EU-DIGEST

Irish company to develop wind farms in Chile

Developing wind farms in Chile is to be the latest energy venture of Airtricity founder Eddie O'Connor. Mr O'Connor sold his Airtricity businesses in the US and Europe last year for €50 million and with a portion of the money set up a new company in February called Mainstream Renewable Power. Now, the relatively new company has signed into a €785 million joint venture deal with Chilean company Anders Energy to develop wind farms in the South American country. It is hoped that the wind farms created will generate enough power for around 217,000 homes, with a 35MW wind farm planned to be ready in two years in the Valparaiso region of Chile.

Labels: Alternative Energy, Chile, EU, Ireland, Windfarms

Celtic Tiger Chained By Europe - Anthony Faiola

When Ireland entered the world's most ambitious economic alliance -- the European Union -- the Celtic Tiger roared to life. Membership in Europe's private club, along with the subsequent adoption of the euro, lured scores of multinational companies to this country and ushered in an unprecedented era of growth.But as Ireland faces its worst recession in a quarter-century, the policies and institutions that bind the European Union now represent some of the country's biggest obstacles to recovery. n surrendering monetary policy to the European Central Bank and agreeing to meet specific budget targets, Ireland and other E.U. countries are now handicapped in their ability to craft responses to specific economic challenges. As a result, economists say, the recession in Europe is likely to be even deeper, and last longer, than the one in the United States, making it more difficult for the global economy to bounce back quickly.

Note EU-Digest

This report by Anthony Faiola is totally slanted and based on views expressed by Euro Sceptics. If it was not for Ireland's membership in the EU, and the support it got to develop a modern infrastructure, the present economic crises would probably bring Ireland back to the period known in its history as the Potato Famine.

Labels: Economic Crises, EU, Ireland, Potato Famine

EU awash with drugs as 90pc of shipments get through - by Ralph Riegel

An estimated nine out of every 10 drug shipments evade European customs and police detection. Despite the stunning success for the Irish authorities this week in the seizure of €675m of high-grade Colombian cocaine off the west Cork coast, the grim reality is that the drug is flooding onto European markets. The wholesale price of high-grade cocaine has plummeted from €130,000 to less than €80,000 per kilogram in the space of just four years -- while the number of cocaine addicts within the EU has doubled in seven years. Note EU-Digest: This is an unacceptable situation. Every EU member country is to blame for being lacks in the way they control the illegal import, sale and possession of addictive drugs which has become a major source of criminal activity. Member countries like the Netherlands which still provide legality to the use of drugs in various forms should be made to understand that what they thought to be a beneficial policy has now turned into a major criminal activity and needs to be cleaned up.

Labels: Drug Traffic, EU, Ireland, The Netherlands

A Lisbon perspective on the Lisbon Treaty - by Maria Joao Rodrigues

"As adviser to the prime minister of Portugal, I was in the European Council in October 2007 when champagne glasses were raised by all the European leaders to greet the final agreement on the new treaty. I remember the joy and relief when after two painful years (in fact five), it was possible to reach a consensus on a new treaty, which has several shortcomings but also many achievements: a Charter of Fundamental Rights, more effective and democratic decision-making, a more co-ordinated external focus for the European Union, a stronger euro zone, a bolder energy policy and a social clause. I also remember that a new determination was in the room when the European leaders turned to the future and to a central concern of citizens: how can Europe cope with globalisation? For all these reasons, the current crisis calls for a clear rendezvous in the European Council in December. Its central responsibility will be to adopt a fully-fledged plan to tackle the financial and economic crisis and to mobilise all necessary means.

This will very likely be the right moment for Ireland to clarify its willingness to promote a new consultation process in order to take into account the new current challenges, as well as the possibilities of accommodating specific Irish concerns regarding neutrality, the European Commissioner, abortion and other social issues. The rendezvous regarding the new treaty will be in December because the crisis will not wait. Stronger European action will be needed."

