The bank bailout could cost taxpayers a staggering €75 billion and Anglo Irish Bank alone could account for €40bn of it.
Taoiseach Brian Cowen promised last year to write whatever cheques were necessary to rescue the banks and the huge cost of meeting that promise became clear yesterday.
Minister Eamonn Ryan is linguistically very bullying and arrogant. He was a guest on Vincent Browne on Black NAMA Tuesday on TV3 and spoke over Richard Bruton and Joan Burton like a public school know-all hectoring bully. I found him very annoying. Listening to the two Bs might be a good idea for him but I have noticed that he has very fixed ideas. I thought that Bruton and Burton were wise and thoughtful in response to this national crisis. I know that I would not have been quite so mannerly as Richard and Joan had I been there.
By Ivan Yates
Thursday, March 25, 2010
WHAT was happening last week in Bray garda station? Is it possible that a process has started whereby former senior bankers, who have brought our economy to the precipice of insolvency, will face the four-letter ‘g’ word? Get a grip. Cop yourself on. Ireland doesn’t do gaol, it does golf. There is little imminent prospect of justice. We should not be surprised.
The Anglo Irish bank story gets worse by the day. The pay rises for 40 bank staff in Ireland out of 800, 20 out of 370 in the UK, and 10 out of 80 in the US may be justified – It is easy to shout with little knowledge of the detailed reasons.
However, Anglo Irish lost €4.1 billion in 6 months to March 2009 and has used up last years €4 billion injection from the mugs on the terrace.
Fine Gael should hammer the mess and cost of NAMA and its fee structure. Fine Gael should hammer the continued existance of Anglo Irish but only if the new government is certain to wind it up. Fine Gael should hammer Cowen on his failure to address the jobs crisis. Fine Gael should hammer Brian Cowen for pathetic leadership of the public sector which is evidenced by the demoralisation of the troops.
One euro is the same value whether taken off a pay cut from a public sector worker or spent on a zombie bank. These costs are real not virtual. We will have to pay for them.
On March 11th, Minister Brian Lenihan in a reply to a Parliamentary Question stated that November 30th 2009 was valuation day for NAMA. “Any property decreases or increases after 30th November 2009 will not be reflected in the NAMA market valuations” he wrote.
According to David McWilliams (Sunday Business Post), the Central Bank of Ireland has lent Anglo Irish €10 billion through the “master loan repurchase agreement” which he says is placed in the “other assets” column on the Central Bank’s balance sheet.
The EU Commission has saved the Irish people from the worst excesses of NAMA by telling FF and their poodle that the 30% reduction in property transfers is inadequate and will not be allowed because it is in effect a handout from the Irish state to the banks. The government tries to pretend that the EU gives its blessing to their proposed plan when in fact each loan will have to be assessed on a case by case basis and not the original blanket discount plan. A consequential effect of this is to further enrich the valuers and lawyers involved in the property business. NAMA clearly is a mistaken policy and will be seen to be so over time when the whole population wakes up to the Cowan/Lenihan nightmare legacy. Development land in Athlone bought for €31 million now is worth only €600,000 about a 98% reduction.
This cut to funding of a service for addicted people struggling with their problem is very ill-advised. This is because Finglas is an area with a huge drug problem made worse by local drug pushers and gangs. The cost of police operations in the area is considerable and services that wean people away from street drugs must and should be prioritised. The savings from this cut will likely be negated by the subsequent increased cost of courts and prisons. It is easy for opposition politicians to spend money but this is the type of cut which makes class politics real. Would the banking classes be cut like this? Not if the financing of NAMA is taken as a yardstick. Of course bankers don’t go to jail. I reproduce the reality for local services in the letter from Barbara Condon.
Letter to Finglas/Cabra Local Drug Task Force from Barbara Condon, FAST Manager
We Irish have borrowings of €147 billion in mortgages held by 645,000 mortgage holders, and €34 billion in other borrowings. This does not include the personal liabilities of small business owners’ personal liability. The most indebted group are under 40s with children.
NAMA will buy AIB €24 billion to leave AIB with €7.3 billion bad debt.
AIB have only provided €2.3 billion to cover this as of June 2009.
Read more