Madam, – It is wrong. It is the most profoundly negative happening imaginable in the history of our State. Quite simply the Government has overstepped its mandate. In consigning not just this generation of citizens, but most probably the succeeding generation also to bear the fiscal after-burden of reckless trading engaged in by banks, the Government has crossed the line and must be stopped right now. This Government bears responsibility for the failure of regulation which facilitated dreadful lending practice by banks.
This Government perpetuated the irresponsible serial lending activity by fostering a culture of tax breaks and concessions to developers whose pleadings and lobbying were all to readily listened to and acted upon. The tippling point has been reached and the call will grow louder very quickly.
The declaration of a State of economic emergency must be made and a national government formed immediately. For this alone we should take to the streets until those paralysed in the headlights accept the inevitable and finally give us an act of leadership and replace this wretched unfit-for-purpose form of Government with a national economic war cabinet without party whip but answerable only to the people of Ireland. – Yours, etc,
Madam, – At this crucial time in Ireland’s economic history, when we are in danger of economic collapse, we should have in place an emergency government, with the best minds from all parties working out our future strategies, financial, economic and health.
Negative feedback towards major economic decisions that the Government is trying to make, is only confusing and upsetting the electorate, causing confidence to plummet. – Yours, etc,
Madam, – With a Cabinet largely considered to be the most incompetent in the history of the State; and a banking system whose lending practices have made them insolvent – isn’t it ironic that it is these very people to whom the Irish taxpayers are trusting the decision with the widest financial ramifications ever taken by an Irish Government? Messrs Cowen, Lenihan and now Dukes argue that Anglo Irish Bank has a viable future and is worth almost doubling our national debt to rescue. At best, this is a tentative argument and these are not individuals with a strong record for sound judgment in this area. The Anglo brand is tarnished beyond redemption and it can never recover.
I propose that the public be allowed to decide the Anglo issue – because it is the public who are being asked to shoulder the cost. Why let the banks and politicians just sign away €40 billion – this is an issue for a referendum. I call on the Government to let the people have their say in a referendum before they blithely put us in debt for generations. – Yours, etc,
Madam, – Are we to presume from all the Government has said over the past few weeks that in fact Fianna Fáil is the real victim here? How could we all have got it so wrong? – Yours, etc,
Madam, – Despite repetitive and consistent clarification from the Minister for Finance, the media, including your own publication, have consistently failed to explain, in a simple way, the fundamental rational behind Nama to readers who are, naturally, easily confused.
The Government is the only agency with the capacity to make a long term investment, in an enormous package of depreciated assets, which has come on the market at knock-down prices because of a failure in the local and global banking system and the collapse of a property bubble in Ireland.
Simultaneously the Government is investing in the banks, in return for equity at knock-down prices. The end result is the crucial survival of our banking system, the restoration of commercial and private lending, and a pay-back to the taxpayer over a 10-year term through appreciation of all of these acquired assets. What’s the difference between this approach and packing billions into pension products through the NTMA? The actuarial calculations on payback are about the same.
I hold no candle for bankers, bond holders, Fianna Fáil or any other party.
But we need to know the difference between an investment and a cost, to explain this clearly, and to try to give the public at large some hope and encouragement. – Yours, etc,
Madam, – So the Opposition is accusing the Taoiseach and by extension the Fianna Fáil party and its supporters of economic treason. They are correct, they should of course add to that charge that of gross incompetence, negligence and many other matters too.
Equally both Fine Gael and Labour are guilty too, for providing one of the most ineffective and incompetent oppositions in Dáil Éireann over the past number of years, that allowed the circumstances to arise which led to the “economic treason” taking place.
Patriots indeed. One should be careful not to insult those who at least had an ideal and endured great hardship to see it realised . . . only to have it destroyed by the majority of politicians who occupied Leinster House in the near past and today.
Roll on the next election. – Yours, etc,