Joan Burton, TD for Dublin West in Dail Eireann

Govt. Statement Fails to Clear Anglo Confusion

Wed, 08 Sep 2010 17:51:44 BST

Today’s Government statement on the future of Anglo Irish Bank has failed to clarify the Minister’s intentions on this crucial issue for the country. Having spent two years insisting that Anglo must continue in its present form, the Government has finally abandoned their failed policy.

Yet, even as they u-turn, the announcement has left a whole series of questions unanswered about the future of Anglo, at a time when the markets urgently require clarity from the Irish Government.

The Minister’s cobbled together statement is unclear and ambiguous and raises more questions than it answers.

It fails to draw a line under Anglo’s mounting losses and does not do enough to dispel the uncertainty hanging over Ireland’s public finances.

The Minister has ‘kicked the can’ until October, when the Central Bank will rule on the level of capital both new entities will require, and how much taxpayers’ money will be required.

This calculated vagueness falls well short of what is required at a time when uncertainty over the scale and cost of Ireland’s banking crisis is undermining the financial security of the state itself.

I am calling on the Minister for Finance to make an immediate statement to bring clarity on a number of issues:

What, if any, liabilities will the ‘funding’ bank have other than deposits?
What, if any, assets will the ‘funding’ bank have if it will have no loans?
Is the state guarantee of the ‘funding’ bank’s deposits open-ended?
What is the business model for the ‘funding’ bank?
Does the ‘funding’ bank have a sunset clause?
Will existing Anglo subordinated bondholders be made to share some of the burden with taxpayers?

Irish bonds under extreme pressure as bank guarantee extended

Wed, 08 Sep 2010 10:55:38 BST

Yesterday's extension of the time and scope of the bank guarantee shows that nearly two years after our banking crisis hit, we are still no closer to a resolution.

Irish banks continue to limp along on life support at a time when most countries have managed to put their banking woes behind them.

The banks and the state are now almost indistinguishable from the point of view of the markets. Irish bond yields crashed through 6% today, leaving Ireland with only a tenuous grasp of its own economic sovereignty. Is this the price to be paid for Fianna Fáil's disastrous decision to give the banks a blanket guarantee?

Brian Cowen and Brian Lenihan must come clean with the Irish people about the true extent of the information they had on the night of the bank guarantee. If they knew Anglo Irish Bank was insolvent, but guaranteed its debts anyway, they will have knowingly put Ireland in danger of being unable to meet its financial commitments. That decision alone will cost the country somewhere between €25bn and €35bn.

FF Chose Anglo Bailout Over Jobs Plan

Tue, 07 Sep 2010 14:06:03 BST

Speaking at a public meeting in Sligo town last night on Ireland’s economic future, Deputy Joan Burton slammed the Government’s ham-fisted response to the country’s economic crisis.

“Rather than concentrating on getting Ireland working again, Fianna Fáil have concentrated almost exclusively on saving Anglo Irish, their beloved builders’ bank."

“We are now coming up on the second anniversary – and scheduled expiry – of the blanket bank guarantee billed by Brian Lenihan as the cheapest bank bailout in the world.

“Brian Lenihan and Brian Cowen told us at the time of the bank guarantee that Ireland’s banks were facing a liquidity crisis, not a solvency crisis – that they weren’t bankrupt, just short of cash.

“If the government knowingly guaranteed the debts of bankrupt banks, as now seems to have been the case, they will have jeopardised Ireland’s economic sovereignty to save a niche developers’ bank of little systemic importance to the economy as a whole.

“The Labour Party stood alone in the Dáil in opposing the blanket bank guarantee, and subsequent events have since vindicated this position.

“Yet again, Brian Lenihan will try this week to draw a line under the cost to taxpayers of bailing out Anglo Irish Bank, but what is one more line in the sand from a Minister who first said the cost would be zero in September 2008, then €1.5bn in December 2008, then €4bn in May 2009, then €12.3bn in March 2010 with another 10bn to follow.

“Some commentators are now putting the final cost of guaranteeing all of Anglo’s debts at €35-40bn, while Standard and Poor’s, the credit rating agency, estimates that the total cost of Ireland’s banking crisis, inclusive of NAMA, could come to €90bn, or two thirds of the value of all goods and services produced in the domestic economy last year.

“Far from being the cheapest, Ireland’s banking crisis is likely to be the second most expensive in the world after Iceland’s.

