Coughlan - "we paid off our debt"

[orbit]

Did anyone catch this on Marion Finucane yesterday ? (apologies if mentioned already). Mary Coughlan went above and beyond her normal standard of platidudinous waffle with her comment that during the boom "we paid off our debt" .

WTF is she on? Does she not know about the national debt? and that it has actually increased over the last 9 years, even before the present borrowing frenzy has got going? And that is to say nothing about private sector and consumer debt.

Finucane reported yesterday (and again today), that Coughlan's interview provoked a unique level of furious responses from listeners. Not hard to see why ....

[FutureTaoiseach]

Coughlan - just a heartbeat away...

[mollox]

Did anyone catch this on Marion Finucane yesterday ? (apologies if mentioned already). Mary Coughlan went above and beyond her normal platidudinous waffle with her comment that during the boom "we paid off our debt" .

WTF is she on? Does she not know about the national debt? and that it has actually increased over the last 9 years, even before the present borrowing frenzy has got going? And that is to say nothing about private sector and consumer debt.

Finucane reported yesterday (and again today), that Coughlan's interview provoked a unique level of furious responses from listeners. Not hard to see why ....

I didn't hear the interview, but it was widely quoted on RTE news bulletins during the day.
Apparently Coughlan claimed that the FF-led Govts haven't squandered the boom, claiming they had paid off the national debt as one of the positives.

Perhaps I'm mistaken, but I thought we didn't pay off the national debt, we merely reduced it as a % of GDP - an almost automatic consequence of the significant growth in our GDP over the years.

It would come as no surprise that Coughlan would not understand this simple proposition.

[orbit]

It would explain a lot, if this government believes that the graph above, shows we have paid off the debt.

[BodyofEvidence]

Recall what Dan O'Brien said re her.....neer a truer word spoken. A uniquely dumb gobdaw even for FF

[euroboy]

I'm no supporter of Coughlan, but she is speaking the truth.

There was and to some extent gross wastages of public money during the last 15 years, but the govt did reduce the national debt.

I find it disingenious of many to quote the absolute figures for national debt, as a portion of GDP, our national debt as fallen apart from the period 2007-8 onwards.

And we all benefited from the govt's wastage, through tax cuts, SSIA, property incentives and reliefs.

Even the poor who seem to think they were left behind by the celtic tiger are not being honest with themselves. Its costs the state alot of money to exclude them from the tax net. Though I would agree, the level of income inequality has worsen, but that doesnt mean the celtic tiger didnt pass their front door.

A dose of national honesty is what this country needs and its very clearly lacking.

[Fairplay]

I heard the interview. She made an analogy between a family looking at its finances and paying off debts and the country doing likewise. I understood her to mean that the government had paid off the national debt. She did not qualify this by saying 'some of' or refer to a percentage paid off.

it was very funny when Marion gently suggested that some people did not think she was qualified for her current job. She claimed she was because she 'worked very hard' (so do lots of people and it doesn't make them very employable necessarily) -and she did good work in Agriculture (who said that other than her?) and I can't remember the other reasons, obviously not very compelling.

then there was talk of solutions. She said the government has the 'smart strategy.' Marion said but you need a plan. Coughlan - 'we do, its the smart strategy plan..'

The interview was one of the funniest I've heard in ages. Only one listener supported her - said something like she was an ordinary decent girl we could all identify with. Is that the right CV for Minister for Enterprise?

[pfkf]

She is clearly inept and inadequate for the job, she should do the reasonable thing, hold her hands up and admit she is not up for the job and quit.

[BodyofEvidence]

I'm no supporter of Coughlan, but she is speaking the truth.

There was and to some extent gross wastages of public money during the last 15 years, but the govt did reduce the national debt.

I find it disingenious of many to quote the absolute figures for national debt, as a portion of GDP, our national debt as fallen apart from the period 2007-8 onwards.

And we all benefited from the govt's wastage, through tax cuts, SSIA, property incentives and reliefs.

Even the poor who seem to think they were left behind by the celtic tiger are not being honest with themselves. Its costs the state alot of money to exclude them from the tax net. Though I would agree, the level of income inequality has worsen, but that doesnt mean the celtic tiger didnt pass their front door.

A dose of national honesty is what this country needs and its very clearly lacking.

We DIDNT pay off the debt. FFS can you not go up the thread and see the graph? WE DID NOT PAY OFF THE DEBT. So couckuplan again is exposed as full of bluster and bluff

[Pauli]

Did anyone catch this on Marion Finucane yesterday ? (apologies if mentioned already). Mary Coughlan went above and beyond her normal standard of platidudinous waffle with her comment that during the boom "we paid off our debt" .

WTF is she on? Does she not know about the national debt? and that it has actually increased over the last 9 years, even before the present borrowing frenzy has got going? And that is to say nothing about private sector and consumer debt.

Finucane reported yesterday (and again today), that Coughlan's interview provoked a unique level of furious responses from listeners. Not hard to see why ....

This has gone beyond a joke. Coughlan should be muzzled by the Taoiseach's department and prevented from speaking on economic matters. She is clearly way out of her depth and should be ideally moved to the backbenches where she can do little harm.

I still think Biffo made her Tanaiste for a bet but there comes a time where the joke wears thin. We've passed that time.