Labels: EU, Ireland, Lisbon Treaty

What life will be like in 2050 for a middle-class Irish family

In 1930, the economist JM Keynes wrote Economic Possibilities for our Grandchildren. Keynes described his hopes for economic opportunities for his grandchildren's generation. Some of it he got wrong - he predicted that people wouldn't be able to enjoy the increased leisure their wealth and modern technology afforded them, and that the accumulation of wealth wouldn't be as high a priority any more.Well, first, they won't have an oil problem the way we have one. By 2040, there is general agreement we won't have enough oil to power the world's needs. Something else will have taken its place, most likely a combination of nuclear power and cleaner, greener energy sources. In fact, I would place a bet that the world economy will still be largely in a transition from oil-dependent energy generation technologies by the time of my first grandchild's birth.

The grandchildren won't have to worry about climate change the way I do: for them it will be an ever escalating reality. While we debate the severity of the oncoming environmental damage the post-industrial generations have inflicted upon the planet, they will know it first-hand. I wonder will they thank us for our actions today.

Labels: EU, Ireland

Irish 'No' vote architect plans Europe-wide 'referendum' on Lisbon Treaty - by Tim Shipman

The man who delivered an historic "No" vote in Ireland against the EU's Lisbon Treaty has revealed far-reaching plans to give voters throughout Europe a peoples' referendum on the handover of power to Brussels. Declan Ganley is planning to field more than 400 candidates in next June's European Parliament elections, in the 26 countries – including Britain – where voters have had no direct say on the treaty. The energy and rhetoric of Mr Ganley, a multimillionaire businessman, was widely credited with persuading the Irish to reject the treaty, even though every leading Irish political party apart from Sinn Fein was urging voters to say "Yes".

Labels: Ireland, Lisbon Treaty

Labels: EU, Ireland

Analysis, Opinion - The anti-EU leprechauns bring us no crock of gold

CRISIS? What crisis? No crisis at all, say the people who urged us to vote 'No', although by their own admission they did not know what we were voting about. And the break-up of the EU is not just a pipe dream for loonies. It is a nightmarish possibility which terrifies European leaders. They cannot allow little Ireland, or the little Czech Republic to turn it from a possibility, into a probability. The Czechs are to some extent protected by their geopolitical importance. We have no such protection. Out here in the Atlantic, we could be cut adrift. We might have nowhere to turn but good old HMS Albion

Labels: EU, Ireland

Declan Ganley - Who has been bankrolling the man behind the Irish "no to EU" campaign?

The no campaign against the Lisbon Treaty in Ireland was buoyant, thanks in large part to the zeal of 39 year old Declan Ganley. But the question remains: who has been bankrolling him? In reality, Declan Ganley, should be a member of Ireland's elite establishment: he is after all a millionaire, living in a mansion in Galway and owning a Rolls-Royce, a Merc and a helicopter. Yet the establishment is intensely fearful of him, because of the highly effective role he has played in persuading Irish voters to reject the EU Lisbon Treaty.

He can hardly be accused of being insular, since he has amassed his fortune with international ventures which have taken him to the US, Russia, Bulgaria and Latvia, where he once also worked as an adviser to the government. His English accent comes from the fact that he was born in London, though his Irish-born parents took the family back to live in rural Co Galway when he was 13.

In some ways he did not fit in, but he compensated with precocious entrepreneurial flair which already emerged in his teens. After school he went from working on construction sites in London to a lowly position in an insurance company before going on to build a business career ranging from aluminium in Russia to forestry in Latvia, telecommunications in Bulgaria and jewelry on the Internet. Some of his concerns have not been huge successes, while others are said to have been sold for phenomenal sums. What is clear is that until this campaign, he was much better known in the business world than in political circles and concentrated his activities on international, rather than Irish matters.

Some of his many companies do business with the US military-industrial complex. One supplies emergency response systems to the military leading some in the Yes camp to portray him as a shadowy figure with connections to neoconservatives whose organisation is being bankrolled by sinister money from outside Ireland. One senior figure asked: "Are they getting it from the CIA, the UK Independence Party or their friends in the US military?" Certainly, his campaign movement Libertas has spent plenty of money. The Sunday before the vote, for example, he could afford to have a private plane soar over Croke Park trailing the message "Keep Europe off the pitch vote No". His Libertas party, which dismisses all such allegations, is part of an anti-Treaty coalition, ranging from the far-right to the far-left. In their no-campaign they concentrated on different areas affected by the Treaty and indeed in some cases areas which are, arguably, not affected by it at all.

