GETTING up at 3.50am to present the early Newstalk radio show means my body clock doesn’t understand bank holiday weekends.

DURING our last general election in 2007, my occupation was bookmaking. Our firm pioneered betting markets for every candidate and constituency.

THE state of our public finances has taken on a severe international dimension in the past week. Two events have brought into sharp focus the perilous path Ireland treads.

THE toast at the annual Labour party conference in Galway was ‘Eamon Gilmore for Taoiseach’. This ambition has a semblance of credibility in the context of the party leaders’ opinion poll approval ratings.

THE Croke Park accord is apparently heading up a cul de sac. Key public sector unions are coming out against the revised pay deal.

THE Croke Park accord is apparently heading up a cul de sac. Key public sector unions are coming out against the revised pay deal.

THE implosion of our financial services sector just keeps giving more trauma and we have been constantly misled with only partial, minimalist, optimistic instalments of information. This has led the state to take ownership of virtually the entire indigenous banking sector and its liabilities.

AND so they’re off. The people of Britain, as long expected, are taking a trip to the polls on May 6.

BEFORE the dawn comes the darkest hour. This week’s choreography between the Minister for Finance, Central Bank governor and Financial Regulator seeks to reconstruct the Irish banking system. We have to hope it works. Don’t be too fearful about the enormous sums being injected into AIB and Bank of Ireland.

WHAT was happening last week in Bray garda station? Is it possible that a process has started whereby former senior bankers, who have brought our economy to the precipice of insolvency, will face the four-letter ‘g’ word? Get a grip. Cop yourself on. Ireland doesn’t do gaol, it does golf. There is little imminent prospect of justice. We should not be surprised.