“Of the near 467,000 people on the dole across the country, 43,516 live in the West, and one in five of these are under the age of 25. Fianna Fáil have failed the West, they have failed our young, and they have failed our country.

“If we are to get Ireland working again, we need to draw a line under past banking failures and focus like a laser on job retention and job creation.

“We need to take every possible step to minimise the losses being heaped on future generations of taxpayers by Fianna Fáil.

“We need a new government with the energy and the ideas to put Ireland on road to reform and recovery. To do that, you need to elect candidates like Susan O'Keefe who, I think, will go on to be a stalwart representative for the people of Sligo and North Leitrim.

“Labour has been to the forefront in proposing an alternative economic strategy that puts jobs before banks. Among other job-creation initiatives, we are proposing:

• A Strategic Investment Bank which would use €2bn, less than 10% of the total, from the National Pension Reserve Fund to support commercial investments of up to €20bn in critical infrastructure projects and innovative start-ups and SMEs.

• An SME Working Capital Guarantee Scheme which would ensure that viable small and family businesses can get the loans they need.

• A €1.15bn jobs fund to support training schemes and labour intensive capital investment.

• A Graduate & Apprentice Placement Programme which would guarantee relevant, work-based training and an opportunity to obtain new qualifications for all young people out of work.

• Allow the unemployed to claim Tax Back for Full Time Study. The Seed Capital Scheme allows a person looking to set up a new company to claw back their income tax for up to six of the preceding years. If we can give people their tax back to invest in their company, we should also help people to invest in themselves.

Burton Means Business

Mon, 06 Sep 2010 16:46:38 BST

Writing in this month's 'Women Mean Business' magazine, Joan sets out a 5 step jobs plan to get Ireland moving again...

Getting Ireland Moving Again

When you’re caught in a storm, it can be difficult to picture sunshine over the horizon. You are more concerned with battening down the hatches than rigging your sails for finer weather.

Ireland is in the third year of an economic storm, the likes of which has not been seen in my lifetime or yours. The domestic economy has shrunk by a sixth. By year end, we could have half a million people who can’t find full time work, and one in five of these will be under the age of 25. Firms and families across the country continue to struggle with boom-time debt burdens on often much-reduced incomes.

I have been struck by the number of mothers who have written to me, called me, stopped me in the street or while I’m doing my shopping over the past two years. They all tell a similar tale. Their son or daughter is on the verge of finishing school or college, or has just lost their job. They don’t know what to tell them. They want what’s best for them. They want them to make their own way in the world. But they can’t bring themselves to tell their pride and joy that the well trodden path of emigration may be the only alternative to years on the dole. These are the stories behind the statistics.

Having driven the economy onto the rocks, the Fianna Fáil-led government are out of ideas as to how to re-build from the wreckage. Their budget arithmetic is shot. They have no coherent jobs plan. Their banking strategy is in tatters as the cost of providing the banks with a blanket guarantee continues to mount.

The critical concern, however, is not how we got here – on this, the people will have their say at the ballot box in due course – but how we chart a roadmap to recovery.

My Labour Party colleagues and I are ambitious for our country and for generations to come. We are not resigned, like An Taoiseach, to lower future living standards. We believe in a better Ireland, a more equal Ireland, and a more sustainable Ireland. But for this to become a reality, we need a new government.

Without a return to growth and employment, however, no amount of austerity or bailouts will work. If we can re-boot the economy, restore competitiveness, invest in our people and get back to the sustainable, jobs-rich growth of the mid-to-late 1990s, then we can, in time, overcome the challenges in the public finances and in the banking sector.

Unemployment is hitting people in all walks of life, but it is our young people, often with little or no work experience, that have been hit hardest. Nearly 1 in 4 people under 25 are out of work. If chronic long-term youth unemployment is not addressed, massive social problems will be stored up for the future. Many of the best and brightest will emigrate.

We need to re-light the candle of hope for our young people and for their parents. Our generational responsibility is to make sure that ‘Generation Next’ does not become. ‘Generation Left Behind’, or ‘Generation Left-the-Country’.

Here are five simple things that could be done immediately to help people move from welfare to work:

1) Introduce a Graduate and Apprentice Placement Programme to help bridge the gap between education and the workplace. This would give first-time jobseekers an opportunity to develop their skills through work-based training, and enhance their job prospects. This programme would also make available to employers a talented pool of people who could contribute to their organisation.