Ireland was once hugely, automatically pro-European, originally in terms of idealism and later in terms of major funding. But eaten bread is soon forgotten, specially now that monies are diverted to newer EU entrants. For whatever his motives, Declan Ganley used his old insurance salesman skills well and sold the Irish "a policy" on Europe they could one day come to regret.

Labels: Declan Ganley, EU, Ireland, referendum

Ireland's referendum - the EU will give them the boot

The rejection of the Lisbon Treaty is a vote that the people of Ireland will come to regret. No other nation has benefited as greatly from its membership in the European Union, and not just from billions of euros in direct subsidies. EU membership - in addition to Ireland's low taxes and its English-speaking population - has made the country an attractive place for multinationals to invest, and it has given Irish families and businesses access to the cheap credit that fueled the nation's economic growth. Irrational fear of "Brussels bureaucrats" is a poor substitute for a rational examination of the facts. Having scuttled the Lisbon Treaty, the Irish will have no one but themselves to blame if the EU gives them the boot.

Labels: EU, Ireland, referendum

Europe must not be derailed by lies and disinformation - by Will Hutton

Eurosceptics celebrate a triumph of the little people against the Euro juggernaut. Ireland's 'no' vote against the treaty on the European constitution is, in such minds, the brave assertion of democracy against bureaucracy. The European elite in Brussels, with its dark plans to hobble Europeans everywhere, deserves a good kicking for producing an unloved, incomprehensible set of reforms. It has got it. Ireland has stood up for Europe.

This is nonsense from top to bottom, a farrago of lies and disinformation. The European Union is a painfully constructed and fragile skein of compromises that allows 27 democratic states on our shared continent to come together and drive forward areas of common interest to further their citizens' well-being. The elite that plots this is a nonexistent phantom invented by populist demagogues. The beleaguered, unloved treaty would have improved Europe's effectiveness and tried to address its much talked about democratic weaknesses.

The reality is that Ireland's 'no' voters have trashed an EU that is precious but weak. Most 'no' voters, grabbing on to the worst fear rather than reasoned fact, have unknowingly set in train a political dynamic that, unless carefully handled, could lead not just to Ireland but Britain leaving the EU. Everybody will be the poorer.

Note EU-Digest: "if the Euro Sceptics in Britain and Ireland eventually get their way, the day might even come where Ireland and Britain will be replaced by Russia as a member of the EU. Russia in a way has far more to contribute to the EU as a whole than Ireland or Britain. If this happens it would finally get rid of two countries who have always been treating the EU with a certain amount of disdain and who look at their EU membership as "wanting to have their cake and eat it also."

Labels: EU, Ireland, referendum

Refusing to take Ireland's no for an answer, leading politicians in Berlin and Paris prepared for a crucial EU summit in Brussels this week by trying to ringfence the Irish, while demanding that the reform treaty be ratified by the rest of the EU. The scene is set for a clash between the Irish and their European partners after a Dublin minister and sources in the ruling Fianna Fail party ruled out any chance of a second Irish referendum on the treaty.

Note EU-Digest: Whoever was behind this no-vote movement in Ireland, which had nothing to do with democracy and all about manipulation, should be made to understand that "you can not have your cake and eat it also".

Labels: EU, Ireland, referendum

China view: Poland says Irish referendum no dis-qualifier for Lisbon Treaty - by Mu Xuequan

Ireland's rejection of the Lisbon Treaty does not disqualify it and the EU will seek ways to enforce it, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said Friday commenting Thursday's result of an Irish national referendum on the EU act. According tofficial partial results announced on Friday Lisbon Treaty opponents won the referendum in 27 of 43 Irish constituencies. Ireland was the only EU member to decide the matter in a national ballot. "The referendum results in Ireland do not disqualify the Treaty completely. We will continue seeking ways to bring it to life. Regardless of the referendum results I think we can be moderately optimistic about the EU finding a way to put it in force," Tusk told reporters in Polish parliament.

