Michael Noonan's thoughts on the EU-IMF deal

cyberhog

I think it's worth recalling how Mr Noonan described the EU-IMF deal this time last year.

This deal is a very bad deal and in one respect it is a downright obscenity.

Ireland’s sovereign debt is manageable, but once the banking liabilities incurred by the Government were added to the sovereign debt the situation could no longer be sustained.

...

What legal or moral compulsion is on Ireland, however, to honour in full debt incurred by Irish banks when there was no State involvement in the arrangements? These loans were entered into freely by willing lenders to willing borrowers. The interest rate charged represented the risk at the time and there never was a State liability. It is obscene that liability for these loans is now being transferred to the taxpayer.

...

There is €10 billion of subordinated debt in the Irish banks. There is €15 billion of non-guaranteed senior debt. The Irish Government and the Irish taxpayer has no liability whatsoever for these debts but the bailout deal is now forcing them to accept liability because the it puts this imposition on them.

So the Minister in his Budget reduces social welfare payments, he punishes the blind, the disabled, widows and carers and the unemployed, he taxes the poorest at work and for what?

So that the taxpayer can take on liability for debts that the country never incurred, and that arose from private arrangements between private institutions.

What a disaster!

What an obscenity!

How can the Government stand over it?

How can our European colleagues stand over it?

http://research.finegael.org/news/a/4555/article



So Mr Noonan thought it obscene that the previous Government could stand over a situation where the taxpayer is forced to take the fall for the sins of bankers. Yet Mr Noonan is now doing precisely the same thing himself.

It is clear that our Minister for Finance is a hypocrite of the worst order and this tuesday when he stands up in the Dáil and heaps more punishment on the most vulnerable in our society it will be clear for the country to see that his statement on the EU-IMF deal was nothing more than political posturing.


Our entire political class are a sewer of privilege, cronyism and hypocrisy.They are a shame to us and our country.

Bullseye1

They all tell you what you want to hear when they are in opposition. When are WE tr elelctorate going to learn. He should never be re-elected again but what's the odds of him topping the polls in Limerick next election. Same for good auld Willie O'Dea. This country is rotten to the core at ever level of public representation.

JimiTime

The elephant in the room, is the illusion that governments such as ours (and many more, perhaps to a degree all governments) have real power. Honestly, without going all tin foil hat, I don't really know where the real power lies in the world, but it certainly doesn't lie with democratic governments.

I think what this Noonan thing demonstrates, is that he knows the obscenity of the whole scenario, but is powerless to act. Now this doesn't let him off the hook. I believe in principles, and even if he is powerless, he needs to be honest about things and let his conscience and his political counterparts truly take the lead in this austerity business if they are powerless to prevent it. If they cut their own salaries by a SUBSTANTIAL amount, not token amounts. Then it would be more acceptable when they start to cut everywhere else.

It really disappoints me to see the whole Public sector bashing that goes on. I am not, nor have I ever been, a PS worker btw, though having worked as a contractor within some Departments, I can definitely see what people refer to in terms of waste, and bad attitude etc (Not everyone of course). However, until the biggest wasters of them all, I.E. The politicians and their entourage lead the cuts (And PROPERLY cut), then I will stand united with the PS. Our anger should be united against them first and foremost. Only when we get them to cut themselves to acceptable levels and sort out their own house, should we start dividing about what to do about the rest of the PS and bringing it into better efficiency etc.

The politicians allegedly care about this country, and the country is broke. So let them cap cabinet ministers at €100,000 (Thats MP+ministerial pay), and have TD's on €60,000. Let us also have their expenses capped and published, with exceptions needing to go through a rigorous scrutiny. Democratic government is supposed to be the commoners representing the commoners, so let the gravy train stop.

liammur

cyberhog wrote: »

I think it's worth recalling how Mr Noonan described the EU-IMF deal this time last year.




http://research.finegael.org/news/a/4555/article



So Mr Noonan thought it obscene that the previous Government could stand over a situation where the taxpayer is forced to take the fall for the sins of bankers. Yet Mr Noonan is now doing precisely the same thing himself.

It is clear that our Minister for Finance is a hypocrite of the worst order and this tuesday when he stands up in the Dáil and heaps more punishment on the most vulnerable in our society it will be clear for the country to see that his statement on the EU-IMF deal was nothing more than political posturing.


Our entire political class are a sewer of privilege, cronyism and hypocrisy.They are a shame to us and our country.

He did burn IL&P shareholders though.