2) Introduce an ‘Earn and Learn’ Scheme that enables people to formally combine work and education and training. If a company needs to put its employees on, for example, a three day week, it should be possible to arrange education or training for the remaining two days. Also, the qualifying periods for the Back to Education Allowance and the Back to Work Enterprise Allowance should be abolished so that your first day on the dole is the first day you become eligible.

3) Establish a Business Mentors’ Network so that budding entrepreneurs with a business idea can access the guidance they need to develop that idea and bring it to fruition. Such a Network could link in with existing infrastructure, such as Community Enterprise Centres and County Enterprise Boards. Concerted efforts must also be made in tandem to improve Ireland’s micro-finance environment through the not-for-profit and credit union sectors as well as through the state-supported banks.

4) Allow the unemployed to claim Tax Back for Full Time Study. The Seed Capital Scheme allows a person looking to set up a new company to claw back their income tax for up to six of the preceding years. If we can give people their tax back to invest in their company, we should also help people to invest in themselves.

5) Create Skills Exchanges to tap into the wealth of work experience of those currently unemployed. A ‘Skills Exchange’ within VEC colleges, Institutes of Technology or FAS training centres, would enable those availing of training in one field to use their previous professional experience to help train other people.

It is important to remember that all storms pass, and all recessions end.

Yes, we are going through tough economic times. Yes, we will all need to make sacrifices in the short term. But our long-term economic future remains bright if we take the necessary steps now to get the country moving again.

Exchequer Figures Offer No Recovery Signal

Thu, 02 Sep 2010 19:47:45 BST

Yesterday, the Minister for Finance went on the TV news to claim that today’s exchequer returns would indicate that the economy has stabilized. If the Minister believes his own claims, it can only mean he is dangerously in denial about the real situation in the national economy

The actual figures released today show no sign of recovery. Income tax receipts remain extraordinarily weak with a year on year fall of 8.2%. While VAT and other headings are in line with Government targets, they are also very significantly below the yields for 2009. Capital spending is now € 803 million below target and the repeated excuse that this is due to timing factors is looking very threadbare indeed.

This Minister has been proven wrong time and again in his assessments of bank losses and his repeated claim of imminent recovery. It has come to a point that his personal credibility is at an all time low and nothing he says can be believed with confidence.

Today’s figures have to read carefully in conjunction with a whole series of depressing data released this week that indicate an economy that remains mired in recession with few signs of a stable recovery. If there is growth, as the Minister claims, then how come that retails sales are so anaemic, that the jobless figures continue to increase and income tax and VAT returns are so far below the figures for the same period in 2009.

This week we found out that already in 2010 over 1000 companies have collapsed. This means four companies a day are closing down at present, hardly a sign of economic confidence. Nor do this week’s retail sale figures offer any comfort to the beleaguered Minister. The latest CSO figures show both the value and volume of retail sales fell in July when compared to June levels. As many as 10 out of 13 retail sectors experienced declines in sales. The underlying trend of recovery in retail sales that was evident earlier in the year has stalled suggesting that consumers do not believe a word that comes out of the Minister’s mouth about imminent recovery.

Employment is the most important indicator of all and here again the Minister’s statement defies reason. The labour market remains very weak as was confirmed by yet another increase in the Live Register for August, and the unemployment rate rising to 13.8 per cent. One in three of those on the register are out of work for more than a year. Until there is a serious pick up in employment that enables consumers to become more confident about job prospects, then spending will remain restrained.

Today’s exchequer returns simply confirm the evidence of all the available data. The Irish economy remains in a stagnant state. For Brian Lenihan and his fellow Ministers to suggest otherwise is an act of deliberate deception and means they are unfit to hold office at such a dangerous time for our country.

Losses Show Anglo Systemically Destructive To Irish Economy

Tue, 31 Aug 2010 12:17:03 BST

The disclosure that Anglo Irish Bank incurred losses of €8.2bn losses in the first six months of this year is yet more disastrous news for the Irish taxpayer and reinforces the case for an early government decision on the orderly wind-down of the bank.

Today’s figures confirm that Anglo was never of systemic importance to the Irish economy and show instead that it has become systemically destructive of Ireland’s capacity to recover and to restore its banking system.

