Columnists
Brendan Keenan: Setting the rates of top public sector pay comes down to a political choice
AT last, a bit of leadership from the Government -- well, at least from the government side. But from a most unexpected quarter.
Brendan Keenan: Reality check must not be ignored
SHORT of still being cut off by snow, one could hardly have failed to notice the air traffic controllers' stoppage. But it would have been easy to miss a smaller item which has a bearing upon it.
Brendan Keenan: The 'wealth effect' plays out in our minds but affects the real world
REMEMBER the "wealth effect"? This was a very fashionable item of analysis during the boom. People were becoming more wealthy as the value of their houses and (particularly in the US) their shares, rose rapidly.
Brendan Keenan: The definition of progress is sometimes a matter of opinion
IT IS a fact that, if we could calculate its value, drug dealing would be added to GDP -- the figure which measures the total output of the economy.
Brendan Keenan: There will be no success unless we improve the way we do our business
A woman of my acquaintance had a part as an extra in Neil Jordan's film, 'The Butcher Boy'. Some scenes were filmed in St Ita's mental hospital in Portrane. It took her months to get over the nightmarish conditions she found there.
Brendan Keenan: Time to give thanks -- because it was a lot worse last year
IT may seem an odd thing to say, but things were worse last Christmas.
Brendan Keenan: Market gets the jitters at first sign of ECB steps to regulate support
JUST a little touch of frost and there they all are, skidding and crashing. Not just Irish motorists either, but Europe's banks. The touch of frost in this case is the beginning of a withdrawal of emergency support measures by the European Central Bank.
Brendan Keenan: Secret of good looks lost on economy that lacks symmetry
THE secret of good looks, apparently, is symmetry. One side of the face should be as much like the other side as possible. In which case, it is no surprise that we have a fairly ugly economy.
Brendan Keenan: Running faster to stand still -- welcome to the debt trap
RUNNING on a treadmill may not be the most original description, but it does seem closest to the experience of the kind of debt trap in which the Irish economy is impaled.
Brendan Keenan: War in the workplace is just futile
IT was hard to escape the feeling -- perhaps the cynical feeling -- that there was an element of ritual dance about Friday's trade union protest march. A sort of extended conga, if you like.
Brendan Keenan: Ireland needs a global credit spree
Riding the whirlwind of someone else’s economic bubble would be nice – just so long as it bursts someplace else too
Brendan Keenan: Time to make the best of what we've got after the crash
MANY years ago, a TV programme obtained an interview with the Japanese commandant on the notorious Burma railway, which was constructed with huge loss of life among prisoners of war and locals.
Brendan Keenan: Ten years on, it is time to discuss the implications for Ireland and the euro
THE idea of leaving the euro is one of those things we are not supposed to talk about. Too dangerous, don't you know. Actually, it probably is dangerous. It is a matter of judgment how much risk is worth running in the interests of open debate .
Brendan Keenan: No room for complacency as we're still on a knife-edge
THE budgetary danger for the Government this year may be that people will come to think the danger has passed. After the shocks and alarms of 2009, this year runs the risk of seeming dull -- at least where the public finances are concerned.
Brendan Keenan: A credible growth strategy is central to fuelling our recovery
NO ONE ever said it was fair. As its reward for cutting government spending by a whopping 2.5pc of output (GDP), the financial markets increased the cost of Irish Government borrowing.
Brendan Keenan: Brian's brutal Budget means hard part is over
THE most surprising thing about the Budget was not in the Budget at all. It was Finance Minister Brian Lenihan's comment that next year's Budget would be easier.
Brendan Keenan: We need good map for this jungle
WE have a saying in the newspaper business: "Reverse ferret!" It means it is time for a dramatic change of tack -- and it originated, I believe, with the legendary editor of The Sun, Kelvin MacKenzie, for reasons we cannot go into, not even in the Sunday Independent.
Brendan Keenan: We needed radical reform but got a step backwards
THERE are two core problems with the Irish public sector. It costs too much, relative to the size of the economy, and it does not perform very well. It would be a very good idea to deal with those two problems simultaneously. It is far from clear that the dramatic talks between the Government and the trade unions have done so.
Brendan Keenan: Capital tax can help ease burden of spending cuts on the workforce
WE must all pull together in this time of national emergency. So, in that spirit, I think I can be of assistance to Brothers Begg, O'Connor et al. You are looking in the wrong place, comrades.
Brendan Keenan: Demand for retribution is satisfied as Neelie wields axe on banks
This is not perhaps the wisest thing to say about the EU Competition Commissioner in this day and age, but I cannot resist it -- hell hath no fury like a woman scorned.
