Irish Taoiseach Enda Kenny

Posted by Tim on 23 July 2011 - 7:23am

In March of this year Ireland elected a new government, which in turn elected Enda Kenny as Taoiseach (Prime Minister). Since then most of the attention has been on figuring out how to bail Ireland out of the economic mess it's in, due mostly to banking mismanagement in the Irish property boom (now bust) of the mid 1990's through late 2007.

Enda Kenny As a result, Ireland has had to borrow from the EU, IMF,

Enda Kenny - Irish Prime Minister

Britian and other nations more than €85 billion, or roughly $122.3 billion in US Dollars. Today, it was announced that the interest rates charges on thses massive loans/bail out funds has been and/or will be reduced about 2%. In the long run that will save Ireland more than 1 billion Euros, but will not improve econmic conditions for the average person until 2013, at the earliest. In fact the government is now warning citizens that another 4 billion Euros will be cut from next year's budget, in December 2012.

Difficult times for many don't dampen the spirit of all, in fact there are signs of just the opposite in many areas. Good friends, Carol & Oz, have been planning their upcoming wedding for well over a year now. 1
August, next Monday, is the big day. This will be the first time we have been invited to an Irish wedding, and we are very excited.

I have been asked to be an 'unofficial photographer' (so glad there will be a pro doing hard stuff), starting at 8:00 AM! Irish Wedding celebrations go into the wee hours of the morning, so it will be a long day. I hope to have a wedding picture or two to publish very soon . . . stay tuned!