Get Thee To A Bank -- There is $300 million in old, outdated Irish pounds or punt still unredeemed after almost eight years. When the Irish shifted from its national currency to the European Union’s euro, millions were left on the table by residents in Ireland and also in the US, England, and other countries. Since the conversion at the end of 2002, only $75 million in old currency has been redeemed. The interesting aspect of the euro-for-punt redemption is that despite the euro’s rate fluctuations in recent years the value of the punt remains as it was originally, one euro to a shade less than eight-tenths of the old Irish pound.
While the Irish pound is no longer legal tender in Ireland or elsewhere, the Irish banking system continues to accept punt in exchange for the new euro. So if you have a wad of Irish pounds stashed away under the mattress or in a bureau somewhere pull them out and get them to an Irish bank. If the amount being redeemed is relatively small, banks will handle it over the counter, while larger amounts of punt are exchanged in the central process center. Happy hunting.
New threshold For ‘L’ Drivers -- Ireland has a quaint, almost archaic system of licensing new drivers and this has always been a source of concern for myself and others using the Irish roads. The old system for beginning drivers has traditionally been to road test them and if they failed, which hundreds do annually, give them learners’ permits. The result is that one in every eight drivers in Ireland (you can note the big L on rear windows) has not passed a driver’s test. Many have taken the tests over and over, flunked again, and had their learners permit automatically renewed. Bad business.
The new system recently introduced in Ireland is the Graduated Driver License system (GDL), where the privilege of driving is only granted after ability is proven. The old and dangerous system of allowing people to drive year after year until they got the hang of it is likely a byproduct of the old, agricultural Ireland and the fact that the country’s rural roads dominated the landscape. But that is hardly the situation today in modern Ireland where new roads and bypasses are ubiquitous.
The GDL system is in use in the US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and many of Ireland’s EU neighbors. As the name suggests it is a graduated system entailing proven competence and in some cases demands for a three-year program before full, unfettered driving privileges are granted. For Irish drivers, it's the way to go.
Kerry Could Be New World Pharma Center -- It is only in the development stage and far too early to raise the banners, but there are rumblings that Tralee, the county capital of Kerry, is looking toward becoming the home of the largest global pharmaceutical center in the world. The Cork-based pharmaceutical company, Pharmadel, a wholly-owned Irish healthcare company operating in 17 countries, is seriously considering a huge project costing upwards of $7 billion that would provide employment for 4,800 skilled workers spread over 30 campuses while increasing the population of Tralee, which bills itself as "Ireland’s largest town," by 22 percent.
The facility if it comes to fruition -- and it need be stressed that is still in its infancy -- would be the single largest employment placement site in Ireland and the equal of the International Financial Service Centre on the Dublin quays.
Talks and pre-planning meetings have already been held between Pharmadel Healthcare and the Tralee Town Council. If the project goes forward, construction is scheduled to begin in September, 2012.
Strange Timing promoting Orange Holiday -- Just a few days after wholesale rioting and scores of police injuries in Belfast fueled by youthful hooligans there and in Derry shocked the citizenry, the former leader of the defunct Progressive Democrats, Michael McDowell, wants to make the 12th of July an Irish national holiday. Wow! McDowell, also a former Taniste in the Republic, while speaking at the MacGill Summer School said that the Twelfth should be added to St. Patrick’s Day as a national holiday. Has McDowell read anything about the Orange Order and their anti-Catholic history over the years prior to the order’s recent attempt to re-brand the triumphantly in-your-face parades through nationalist territory as a bogus "OrangeFest?" At MacGill in Glenties, Co. Donegal, McDowell, in a flight of near-lucidness, did admit that "more work had to be done" south of the border to make the Twelfth a holiday. Not so strange, maybe, that the Progressive Democrats were retired from public life.
Did You Know … that Archbishop Thomas William Croke (1824-1902), for whom the newly refurbished GAA home, Dubin's Croke Park, is named, was an activist and patriot who fought at the barricades of Paris in the 1848 revolution and was a participant in the1870 First Vatican Council? His passions were the GAA, support of Home Rule, the Land League, and the Irish cultural Revival.
Dublin Airport’s ‘T2' Opening In Fall -- Dublin Airport’s gleaming new Terminal 2, built at a cost of $750 million, is going through its final prep readying the facility for its opening later this year. Gone are the cramped check-in and low ceilings more reminiscent of the airport’s opening in 1940, and welcome to the 21st century Dublin airport terminal that sports modern, spacious, glass surroundings, high ceilings, and ample seating in a distinctive new look.
