If you were thinking of applying for RTE’s Dragons’ Den, you might want to give a little pause for thought. A tiny piece in the Irish Daily Mail yesterday caught my eye.

“Gavin Duffy, one of the Dragons in the forthcoming series Dragons’ Den, said he did not know whether funding novice entrepreneurs is a sensible investment given the current recession.

The Irish version of the the hugely successful reality show will see hopeful entrepreneurs pitching their business plans to a set of five investors, including Mr. Duffy, who will offer capital in return for a stake in the project if the candidate can convince them of its worth.

Duffy, a media consultant, and a founder of LMFM radio, who made millions from the Irish property market, claimed that he will have to invest somewhere in the region of €300,000 as capital over the 8 episodes in the series.

He said : ‘It’s been in the pipeline. I was approached a good while back to see if I was available. At the time I thought it was a great idea. I’m now quite worried because the way the economy is going… do I have the money? There are going to have to be some good ideas.”

This is a joke. People are expected to go in front of someone like this on national television after he wonders aloud if he has the money? He wonders if now is the time to fund entrepreneurship in Ireland? Surely there is no better time than now to invest in entrepreneurs. I’m sure there was some point in his own career where someone took a chance on him and lent him some money or gave him an opportunity.

RTE’s blurb says that “The Irish Dragons are successful entrepreneurs and business leaders who have been there, done that”. Has Mr. Duffy forgotten the definition of entrepreneurship?

Any real entrepreneur out there reading this ought to ask themselves do you really want to go in front of someone like Mr. Duffy who, it appears, would prefer to sit on his money and wait for the ideal time (like when investing in property was mistaken for entrepreneurship) to take a risk.

Shame on him. If Shinawil/RTE had any cop on, they’d deliver the famous line “I’m out” to Mr. Duffy.

(Photo above is from stock photo site and does not depict an actual homeless person)

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It only took 10 years, but finally, finally, ‘Reeling in the Years’ has made it to DVD. This 150 minute, double DVD will feature all the great memories from 80’s. Remember those days? Ireland was a basket case economy, emigration was rife, the doles queues were long, the queues for jobs were longer still. But there was lots to cheer too in those times. Like the Irish football team and Miley hitting the charts with ‘The Byroads to Glenroe’. Ah yes, heady days indeed.

We’ve come a long way since then baby and what a rollercoaster ride it’s been. Almost a cruel twist of fate that the DVD is being released now. It’s a time when some of the ghosts of the 80’s we thought were dead are coming back to haunt us.

For now though we can rejoice that those busy bees in RTE literally spent years getting copyright clearance for all the clips and music on the DVD’s. This could quite possibly be one of the biggest sellers of all time in Ireland and perfect timing for my birthday which is coming up on 12th November.

I’ll treat myself to it and revel in the memories whilst chomping a Wispa bar and saying a little prayer we get through these tumultuos times ok. Hopefully we can all ride the rollercoaster upwards on the next cycle and leave no child behind this time round.

[More on RTE.ie]

This week’s live blog of the Apprentice is happening over at The National Lottie – be sure to fire up the browser and join in with the commentary!

Don’t forget to check back here for the review by Ian Walsh as well.

Brian Purcell, the really serious looking right hand man of Cúchulainn, reckons that the eventual winner of the €100,000 job will become a hangman.

Cúchulainn reckons the bank bailout package will all come good in the end and he should know as he’s lived through rough times since he became a multi-millionaire. He’s gone through 5 recessions and we should just work our way out of it. Where the jobs will come from isn’t specified

“He [the Taoiseach] seems to have ticked all the boxes and has done it over a period of time. They didn’t rush into the panic station that the crisis was creating. They stood back and took a good view; and from what I can see, they’ve ticked the boxes. I’m sure that something will come up that we weren’t aware of, but overall it’s a tremendous package which gives great comfort to the banks and to the people they’re going to try to borrow for. There is money out there, whether it’s in Dubai or Russia or China. There’s lots of money out there, and I think this is going to stabilise the economy”.

The latest candidate to be fired, Derek Ramsey, has a go at the producers, the other candidates and the universe for what he perceives as unfair portrayal on the show. Thems the breaks Derek – you must have known that the bad tv people would edit things that might not make you look good.

Didn’t know Ronan Whitty was of Whitford House Hotel fame. Wexford People report he is now working for Aer Lingus, so he obviously doesn’t win then?

It was rumoured but it seems to be coming –  an Irish Dragons’ Den - also produced by Shinawil and to be fronted by Richard Curran.

UK Apprentice is getting an airing in the US on CNBC – wonder will TV3’s version get seen overseas as well?

A few weeks ago I posted that the RTE Guide were looking for your input to compile a list of Ireland’s Top 100 TV Programmes.

Well, the latest edition of the RTE Guide has published that list and the 100 to 1 countdown is shown below.

I do seriously recommend picking up the magazine as the whole feature takes up about 10 pages and there are lots of titbits and interesting facts about the various programmes.

48 out of the 100 programmes are BBC, ITV or Channel 5 with 20 from RTE. Although a fan of Friends, I’m surprised to see it so high up the list. Also surprised WWTBAM is so high up too (although I did vote for it myself).

Is anyone surprised at the Number 1, I don’t think so. Legendary.

So here it is. Ireland’s Top 100 Television Programmes… Let the debate begin

Don’t forget the Apprentice Live Blog tonight at 9pm on Deborah’s blog.

I’ll have the popcorn on anyway

Hope you will join in!

The first show in the season pulled in 237,000 for TV3. The Herald said on Thursday that:

“New figures show that the Bill Cullen-fronted show, which is expected to be the station’s greatest success story, only scored half as many viewers as Who Do You Think You Are? on RTE.”

The RTE1 programme took 471,000 viewers. A comment during the live blog last week pointed out that RTE shifted the start of Raw from 9.00 to 9.55 and showed an old CSI instead. They are repeating that this week, which is perhaps a sign that RTE know they won’t win on ratings in a head to head with The Apprentice. No doubt the viewing figure will be watched closely to see if the interest is sustained over the remaing 11 weeks.

Live Blog of this weeks episode is happenig over at Deborah’s place, so keep an eye out there and join in the discussion.

The house where the Apprentice Candidates were holed up for the duration of the filming is a closely guarded secret. The Herald (again). got a good look at the plush surrounding.

Local newspapers report on their Apprentice hopefuls. Orla McAdam, Ronan Whitty.

Andrea Roche will make a guest appearance and the show bosses hope she will add “some glamour” to the mix.

Bill’s lookee-likee, Mark O’Rourke is getting great encouragement from his mates on his Bebo page. Latest comment is classic – reproduced verbatim below.

“alright mark seen that you where on the apprentice thingy you’ve come a long way from selling crack to kids to selling 5 banana’s for 50 on moore street you should of fit right in with the big gay head on ya lol.(maybe not since the place is flooded with them imports and tiddley winks)
Sure I’m only jokin about the big gay head thing but them kids will never be right after that dodgy batch.
Anywho a big congrats from the Kelly’s in Oz and we hope ya do well”

There’s no mistaking, this version of the Apprentice is uniquely Irish