Should Enda Kenny be thankful to David Cameron?

alan85

Enda Kenny said, when he had talked to D. Cameron after being elected, he thanked him for the loan Britain gave Ireland. Should he be thankful at all given the over 100bn owed to them through the irresponsible lending by their institutions. The exact same arguement could be made for lower interest rates on that loan as could be made for the EU/IMF deal couldn't it?

Daily Mail reports that the cost to British taxpayers will exceed initial estimates and could rise to £7 billion Treasury officials said Britain would charge Ireland an interest rate on the loan of between 5.7 per cent, the rate at which the IMF and the EU are charging, and 6.05 per cent, the interest rate imposed by a separate Eurozone-only fund.

'Friend in need'?!

So question is: Should we be targetting a lower interest rate from Britain as well?

OS119

alan85 wrote: »

So question is: Should we be targetting a lower interest rate from Britain as well?

payday loans are offering an APR of 2200%....

you could try to get a better deal, and i understand why a lower interst rate might actually be better for both parties in the long run, but politically its a non-starter.

the UK government has taken considerable political stick for its decision to lend the money in the first place - to then announce that it was lowering the interest rate required on the loan while ramping up University fees to £9000 per year, scrapping aircraft carriers ten years early and ripping up brand new planes that cost £4bn for NINE airframes before they'd even gone into service would be political suicide, and the government knows it.

its possible that the IMF/EU deal can be altered because members of the lending club can publicly blame each other and avoid the political heat, but the UK, being a sole lender and not beholden to anyone else for such decisions, could not do that - any change would soley be at the discretion of the government, and parliament, the media, and the public know that and would give them hell for it.

sollar

I wonder will they hit us with the anti terrorism legislation if we don't pay it all back.

They are charging us 5.9 i think. Thats the highest of all the loans we got.

FirstIn

sollar wrote: »

I wonder will they hit us with the anti terrorism legislation if we don't pay it all back.

They are charging us 5.9 i think. Thats the highest of all the loans we got.

I read something in the Irish Times yesterday re Ireland rejoining the CommonWealth. The bloke advocating this said the British interest rate was the lowest.
I would like to know:
How much has the EU lent us and at what rate?
How much has the IMF lent us and at what rate!
Finally how much has the UK lent us and at what rate?

GSF

I'd expect that the UK loan is really just an after thought to the EU loan. If the EU loan rate changes the UK rate would change too.

Why pick a fight with the UK at the moment when we need their support on corp tax rates? Being completely isolated in the EU isnt the greatest stategy.

alan85

Why pick a fight with the UK at the moment when we need their support on corp tax rates? Being completely isolated in the EU isnt the greatest stategy.

Because it's in their interest too? And Denmark wasn't it that gave us a bilateral loan too?

GSF

alan85 wrote: »

Because it's in their interest too? And Denmark wasn't it that gave us a bilateral loan too?

and Sweden

If you are fighting with a gang of 10 or 12 people would you take them all on simultaneously?

alan85

I wouldn't compare it to a fight. I'd compare it to travelling through the desert in a car. You're running out of fuel, you(the driver) have no more money and see a fuel station ahead. To get to destination your companions have to cough up as painful as it may be, otherwise you all get stuck...

OS119

alan85 wrote: »

I wouldn't compare it to a fight. I'd compare it to travelling through the desert in a car. You're running out of fuel, you(the driver) have no more money and see a fuel station ahead. To get to destination your companions have to cough up as painful as it may be, otherwise you all get stuck...

the analogy is correct to an extent, but is misses out a crucial factor - the other people in the car have credit cards, but you don't.

while a failure to come to an agreement over buying €50 of petrol will mean spending far more than that €50 on their credit cards in order to get themselves out of the desert, they do have that capability. you however don't - and while they will be left with a large bill for getting themselves out of the desert, you'll be left in the desert with nothing but a broken car and some vultures for company.

good plan...