So the IMF have arrived and our lovely island nation is front page news across the globe with headlines screaming..."humiliation"..."Ireland Bailed Out"...etc.
I don't think that people from outside Ireland realise that we've been reading/listening to recession/depression/bail out/IMF stories for years now. The IMF's coup is like a weight off our shoulders. It's like we've finally come out of the closet. Our little dirty secret.
If I hear anything else about Good Banks/Bad Banks...bond markets...interest rates...I'm going to scream...please SHUT UP. I've made a conscious not to listen to the radio or read the newspaper today because I'm sick of it.
How about a good radio station and a bad radio station...a good newspaper and a bad newspaper. Change the record please. We've had enough of bad news. Dublin is open for business.
The hotel was buzzing on the weekend and we even had George Hook and Brent Pope in entertaining the masses with RTE...George even managed to stay awake this time. The hotel is full for most of the week...granted that could be thanks to the thousands of journalists that are hear to cover our fall from grace.
I could still afford me few pints last night, bought meself the usual cup of tasty coffee from Marta in the Coffee Dock and even arranged to go and see Harry Potter during the week.
I was in London last week and I had people coming up to me commiserating and offering their sorrow...as if I can't feed the kids. It reminds me of the height of the troubles when American visitors to Dublin were genuinely surprised not to see tanks patrolling O'Connell Street.
For people looking to visit Dublin or Ireland in the near future know this...there has never been a better time to come here. Drink, food, entertainment are all cheaper and most importantly we've got our sense of humour back. Being the rich kids of Europe didn't suit us anyway.
So take some advice from Ollie. No more talk of recession/depression etc. Dublin is open for business.
Ollie McGrath (OMG)
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