Sign in. It’s quick, free and it’s up to you.
An account is an optional way to support the work we do. Find out more.
THE INFAMOUS TRICHET-LENIHAN letters released yesterday show just how desperate a situation Ireland was facing, the Nevin Economic Research Institute director has said.
The letters reveal that the European Central Bank threatened to withdraw vital Emergency Liquidity Assistance (ELA) to Irish banks, and hinted that Ireland should enter a bailout programme..
Speaking to TheJournal.ie, Tom Healy said that the content of the letters didn’t come as a surprise, but more the “tone and threatening nature of it”.
“It’s shocking when you read them, and you realise that this is how these guys were dealing with us. Some people would ask, ‘where was the European solidarity?,” he said.
Some people probably don’t realise just how desperate the situation was.
He noted the ‘blunt, cold’ tone of the letters, and labelled them as threats.
However, what would have happened if we simply ignored the letters?
Healy says that as long as ELA didn’t dry up, Ireland had enough cash reserves to survive without a bailout for another six to nine months.
“The Irish authorities could have bluffed, and invited them to do their worst, because [withdrawing ELA] was only going to cause damage to themselves and the Eurozone.”
“The situation was still very delicate. There is a question about whether Trichet and the ECB would have really carried out their threats.”
Healy noted that the release of these letters comes at a particularly sensitive time in the life of the Fine Gael-Labour coalition, as the water charges crisis begins to take hold.
The anger built up over the past few years is being let out now. These letters could only add fuel to the fire.
Also commenting yesterday, Fine Gael TD Liam Twomey said that current Fianna Fail leader Micheal Martin, a Minister at the time of the bailout, has “serious questions” as to his knowledge of the letters and bailout negotiations, while Sinn Féin Simon Toibin said the aggressive nature of the letters should be used to argue for retrospective recapitalisation of the pillar banks.
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
There should be no more stigma attached to having HIV as there is for cervical cancer which is caused by another std. Isn’t it strange though that there is a stigma for the viruses and AIDS but not for the cancer.
@Missyb211: what STD causes cervical cancer?
@Jamie: read why it says practice safe sex.
@Jamie: The HPV virus
@Missyb211: not every cervical cancer patient has the HPV virus, far from it. HPV virus is only one of many causes of cervical cancer.
@Vincent: I don’t see why everyone relates this VIRUS to only sex, when there are multiple ways of Contracting it… Take Hospitals for one, poor hygiene, then the next patient….
I even remember a news Article some years back saying something along the lines of: any woman who gave birth during such & such a year ( I was concerned coz my sister was born in 1977 ) anyway, the medical board issued a statement that whoever gave birth, & had “Complications” like C-Section or whatever, had to be screened, because of a “bad” batch of blood, for sometime, was not being thoroughly examined before use…( during transfusions or so..)And also, I remember going to a Dentist myself, who was about to use the same gloves as the patient before me.. So guys, don’t just put it down to sex is all…
@Aoife Dooley: actually the percentage is 70%, so it’s not far from it.
@Aoife Dooley: while i didn’t look up the stats , every bit of info about cirvical cancer say’s “nearly all cases are caused by…”. I’d assume nearly all to be in the 90′s at least but I see someone mentionef 70%. clearly not every but a signuficant amount!
@Missyb211: yeah because it’s your own fault if you get HIV… any poor sod can get cancer it’s like comparing apples and oranges ye dzzzzoopppeee
@Missyb211:
No not at all, unless of course you are grossly ignorant or just plain delusional. Cervical cancer is not self inflicted or caused by a std!
@Ray Muller: it’s not self inflicted but in 70% of cases it is actually caused by the sexually transmitted disease HPV. Hence the drive for a vaccine.
@Missyb211: agree with you but there was a stigma about cancer some years ago here in Ireland some people here thought it was contagious and would cross the road to avoid someone they knew had cancer
@Jamie: H. P. V
@John B: they have the hpv vaccine already free to 25 & under
@Michael Kelly: highly unlikely it is a virus that is spread through intimate contact exchange of bodily fluids or blood contact, if hiv was spread as easily as you fear instead of an estimated 39 million infected world wide it would be at least 1 billion++
Well at the end of the day the Irish government already have an option available to them to slow down/stop the spread of HIV… PrEP… Why it’s not as accessible as birth control pills is baffling.
@PJ Maguire Kavanagh: it’s quite simple: condoms are a tiny fraction of the cost and perhaps why the reluctance. Prep is primarily taken by men who have sex with men and wish to continue to do so without protection. Prep is taken by those who want to be able to continue to have multiple partners and continue to practice unsafe sex.
@John B: Speed limits and safe, careful driving cost a tiny fraction compared to putting seat belts and airbags in cars. But despite this people still take risks and still make mistakes. All the tut-tutting in the world won’t change human nature.
