January again, not my favourite month of the year, despite being born in it, but we're nearly at the end of it and in fairness, like all months, it does go fairly fast. Hard to believe that it was last January that I wrote about Wayne O'Donoghue being released from prison. We haven't heard anything about him or indeed the Holohan family in the last year and this is no bad thing.

Both families have obviously moved on with their lives as best they can and , decent people that they are, are going through their own trauma in private. Not much has been heard about Christy Hennessy either, a man who died around 13 months ago. Here again, we see a family with dignity, grieving in their own quiet, private way. Not so the family of Katy French. Grieving and remembering for these people, involves ringing a publicist. “We are going to lay flowers at our daughters grave tomorrow so that her friends can cherish her memory”, went the press release. Indeed. Maybe the friends, who need reminding through the media to cherish someone’s memory, might smell the aforementioned flowers to remind them of what their noses are actually for.

It is only natural at this time of year to reflect on the year gone by. I never fully embrace a new year because one never knows what it might bring, but I always look back on the year just gone and give an honest evaluation of it. 2008 was a great year for me personally, in all aspects of my life, and I will miss it. I do, of course, hope that 2009 will be equally good and in fairness, it has started swimmingly, albeit, as it has to, with January.

A few things stand out about 2008, make of them what you will; Ian Paisley bowed out of politics, Brian Cowan became the new leader of Fianna Fail, Ireland said “No” to the Lisbon Treaty, Nuala O'Faoilain died as did Ronnie Drew, Dustin the Turkey flopped in the Eurovision and there were huge floods all over the country in the month of August. George W. Bush visited Belfast and Bertie Ahern's statement to the Mahon Tribunal saying he won 50 grand on the horses in England, was right up there with “the dog ate my homework”! Bertie also ended up in a wheelchair after damaging his ankle, obviously after tripping himself up. The arse well and truly went out of the Irish economy in the second half of 2008. This was the residue of the tent at the Galway Races. The tent where politicians encouraged property developers to borrow, borrow and borrow in order to build, build and build. The bankers were, of course, encouraged to lend, lend and lend. I read where the percentage of property and construction loans on the books of banks in England was between 18 and 20 per cent of all loans. In Ireland, the figure for AIB was 36%, while BOI was 26%. Serious enough figures, you'll have to agree. The percentage for Anglo Irish Bank was a whopping 87%. No, that is not a misprint! 87%. The Chairman of the bank had hidden around 89 million Euro in loans from the shareholders. He is the sole reason why our sovereign government had to nationalise Anglo Irish Bank. What will happen to him? Nothing, because he didn't do anything legally wrong! Now for ya! That's the Ireland we live in today. A guy got sent to jail last week in Ireland because he “spoke” in court. Pensioners, who contributed hugely to this country, can't go for a pint and a cigarette without having to have the latter in the rain! They run the risk of a 3 grand fine or a trip to jail if they dare smoke at the comfort of a fireplace. We don't live in a democracy, but rather a plutocracy. A decent man who recognised the huge flaws in the political and judicial system in Ireland was Tony Gregory. Tony died two days into 2009. He represented the same constituency as Bertie Ahern. Talk about chalk and cheese. In the first half of 2008, Bertie Ahern, as Taoiseach, stated that there was nothing wrong with the Irish economy. People who were expressing concern about the levels of lending by the Irish banks to property developers were accused of “talkin' down the economy and of being unpatriotic”. Bertie actually went one step further. He said the people who were being negative about the prospects of the Irish economy, should “commit suicide”! I am not making that up. Our elected Taoiseach said those disgraceful words and never even lost his job because of them. Some people even feel this man is fit to replace Mary in the Park! Knowing the Irish electorate, he'll probably sail in, but it still won't make him fit for the job. So as we tread carefully into 2009, poor old Tony Gregory is in the grave, the former chairman of Anglo Irish Bank is on holidays in the sun and the Irish people are propping up a bank for an amount they don't know because nobody dares tell them. Indeed, it might not just be one bank that needs to be propped up.

One can but hope for 2009. Sometimes dramatic change can happen. As Eamon Gilmore said on Questions and Answers the other night, would anyone have believed two years ago that in early 2009, a black man would be President of the States and the Irish Government would have just nationalised a bank?

Speaking of Barack Obama, it appears to me that of all the 227 members of the Oireachtas, we don't seem to have anyone with his political vision. For that matter, have you ever heard an Irish politician utter the words, “I have a vision for Ireland for the next 40 years.......”? No, neither have I. But, one lives in hope, after all, the USA went through 8 years of George W. to get where they are now, so ya never know. I hope Barack Obama is left to do his work unimpeded. There is a concern in the States that some harm may come to him because of racism. As Jay Leno said on his chat show, “these people that might shoot Obama, where the hell were they for the last 8 years”?

Just before I finish up here, I spotted a lovely short letter in one of the daily papers the other day. It was from a guy in Wicklow who reckoned he had come up with a new word in a dream he had. His new word, he says, is “fawnication”. Basically, it means, “the grovelling subservience shown by politicians to banks while screwing the public”!

And, finally, many thanks to the thousands who logged on to Radio Ballagh over the Christmas period. Despite some begrudging , the 9000 who logged on over three days have shown there is an appetite for it. I don't think people realise the many hours put in by Joe Egan over the festive period in getting audio aired, but huge praise should be steered his way. Well done buck, ya did good!

Noel D. Walsh.