Dublin Opinion

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Peter Bofinger is someone I’ve been reading and reading about in the last couple of days as the trouble at mill continues with Ireland’s bank debt, Germany’s stance on legacy assets and Kenny’s rewriting of history to suggest that the Irish government didn’t unilaterally provide a blanket bank guarantee before the EU could scramble together an EU wide solution […]

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According to Eurointelligence’s morning paper review (shorter version):
“Bundesbank president insists that any bank legacy problems must remain the liability of national regulatory regimes; [he] says anything else – i.e. the explicit commitment by the eurozone summit in June to separate banking and sovereign risks – constituted a financial transfer.”
From the longer version […]

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The Scottish Left Review asked me if I would updated my previous article for them. It’s online now:
It is probably the political-pathology of a small nation that makes it sensitive to outside comment. Ironically, however, from the point of view of its citizens, it is the compliments that are paid that are more damaging […]

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You know when you read a phrase or someone mentions it and it kind of rings a bell?
Well, I always associate the phrase ‘we’re no angels’ not with the two films of that name, but with John Burton mainly because of the column written by Gene Kerrigan where he tells the story of Fine […]

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“It has taken me a long time to understand that there is a connection between colonial powers and corruption. “The United Kingdom has maintained its privileges by allowing British companies to operate from their own tax havens. The expansion in the use of these jurisdictions has a link to decolonisation. It is a modern form […]

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From an Irish Times report on Michael Noonan’s speech to the Bloomberg economic summit in Dublin yesterday.
Minister for Finance Michael Noonan today warned voting Yes in the upcoming EU fiscal treaty referendum on May 31st would be a “leap in the dark” and a “dangerous leap but that Irish citizens should take it”.
He […]

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While away in Mayo I was reading Nick Shaxson’s Treasure Islands, which is an excellent guide to everything you would like to know about tax havens, how they developed and how they operate now. Once back curiosity lead me to an old post on the Treasure Island blog that I have linked to before, one […]

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Some thoughts on this Irish Times article about Merkozy’s designs on our precious corporation tax rate. Admittedly, it raises only superficial points, but still…
The Government is facing a new threat to its corporate tax regime as Germany and France push for the acceleration of moves to create a pan-European business tax system.
It’s not new. It’s […]

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Via

This quote is taken from the above interview at around 2:40
Interviewer: “Would you get in and invest in a bank and maybe start one?
DOB: I was on the board of a bank maybe five years ago - it’s too slow moving a business for me - I like fast moving businesses.
Interviewer: […]

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