A clip of an American journalist becoming increasingly shocked about Ireland’s currency has resurfaced and it is incredibly amusing.
In the resurfaced CNBC video, from 2014, Martin Shanahan, then the newly appointed head of Ireland’s foreign development agency the IDA, was interviewed by the anchors of financial programme Squawk Box but he ended up having a more rudimentary conversation than he might have expected.
broadcasting at its worst and also best
— Jim Pickard (@PickardJE) September 29, 2021
pic.twitter.com/W52rR8ejNo
After another reporter asked how “the weaker euro” impacted tourism in Ireland, Shanahan’s response was interrupted by anchor Joe Kernen who said:
“You’re pounds anyway aren’t you?”
Shanahan corrected him and a shocked Kernen exclaimed: “You have euros in Ireland? Why do you have euros in Ireland?”
“Why wouldn’t we have euros in Ireland?” Shanahan replied.
“I’d use the pound,” Kernen said, securing his future as an economist and a diplomat.
“We’ve had the euro for some time and we’re very happy with it,” a polite Shanahan responded.
But Kernen remained undeterred. “What about Scotland, I was using Scottish pounds,” he said, and Shanahan agreed that this different country did indeed use a different currency.
“What? Why would you do that?” Kernen said.
“Why wouldn’t we do that?” Shanahan responded.
“Why didn’t Scotland?” Kernen said.
Shanahan then delivered a geography lesson: “They’re part of the UK, we’re not.”
“Aren’t you right next to... sort of the same island?” Kernen said.
Shanahan then explained that Northern Ireland used the pound and this was too much for Kernen to compute.
“They do?!” he shouted. “It’s just too confusing,” he said, as if in despair. And after a different reporter tried to get the interview back on track again, Kernen interjected one last time, and said:
“Northern Ireland’s the pound. Oh my God you guys gotta get it together over there.... It makes no sense, I don’t know... Northern Ireland should be the one not using the pound.”
“I’m not sure I follow your logic,” Shanahan said. Kernen then almost reignited the troubles by claiming Northern Ireland had better golfers, apropos of literally nothing.
And reacting to the calamitous affair, people on social media thought they had struck gold:
Wow, different countries have different currencies? 🤯
— 🏴 supporting, not booing, England (@NigelGarbage) September 29, 2021
He's very gracious, considering.
— Cole Moreton (@ColeMoreton) September 29, 2021
It's the "they do!?" at the very end, that cracked me up
— b (@goddammitbrian) September 29, 2021
I admire the Irishman's patience and his tolerance for contact embarrassment
— Paul Pearson (@Fangs4Fantasy) September 29, 2021
One of the interviewers had clearly recently been to Scotland, yet he was entirely unaware that Scotland used Sterling and was *also* unaware that Scotland and Ireland were separate land masses.
— Colm Nugent (@Wigapedia) September 29, 2021
And was apparently happy to share that with his audience.
Oh dear.
