A Toxic Shock
I drove down to Dublin, stopping at the Drogheda bridge toll station to fumble around for some euros, and wondering whether my journey would prove worthwhile. I'd been tipped off already that Messrs Robinson, McGuinness and Cowen would be announcing some new money for the A5 and A8 road improvements. But whilst 8 million pounds might be very welcome as a statement of intent from Dublin to complete these north south infrastructure projects, it doesn't buy you a lot of tarmac.
However when the news conference began at Farmleigh house it became clear that rather bigger sums had been under discussion. The ministers had been discussing Dublin's plans for a , a so called "bad bank" due to take on up to 90 billion euros of so called run up by Irish banks. I have to admit I wasn't familiar with the acronym NAMA, but on enquiring further about this aspect of the discussions I learned that an estimated 30 billion euro worth are outside the Irish Republic, and anything between 15 and 20 billion of these assets could be in Northern Ireland (if the language here sounds vague it's because the officials are dealing in guesstimates - they still don't know exact figures for the toxic assets).
Clearly a sudden move by NAMA to try to claw back cash by selling northern assets could have a sudden negative impact on overall property prices. Certainly the figures involved dwarf the roads money, and once again emphasise the thin economic ice we all appear to be skating on.
On the margins of today's North South Ministerial conference I asked Peter Robinson about the Jeffrey Donaldson expenses story. The DUP leader said Jeffrey was right to be repaying around £680 to the Commons authorities. Back at Stormont my colleague Martina Purdy was asking the Lagan Valley MP about which films he had watched. Jeffrey said they were all blockbusters and family entertainment and gave as an example "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe".
Having once starred as "Mr Beaver" on the Edinburgh fringe, I think I picked the wrong story. I was following the Yellow Brick road from Dublin to Donegal, when I should have been concentrating on the White Witch and her Turkish delight.
I'm 
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