The new terminal will feature 2,000 parking spaces outside its doors and inside bright, innovative signage to guide Aer Lingus passengers and others through to ticketing, departure, and boarding. Handling Terminal 2 traffic will be 1,000 staff. The new terminal will also feature a US Customs and Border Protection facility, very much like Shannon Airport, one of only two outside North America that can clear passengers through customs.
No Tears For Seanie -- The recent Irish banking collapse that has cost the Irish Exchequer (read: rate payers) billions of euros and created a level of national indebtedness greater than that of Greece also catapulted many of the country’s high flyers into almost instant bankruptcy.
Many of the suddenly poor, caught between a vanished commercial building market and over-leveraged developments, were ruined. For the honest entrepreneur it has been a nightmare and the sudden end of a Celtic Tiger world they thought would last forever. For many there was sympathy, understanding, and a knowing nod from friends and associates. But for one Irish high-flyer there would be no outpouring of sympathy. For Sean Fitzpatrick, former chairman of the Anglo Irish Bank (22 billion taxpayer euros down the drain) there were no tears when he filed for bankruptcy, still trying up to the last minute to buy time on his debts and avoid his fate.
It is well documented that ex-chairman Fitzpatrick spent most of his waking hours at his bank (when not holidaying in sunny Spain), cutting deals, and borrowing huge sums of money to expand his shaky but growing (on paper) real estate and investment portfolio. Many were "smallish" loans of under ten million euros that Fitzpatrick cajoled his spineless board of directors into authorizing. Then there was the "grand Caper” -- the $150 million he borrowed from Anglo, and then to hide it, he and his directors took it temporarily off their books at audit time and transferred the loan to the Nationwide Building Society, which held it and later returned it following the audit to Anglo. Virtually all of that Fitzpatrick loan remains unpaid. No tears for Seanie; how about the crossbar hotel?
Catholics Safe From Royal Taint -- The Act of Settlement of 1701 that bans the British monarch and the heir to that throne from marrying a Roman Catholic will not, as some predicted, be repealed. It had been mooted about that there was a plan to change that 400-year-old statute but the new prime minister, David Cameron, has quickly nixed any changes. So it seems that nobody with the stigma of the papacy will ever be the head of the Church of England. And somehow that seems just about right; what Catholic of stable mind would want to join Fergie and that dysfunctional lot, harmless as they may be?
Irish Professionals In Demand -- It is being reported that Irish architects, unemployed and under-employed at home because of the decline there in the domestic construction industry, are being actively recruited by Canada. The Canadian immigration program, citing the robust health of the Canadian construction industry, has added architects to its preferred list of professionals who then can qualify for permanent resident visas if they have 12 months of work experience.
This is a solid opportunity for architects interested in emigrating and finding full employment to look to Canada while construction in Ireland is at a low ebb. The Royal Institute of Architects of Ireland estimates that half of its approximately 3,000 members are unemployed.
The current situation is almost eerily identical to the late 1980s when Ireland was in its pre-Tiger doldrums and there was a big, long term project just getting started that was desperately looking for qualified engineers: the so-called Chunnel, the 31-mile link between France and England. That project was started in 1988 and completed in 1994. It proved to be a boon for both the Irish engineers and the company building the tunnel.
Did You Know … that Cyril Cusack, Ireland’s most honored and prolific stage and screen actor, would have celebrated his 100th birthday this year? He was an actor for 75 years, considered by many to be the premier character actor of his time. Born in Kenya, he made his first appearance on stage at seven and appeared at the Abbey, the Royal Shakespeare Company, the Gate Theatre, and in over 100 screen roles. The actor, who died in 1993 is equally famous in theatrical circles for his three acting daughters, Sinead, Niamh, and Sorcha.
August, Time For Puck Fair -- The annual fun and games of Puck Fair in Killorglin, Kerry, will be attracting large crowds to the Kerry countryside from August 10-12. The three-day event celebrates the anniversary of the granting of a Fair charter to local landlord Jenkins Conway by King James I, in 1613. This year’s festival will be launched by All-Ireland winning Kerry football captain Darran O’Sullivan.
The festivities will include entertainers from Australia and the United States, outdoor concerts by De Dannan and the Las Vegas Showband; free music on the streets and workshops on Irish dance, piping, drumming, and storytelling.
Three years from now Puck Fair will be celebrating a milestone anniversary, the 400th year since its founding, a historic moment to pause and celebrate the annual fairs and summer schools that are so much a part of the history and literature of the isle.
