Smoke and Daggers

Having missed the whole of the Celtic Tiger project and only watched in wonder from the sidelines as the Ireland that I knew in my childhood and my early twenties changed completely before my returning eyes, Fintan O’Toole makes an excellent left-wing job of bring the picture shockingly up to date. It is in the main a logical step by step voyage through the last twenty years of Irish history - roughly the 1990’s to 2009 - in which more happened in Ireland than at any time since the heroic 1913 to 1922 period on which so much of the sensitivities which underpin politic life in Ireland are built. When he widens his considerations, there is a little more inconsistency in targeting and hitting the home truths. Absolutely correct to say that Ireland is a society where sin equals sex and money has no sinful value. Wrong to equate the imperative to creativity with the motive to conceal the nature of truth in Ireland - Beckett and Joyce reached deep down into the emotions and taught us all more about ourselves, River Dance and Flatley’s Celtic Tiger are universally understood for what they are and abhorred by Irish people. Joyce himself understood that Leprechauns, smoky peat fires and toothless grannies dragged Ireland back to what others wanted it to be - it is enough to say that Michael Flatley was born in Chicago without wasting time dissecting the choreography and sets of his dance show. Wrong also to spend so much of the book re-hashing well trod ground in respect of Charles Haughey - odious as his sins of money were, they are well known and dead and buried with The Boss. The main job in hand is to determine how the axis of Bush-Blair-Bertie-Bankers managed to ruin the lives of the 75m inhabitants of the British Isles. Good man yourself, Fintan for pointing out the structural shortcomings on which the Irish bubble was allowed to inflate before the inevitable burst, but what role did American and Britain play?

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Corruption Endangers Survival Of Any Economy

An exemplary story of how an economy weakened by corruption can exhibit irrational growth based upon speculation until a financial epidemic exposes the abuses of the elite. Makes me want to research the parallels in the other European bail out nations. Made compulsive listening. The euro will not survive if corruption in some Euro Zone countries is left unchecked. Fintan O'Toole's sarcasm is phenomenally amusing. I will listen to more buy this author and buy a print version of Ship of Fools to study the detail in depth.

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Teachable moments

Of Irish modern history. A must-read (or, I should say, a must-listen, for all regulators, politicians, investors and mortgage holders.

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An emigrants guide to "The Wild West"

As an Irish economic migrant from the '80's, I have been interested to understand what exacly went on during the years of the Celtic Tiger.
On the negative side, the narrator was the worst choice since John Wayne in 'The Quiet Man' and the book felt more of a download of volumes of data than a structured thesis.
For all that, the data on offer answered my question as to what actually happened and introduced the concept of 'light touch regulation' aka 'let developers and bankers do what you they like as long as everyone gets a cut of the proceeds' and then the ultimate irony was the lecture circuit extolling the virtues of the new 'Irish Invention' to the rest of the world as the panacea for world economic problems - the Emperor has no clothes springs to mind.
This is a damning indictment of the Irish political system during the Celtic Tiger and the level of corruption in public office. I listened to this book with a combination of amazement, distain and incredulity. The most surprising fact is how many of these politicians, developers and bankers are still in public circulation. The section about the Anglo Irish Bank is so mad that you have to try to remember that this is fact and not fiction. The chapter on the emergence of Ireland as the Wild West of Finance manages to surpass this.

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A great listen

Brilliant

A very complex subject explained in easy to follow and entertaining ways

Very enjoyable read from one of our best writers

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Informative

An excellent book, very well written and researched. However great fan of audible that I am, this is one of these books that I would have preferred to read as a paper book. There is so much detail that I needed sometimes to refer back to previous chapters to really follow it properly and that is more difficult on an I Pod..
But I stuck with it to the end, and felt that I understood much better the economic problems which have befallen Eire, and it was very, very interesting.

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Simply fascinating

Perhaps a salutary tale for post Brexit Britain and the dangers of too little regulation. Beautifully written, delightful vocabulary and turn of phrase. Can be a little terse at times with lots of statist and names. Roger Clark has a wonderful voice.

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An excellent book ruined by a dreadful narrator !

Although the book is excellent, this narrator, by constantly making breathing and chewing noises, has ruined it!
I'm unable to finish this one!!!

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Wrong choice of narrator

Like others, I enjoyed the content but it was completely the wrong choice of narrator. I was determined to hear what Fintan O'Toole had to say but was driven to distraction by the narrator and his pronunciation. It was a real struggle to get past that but worth it. Please use a different narrator for your next book!

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7 people found this helpful

Fairly good writing, but an uninspired reading

The book is not overly long, and covers some interesting points, although I thought it did not finish every point that it started. Notably, the question of regulation of business dealings at IFSC. After criticising the lack of regulation early in the chapter, there is a reference to a system which in the later years of the decade (2000-2010) is weighed down with regulation, and this point is couched in criticism. This confused me. There is some repetition of ideas and criticism, and would have improved with some paring of this excess. The reading is weak. It doesn't hold the attention, there is a lack of energy. Also, a number of strange pronounciations. However, it is the only book on the Irish economy on Audible, so I was more than glad to get it and it is definitely enlightening.

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2 people found this helpful