Note EU-Digest: "With Britain among the countries continuing to push the ratification process through their parliaments, Ireland is the odd one out. It has to explain how it finds common ground with 26 nations in favor of the Lisbon Treaty. An Irish "no" is being set against a "yes" from the parliaments of another 18 countries so far. The "no" from Ireland does not mean everything is wrecked. Ireland will feel the repercussions, not Europe, because the momentum can't be stopped. As to the strong EURO septics lobby and press in Britain, let them be warned, the true fight is only beginning now."

Labels: EU, Ireland, referendum

Britain: Miliband to continue with EU plans

Irish voters stunned Europe's leaders and brought the ratification process shuddering to a halt, voting by 53.4% to 46.6% to reject the treaty. As jubilant 'No' campaigners celebrated in Dublin, the Tories said that the treaty should now finally be declared dead and called on Gordon Brown to abandon ratification by the UK. But Mr Miliband said that while it was important to respect the Irish result, there should also be a "British view" on the treaty, as expressed in the ratification bill currently going through Parliament.

Labels: EU, Ireland, referendum

Ireland votes against Lisbon Treaty - by Tom Peterkin

Even before all the official Ireland referendum results were in, the Irish government conceded that the public had voted against the Treaty. Dermot Ahern, the country’s justice minister, predicted: “It looks like this will be a 'no' vote.” Mr Ahern added: “At the end of the day, for a myriad of reasons, the people have spoken.” Despite benefiting from £32 billion in European Grants in recent years, a low turn-out (45 per cent) of the Irish electorate discarded the Treaty, designed to streamline the EU. The outcome was triumph for a highly-effective No Campaign masterminded by the Libertas group led by the multimillionaire Declan Ganley. For Brian Cowen, the newly-installed Irish Prime Minister, the result was a disaster. All the main political parties, aside from Sinn Fein, had supported the Treaty and made strenuous efforts to win the referendum.

Labels: EU, Ireland, referendum

Irish Referendum vote count under way

Counting of the votes cast yesterday on the Lisbon Treaty Referendum began at 9am this morning, with early indications of trends expected by mid-morning.The final official result is expected to be announced late this afternoon, but tallies from the 43 constituencies should give a good indication of the likely outcome late this morning. Each constituency counts its own votes separately, and then sends the result to the Referendum Returning Officer in Dublin Castle, who will announce the overall result. Turnout is thought to have been higher than in the first Nice Referendum, which was defeated, but lower than in the second, which was passed. However, with recent opinion polls suggesting that supporters of the treaty were more likely to vote, a lower turnout is not necessarily good news for the No side.

Labels: EU, Ireland, referendum

Irish Referendum - France warns Ireland on EU treaty 'No' vote - by Honor Mahoney

French foreign minister Bernard Kouchner has warned Ireland about the consequences of voting "No" in Thursday's referendum, saying the Irish would be the "first victim" if they reject the EU treaty. Speaking on France's RTL radio, Mr Kouchner said that a "No" vote would be met by "gigantic incomprehension" in the rest of Europe."I believe the first victim of an eventual no would be the Irish. They have benefitted more than others," said Mr Kouchner. "Yes, they're not happy because maybe nobody told them that Europe is confronting the rest of the world and that to have advantages for themselves, for the Irish...well, Europe has to develop, has to go in the direction of the Treaty of Lisbon," he said.

Labels: EU, France, Ireland, referendum

Gormley warns Irish reputation at stake - by Mark Hennesy

Green Party leader John Gormley today said that a No vote in the Lisbon treaty referendum would jeopardise Ireland's reputation in the European Union. He made his remarks as he attended a Dublin meeting of European Greens, who are recommending a Yes vote even though the Irish Greens have not adopted a formal position on the Treaty. "When I hear renowned neo-cons and hawks like [US State Dept official] John Bolton encourage Irish people to vote No in Lisbon, it reminds me that I am on the right side of the debate," Mr Gormley said. "There are people in this campaign who want to see Ireland move into a more isolationist and Eurosceptic position. I have never been Eurosceptic, and I would hate to see Ireland move in this direction. Ireland enjoys a place at the very heart of Europe, and I fear that a No vote could endanger the influence and position that our small country has established over the last 36 years of our membership."

Belgian Green MEP Pierre Jonckheer said all Green MEPs in the European parliament are "very hopeful" that Ireland will accept the Treaty, despite recent opinion poll figures. "Ireland has little to fear from Lisbon, and much to gain from being at the centre of a Union that will be more democratic and efficient as a result of a Yes vote," he said.

