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Archive for December, 2007

On 7 December 2006 the Irish Times asked Dan McLaughlin, chief economist Bank of Ireland for his predictions for the Irish property market for 2007. He said:
‘The year 2007 will be another strong one in terms of transactions. We are likely to see something of the order of 85,000 to 90,000 houses built again. Mortgage […]

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It´s not often that you hear news that is genuinely a shock, but tonight´s breaking news from the Irish Times is one of those moments. It is impossible to talk about Irish cultural history without bringing in the showbands, and Joe Dolan was the most successful, and easily the most loved, of all of them. […]

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Christmas Greetings, 2007


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The ongoing American writers´strike, as explained by the writers of the Daily Show.

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The housing market is beginning to show initial and tentative signs of recovery, with prices expected to rise again outside Dublin before the end of 2008.
Since the reform of stamp duty by Finance Minister and Tanaiste Brian Cowen in the Budget on December 5, there have been initial indications that, although the slump has not […]

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More than 266,322 houses, flats and holiday homes lie vacant in the Republic — enough to house a million people, the Sunday Independent has learned. Housing Minister Batt O’Keeffe claimed two weeks ago that much of the present problems in the housing market was caused by rogue builders who are “sitting” on finished properties as […]

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The decision of first-time buyers to defer purchases has seen a boom in the rental market, with rents rising to an all-time average high of €1,400 a month nationwide.” (Irish Independent, 28 November 2007)
…Rents are strong in Ashbourne thanks to its relative proximity to the capital and the major expansion of retail business in the […]

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That terrible sunday in Derry in ‘72 has unleashed on the world any number of musical atrocities - from U2’s bombast to Dolores Cranberry’s über-bombast but now, thanks to You Tube, we can savour the post Bloody Sunday musical nadir.

Obviously, John Lennon was inspired by the events in Derry to reflect on the sufferings of […]

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I’m often forced to reflect that Yeats’ short and late poem ‘Politics’ just about sums up the unhappy lot of an ageing Irishman in this world. I believe the poem is set against the 30s political engagement of most of his contemporaries in exchange for which Yeats in the poem would gladly swap holding a […]

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