Tuesday coldest day ever recorded in Ireland

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THIS DECEMBER has been the coldest on record, with air temperatures over the first 22 days of the month falling 5 to 7 degrees below the mean average, Met Éireann has said.
Head forecaster Gerald Fleming said average daily maximum temperatures of between 2 and 5 degrees and nightly minimum temperatures of -4 to -1 degrees had been recorded at weather stations across Ireland this month.
Mr Fleming said a daily maximum temperature of -9.4 degrees was recorded at Ballyhaise, Co Cavan on Tuesday.
Temperature is in Celsius

Lovely "Green" Ireland

A view that few have seen of Ireland

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An Irishman abroad tells it like he thinks it is(NSFW)

"Wankin' Bankers"

A very angry gent gets his Irish up on the economy.

NSFW,Lots of Language.

Irish banks get downgraded

Ireland's banks were hit with downgrades Friday — one to junk bond status

The New York-based Standard & Poor's credit ratings agency said it was lowering Anglo Irish Bank six notches to a junk-bond B grade. It also cut the ratings on Bank of Ireland one notch to BBB+, and downgraded both Allied Irish Banks and Irish Life & Permanent one notch to BBB.

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Irish unveil tough four-year recovery plan

The Irish government has unveiled a range of tough austerity measures designed to help solve the country's debt crisis.

Among the spending cuts and tax rises are a reduction in the minimum wage, a new property tax and thousands of public sector job cuts..........

The recovery plan outlines plans to cut 24,750 public sector jobs, achieve savings in social welfare spending of 2.8bn euros, and raise an additional 1.9bn euros from income tax.
The government will also reduce the minimum wage by 1 euro, to 7.65 euros an hour, and raise VAT from 21% to 22% in 2013, with a further increase to 24% in 2014.
It said it wanted to protect health and education spending as far as it could.
The government also said it would maintain the country's low level of corporation tax at 12.5%.
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Ireland Celtic Tiger is Now a Wimpering Kitten Mewing for EU Milk

Éirinn go Brágh is now Éirinn a ligtear ar lár féimheach

Ireland Forever is the translation of Érin go Brágh
Éirinn a ligtear ar lár féimheach 
is Gaelic for  
Ireland Goes Bankrupt....

Ireland's financial troubles loomed large Wednesday as investors - betting that the country soon could join Greece in seeking an EU bailout - drove the interest rate on the country's 10-year borrowing to a new high.
The yield on 10-year bonds rose above 8 percent for the first time since the launch of the euro, the European Union's common currency, 11 years ago. See the story here

The Easter Rising In Ireland, 96 years ago...

96 years ago today, the Irish Republican Brotherhood, the Irish Volunteers, Irish Citizen Army and the Cumann na mBan banded together to take over key installations in Dublin Ireland. The proclaimed the creation of an Irish Republic, free of Great Britain.

The rebellion was suppressed after only seven days of fighting, and its leaders were court-martialled and executed. It brought the issue to the mainstream in Ireland. In the next election to the British Parliament, the Sinn Féin party won 73 seats out of 105 on a policy of abstentionism and Irish independence. This came less than two years after the Rising. In January 1919, Irish elected officials convened the First Dáil and established the Irish Republic. The British Government refused to accept the legitimacy of the newly declared nation and that led to a war for independence.

The war for independence lasted 2 years before a cease fire was called. The post-ceasefire talks led to the Anglo-Irish Treaty, which ended British rule in most of Ireland and established the Irish Free State.

Padraic Pearse was one of the signers of the Proclamation

A Jug Of Punch- Clancy Brothers

A Nation Once Again

My Heart is in Ireland

Quick tribute to Irish Saints. Some Lovely Scenery

Now At The Podium causes Flashback

One of the comments to an earlier post was from Now At The Podium.
It reminded me of an older post.
"Well, whaddya know? Makes you wish that Obama would become O'Bama. :) Bad joke, I know, but you get my point!"

Irish Republic out of recession as GDP grows

Figures just released by the government's statistics agency showed gross domestic product rose by 0.3% compared with the quarter before.

The figure indicates the country has pulled out of what was one of Europe's worst recessions according to the BBC.

How did they do it?

The government recently unveiled sharp cuts in spending to rebalance the country's finances. The country's budget contained ... severe cuts - to social welfare, investment, and even to the prime minister's own pay.