Labels: EU, Ireland, Lisbon Treaty, referendum

Irish EU Referendum: Sinn Fein and Fianna Fail clash over Lisbon consequences

The Minister for Finance has said that Ireland will have less influence in Europe if the Lisbon Treaty is rejected. Brian Lenihan was attacking the claims of the 'No' campaigners who say that Ireland will lose out by the loss of a commissioner and changes to the manner in which decisions are made. Today's Red C poll in the Sunday Business Post shows support for a 'No' vote at 39% - up six points, but the 'Yes' campaign remains ahead on 42%.

Labels: EU, Ireland, Lisbon Treaty, referendum

No camp 'gains' in Irish EU vote

A survey published by the Irish Times on Friday suggested 35% of people would vote No - more than twice the figure polled two weeks ago - against 30% Yes. It is the first poll to put the Nos in the lead, ahead of Thursday's vote.

Friday's TNS/mrbi poll suggested 28% of voters were still undecided, while 7% say they will not take part at all. Irish Prime Minister Brian Cowen, who has led the Yes campaign, said he was confident of getting public approval. But he said a No vote would have "dire consequences". He blamed the latest poll figure on opponents "raising fears... creating suspicions".

EU-Digest: The Irish can not be so ignorant that they can't see all the benefits the EU has brought them. They also better stop listeningto those so-called "Euro skeptics" in Britain - a country which has never treated the Irish with much respect.The British Euro Skeptics actually are very much like the old time British Imperialists. They are ultra conservative, nationalistic and believe Britain is superior to all nations.

Francis A. Boyle, a law professor at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, wrote a report commissioned by the New York-based Irish Famine/Genocide Committee which concluded that "Clearly, during the years 1845 to 1850, the British government pursued a policy of mass starvation in Ireland with intent to destroy in substantial part the national, ethnic and racial group commonly known as the Irish People. EU membership for Ireland is not only a guarantee that this will never happen again, but it is also a source for long term economic prosperity. Voting yes on Thursday also means voting yes for an independent and strong Ireland.

Labels: EU, Ireland, Lisbon Treaty

For the complete report from ireland.com click on this link

Irish Referendum Lisbon Treaty: No vote would mean end of Ireland as a business gateway to Europe - by Patrick Logue and Killian Doyle - by Patrick Logue and Killian Doyle

Taoiseach Brian Cowen has said a Yes vote in the Lisbon Treaty referendum next week is “fundamentally in our interests” after a poll today showed it faces a shock rejection. Mr Cowen accused those opposed to the treaty of “spreading confusion” and bringing in “extraneous issues” that were nothing to do with the Treaty, which is subject to a referendum on June 12th. According to the Irish Times/TNS mrbi poll results, the number of people intending to vote No has almost doubled to 35 per cent (up 17 points) since the last poll three weeks ago, while the number of the Yes side has declined to 30 per cent (down 5 points).

The number of undecided voters is still a significant 28 per cent (down 12 points), while 7 per cent won’t vote. The findings suggest that Mr Cowen faces a humiliating defeat

Note EU-Digest: A no vote would mean “queers Irish sales pitch to companies thinking about investing in Ireland as a base within Europe”. Former Progressive Democrats leader Ms Harney said she believed that Ireland’s best interests in terms of investment and job creation are supported by a Yes vote next Thursday. Ms Harney directly challenged leading anti-Lisbon campaigners including Declan Ganley, Joe Higgins and Mary Lou McDonald, to debate with her on how a No vote would serve Ireland in the future. Making reference to her former role as Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, the Minister questioned how anti-Lisbon campaigners could comment on the economic implications of the treaty when they lack experience of attracting investment into Ireland.

Labels: EU, Ireland, Lisbon Treaty, referendum

Ireland - U.S. defense establishment, Irish Republican Army and Sinn Fein against EU Lisbon Treaty

The Irish government, most business leaders and political parties of nearly every stripe have come out overwhelmingly in favor of the Lisbon Treaty, pointing out how Ireland's membership in the EU over the last 35 years has helped transform the Emerald Isle of 4.1 million people from an impoverished backwater dependent on Britain to one of Europe's most robust economies.But a newly vigorous opposition composed of farmers, a few wealthy businessmen with vague connections to the U.S. defense establishment and the leftist Irish republican party, Sinn Fein, have gained quickly in recent polls, and the outcome is suddenly no longer a sure thing.

