Enda

Jesus, even lads from Cork are seeing sense on this.

I think with ~£2000 per man, woman and child on the line, somebody might just have a word.

And for patrol vehicles they look class, btw. Well done Babcock.

You should give it to whichever company can it do it best. Get as good value for the taxpayer as you can. As long as they're allies, doesn't matter whether it's US or UK or Swedish or whatever. Irish Navy buys its boats off the UK.

Also if anyone is looking for me to back up my claims: Opposition to currency union with Scotland is a bluff, says top economist (Guardian article, August 2014) ""I have been a little bit shocked at how much of it is based on fear, trying to get anxiety levels up and how little of it has been based on vision," Stiglitz said, referring to the anti-independence campaign... For the most part, I think these are bluffs. Whatever the outcome, there's going to be a negotiation and people are going to be looking at what's in the best interests of both parties, and there will be negotiations," he said" How Easily Could an Independent Scotland Join the EU? (Oxford Dept of Law research paper, July 2014) "This paper maintains that despite assertions to the contrary from UK lawyers, EU lawyers and EU officials, any future independent Scotland’s EU membership should be assured, and its transition from EU membership qua part of the UK, to EU membership qua independent Scotland relatively smooth and straightforward. In other words, it would take the form of an internal enlargement2 of the EU using the procedure for treaty amendment in Article 48 TEU. These arguments are made on the basis of EU law itself, which, it is argued, provide all the resources necessary to assure an independent Scotland’s EU membership through EU treaty amendment, and not through a cumbersome accession process as a new member state. In particular, the values, norms and ‘special ethos’ of the EU, expressed in concepts such as EU citizenship, fundamental rights and duties of loyalty, combine to provide a reasoned justification for such internal enlargement."

Don't mix up your failure to understand with me being confused. The currency union is on the cards, trust me. Ask (Nobel Prize winning) economist Joe Stiglitz what's the best outcome for both parties and his answer is simple. Ask (Nobel Prize winning, and Scottish) economist Jim Mirrlees what's the best response if the UK doesn't permit currency union, and he says to walk away from their share of national debt. £100bn on the table here. Think the UK government will say it's "off the table" when you're talking about £2000 per man, woman and child? Would you be happy if your government made you pay £2000 to avoid a currency union with Scotland, Trent? Absolutely no chance of Scotland being EU members within 18 months of independence, eh? Put your money where you mouth is. What odds will you offer me?

One of a long list of questions there is no answer too No side have all the reason in the world to drum up uncertainty. For example, Salmond has said what he wants for currency union. London has replied "Oh, we'll see." It's a unique situation from the EU too. Nobody has ever left, but wanted to join the EU. They don't have a protocol for this, so there's uncertainty. But it would be a disaster for Scotland (or any other member, UK included) to leave the EU for a long period of time. And it would fracture the solidarity ("ever closer union") the EU is supposed to be based on. I'd imagine Scotland would be let back in within 18 months.

Didn't Ireland win 2-1?? Yeah but we robbed them. We'd had bugger all chances or attacking threat, and the last kick of the game won it for us.

By that do you mean the Scots are turkeys, and their independence would be a good thing (Christmas) for England/UK?

Good points, and you're right it is a big difference, but it's not as big as people are making it out to be. People (I don't mean you here, I mean people in general) often associated money (i.e. currency) with the economy (i.e. what's actually produced). So when there's talk of a break with the pound, people think it'd collapse the economy. It wouldn't. I agree that Scotland would lose some monetary policy influence. For that, it's gaining fiscal policy influence. And it's fiscal policy where Scotland and London really disagree, so focusing on the pound/monetary policy question is making a mountain out of a molehill. I think it's London (successfully) scaremongering. (Also, imho, looking 50 years down the line, I suspect that even the UK will be using the euro!)

Britain is an island. Scotland will remain in Britain. Aside: the "Great" in GB comes from the fact that it's bigger than Brittany, and nothing more

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irish_Free_State#Currency The currency thing is a non-runner tbh. If London really want to be a dick and arbitrarily restrict the currency somehow, against the wishes of the Bank of England, it will cost them billions of pounds. Absolutely no advantages. Ireland basically kept using the pound post-independence, under much less friendly circumstances, and nobody batted an eye-lid. Ecuador uses the USD. Nobody bats an eye-lid. That's not a currency union though. They can keep using UK pounds and trade for them etc but it will be a foreign currency. They won't have any control over interest rates set by the bank of England or have the option of a lender of last resort like they would if the UK agreed a union. Aye, yeah, but the distinction between formal currency union versus informal currency union isn't that big imho. No control over interest rates, yes, but part of the argument for a currency union is that their business cycles are nearly identical, so monetary policy would be close to identical anyway.

BTW, did you watch the Georgia match afterwards? Absolutely no comparison between the two.

Pulsating stuff. Marty and Donal Og's commentary is class: https://soundcloud.com/rtesport/tipperary-v-kilkenny-the-final-moments

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irish_Free_State#Currency The currency thing is a non-runner tbh. If London really want to be a dick and arbitrarily restrict the currency somehow, against the wishes of the Bank of England, it will cost them billions of pounds. Absolutely no advantages. Ireland basically kept using the pound post-independence, under much less friendly circumstances, and nobody batted an eye-lid. Ecuador uses the USD. Nobody bats an eye-lid.

100 years since the Ireland left the UK. Do you think we'd want to rejoin?

Good thing it's a speech, because OSU players can't read. I have good tickets at a certain stadium this season.

Signed up during the O'Neill era.

We're all on the same page, fellas. Let's all just calm it down and remember that Robbie Savage is a rocket polisher.

Statistically people whose flights are late are more likely to get shot.

Do they do one with Ireland included? I'd be tempted to buy it. Some of those they include in the North are well dodgy. CS Lewis described himself as Irish. Whatever about Lewis and his somewhat Anglophilic tendencies though, including Seamus "No glass of ours was ever raised to toast the Queen / My passport is green" Heaney, and Flann O'Brien? Flann worked for the Irish government and wrote an entire novel in Irish ffs. You might as well have Gerry Adams or Michael Collins listed as British politicians.

Not in the 25 man squad. Send him on loan somewhere, maybe? Here he is getting a bucket of cold water thrown over his head. http://instagram.com/p/sIB_SuyCzy/

He could look like a pile of crap draped in a villa shirt for all I care He does a bit.

Stevo has a girlfriend. Thought he was going out with Rory Delap?

And I got his wages down by offering him 25% of any sell-on fee, but never sold him. God I love/hate that game.