We love archives, and thanks to Anthony over at publicinquiry.eu, we have got our hands on some old newspapers. ‘Thar be gold in dem der hills. This nugget is from the Irish Independent weekender, November 27, 1993. There are a number of funny elements to it.
First up is the mention of ‘Brian Cowan’ who is often the victim of misspellings (it happens to the best of us). Angela Phelan, writing about the Fianna Fail party that week at the Burlington notes:
But Taoiseach, look out for young Minister Brian Cowan. To the strains of Help Me Make It Through The Night and Ride. Sally Ride, Brian displayed divine dexterity on the dance floor and undoubtedly knows that politics is as much about rock ‘n roll as anything else.
I can see it now.
There was huge applause and shouts of “fix” when Paddy Connellan, one of the Reynolds’ best friends from Longford, won the trip for two to Barbados.
Yes, Albert would know about trips to the Caribbean, too. Ahem.
Of course there were others at this 1993 Fianna Fail shindig:
Among the biz bods at the party were beef baron Pascal Phelan, hotelier Sean McEniff. property developer Bernard McNamara, airline operator PJ McGoldrick, Smurfits supremo Paddy Wright. . . and on it goes.
Clearly Bernard has seen better days.
Alas though:
As for the other giant, ‘Where’s Charlie has now become a kind of Where’s Waldo contest. I didn’t see a Haughey anywhere in the hall.
Donie Cassidy was considered an “old timer” even then. It amazing how well preserved he is.
P.
Gavin, I don’t know if you are still looking for info on Irish bonds and who buys them, but January 2010 the NTMA issued €5 billion in bonds, all of which were sold by the end of the day. The bond sales were offloaded via Barclays Capital, Calyon, Citi, Davy, Duetsche Bank and UBS Investment Bank
Around 90% of the bonds were placed with pension funds, insurance companies, asset managers and banks. No names were given, but the NTMA has the breakdown as thus:
140 different investors. 14% inside Ireland, 86% outside Ireland.
UK – 38.5%
Ireland – 14%
Nordic – 10.3%
Germany 9%
Italy 5.1%
France 4.2%
Benelux – 3.7%
Other Europe – 10.8%
Other 4.4%
So that’s where Irish bonds ended up on the day. The type of investor broke down as thus:
Banks – 48.3%
Asset Managers – 18.3%
Pension funds – 8.7%
Insurance – 6.4%
Hedge Funds – 2.8%
Supranational – 1%
Other – 6.5%