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SINN FÉIN PRESIDENT Gerry Adams has been challenged over his party’s Vote No pamphlets for the Fiscal Compact – which include critical quotes from economists who are overall in favour of the treaty.
Sinn Féin’s leaflet includes quotes from four people – SIPTU president Jack O’Connor, the UCD pairing of Karl Whelan and Colm McCarthy, and UCC’s Seamus Coffey.
The UCD pair are both quoted as offering criticisms of the treaty in the pamphlet, even though each is arguing in favour of a Yes vote.
The quote attributed to Whelan is as follows:
… the economics of this treaty are pretty terrible …
…but, as Whelan himself points out on his blog, his full quote – taken from an Oireachtas committee hearing on the treaty – was:
All that said, although I think the economics of this treaty are pretty terrible, on balance, the arguments favour Ireland’s signing up to it.
The comments attributed to McCarthy include the line, “As an exercise in addressing the eurozone’s twin banking and sovereign debt crises, the fiscal compact makes no worthwhile contribution”.
This is the opening line from the second paragraph of a piece written by McCarthy for the Irish Independent on February 28, entitled: ‘A Yes vote is the correct response, unavoidable and in the country’s best interests’.
Although Seamus Coffey has not indicated whether he supports the treaty or not, he has written that there is “little to be gained from rejecting the treaty”.
The leaflet quotes him as telling an Oireachtas committee in February:
Had the Fiscal Compact been in place since 1999, it could not and would not have prevented the crisis in Ireland.
The pamphlet was raised in an Oireachtas committee by Fine Gael’s Paschal Donohue this afternoon, who put it to Adams that Sinn Féin was deliberately using selective quotes because there was a “black hole” in its anti-treaty arguments.
Adams said Donohoe “cannot deny” that the three “eminent” economists had still criticised the economic theory underlying the treaty, and insisted all the quotes were accurate.
“The fact is, he [Coffey] made a judgement on it,” Adams said.
Adams challenged Donohoe to offer counterarguments to the statements included on the leaflet.
“I do acknowledge that – but what I draw to your attention is that they have drawn a value judgement on the treaty,” Adams said.
The economics are pretty terrible, it would not have prevented the crisis, and it makes no worthwhile contribution to addressing the Eurozone’s twin banking and sovereign debt crises.
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Thought you were gonna start chatting bout a new Irish wine from Wexford or something going by the headline.
Me too!
Strawberry wine!!!
Gonna bout?
I’d say this has more to do with exchange rates than wine quality.
Chile is cheap, as is South Africa.
Australia is very expensive and the USA is going that way.
the cheapest wine will always sell the best in Ireland, sad but true
I get asked every day at work
” a glass of red please …… what ever is cheapest “
That’s because establishments charge absolutely ridiculous prices for an average wine. Sort out your price list & maybe people will be a bit more fussy.
never hear it in a bar, give us cocktail what ever is cheapest !!
taxes and profit from the bar make wine very expensive in Ireland. that’s a fact. But if you look at a wine at 5.99. Tax is around 3eur per bottle + Vat, shipping cost, price of the actuall bottle (.90cents ) etc…. it’s a bargain. Unfortunately it’s crap.
South African wines are amazing and great value at the moment with the rand
do lidl except rand?
…..don’t drink too much of it though, randy!!
Surprised New Zealand is so low. Best wine I’ve had in a while was Croatian.
Croatian wine are really good quality, but expensive even in Croatia. there are a lot of grape varieties there that you wouldn’t see anywhere else. There’re planting a lot of new vineyards recently, with grants from the EU. To encourage variety in European wines. Isn’t that nice.
sauvignon Dutch Gold. The finest.
if you exclude wine sold in pubs Chile would not be at the top. publicans choose the cheapest wine they can get away with and charge €;24 a bottle. its the publicans choice not the consumers.
We’d be partial to a nice chilled Chilean sauvignon blanc on occasions alright.
First got into wine on a trip to Macedonia, they make some fine wines which I must say seem to be underrated here in the EU due to trade restrictions.
With a hint of immigrants… lol.
Czech Republic also has a booming wine industry. Very little is exported, however there are lots of top quality wines here available, particularly Riesling types, and some lighter reds. Really affordable too with a good bottle costing max 10EUR, but average about 7 to 8.
French unsympathetic …. as one French woman remarked “If the Irish have difficulty with water, let them drink wine”
Very hard to get a non-Chilean wine in a pub. Am allergic to Chilean wines (something to do with the casks they use) and find the lack of other wines at times quite frustrating. Have come across places with 6 wines (3 red and 3 white) 5 of them being Chilean and the other one just about suitable for cooking …
Greek wine is actually very good though quite expensive. Most of the countries listed here can produce decent stuff though I don’t think I’ve ever had a nice Australian or Californian wine – very overpriced too. You can’t beat old world wines really.
Australian wines are lovely, maybe Ireland is importing the not so good ones.
Had a lovely Portuguese red the other day
Hmmmmm wine.
This doesn’t really stack up – the trend on more Chilean wines being bought here does not mean it is the most popular – it’s the wine that most importers are buying in and selling at low cost to pubs etc. If you look at the price index above ppl here are getting more educated on wines – the best value you will get on wine in Ireland is in the €15 to €18 range (taking into account production costs and the various taxes). So people are more discerning with their euros – Not much Chilean wine falls into the €15-€18 bracket so I am confused.
Put more tax on Swiss chocolate and French red wine. With double tax if you have them together in the shopping trolley.
Chilian and Australian wines are just good enough for calimocho, sangria or hot wines…
‘See ya’ – standards have slipped to an appalling degree.
Best wine I ever got was fortified wine use for communion, second was an organic Tesco wine…
A wine from France but I do like Monastier…
Italian, Portuguese and German for preference. Chilean for price but some of their Merlot is pretty good.
It’s me, only joking… Home brewing lol.
If you can’t take a joke then Blossom Hill to you all lol.
A Santa Rita Reserve is particularly nice. My fave.
have your say