Anglo Irish is not just the biggest bank failure in Irish economic history, either before or since independence, it has also turned out to be one of the biggest corporate failures anywhere in the world.

What is worse is that these figures represent only the first six months of 2010 and we can expect more grim news when results are published for the second half of the year.

The strategy of Brian Cowen and Brian Lenihan of drip feeding the bad news on Anglo is a strategic error which is undermining Ireland’s capacity to regain credibility in the international financial markets. It is undoing all the cuts and sacrifices endured by the Irish people to reduce the budget deficit. This is borne out by the fact that despite the praise lavished on the government by some international commentators, Ireland’s bond spreads remain extremely and unacceptably high. The result of this will be that in every budget for years to come the cost of borrowing will remain crippling high simply to bail out Anglo and the Irish banking system.

Brian Lenihan has been proven wrong on every major decision he has taken on the banking crisis and none more so than the decision to include Anglo in the blanket bank guarantee introduced in September 2008. The taxpayers were reassured at the time that this would be the cheapest bank bailout in the world. Instead it has turned out to be probably the most expensive.

The ongoing Anglo saga is corrosive to national morale and deeply damaging to our standing abroad.

The government should accept that the game is up on Anglo and commit itself to the orderly wind-down of the bank at the earliest possible date.

With Green U-Rurn, Clarity Now Needed On Govt Plans For Anglo

Tue, 31 Aug 2010 01:24:51 BST

Following the disclosure that the Green Party has now changed its position in regard to the future of Anglo Irish Bank, it is essential that the Minister for Finance, Brian Lenihan, now clarifies what exactly are the government’s proposals for the bank.

With the Greens now supporting a quicker wind-down of Anglo, the Fianna Fail position of keeping the bank afloat regardless of the cost, is now a minority view within the Dail.
€22 billion of taxpayers’ money has already been committed to Anglo by the government, with a further one to two billion committed to Nationwide. But neither Brian Lenihan nor Brian Cowen, the principal advocates of keeping these two institutions afloat, can give us any idea of the potential final cost.

The uncertainty over the final cost of bailing out Anglo is one of the principal reasons why Standard and Poors last week downgraded Ireland’s credit rating. We are repeatedly told that the markets don’t like uncertainty, but the deep divisions that have now opened up between the two parties in government are likely to fuel further uncertainty.

The bind in which the country now finds itself, is a direct consequence of the inclusion of Anglo in the blanket bank guarantee introduced by the government in September 2008, with the full support of the Green Party. Rather than being ‘the cheapest bailout in the world, so far’, as we were told by Minister Lenihan two years ago, this has been the most expensive bank rescue in the world which has placed a financial millstone around the necks of generations of Irish taxpayers.

There is no solution to the Anglo problem that will not be costly, but all the evidence suggests that the orderly wind-down of the bank will be less expensive than government plans to continue pumping money into this bottomless pit.

It is now absolutely essential that Minister Lenihan makes a comprehensive statement on government plans for Anglo. This cannot await the resumption of the Dail at the end of next month. The Dail should be sitting this month to discuss this and other issues. But if the government is unwilling to recall the House, the very least the Minister should do is appear before the Committee on Finance and the Public Service within the next few days.

After Latest Downgrade, Banking Policy Now In Disarray

Wed, 25 Aug 2010 12:24:08 BST

The downgrading of Irish public debt by Standard and Poors has dealt a body blow to the international credibility of the Government’s banking strategy. Of greater significance has been the steady increase over recent weeks in the cost of borrowing for Ireland and yesterday the so called bond spread that measures the additional price Ireland has to pay over Germany rose to a record level. In early trading today, this spread reached no less than 335 points, representing a 3.35% interest premium we have to pay for long term borrowing.

“Every taxpayer in Ireland, individual and business, will have to pay over and over again for this folly.

“These developments must cause serious disquiet in the Cabinet. They entirely undermine everything both the Taoiseach and the Minister for Finance have said in relation to the cost of the bank bailouts, notably the ever rising cost to the taxpayer of Anglo Irish and Irish Nationwide.
“They also undermine the entire economic strategy of the Government. All the austerity measures that the people of Ireland have had to endure in the past two years were aimed at establishing sufficient international credibility for Ireland to secure lower borrowing costs so as to reduce the exchequer deficit and the huge cost of servicing the debt. We are now right back to where we started with no discernible gain from all the pain inflicted.