@John B: prep is also taken by partners or both homosexual and heterosexual couples where one partner is positive and one us negative. Stop scaremongering.
@Brian Madden: I’m not scaremongering, I work in a jurisdiction where prep is available, and the demographic I described constitutes the majority of people taking it.
@John B: agreed if some individuals decide to have unprotected anal sex the risks are quite high if one of the partners has an active std ie herpes type 1 or 2, clamidia, gonorrhea, syphilis, hpv, the risk of hiv can increase by as much as 8 fold if the recipient partner is exposed to a recently hiv infected partner who has not yet seroconverted the risk can increase by as much as 20+ fold due to the high hiv rna, sadly sex is becoming a Russian roulette for people now.
@PJ Maguire Kavanagh: simple it’s much more expensive in the short term, but not necessarily in the long term, but our gov don’t think that way
@John B: PrEP is safe sex and with it being much more effective than condoms there is a moral obligation to promote PrEP over condoms for high risk people. The other strategy safer than condoms is the person with HIV having undetectable viral load, called treatment as prevention (TasP). I have been unable to transmit HIV for 18 years as I have had undetectable viral load all that time. PrEP and TasP are for people who want to mitigate HIV risk more than condoms can provide.
Some factually inaccuracy here. For example HIV can be transmitted through kissing if both partners have open sores in gums (although uncommon).
Also the premise of the article is that it is the HIV virus that causes the stigma. It may be that it is the associated behaviours that are stigmatized: it is mostly homosexual men and drug use (both account for 60% of new diagnoses despite being only 10% of the population). Hopefully this will change with progress in areas like gay marriage etc.
@John B: John you can’t catch hiv by kissing. Its Only transmitted by blood and fluids of the vagina and anus. You said open sores in gums can pass on hiv. That’s totally inaccurate.
@Brian Madden: it’s not me that said it, it’s the CDC. https://wwwn.cdc.gov/hivrisk/transmit/activities/kissing.html
@John B: only 10% ? Don’t think so
@Ken Pepper: well that’s what the estimates are. Census says it’s actually much lower than 10% but it is likely higher as many people probably don’t write it on the census.
HIV is a risk that is real, why do people take the chance as it is as good as a delayed suicide?
@Alois Irlmaier: well according to what I have read on the net same as most people here hiv is meant to be about the same to treat as diabetes not sure if it’s type 1 or 2 (big difference) so it becomes a chronic manageable disease! Except the medications are expensive including viral load/cd4 tests etc. Few times per year
I couldn’t just sit around and do nothing like my doctors suggested.They didn’t want me to do anything or to take herbs or herbal remedies, but I had to try something – they just wanted me to do dialysis!This program allowed me to take control of my health. I went from Stage 4 to Stage 3 kidney disease are you having a high viral load count
Or problem with your CD4 TREATMENT or better still PreP treatment
Also liver inflammatory also seems not to be a problem to our registered users on our sites as we teach individuals on how to manage there self and household a quick contact on WhatsApp or call can change your life forever or whatsapp +233245402167
Got my ex boyfriend back……………
This spell caster worked for me,
Got rid of Herpes,,,
Thank You _____Ro Bins On Bu Cler (G Ma I L … Co M)
HELLO, i have read testimonies about this great man called Dr. Magana how he helped people to get pregnant and also help people to cure HIV with his herbal medicine, so i decided to give him a try, i am here today to give my own testimony on how this great man helped me to cure my HIV disease and also helped my sister to get pregnant, i just told him and he said he was going to work on it miraculously and in a short period of time i was lifted from these terrible disease. And it took my sister just a week to get pregnant after he was done. Contact this great man and He will help you no matter the the problem you are facing. Email him at maganasolutioncentre@gmail.com WhatsApp call +2349051208634.
I am indeed very happy for my life; My name is Vargas Cynthia I never thought that I will live on earth before the year runs out. I have been suffering from a deadly disease (HIV) for the past 5 years now; I had spent a lot of money going from one places to another, from churches to churches, hospitals have been my every day residence. Constant checks up have been my hobby not until last Month, I was searching through the internet, I saw a testimony on how DR. Ben helped someone in curing her HIV disease, quickly I copied his email which is (drbenharbalhome@gmail.com).I spoke to him, he asked me to do some certain things which I did, he told me that he is going to provide the herbal to me, which he did, then he asked me to go for medical checkup after some days after using the herbal cure, I was free from the deadly disease, he only asked me to post the testimony through the whole world, faithfully am doing it now, please brothers and sisters, he is great, I owe him in my life. if you are having a similar problems just email him on (drbenharbalhome@gmail.com) or simply whatsapp him on: +22893464014..He can also cure disease like Cancer, Diabeties, Herpes. Etc. You can reach me on email:vargascynthiamaye1995@gmail.com
have your say