The year in guff

In lieu of the Sunday Independent stupid statement of the week we cast the net beyond Talbot Street. We’ve had fornication, logistical logarithmic progression, Ireland in a hundred tedious letters to the Irish Times, trouble with jam at Dublin airport but thankfully not defaulter written across our forehead. At times even dutiful Politicians were driven to throw pens around committee rooms in frustration at stonewalling bankers, obfuscating HSE Mandarins & slippery RTÉ Execs, god love them.

The voice of the private sector has to a large extent been excluded from the discourse on public service reform

– Ibec prebudget submission

These are ordinary people Joe, he just wanted to buy a bank

– Sean Quinn sympathies on Liveline

We don’t want to turn around in five or 10 years’ time and find that we’ve lost all of these wonderful places and that we’re back almost in the dark ages, where we were before the boom

– Georgina Campbell on the closure of a Waterford restaurant

Thinking about it more, you could say that the anti-begrudgery bandwagon was only really rigged up in earnest after the Queen hit the English Market in Cork City.

– John-Paul McCarthy

More and more human rights are being used to frame the approach to justice in our society. This is a disaster happening before our eyes

– Alive! editorial

We’re not going to let our campaign be dictated by fact-checkers

– Romney pollster Neil Newhouse

Although divorce became legal, marriage still remains very popular

– Michelle Mulherin

The reality is….[generic obfuscation & lies]

– Everyone

O’Broin: IMF policy is of austerity strangling Greece, Portugal, Ireland etc etc
Carvile: Bernard what to you make of Eoin’s central point of the contraction in these policies?
Durkan: It’s the word austerity I object to, it’s bandied about now
Carville: well what would you call it?
Durkan: Good house keeping

– The ever prudent Bernard Durkan on Late debate in October

All those expenses were spent in the economy

– Bernard Durkan on Late Debate in December

If anything I went easier on her because she was a woman

– Leo Varadker dismisses claims he was sexist towards Mary Coughlan

The world is literally global.

– Tainste & foreign affairs Minster on the opportunities available to graduates

The only two certainties are death and taxes

– Brian Dobson speaks to an elderly group during budget coverage

We must make haste slowly

– Mattie McGrath channels Confucius

But the right-wing label attached by some to these deputies is an over-simplification. Some of them certainly have deeply held views on abortion, however, veteran Fine Gael insiders say that far from being ideologues, these newcomers are classic products of Celtic Tiger Ireland, many of whom became politicians by accident and who tend to approach issues on a case-by-case basis, rather than the traditional fault lines.

– Shane Coleman

What kind of country do we want? That represented by the Eucharistic Congress? Or that represented by the Swedish house mafia?

– Obligatory Marc Coleman entry

If you counted all the negatives about Enda Kenny (and there are many), they still could not take away from the reality that he has been a very successful Taoiseach in his first 18 months or so of office.

– Equally difficult to pick just one from Stephen Collins

The mansion tax will bring in revenue when housing prices return to previous levels

– Michael Noonan should perhaps reflect before accusing others of fantasy economics

Nothing is sacred now

– Unnamed TD laments the prospect of Dáil bar bills being subject to FOI

The Irish regulatory system functioned at all times

– Pat Farrell, chief executive of the Irish Banking Federation

Politicians are not immune to duplicity.

– Harry McGee on Chris Andrews’ twitter adventure

I am not opposed to peaceful protest but people do not have the right to occupy a public space and drink tea there

– Fine Gael’s Pádraig Conneely on the removal of occupy Galway

She professes to be a socialist but wanted to destroy the coursing industry

– Mattie on Clare Daly

These people made mistakes…but they’re also human beings. Remember that

– Dennis O’Brien on the last cabinet

Effectively, the broker had been trading with insufficient capital. While client funds were not misused or lost, this is a big no-no as it put the stability of the firm in question, not to mention undermined the integrity of the Irish financial system.

– SBP on Bloxham

What has happened to the fourth estate being objective, but also keeping power accountable? And are we to believe that we are immune to spin and unhealthy wielding of undue influence by the media here in Ireland?

– Breda O’Brien

We would like to have the best quality of reader, the most discerning kind of reader

– Kevin O’Sullivan

Mr Pierse said that after the Queen’s visit to Ireland, sterling had been a very popular destination for people looking for a safe haven for their money.

– Irish Examiner talks to some financial adviser

I am not pro-EU, I’m an academic

– Brigid Laffan’s logic

Standing up and attacking capitalist system while wearing fruits of it

– Paschal Donohoe slams Paul Murphy for eh, owning jeans

First let me say that they’re all fine looking women

– An Taoiseach addresses Sportswoman of the year awards

Was it vital for Mr O’Toole to transcribe verbatim what the Taoiseach said in his Budget-night speech? There are very few speeches or talks made that would stand up to such scrutiny

– Bray Fine Gael hack take Fintain to task for quoting Enda

I’m a hard grafter and, as some of them find out, they shouldn’t tangle with me too often, you know.

– Enda Kenny in wake of the seismic shift

The biggest decision in the history of politics

– Pat Rabbitte in wake of the seismic shift

Thank you, Mr Hasenstab.

– Irish Times ever cautious not to loose the run of itself around speculators

Think Ceaucescu, think Stalin, think that level of democratic subversion because this is what is taking place today and there is no excuse for it.

– Marc McSharry on Seanad abolition

What about Stalin?

– Lucinda Creighton retorts during a discussion on Golden Dawn & political literacy

You know this bullying of entrepreneurs, people like me who have invested tens of millions and employed thousands of people. It’s not good for the UK.

– A4e Emma Harrison’s wonderful Channel4 news interview

Our reason is a gift from God and we must use it to examine our own lives, our faith and our failings . . . if we did that more often, we would not need so many regulations and regulators.

– Chairman of the IFSC John Bruton

and my favourite, for sheer awfulness

Submissions & contributions welcome.