Irish Prime Minister Brian Cowen this week described the treaty, which replaces a constitution rejected by French and Dutch voters in 2005, as a "major victory" for small members such as Ireland that would protect and promote their interests.
IKrish Republican Army. Irish voters go to the polls on June 12 to vote on the treaty in the only referendum planned by an EU state, meaning one of the bloc's smallest nations could sink a project designed to end years of wrangling over reform of its institutions.

Ireland, with a population of 4.2 million, votes will decide whether the European Union finally gets a full-time president and a single, more powerful, foreign policy chief. The Irish electorate will determine whether the European Union can reorganize its ramshackle internal structures and play a more influential role on the world stage or whether it will just carry on muddling through.Rarely have so few voters caused so many jitters across so many capitals.And with opinion polls showing much of the Irish electorate undecided, the possibility that the Lisbon Treaty may be rejected has sent unfamiliar tremors of fear through the ranks of Europe's top bureaucrats, who rarely have to trouble with voters.

A growing number of Irish voters say they will back the European Union's reform treaty in next month's referendum, although nearly half of those canvassed remain undecided, a poll showed on Saturday. A poll in the Irish Times newspaper found that 35 percent of Irish people said they would vote "yes" on June 12, up from 26 percent in a previous survey conducted in January.

Brian Cowen, who took over as Ireland's prime minister this month, has said approving the accord was a key priority for the government in the next few weeks. "If we vote yes we remain at the heart of a successful Europe, making our voice heard and continuing to benefit," Cowen said in a campaign speech to voters on Friday evening. "A no vote will put us on the outside and rejects the policies which have helped us to achieve so much."

Labels: EU, EU Treaty, Ireland, referendum

Ireland - Alliance for Europe unveils Yes posters

The Irish Alliance for Europe today unveiled its Yes to Lisbon billboard campaign. Speaking at the event, Irish Alliance for Europe chairman Ruairí Quinn said: “We remain confident of the outcome, [but] we are going to intensify our campaign to a level never before seen in this country, with a view to maximising the Yes vote on June 12th. He added that the alliance’s “battle-bus” would continue its nationwide tour, and that various leaflets would be distributed nationwide.

Among others at the poster announcement were alliance director Brendan Kiely; Olive Braiden, human rights commissioner; Mary Davis, managing director of Special Olympics Europe/Eurasia; and Duncan Stewart, environmentalist and television personality.

Labels: EU, EU Treaty, Ireland

Yes Side Ahead in Ireland’s EU Treaty Race

More people in Ireland are in favor of ratifying a new common European treaty, according to a poll by Red C published in the Sunday Business Post. 38 per cent of respondents would vote to adopt the so-called Lisbon Treaty in next month’s referendum, while 28 per cent would vote against it. A third of respondents remain undecided. EU heads of state officially signed the European Constitution on Oct. 29, 2004. The project for a continental body of law was practically abandoned in 2005, after voters in France and the Netherlands rejected the proposed document in two plebiscites.

Labels: EU, EU Treaty, Ireland

Ireland : As polls narrow, Irish PM warns of 'disaster' if EU treaty defeated

Irish Prime Minister Bertie Ahern has issued a stark warning on the consequences of rejecting the EU treaty as the latest poll shows a narrowing gap between the yes and no side. A no vote would have "repercussions that would do immense damage to Ireland," and would be a "disaster for the country," he said on Sunday (27 April), according to the Irish Times. A poll published by the Sunday Business Post that showed that 35 percent were in favour of the treaty, 31 percent said they were against and 34 percent remain undecided.

Labels: EU Treaty, Ireland

EU migrants living in Ireland to be allowed to vote - by Henry McDonald

Ireland is to allow Poles, Czechs, Slovakians and tens of thousands of other EU migrant workers to vote in national elections, in a move that could radically transform the political landscape, according to the minister in charge of integrating the country's half a million immigrants. Ireland has an overall population of about 4.5 million, with non-Irish nationals, from the EU as well as China and Africa, making up 12% of Ireland's population. Conor Lenihan, the minister for integration, said that in return for full voting rights the migrants would have to prove an ability to speak English before taking up permanent resident status.

