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IT’S SAFE TO say that there wasn’t a whole lot that was new in the Taoiseach’s national address this evening.
Part of this was down to the subject matter. Unlike his first state of the nation address in December 2011 when he warned the country about just how bad the upcoming Budget was going to be, this one on the subject of Ireland’s official exit from the bailout programme was a little less dramatic.
But it was also because there just wasn’t a whole lot for Enda to actually say. Michael Noonan had already observed that things will be almost exactly the same tomorrow morning and the only real difference will be felt on the markets – something the Taoiseach echoed in his speech tonight, saying that “our lives won’t change overnight”.
He hit a lot of familiar marks, talking about the tough decisions which had been necessary, acknowledging the hardships that people have been through and promising that Ireland is on the right track.
It was clear that this was more of a marking of a moment, something that will be shown on Reeling in the Years at some stage in the future.
This didn’t go unnoticed by people on social media. While the Government used the hashtag #irlexit to talk about the speech on Twitter, Twitter users weren’t so kind.
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(Pic: TrendsIreland/Twitter)
#Stateofit trended in Ireland more than one hour before the speech began as users took the State of the Nation theme and added their criticisms. #FGFail which also trended in Ireland was similarly used by some tweeters to criticise the Taoiseach.
Some went further. A Facebook group called Turn Your TV Off On Enda Kenny This Sunday amassed more than 2,700 likes, with people pledging not to watch the Taoiseach’s address.
Here’s some of the reaction from Twitter this evening:
Did you watch the address? What did you make of it? Let us know in the comments…
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So Trump! Your new BFF is still playing you….as he has since the beginning. Nice photo opportunities though.
@Paul Furey: He’s not playing him. The fact is DPRK have nuclear weapons with long range now. This puts them automatically in a better bargaining position than they were before. It is a development that is completely independent of who happens to be president of another country. Trump has advisors for every step.
Is this submarine parked in the middle of a forest?
@Martin McFly: Very sneaky. Last place you’d look for it.
Meanwhile Iran‘s revolutionary guards reveal plan to annihilate Israel.
@Qfire: Its unfortunate that this has been largely ignored by the worlds press. You can be sure if Israeli leaders issued a statement promising to wipe an Islamic country off the map ( for the crime of Islamic nationalism) there’d be a media feeding frenzy.
@Clifford Brennan: Maybe it’s largely ignored because it’s not true? Israel wouldn’t be the first to make up a story to justify spending on their war machine.
@Jim Buckley Barrett: It was very decent of the Ayatollah & the commander from the IRGC to agree to appear in the Israeli propaganda video – not to mention the supporting cast of 1000′s of Iranians and all filmed at an Islamic religious venue too. Those Israelis have it sussed. Also: cop on.
North Korea is not going to be told not to have Nuclear Weapons by a leader whose country has had them for many many years, come in and blasted leaders and sent their soldiers to Hassan Hussein [having supplied him with weaponry] and when it did not suit them anymore… raped and pillaged Iraq. When are people going to think US are the good guys ? NKorea just flexing muscles.
That man is actually frightening. He’s like a little boy playing with his toys.
As you do before talks about nuclear arms enrichment.
have your say