“We are now in the final month of the ill fated bank guarantee of September 2008 and we still do not have a clear indication from the Minister of an exit strategy. The Minister foolishly called this guarantee “the cheapest bailout in the world, so far” in September 2008, but it is not looking that way now. Arguably, it is the exact opposite. The one thing that is corroding international confidence is the refusal of the Minister to give a complete and honest indication of the true cost of his banking policies. Each statement he has made has been undermined by events and each new estimate has become redundant within weeks as further billions are added to the accumulated losses.
“While Labour would prefer a full recall of the Dail at an earlier date to the one imposed by the Taoiseach, we believe that an early meeting of the Finance Committee is absolutely essential to hear a full statement from the Minister on these disturbing increases in Irish bond spreads and their implication for future budgetary policies. I am writing today to the Chairman requesting such a meeting next week.

“Confidence is a key component of a recovery strategy and it is very evident today that there is very little confidence either nationally or internationally in the current Government’s capacity to get to grips with the true costs of the Irish banking collapse.”

Govt Must Chart New Course On Economy

Mon, 23 Aug 2010 16:12:05 BST

It's a funny old world. Those were Margaret's Thatcher's last words as she left Downing Street bewildered by the events that ended her career. Brian Cowen and his hapless Ministers may be forgiven if they feel the same after a bruising year.

The experts assured them that austerity was the way to go. Take the pain now and the international markets would reward the effort through lower borrowing costs not to mention flattering articles in NEWSWEEK. The spectre of the Greek troubles was added in to the mix as a dire warning of the negative effects of any weakness in governmental resolve.

