Bond Trouble in Ireland - not the 007 Type - but there's a light still burning

The good old Dublin Govenment lads have run their marathon but never got to the finish line. They struggle on none-the-less. Bertie should be giving lessons on how to rein in the races and there should be a tent or two on the lawns of Leinster House. Keep the boys happy and all that.

The North is doing well. Inward investment piling in. Great big numbers on the job creation front. Economic confidence on the upswing. But down in Dublin its a different story. The State has shifted from giving enticements to inward investors to struggling to give sufficient enticements to encourage buyers to buy its bonds.

But financial woes seem to be a distant second to the real concern of the government. The voters are voting with their feet, or rather with their wings as the fly off to merry lands of opportunity elsewhere. Despite the reality of this flight of the Irish to greener pastures, Cowen seems hell bent on trying to convince those left behind that there's only a few lads and lassies gone. Not many, you understand. To acknowledge the numbers of emigrants leaving Ireland would be to acknowledge that the government screwed up.

But it's not all bleak. Ireland has the potential to produce ten times its energy needs with green energy production by 2050. There's probably a bit of the blarney in there as well as a glass ball. But the general science is there and it's indicative that there is serious potential to harness the waves and wind of and off Ireland for the common and economic good.

Ireland might well become green.

Meanwhile Irish businesses should be recruiting all those emigrating to become their envoys and (commission only) sales reps for the markets they emigrate to. Imagine that - a sales force of hundreds of thousands selling for Ireland.

Maybe Cowen should see this as the opportunity of a lifetime. Maybe he should be paying the airfares (a prayer book for everyone might be good too) of all those leaving the country. And if the money is not there for all those hundreds of thousands of airfares, give the bloody hanger to Michael O'Leary and he might agree to fly everyone out for free!