A letter to the Irish Times about Bertie in Bertieland.

Note the letter mentioned in this blog posting may be understood by those keeping up with the banking inquiry in Ireland.  

To those not, esp. people who are not Irish or who do not follow  what goes on in Ireland and very especially  my English students in Germany: -  DO NOT even try to understand.  

This is a letter I wrote to the Irish Times in response to Bertie´s ´not know´en noth´in about noth´en´ at the banking inquiry.   Full disclosure - it was not printed!

Banking decisions not my responsibility - Bertie Ahern.

To the Editor,

Well I felt a bit like Alice in Bertieland reading that Bertie Ahern opined that Banking Decisions were not his responsibility.   Bertie however ´ admitted his Government took chances, such as allowing too much tax revenue to come from construction.´

           

 No doubt due in part to what he says was  “the overwhelming advice from experts - that “we would not get the kind of hit that we did”.´    Which experts? When?

I am puzzled; as a housekeeper in New York during the build up and the later implosion of the Irish economy, I was privy to far less information than Bertie.  But I was concerned as far back as 2006.  And why?    Arriving in to Dublin from New York sometime in 2006, I counted 63 very tall cranes on the Dublin skyline.  – There were more, but I lost count after 63.  I knew enough to know Ireland with our small population could not support more cranes on Dublin´s skyline than could be seen on the Manhattan skyline.  That simple. 

If I could see what was coming down the line working away as I was in in New York City.  I have to ask how could Bertie - who during this time was Taoiseach for eleven years and Finance Minister for three, NOT see what was coming?

 Bertie in effect saying he had not any sense or even a vaguely accurate clue as to what was going on with the economy, with the flawed building boom - or with the banks  during this time is, frankly not credible.  -  His saying it is  gives me the same bad bad feeling I had when I read reports in July 1997 that another former Taoiseach,  this time C.J.,  told the McCracken Tribunal ”My work was my life. There was no room for an extravagant lifestyle. ”

I am wondering if things would have been clearer back then in Bertieland, if Bertie had had his very own bank account?
Sincerely,

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