All through the year we heard about supposed examples of countries that experienced a boom after tightening fiscal policy to show that austerity is good for employment and growth. Ireland in the 1980s was even cited as an example, not a very convincing one since it included a well timed devaluation in 1986,much more favourable international trading conditions and not least a functioning banking system.
Yes, there was a short term boost this year to Ireland's credit rating and lower borrowing costs followed for a while. The case for austerity is rather more threadbare just now. The markets now have doubts about the banking situation and are equally skeptical that austerity will deliver all the suggested gain after the pain. The economy is technically out of recession due to the strength of international companies operating here. But the domestic economy shows few signs of a robust return to health as the continuing rise in unemployment, emigration and business insolvencies testify.
It seems we are damned if we don't take the austerity path and equally damned if we do.
So, this week we are back to exactly the same level of borrowing costs that triggered the austerity program in the first place.
August is living up to its reputation as a wicked month indeed. A few months ago, I asked a close observer of international markets to give me an educated guess of a potential tipping point for Ireland. Late August was his instant reply. We may be in a for a rocky few weeks and the European dimension will be centre stage if Ireland's funding woes require action from Brussels and Frankfurt.
So this discussion on the Eurozone at Humbert is perfectly timed.
Can it stand another Greece? If Spain were to falter how would the markets react?
If the so called stress tests were found to be inadequate, then what?
Nearer home, what would happen if NAMA and the antics of the present government were to drag us over the edge?
Remember that our debt to GDP ratio for 2010 will be a horrendous 20 percent, by far the highest in the European Union.
The Lisbon treaty, as we will all recall from last year's referendum debate, was supposed to guarantee joined up decision making. Alas, when Greece tottered on the brink of default, it took the European Union almost six whole weeks to get its act together and mobilize a rescue package.
This was not the kind of serious response that the referendum debate promised. The EU just about pulled through back in May. The stabilization fund should be a sufficient protection from any repetition of that disastrous period of indecision. The flaws in the Union's management structure were brutally exposed, the lack of coherence in crisis management procedures were starkly revealed and the lack of preparedness painfully displayed.
One such weakness was the belief that everyone was singing from the same hymn sheet. Not only singing from the same hymn sheet but singing in tune!
That everyone knew the rules, interpreted them similarly and could be trusted to play by them.
Now it beggars belief that anyone could possibly imagine that in a community as culturally diverse and economically divergent as the European Union major differences of interpretation as to what is and is not acceptable would not arise
We need a heavy dose of realism. Difference must be recognized and factored into our
procedures. It is time to drop the one size fits all formula and to get serious about defending the Euro, to forget about the grandstanding and the photo calls, the emergency summits and to set up proper crisis management procedures.
Patience is not a characteristic of the money markets. Weakness is punished with exemplary swiftness. Competence, backed by resolution in execution is accorded a grudging respect. The secret of success in responding to an attack on the Euro depends crucially on the preparations which are already in place for that very purpose.
Crisis management is primarily a technical matter that calls for delegation that enables a response to be mounted in a matter of hours and not days, delegation with clear lines of demarcation as to what is and is not politically acceptable.
That can only happen if the structures required are already in place?
Ireland's own dismal experience of high level bungling in September 2008 should be sufficient to convince everyone in this room of that.
Crisis management is, I repeat, a technical matter, a technical matter with clear political overtones but one which surely can be entrusted to the Board of the European Central Bank.
They must be empowered to take the decisions necessary to defend the common currency in rapidly evolving crisis situations. Inter institutional and inter governmental hot lines must already be in place, consultation must take place, but above all, those charged with containing the worst must be free to act.
To pick a concrete example, the famous bailout fund should have been in place well before the crisis broke, not negotiated as the crisis developed. Institutional arrangements between the ECB, the International Monetary Fund should have been agreed before hand, not in the heat of the crisis.
Lines of authority need to be put in place and clearly defined. Once defined, they must be adhered to. In the heat of last May's crisis nobody had an inkling of who was in charge.
This must change. We cannot afford another Angela and Sarkozy show, entertaining
though it may be.
But long before the need to address crises arises there other more fundamental matters that must be addressed. A bird never flew on one wing and economic policy likewise cannot be implemented on the basis of fiscal or monetary policy decisions which are in blatant contradiction with one another, as was indeed the case here in Ireland.
The effective management of the Euro calls for a considerably greater degree of economic convergence than currently exists and its corollary, enhanced fiscal cooperation and coordination so that potential problems are identified before they spiral out of control.
Solidarity dictates that that the EU's institutions be appropriately empowered to employ resources as the situation demands.
Only in this way can convergence evolve and stability be assured. Likewise there is going to have to be a serious attempt to lay down and to enforce more rigorous standards in the financial sector. The era of casino banking and lotto style bonuses, of the too big to fail banks, of the untouchables, is over.
How is it possible that we still have no sign of a bank resolution system to cater for future crises without requiring recourse to further taxpayer funded bailouts? The deficiencies in our corporate laws became glaringly obvious this year both in re the case of the banks and in the astonishing Shipsey report that failed to find any wrongdoing in the DDC -Jim Flavin episode.
My party has been abused in the media for an alleged absence of policy proposals. Yet more than anyone else we have promoted corporate law changes under many headings, reforms that would make a huge difference and would, if implemented, create an entire new culture of corporate standards in Ireland. As on the damaging iniquity of the property tax reliefs, we have ploughed a lonely furrow on our own in this crucial area.
We have to get a grip on the banks and the hedge funds, on those purveyors
of super sophisticated junk that has cost us all so dearly. The weak approach to bank regulation has done irreparable damage to societies the world over, damage that will take years to clean up.
If we are to put in place the measures to ensure the stability of the Euro, we need also to accept a greater degree of political convergence. The one is simply not workable without the other. Some degree of monetary and fiscal oversight from Brussels is a necessary corollary of monetary union.
Now if the measures that I have outlined are put in place, namely effective and timely crisis management structures, monetary and fiscal coordination, and the political cohesion needed to give effect to these measures then I believe that the Union will surmount the inevitable crises that will beset the Euro as it comes of age in a multi-polar world.
I want to make some brief remarks about current economic strategy. Brian Cowen laments the lack of optimism in the country. He and his Ministers insist that Ireland has turned the corner. Happy days are almost here again, it seems. That only shows how detached they have become from the real state of affairs. The official figures do suggest a modest level of growth and this may well be the case as international companies here maintain their exports. I find it strange, nonetheless, that tax returns remain so anemic with income tax returns particularly weak.
In addition the unemployment figures do not suggest a dynamic recovery. To slash public spending without strangling growth is a delicate operation at the best of times even when international conditions are favourable and the country has healthy banks. It is the denominator in the equation that counts. Deficits are percentage rates. X, the budget deficit divided by Y, the value of GDP. We are locked into a strategy to reduce X with little regard for increasing Y. Y has to increase for the percentage to fall to the level required by Europe and the markets. That is not happening so far. Not all cuts are equal and some are very damaging indeed to future prospects. I cannot see why business people will be persuaded to invest if demand in the economy remains so stagnant and banks remain in such a zombie state.
Ireland needs a reserve Plan B to combat a resumed recession. All current plans seem to suppress spending power in both the private and the public sector. It is an almighty gamble. The warning signals are showing danger signs that the Government needs to heed.
It is the level of unemployment and associated emigration that is so destructive to our country and so corrosive to confidence. Ministers and their policy advisors have dropped the ball completely in their timid responses to this tragedy.
Most disconcerting of all, in my view, is the apparent absence of a Plan B. Do you remember the dreary mantras that dominated the NAMA debates?
TINA, THERE IS NO ALTERNATIVE.
IT'S THE ONLY GAME IN TOWN.
We are sadder and wiser now a year later as we can now recognize how vacuous these slogans were.
There is a lively debate internationally between the deficit hawks and the deficit doves over public borrowing and sovereign debts. Ireland uniquely has a third breed. I call them the deficit hypocrites. They protest loudly at any increase in public spending but these very same people don't bat an eyelid when the Minister shovels another mind boggling sum over to the Anglo Irish incinerator. An extra billion of borrowing to sustain jobs is a total NO NO. An extra €10 billion for Anglo is met with a patient sigh. The former is impossible, unsustainable. The latter has to be endured come what may. I suspect public patience with that line of argument has reached breaking point.
In Ireland today, many self-described deficit hawks are pure hypocrites. They're eager to slash benefits for children, for patients, for pensioners. But their concerns about red ink on the Exchequer returns suddenly vanishes when it comes to keeping tax breaks for the wealthy and saving Anglo Irish.
It has been infuriating, as the economic crisis has unfolded, to watch how public opinion has been coaxed to accept as normal many things that would have been classed as entirely unacceptable just 2 years ago. Now that the nightmare of mass unemployment has become a reality for hundreds of thousands of our people, the powers that be in Merrion Street seem to feel absolutely no sense of urgency. As hopes are destroyed, as small businesses are driven into bankruptcy, as lives are ruined, they just shrug their shoulders and say, never mind, let's focus about the evils of budget deficits and plan a further bail out of Anglo and Nationwide.
It is rank hypocrisy of the first order
The present Government has done terrible damage to Ireland and is leaving an appalling legacy of unemployment, emigration and debt for both this and the next generation. It is small comfort, I know, but it would be even worse, if Ireland was not in EMU, and would be even more difficult to manage our way out of this catastrophic mess. Despite the economic damage and the myriad problems, I am confident that a new Government will be able to introduce the right policies and in time get the debt down, reduce unemployment and obviate the current push to emigrate. Being in EMU is a major support for Ireland

