Should taxpayers foot the bill?

Madam, – As a committed European and Irish taxpayer I have to take ECB executive board member Lorenzo Bini Smaghi to task for…

Madam, – As a committed European and Irish taxpayer I have to take ECB executive board member Lorenzo Bini Smaghi to task for saying that Ireland’s taxpayers should foot the bill for the bailout of the country’s crisis-hit banks (Breaking News, April 13th).

Lorenzo Bini Smaghi was an executive board member of the most powerful bank in Europe. As such he was part of a small elite at the centre of the financial system which has failed us all so spectacularly.

He should not be exonerating himself and his colleagues at the centre of the European financial system while at the same time blaming the ordinary person in one of the most peripheral of European states. – Yours, etc,

ANTHONY LEAVY,

Shielmartin Drive,

Sutton, Dublin 13.

Madam, – Reading Lorenzo Bini Smaghi (Breaking News, April 13th) leaves me baffled and wondering if there is some ulterior motive afoot. The tenor of his remarks is arrogant and their content inaccurate, particularly the comment, “If taxpayers have the right to share in decision-making, they must also accept the consequences”.

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As a director of the ECB he is fully aware that within the EU, the regulatory systems are separate from finance ministry controls, thus are outside the remit of the democratically elected. Furthermore, neither Irish taxpayers nor politicians set the lending criteria in Anglo or other banks. Not only were the taxpayers absent from the decision-making process, how were they to know, or even suspect what was going on?

Every year the globally recognised auditors of those banks signed off – without qualification – on financial statements and balance sheets which were then reviewed by rating agencies and repeatedly affirmed with quality ratings; even stockbrokers generally gave bullish comments.

At a macro level there were clear indications of property bubbles in Spain and Ireland, yet the ECB, of which Dr Lorenzo Bini Smaghi is a key director, did nothing. The ECB did not discourage foreign banks from over-lending to Irish banks, nor did it increase interest rates, a simple means of controlling the growth in speculative lending. The good doctor is in no position to point an accusatory finger. – Yours, etc,

BOB FREWEN,

Parknasilla, Co Kerry.