Labels: EU, Ireland

Ireland - BoI predicts 3% economic growth for 2008

Bank of Ireland has predicted that the economy will grow by as much as 3% this year and that 40,000 jobs will be created. This is in sharp contrast to recent forecasts from other organizations such as the ESRI, which has predicted no growth in employment at all. However, Bank of Ireland Chief Economist Dan McLaughlin insisted today that strong employment growth in the services sector would more than compensate for job losses in the construction sector.

Labels: Economy, EU, Ireland

While the Celtic tiger takes a snooze, the young Eastern European tigers are up and running.

WHILE the Celtic tiger takes a snooze, the young Estonian tiger is up and running. As are the Czech and Hungarian cubs. Those countries' envoys are coming here in numbers with the intention of wooing away some of those immigrant workers who have helped to drive our years of rapid economic growth. An unprecedented 18 countries have taken stands at the Opportunities Fair at Croke Park next month. While the Irish building industry has ground to a crawl, Poland's construction is booming and wages have doubled. The Polish stand in Croke Park, at the end of February, will be delighted to share the good news and extol the benefits of a return to Krakow, Gdansk or Bydgoszsz.

Labels: Eastern Europe, EU, Ireland

Irish Public Service employees awarded zero increase in benchmarking report

Furious Irish unions accused the Government of declaring a war on their members' wages. But an unrepentant Finance Minister Brian Cowen insisted the benchmarking body had done its job and the issue would now go to the forthcoming national wage negotiations. Opposition parties claimed Mr Cowen and his Cabinet colleagues would be getting deferred pay increases of up to 14pc, under a report comparing top salaries in the two sectors. Union leaders are aware national deals normally give the same rises to both public and private workers.

Labels: Economy, EU, Ireland, Labor

REFERENDUM ON EU TREATY: 62 PERCENT OF IRISH UNDECIDED

62 percent of Irish voters are undecided about how to cast their ballots in the referendum to ratify the new European Treaty agreed by the 27 nations in Lisbon in mid-October. The finding comes from a survey published by the Irish Times, which has once more raised the spectre of anther rejection of European reforms following the No given to the constitutional draft by France and Holland in 2005 which cost the EU two years of stalling. Ireland, which already rejected the Treaty of Nice in a referendum in 2001, is the only country whose constitution obliges it to subject the new treaty to a referendum, although there are pressures to do so on other governments, such as Britain's. The high percentage of 'don't knows' (at 62 percent), with 13 percent voting against and 25 in favour of the new treaty reflects the fall of the image of the EU in Irish public opinion. According to a poll taken in March 2005, only 46 percent were in favour of the draft constitution, with 42 percent opposed and 12 percent undecided. The referendum electoral campaign has already shaped up as a battleground between those in favour of and those opposed to the EU, not just in Ireland but across the whole of Europe. The leader of France's extreme right-wing, Jean-Marie Le Pen, has already announced he will go to Dublin to publicise his reasons for saying No to the Treaty.

Labels: EU, Ireland

Charm Sees Irish Leader Through Crisis - by Shawn Pogatchnik

Ireland's popular prime minister, credited with economic good times at home and peace in neighboring Northern Ireland, has admitted to a judicial probe he collected secret cash from dozens of businessmen — and offered explanations that few believe. But Bertie, a politician on first-name terms with his nation, has survived thanks to a rare alchemy of back-room brains and common-touch charm. His feat reveals as much about Ireland's attitudes to political ethics as it does about its Teflon-coated leader. Ahern has just spent four days in the dock answering questions from a decade-old corruption tribunal. His testimony, widely described as confused and implausible, triggered the first parliamentary no-confidence vote in Ahern's leadership since his 1997 rise to power. He survived in an 81-76 vote.

Labels: Bertie Ahern, EU, Ireland

Ireland-Oil prices could hit $150 as supplies fail to keep pace with soaring demand - by Eric Reguly

As the Association for the Study of Peak Oil and Gas was holding its conference in Cork, Ireland, earlier this week, oil prices conveniently set record prices. By midweek, they had gone as high as $82 (U.S.) a barrel.