No End in Sight for Swords’ 41X Port Tunnel Saga

Thu, 19 Aug 2010 16:10:11 BST

There may be a winter of discontent in store for Swords based commuters as the Minister for Transport considers his options after the recent High Court order which overturned his decision to allow the 41X service to use the Dublin Port Tunnel. This saga is now running for more than two years and doesn’t look like ending any time soon.

Like the many commuters who use this service daily, I was delighted when the Minister saw sense back in 2008, after sustained pressure by myself and by local commuters, and allowed the 41X to use the Dublin Port Tunnel.

The Port Tunnel is an important piece of public infrastructure, paid for by taxpayers, and it beggars belief that Dublin Bus could be prevented from using it for a popular rush hour service simply to preserve a private monopoly.

If the 41X is barred from using the Tunnel, people living in and around River Valley, for example, will again be faced with either persisting with a bus that takes up to half an hour longer because it can’t take the most direct route or hiking twenty minutes to Airside to take a private bus and then pay for 3 euro for the privilege. People with tax-saver commuter tickets would be particularly hard done by as there is no facility for tax refunds on private bus services.

It is only fair that a certain proportion of express, peak-time commuter buses, serving the different areas of Swords, have access to the Port Tunnel. This is the only way that all commuters in the area can get a real express service to work.

In a letter to me, dated 13th August, Minister Dempsey said that his Department “has begun consideration of the judgement in consultation with the Attorney General’s office. It is understood that the Order of the Court will not be perfected until October and there are then three weeks in which to lodge an appeal. The decision whether to appeal the judgement is still under consideration by the Department.”