Belfast Blogs.com

The Taoiseach Bertie Ahern revealed today what we all already knew - he's half-crocked.Discussing BUPA's pull-out from Ireland, he said: "I’m not acting tough at all, I’m just saying that somebody wants to come along and say great, sure, listen, if insurance is all about going out and getting 100 people who are likely to get sick for the next 10 years, and sure make greater profits, sure, that’s great, that’s marvellous. And I’m supposed to be impressed with that argument."“Then you get 100 people who are like myself, are half crocked, and then we have to pay far more for it (insurance), and they say that’s fair. Market forces, competition ... who are they coddin’?”Amidst the virtual incomprehensibility of that statement, clearly Ahern is unimpressed with BUPA's failure...

Mary Harney, Europe's least healthy looking health minister, has really done it this time.Not content with presiding over the further erosion of the Irish health system and selling off what bits she can to her developer pals, she must now watch in free marketeer horror as BUPA pulls out of Ireland today.That's 300 jobs down the Swanee, half a million punters without health insurance and a big load of egg on the Minister's face, given her espousal of competition in the marketplace.Thanks to a bonkers ruling in court the other week that BUPA should give a million quid a week to the dominant force in the marketplace VHI, this result was inevitable. Expect Vivas to follow shortly.This health minister is a liability. Can someone please put her out to pasture......