Dookinella Church, originally uploaded by polnamara.

Devils Island, originally uploaded by polnamara.

or Keel Island as it is also known off Achill Island, Co. Mayo.

This is nothing less than yet another example that in the great collapsing game of Keynesian fundamentalist’s dilemma, he who defects, defaults and devalues first is the winner. Congratulations Iceland. To everyone else: enjoy the eventual revolutions. They are now inevitable, courtesy of your favorite neighborhood parasite banker.

Ronan Lyons gives a detailed but concise overview of how Ireland got into the mess and some ideas of how to get out of it.

The full story of Ireland’s economic highs and lows over the past generation will no doubt be examined in many books for years to come. That’s no consolation, however, for people who are voting in a few weeks and who want to know where we are and what we need to do. They want to know which painful hits they should take, and which they shouldn’t. To know what to do next, we need to know how we got here and how bad things are, so this post aims to give a bare-bones outline of how Ireland dug itself into a hole, how deep the hole is and the kind of things we need to do to get back out of the hole.

Read the full post for his analysis of the reasons and ideas.

Writing on March 20, 1978, Joseph O’Reilly of Achill Island, Co Galway, wrote that he wished “to draw [the taoiseach’s] attention to the news coverage by RTÉ particularly on television, of the French elections”.

Dear All,
Happy New Year to all and apologies for not sending any Christmas cards this year, my family and I are going through a tough time as my brother, JP, is missing in the Netherlands.

I have a favour to ask, could you please pass on this mail with the information below – I know it’s a long shot but it may reach someone that has seen him in the past few weeks, we will try anything at this stage. We have been doing everything we can to find JP with the Police and the Embassy and also my sisters, Mani, my brother-in laws and JP’s friends have searched various places in the Netherlands but there appears to be no trace of him since he was seen in Eindhoven during the 1st week of November. It seems unlikely but he may have travelled outside of the Netherlands so we are also searching in
Belgium/Spain/Germany etc.

Thank you,
Clare

• Nationality: Irish
• Name: James Patrick Grealis, known as JP
• Date of Birth: 14/03/1984 (24 years old)
• Hair: Red (curly/wavy)
• Height: approx.1.75 meter/ approx 5′ 9”
• Build: Slim build with broad shoulders
• Clothes: Generally wears T-shirts, jeans, hoodies etc (he has a habit of walking with his sleeves pulled down over his hands)
• General Information: Smoker, works in building trade, likes to socialize

JP was last seen in Eindhoven (1 st week of Nov) and last called home from Breda (23 rd of Oct). He may have travelled to Rotterdam in November. Any information please contact me (00 353 (0)87 2393993) or the Irish Police on 00 353 (0)98 20830 or the Dutch Police on 00 31 79-345 8882 ( case number 08261250 for Dutch Police)

Email:clare.grealis@gmail.com
Mobile Telephone: + 353 87 2393993

His details are also included on the Dutch Red Cross site here and also on the Irish Missing Persons website here.