Mixed Bag On Irish Economy -- The international credit agency, Moody’s, has downgraded Ireland’s government bond ratings, reports the Irish Times. The lower rating Aa2, is a step down with higher borrowing costs and never a good thing, despite Taoiseach Brian Cowen’s determination to put a shine on the sneaker by protesting that Moody’s action had "positive aspects." This was in keeping with the belabored Irish leader’s concerted efforts to reverse the "negativity" in the media and also among his own Fianna Fail backbenchers, as well as the criticism coming from Enda Kenny’s Fine Gael.
Ireland, unlike Greece up until recent weeks, has been extremely proactive in combating the economic woes that have highlighted the demise of the Celtic Tiger alongside the global recession that has hit Ireland as heavily as any EU member. Moody’s, in announcing the downgrade of Ireland’s key bond rating, had some softening words for the Irish leadership.
The rating service’s lead analyst for Ireland said, "Today’s downgrade is primarily driven by the Irish government’s gradual but significant loss of financial strength, as reflected by its deteriorating debt affordability." But in summing up, Moody’s said it believed Ireland "had turned the corner."
Quote Of The Day - "We’re too parochial, and that’s been our downfall. Commitment to the common good of the Irish people as a whole has all too often been undermined by the intense localism of our society — the practice of persistently putting the interests of one locality before that of the country as a whole. We are also guilty of low standards both in public life and frequently also in the quality of service we give through our work."
-- Former Taoiseach Garret Fitzgerald
Random Clippings - The European Commission has recently promulgated new guidelines for travelers and they have a new website that can provide answers about your rights, etc. ec.europa.eu/passenger-rights. … Lawyers’ fees in Ireland are off the charts and one special Master just reduced fees for one client by 82 percent, from $2.6 million to $500,000 while expressing his "disgust and bewilderment" … Has anyone heard of a popular cocktail served in US bars called the "Irish Car Bomb"? What a depraved name, and trivializing Ireland’s past violence. … There is good news for the Museum of Free Derry in the bogside that hopes to soon double its size and display area. … Fans of the Rose Kennedy Greenway and the Mothers Walk will be happy to learn that wireless internet access (WiFi network) is now available through the Greenway Park. … Ian Paisley has retired to become Lord Bannside in the House of Lords but he hasn’t softened his harsh view of Pope Benedict, calling him recently the "anti-Christ."
The Irish Senate followed the Dail in passing a new law providing for civil partnerships and enhanced civil rights for same-sex couples and sent it on to the President, who will sign it. … Starting in September seaplanes will be flying from the Galway dock area to Limerick and the Arans. The sponsors claim to be the first ever seaplane operation in Ireland. I thought that American flights flew into the water at the Shannon estuary over half a century ago. … If you’re in Ireland and want a taste of the high life, don’t book into Ashford Castle or Dromoland where a couple with breakfast and dinner could drop a grand. Instead stop by either of these two grand hotels for breakfast or tea. Same ambience. … Don’t try to reach anyone for a while at the Irish parliament. The Dail and its inhabitants are on a three-month holiday until late September. … Hotel business in Ireland is hurting with low occupancy rates but for the tourist it’s a godsend with reduced rates per night in many very nice hotels under $80.
How can we forget former Taoiseach Bertie (almost gone) Ahern, who has hit up the battered taxpayer once more for another $18,000 tab for airport VIP charges and mobile phone use. And worth every euro. … Martin McGuinness, the North’s First Deputy minister, is calling for people in the six counties to vote in presidential elections in the Republic. …Good news for those of us not enamored of Ryanair’s arrogantly crusty chief, Michael O’Leary, who had his final try at buying Aer Lingus blocked by the European Court. He also was sued for libel and lost to the founder of rival EasyJet, costing him $75,000 and a public apology. … Hero John McCain of 2000. Now he’s denying he was ever a maverick while fighting for his political life in Arizona. Sad! … Two US families who lost spouses by accidental falls on Skellig Michael are suing Ireland. … Irish people retire later than any other EU country and the Irish average pension is lowest in the EU. … The last election in the North may have convinced the skeletal Ulster Unionist party to merge with the dominant Democratic Unionist Party. … The US has had hundreds of laptops and computer data tape lost or stolen but the Irish are not too far behind with some 50 laptops belonging to government departments gone missing in the last 18 months.
RIP: David O’Docherty -- There is an obituary elsewhere in this issue of the BIR but just a few words about David. He was, beneath that exuberance and sometimes untamed exterior, kind and gentle and curious, a friend of humankind. I valued his friendship. He was full of passion and caring and the juice of life. He made Boston more interesting for all of us through his art and his music. Another gift from Ireland to Boston.