REACTION:MINISTER OF State for European Affairs Dick Roche last night denied that planned Government talks with the IMF, ECB and European Commission amounted to a bailout. Mr Roche was speaking on RTÉ television shortly after a statement was issued by Euro zone finance ministers.
“What I believe it means is that . . . they must look for some sort of arrangement to deal with the continued lack of confidence in the market that is affecting Irish bonds,” he said.
Asked if these arrangements would take the form of money, Mr Roche said “I’m not sure what form that will take and I don’t think anybody does right at this particular point.”
Meanwhile, Ireland was featuring in the world’s news media for all the wrong reasons and the international community had lost faith in the Government, according to Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny.
Responding to Taoiseach Brian Cowen’s speech yesterday on Ireland’s financial stability, Mr Kenny said there was “nothing new” in what he had to say.
Neither the bond markets, the European Union nor the international media had lost faith in Ireland or its people. “They have lost faith in a Government that boasted about a bank bailout it said would be the cheapest of its kind.
“It has turned out to cost more than €50 billion, more money than this country drew from the social and cohesion funds since Ireland joined the EU,” he added.
The people also had lost faith in a Government that, two years ago, brought in an emergency budget it said would stabilise the nation’s finances, Mr Kenny said. “We are still waiting for that to happen. The world is now waiting for that to happen.”
“If media reports are to be believed, the Government seems intent on persisting with further bailouts of other institutions, this time with money borrowed from the EU and other European countries,” he added.
Urging the Taoiseach Mr Cowen to call a general election, Mr Kenny said: “A new future and a new direction for our country will bring about a change of confidence, a new stability and a new future.”
Labour leader Eamon Gilmore said he believed the country would get through the current crisis, but he warned: “We have a big problem, namely, that there is no sense that anybody is in charge.”
He questioned why Mr Cowen was making his statement at this time.
“It certainly does not add anything to clarity about what is happening at the moment to our finances and in regard to discussions that are taking place with Europe.”
The markets were not responding to the signals coming from Ireland because the banks had been “tied at the hip to the State” as a result of the guarantee introduced in September 2008.