Madam, – I’m surprised the Government didn’t approach its old friend Yoweri Museveni, the president of Uganda, for a bailout, instead of bothering with the EU and the IMF.
He could hardly have refused, considering that for years multi-millions of euros provided by, among others, the Irish exchequer, have been channelled through his corrupt regime. And it’s not as if he couldn’t afford it, his government was able to hand $10 billion in reparations to Democratic Republic of Congo for plundering its natural resources.
One thing is for sure, Mr Museveni wouldn’t have insisted on attaching any conditions to a bailout – he isn’t the sort to worry about that type of thing. – Yours, etc,
Madam, – I feel very strongly that we cannot afford the loans being offered to us by the IMF/EU. Surely by taking on up to €100 billion in debt (or more if the capital the banks require is yet again being underestimated) we are just deferring the problem rather than dealing with it. We will cripple ourselves with debt trying to plug the endless hole left by the banks’ reckless lending.
Is this not a good time to restructure the senior debt, especially that of Anglo Irish Bank? When the bank guarantee was first announced it was deemed necessary to stabilise our banking system and to maintain our international reputation. Surely now with our banking system in on its knees anyway, it would be a good time to renegotiate with bondholders, taking on less debt for our future? Anglo Irish was a rogue bank, investors received an above- average return in the good years, for higher risk you can get higher reward, but sometimes risk does not pay off. – Yours, etc,
Madam, – I am currently in southern Africa where there is some incredulity at the current state of Irish affairs. Having been told for so long that export competitiveness is the key to economic salvation people here wonder how a country where exports continue to at twice the level of imports can be in such trouble.
This incredulity is reinforced when I tell them the real Irish economy is growing despite the best efforts of the Government to close it down and that the debt to GDP ratio was as low as 25 per cent as recently as 2007. How can Ireland now be on the brink of bankruptcy and close to having its sovereignty removed by EU/ECB/IMF diktat? I tell them it is because the Government has stolen circa €70 billion of the public’s money (almost 50 per cent of Ireland’s GNP!) and given it to foreign investors in bankrupt banks.
When they ask what these bank investors have done to deserve such largesse, I tell them that they fuelled an unsustainable property bubble which made it almost impossible for our young people to join even the bottom rung of the property ladder and which threatened to make the whole Irish economy uncompetitive.
“Surely”, they wonder, “investors in such banks do not deserve to be rewarded for such irresponsible and destructive behaviour particularly when it is their victims who must now pay the price – home owners in negative equity, the sick seeking health care, the aged and those made unemployed seeking social welfare? Did many of those those now unemployed not lose their jobs because of the irresponsible behaviour of the banks and their investors in the first place?”
At this point, I admit to being stuck for an answer. Perhaps your readers can help me out and explain why it is that the victims of this crime must pay the perpetrators with money they don’t have and must now borrow from many of these same “investors” at increasingly ruinous interest rates and why the Government is actively colluding in this process?
Would the proper process not have been what is known in business as a “debt equity swap” and which would have made those foreign investors shareholders in the banks they had so seriously misled in the first place?
Sorting out the banks would then, very properly, have been their problem and Irish citizens, who had no hand, act or part in the running of those banks could have looked elsewhere within the EU for their banking services if they so desired or required? Why do bank profits belong to their investors and bank losses to the public?
The Irish Constitution (Article 40.3.2) guarantees the right to property and Article 43 acknowledges that these rights ought to be regulated by the principles of social justice and the common good. By what principle of social justice are those with no ownership of the banks made liable for the losses of those who do? Has the Government not acted unconstitutionally in this case? – Yours, etc,
Madam, – Given that we have been bounced into accepting a bailout deal that protects bondholders by shifting their risk unto the general public, and given that the fundamentals of this process has the silent assent of most major “Opposition” parties, the practical reality of being an Irish citizen is that we have no say in the most momentous decision in the history of the State.
If we are to be asked to assume tens of billions of debt and to accept a situation where we will be spending as much on interest expenses as we do on health or education, then I submit that the people should be consulted directly in a referendum on the bailout deal.
The political classes of this country have failed – the government by its inept bungling and the Opposition by its bovine acceptance of the premise that we must borrow to save private institutions. The major parties have let us down, so it is time to let the people step in and have their own say on whether or not we are comfortable being tax-farmed by the hired guns of foreign bankers, namely the EU and the IMF.
On the same day, we should also have a vote on an amendment making it unconstitutional for any private institution to be bailed out ever again. No state that exists for the benefit of a privileged minority can maintain legitimacy for long – do not expect this case to be any different. – Yours, etc,
Madam, – Does anyone think that the sky would fall in if tomorrow the Irish Government notified all the investors, banks and institutions that invested in Irish debt that due to circumstances beyond their control the debt would be paid back at 50 cents in the dollar? In these trying times many investors have taken losses. Why not those who hold Irish paper? If the Government takes Europe’s loan, that money will fly out the door faster than anyone expects and the result will be an even bigger debt.
They should bite the bullet and default now. – Yours, etc,
Madam, – The “bailout’ to Ireland will recapitalise our reckless, bankrupt banks, which were carelessly pumped with hundreds of available surplus billions by the German and the British markets during the boom, when they should have seen the crazy situation developing.
The main purpose of the loans, we are told, is to “stop the contagion” and “prevent a forest fire” by “putting out a brush fire” – in other words to bail out and save the asses of the whole euro zone! Why then should the Irish people be required to take on these nationally and individually paralysing loans in total, while Europe doesn’t take any hit on any part of this solution?
Blame for the problem goes beyond Ireland. Ireland was only part of the problem but all of the solution it seems. However, Europe stands to gain most from the solution by being saved from economic destruction, while Ireland will be left to rot for decades. So who is bailing out whom? Why shouldn’t all the taxpayers of the euro zone and of the EU be asked to share the burden? Surely Europe should bear some part of these loans. We’ve already bailed out these banks, and now we are bailing out Europe! Here we go again, rushing like fools into total self-destruction. – Yours, etc,
Madam, – As a life-long supporter of Fine Gael, may I take this opportunity to applaud the courage of the Taoiseach, Brian Cowen and his Minister for Finance, Brian Lenihan in these critical times.
It must be a dreadful position to be in when you are doing your best for the country and getting nothing back but snide suggestions – all of them different – from every smart-alecky journalist, every half-baked backbencher on your own side and letters to the editor from every hog, dog and devil who can just about scribble his own name. I refrain from comment on John Gormley’s performance.
I don’t know what should be done, but at least allow me to applaud the inflexible courage shown by these two men in these difficult times and let them rest assured that they will go down in history as two courageous politicians when the country is restored to normal living. – Yours, etc,
Madam, – Morgan Kelly generated huge interest with his recent article “If you thought the bank bailout was bad . .” (November 8th). He wrote about the impending bailout (before it was acknowledged publicly) and the importance of the Government negotiating a low rate of interest.
He stated, “An interest rate beyond 2 per cent is likely to sink us”. Given the 5 per cent rate now seemingly agreed, it would be most interesting to read Mr Kelly’s feedback on recent developments. In addition, is the Government able to explain why it believes a 5 per cent rate is in the country’s best interest (literally) and won’t sink us as Mr Kelly predicts? – Yours, etc,