Madam, – I think we have to face up to reality. We now have a choice of one strong Irish bank, with some minority Government ownership, or no Irish bank. AIB and Bank of Ireland need to be merged. The savings would mean a much more cost effective solution for the taxpayer, with one unfortunate consequence — more significant redundancies. I know there would be less competition, but we are well beyond that now. The larger bank would be a better prospect for investors (and therefore less of a burden on the Government) with a stronger business long term. Also, all the small shareholders in both banks might get something back in due course.
The sooner the Government gets ahead of events, not constantly behind, the better. – Yours, etc.
OWEN MURPHY, Goatstown Road, Dublin 14.
Madam, – I must applaud Fintan O’Toole for his comments on Seán FitzPatrick’s “loans” from Anglo Irish Bank (January 20th) and reactions to the matter.
I too was very distressed to hear the usual tribunal-style imprimatur of “nothing illegal” about them being appended by most of the print and broadcast media and taken up by others like the Dublin Chamber of Commerce person.
This man and his bank have put our country in the dock. May I wonder if he was part of a golden circle given his appointment to boards like Aer Lingus and who put him there. Why is there such silence on this? And we have Mr Cowen telling the Opposition not to damage the country by criticism of matters of banks! – Yours, etc,
Madam, – It would be comforting to believe that Morgan Kelly (Opinion, January 20th) was something of a firebrand in Irish economics, whose unorthodox and extreme language was more designed to grab attention than to contribute positively to policy debate. Unfortunately for the country, his rather drastic appraisal of the current state of the Irish economy is spot-on.
A particularly important point he touched upon, but which has received precious little attention, is the extent to which international bond markets will be besieged by sellers this year.
In effect, the cost to governments – even top-rated ones like Ireland – of procuring capital through bond issue will have to rise dramatically in order to clear this market, because of the number of new bond issuances to finance cash-hungry stimulus packages across the world.
The real danger here is of “crowding out”, in that the very private enterprise which governments are keen to kick-start will find it difficult to compete for capital with the high bond yields those same governments find themselves paying out. The only way to mitigate these effects is through a firm commitment that any and all stimulus borrowing be put to use in the financing of projects which will provide real economic value.
Nothing could be further from “real economic value” than bailing out the stakeholders of banks which took bad risks. – Yours, etc,
Madam, — Now that we taxpayers have footed the bill for the nationalisation of Anglo Irish Bank, will Mr Lenihan ensure that the bank now pays its fair share of tax by immediately ceasing any offshore activity which evades tax due in Ireland? And will he tell us, the primary stakeholders, where the bank’s assets and liabilities are? — Yours, etc,
Madam, — The government has nationalised Anglo Irish Bank and overnight, the national debt of this country has doubled. The tax payer is the owner of toxic assets and therefore must carry the burden for the greed that was practiced by the cartel and triage of vested parties, namely the builders, Fianna Fáil and the banks. Something is rotten to the core in this country, it just stinks that so many dodgy financial dealings have been taking place for years under the eye of our incompetent regulator and government.
The disgraceful Fianna Fáil fund raising tent at the Galway Races was disbanded last year. This was a blatant display of arrogance that had all the untouchables assembled in the same place under the stewardship of Bertie Ahern, a shameful and unforgivable display of power and greed. Actions perpetrated by third world dictators in some countries seem tame in comparison to what has been going on in this country for more than a decade.
Most of the general public in American will be glad to see the back of the Bush regime which lasted for eight years. It is time to get rid of a Fianna Fáil that has been in power for nearly 12 years. They need to be banished from goverance for at least a generation. – Yours, etc,
Madam, – I note that according to the Dublin Closing Prices published in your paper (January 20th), Paddy Powers are now worth more than any of the Irish banks. Does this make them a safer bet? – Yours, etc,