For years, decades even, the peakists have been considered the lunatic fringe by the mainstream oil and gas industry, with its visions of endless gushers. The industry had a simple but compelling argument: If you don't believe us, listen to the economists. The economists said - and still say - there is no shortage of oil; there is just a shortage of oil at low prices. If the price, say, doubles, the reserves will rise accordingly (though not necessarily on a 1-to-1 ratio).

It scarcely matters whether oil production peaks this year or next if a huge gap develops between demand (rising alarmingly) and production (barely rising or rising not at all). In either case, the price goes up, as it has been, leading to potential economic upheaval or worse.

Labels: Ireland, Oil Exploration, World Economy

Ireland's economic transformation offers lesson for Latin American nations - by Andreas Oppenheimer

Like most Latin American countries, Ireland was until very recently a poverty-ridden, agricultural, soccer-loving, Roman Catholic country best known for having a sizable part of its population living abroad and an economy that was heavily dependent on family remittances from its migrants in the United States. By some standards, Ireland was even poorer than most Latin American countries. The Great Irish Famine of 1846 left about 1 million dead. Until as recently as the early 1990s, Ireland was still one of Europe's poorest countries, and the Irish were often stereotyped as the British people's poor cousins. Like in many parts of Latin America, the most common joke in Ireland was, "Would the last person to leave the country please turn off the lights?"

My opinion: While Latin American countries should not follow Ireland's model, or any other, blindly - the region has the highest inequality levels in the world, and should do a better job than Ireland in distributing wealth - they could learn a lot from its successful immersion into the global economy. Note EU-Digest: what Mr. Oppenheimer is not mentioning is the fact that because the US has largely supported the military and wealthy (influential) ruling class in Latin America the distribution of wealth has not taken place. Only slowly now with the emergence of more Liberal minded democratically elected politicians some change is possible.

Labels: Ireland, Latin America

Luxembourgh, Ireland and Netherlands the richest countries in the EU

Figures published on Thursday by Eurostat, the EU's statistical agency showed that Luxembourg topped the list, followed by Ireland. The Netherlands came in third with 31 percent higher than average income. The eastern European countries that joined the Union over the past years scored below average. Romania and Bulgaria were at the bottom of the list. Candidate member Turkey however is even poorer. The Turks have an average income of 29 percent of that of the average EU resident.

Labels: EU Economy, Ireland, Luxembourgh, Netherlands

the Havhingsten-fra-Glendalough

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Denmark - Ship on voyage after a thousand years

An 11th-century Viking longship that has been reconstructed to its original condition will soon depart on a seven-week voyage from Denmark across the North Sea to her home port of Dublin, powered only by her sails. The Havhingsten fra Glendalough (The Sea Stallion from Glendalough) is the largest Viking warship ever rebuilt.

On July 1 the vessel will leave the Danish port of Roskilde, which served as the Vikings' flourishing political and commercial centre from the 9th to the 12th century. After a 44-day and 900-nautical-mile crossing using only its huge square sail, the longship and its 65 crew will reach Ireland, where it was originally built in 1040 in the Glendalough forest.

Labels: Council of Europe, Denmark, History, Ireland, Vikings

ICT is lynchpin of Europe's economy - by Emmet Ryan

The Commission's annual progress report on i2010, the EU's digitally led strategy for growth and jobs, said ICT contributed nearly 50 percent of productivity growth across the European Union between 2000 and 2004. "Our integrated European policy for growth and jobs is now starting to pay dividends," said Viviane Reding, EU Commissioner for Information Society and Media. "However, let's not be complacent. ICT companies in Europe are still not able to profit from economies of scale in view of regulatory fragmentation that blocks the emergence of pan-European services and hurts the chances of e-communication operators and software companies to compete on the world market. The EU and its Member States need in particular to make a greater effort to remove the remaining impediments within the internal market for online services."

In the study, which is the second annual report on i2010, Ireland topped the EU rankings in several ICT categories. Ireland was given the top ranking in the EU 25 for ICT sector share of total GDP, ICT sector share of total employment and ICT sector growth.

Labels: Economy, EU, ICT, Ireland, Productivity