out bargain booze in the north of Ireland.

As Tánaiste it is very obvious that she and indeed the F/Fail/Green government have not got a clue what is going on, they simply dont care about Joe and Mary citizen,this is the normal rhetoric,spin,lies tell anything except the truth,hedge around the facts make it look like the people that she represents are a crowd of drunks,this is disgusting,and disgraceful behaviour from a so called Government Minister who is the second in charge of the country.

She is not doing her job or neither are the rest of them,they are so long in power they think they own the country and its citizens and they are being allowed to get away with it,the Finance Minister added a half % to the VAT rate, the dogs in the street were telling him this was a huge mistake,he wasent listening, then he did realise they were right, admitted he made a mistake, but done absouletly nothing to correct it on that point alone, points to incompetence.

Meanwhile shoppers are still heading North to buy their essentials and rightly so they are being Patriotic to themselves, the same way the Government Ministers are being Patriotic to themselves by the misuse of taxpayers money.A General Election is urgently required to get this crowd out, and untill this happens, the people will remain with no confidence,only insecurity and fear will be the order of the day.

This rotten system needs to be completly overhauled, as it has proven itself to be Dysfunctional and does not serve the wishes of the people as laid down by Buneracht na hEireann.

When the Turkey was nominated to represent Ireland in the Eurovision I knew we were finished.

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Tánaiste claims people only going across the border to buy cheap booze

Comments (4 of 4)