Martin calls for restructuring of promissory notes

FIANNA FÁIL leader Micheál Martin has said there “should and will be’’ a significant move in the restructuring of the €31 billion owed in promissory notes for the former Anglo Irish Bank.

“They were required purely because Ireland was acting in the interests of the wider European financial system and they are structured in a way which is completely different from normal sovereign debt,” he added.

“It is this different structure which makes changes relatively easy.” Mr Martin said the European Central Bank could, in the morning, lift the bulk of the burden of the notes without any risk of contagion. “Equally, no one can credibly argue that lengthening the term and changing the payments conditions of the notes will have any other significant impact on the wider European economy,” he added.

Mr Martin, who was speaking in a debate on last week’s European Council meeting, said the Government was claiming to have skilfully negotiated the reduction in interest rates of the bailout. Yet it was available to every country receiving funds.

“If the one-year briefings to journalists are any guide, it will run out of superlatives in praising itself when the promissory note reduction comes,” he added.

“In truth, a lot of time was wasted last year by the failure to put the issue on the agenda of any significant meeting.”

Mr Martin said he had been consistently saying for months there was nothing to fear from holding a referendum on the fiscal compact treaty. “As was shown in the revised Lisbon proposal, the pro-EU position can actually grow during a referendum campaign,” he added. “The key is to talk to people directly and put a positive case.”

Taoiseach Enda Kenny noted that he had participated in a ceremony in which the new stability treaty was signed.

Signature was a separate matter from ratification which would, as the Government announced last week, require the consent of the people in a referendum.

“I took the opportunity during the meeting last Thursday night to inform my European Council colleagues of the Government’s decision,” Mr Kenny added.

“They appreciated my briefing but were very clear that, while they wished to see Ireland ratify the treaty, this was a matter for Ireland and its people.” He looked forward, he said, to the campaign ahead and putting the strong case for ratification to the people.

“I signed the treaty last Friday because I fundamentally believe it is in Ireland’s national interest to do so, as it will represent another important step on the road towards recovery,” Mr Kenny added. “It will also build on the steady progress the country has made in the past year.”

Sinn Féin leader Gerry Adams said the crisis was about more than economics, bank bailouts and promissory notes to criminal banks. It was about people. “The choices Fine Gael and Labour, like Fianna Fáil before them, are putting unbearable pressure on our people,” he added.

Mr Adams said that almost 500,000 citizens were unemployed and, by the Government’s own estimate, that figure would have changed little by 2015.A whole generation of young people was being forced to leave.

Shane Ross (Ind, Dublin South) said the elephant in the room at the summit was the promissory notes.

“There is no doubt but that if the Government gets a good deal on the promissory notes, it will have a better chance of getting the treaty through in a referendum and it should not be ashamed or coy about this,” he added.