POLITICAL REACTION:FINE GAEL spokesman on finance Richard Bruton said the Government's nationalisation plan for Anglo Irish Bank was "not credible".
Mr Bruton said important issues about the recapitalisation remained to be clarified and revealed that Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny had written to the Taoiseach Brian Cowen seeking more information.
“It appears that Fianna Fáil is intent on nationalising the bank and operating it as a going concern. It is simply not credible that the State would continue injecting unknown funds on a rolling basis into Anglo in some vain hope that the bank will be refloated. This is not realistic,” he said.
Mr Bruton said Fine Gael believed the nationalisation plan should be implemented “with a view to winding down Anglo in an orderly fashion over five to seven years with a new management team recovering whatever monies are possible”.
He said Fine Gael was pleased that the Government had abandoned its plan to inject €1.5 billion of taxpayers’ money into Anglo Irish Bank.
“It is the latest example of Fianna Fáil playing catch-up in relation to important economic decisions facing the country.”
In his letter to the Taoiseach, Mr Kenny has asked if the Government’s plan is to operate Anglo Irish as a going concern in the long term. He wants to know if a specialist management team will be appointed, “if necessary from outside of Ireland”.
The Fine Gael leader has also asked if the current board will be replaced by a board that would be vetted by a cross-party Oireachtas committee.
Mr Kenny has queried whether or not there will be any extension of the guarantee to the owners of preferred shares, subordinated debt and other Anglo securities, “in other words that speculators and traders in these securities do not earn a windfall at the expense of the taxpayer”.
Labour Party leader Eamon Gilmore said the handling of the situation had caused severe damage to Ireland’s financial reputation.
Mr Gilmore said Irish taxpayers were being asked to take on the bad debts of Anglo Irish Bank, with little or no information being provided.
“It is clear that the Government will do everything they can to avoid coming clean on what went on in Anglo,” he said.
“Enough is enough. It is time to clean up Irish banking, and to begin the process of restoring our reputation internationally.”
The Labour leader said it was already clear that the cost of government borrowing had risen as a result of the nationalisation.
It was “unthinkable” that the Government would control the bank on an ongoing basis, given what he described as “the unhealthy relationship between Fianna Fáil and property developers”.
He said the only option was to provide for “an orderly wind-up”, managed preferably by someone from outside the State, “who is not part of the cosy club”.
Sinn Féin’s finance spokesman Arthur Morgan said his party supported the idea of a national bank.
“A state bank is imperative to move our banking culture away from property speculation to a more responsible, small to medium-sized indigenous business-orientated system,” he said.
“However, there are many questions that need to be answered before Sinn Féin could support the nationalisation of Anglo Irish Bank.”
Mr Morgan said there was a total lack of information about the bank’s liabilities.
Independent Senator Shane Ross said no new information was provided at the bank’s extraordinary general meeting in the Mansion House, Dublin, yesterday.
“I think there was a sudden U-turn by the Government which is difficult to explain unless they came across some new information. That wasn’t available at the meeting. There were no answers provided at all,” he said.
