SO, THE HEAD of IDA Ireland went on US business TV today to talk up the country as a location for foreign direct investment.
As you might expect, it was a pretty everyday affair, with Martin Shanahan doing a fine job selling the country to the three-person presenter panel of CNBC’s ‘Squawk Box’.
That was, until anchor (and former stockbroker) Joe Kernan weighed in, and the whole encounter took a truly bizarre turn.
Kernan, whose nickname, by the way, is ‘the Kahuna’ showed not the merest modicum of shame or embarrassment as he subjected Shanahan to a prolonged stream of questions on why Ireland wasn’t in the euro, why Scotland used Sterling, and, ultimately, where he might find the country anyway…
Watch from around the 7 minute mark…
Here’s how it went down, word for word… Oh Lord…
JK: You have pounds anyway, don’t you – still?
MS: We have euros
JK: You have euros in Ireland ? Why do you have euros in Ireland?
MS: Why wouldn’t we have euros in Ireland?
JK: Huh? I’d use the pound…
MS: No, we’ve had the euro for some time and we’re very happy with it.
JK: What about Scotland I was using Scottish…
MS: …Scottish pounds. They use Sterling.
JK: They use Sterling?
MS: They use Sterling. But we use euro.
JK: What!? Why would you do that?
MS: [With a little steel now] Why wouldn’t we do that?
JK: Why didn’t Scotland? No wonder they wanted to break away…
MS: They’re part of the UK. We’re not.
JK: Aren’t you right next to, em??
MS: We’re very close, but entirely separate as you know.
JK: Sort of the same island, isn’t it?
MS: In the north of Ireland they use Sterling, but we use Euro.
JK: THEY DO!? [mutters] It’s just too confusing…
To be fair, anyone who’s ever been on a J1 will have had a similar exchanges with elderly Maryland ladies in Ocean City strip malls (INSERT YOUR OWN ANECDOTE HERE).
But still…
“Sort of the same island, isn’t it?”
Our sides are still aching.
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
have your say