Ireland gathering 2013

Don't forget the gathering in 2013 Ireland
www.ireland.com

Car Rental Ireland

Just reading this Cheapest car rental in Ireland and got to thinking about prices.

I got a great car for 20 € in Galway last visit.
That has to be a good deal, but people are saying it is regular now.

Prices for rental have been reduced so much. Some positive news.

Will Ireland leave the euro, go back to the Irish punt.

Will Ireland leave the euro, go back to the Irish punt.

AS the scale of the fiscal adjustment required in December's Budget continues to climb, the 'cure' risks killing the patient.

With the ESRI now predicting that further tax increases and spending cuts of up to €15bn will be needed to meet the Government's target of cutting the budget deficit to 3 per cent of GDP by 2014, Ireland faces the bleak choice of either quitting the euro or facing a decade or more of depression and deflation.

This week the ESRI, which normally closely reflects Government thinking on the economy, broke ranks and publicly questioned whether sticking to the target of reducing the deficit to 3 per cent of GDP by 2014 made sense. Instead the ESRI argued that we should push out the target date to 2016.

While stretching the deficit-reduction period from four to six years would, superficially at least, be less traumatic for the economy, it doesn't address the key issue. This is that, when combined with the near-€15bn of tax increases and spending reductions the Government has already imposed since the October 2008 budget, almost €30bn -- close to 25 per cent the value of our current annual output -- will have to be taken out of the economy to achieve the 3 per cent deficit target.
http://www.independent.ie/business/leaving-the-euro-might-well-be-our-least-bad-option-2392372.html

John Hume is voted Irelands greatest.

Good job for John Hume. He is a great Irishman who made peace in Northern Ireland.
John Hume is Ireland's Greatest person Irish Times.
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/breaking/2010/1023/breaking11.html
John Hume was last night announced as the winner of RTÉ’s search to find the greatest person in the history of Ireland.
The results of the public text and phone vote were revealed on The Late Late Show to the delight of Mr Hume’s champion, journalist and Prime Time presenter, Miriam O’Callaghan.
Sinn Féin President Gerry Adams congratulated Mr Hume on his win today saying it was a "unique and singular honour."
"It is a measure of the esteem in which he is held that he secured most votes. I am sure his family will be enormously proud," he said.

Green Party leader John Gormley also congratulated Mr Hume this evening.
"I am moved to pay tribute to one of those people whose courageous efforts to build bridges and advance human rights was recognised last night. John Hume is indeed one of Ireland's greatest individuals, and I would like to applaud the work he has done for all communities on our island," he said.

Summer of 69 Ireland

Summer of 69 Ireland.
National Geographic is one of the most respected magazines in the world and in September 1969 it ran a cover story on Ireland.
Jim Sugar, the photographer who illustrated the story, was just 22-years-old. He spent three months in Ireland travelling the length and breath of the country and in that time he shot over 10,000 photographs.
The two dozen or so images used in the magazine are startling and capture a lost Ireland; but for nearly four decades, thousands of unpublished photographs from this trip have been stored in Sugar's attic.
Since then Jim Sugar has travelled the world, he's had numerous other National Geographic cover stories, but he never returned to Ireland. So four decades on what will the National Geographic photographer make of the changes that have occurred since The Summer of '69?
Watch Summer of 69 
Summer of 69 Ireland National Geographic Photographs