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THE TÁNAISTE HAS said questions about the government’s failure to secure an EU deal on its legacy bank debt are “redundant” now that the country has left the bailout and the economy is growing.
Joan Burton was speaking at the launch of the annual report on the programme for government, the last before the general election, which is expected next month.
The coalition has been repeatedly criticised by the opposition for failing to make any advances on the historic 29 June 2012 agreement by eurozone leaders to break the link between sovereign and bank debt.
Hailed by then-tánaiste Eamon Gilmore as a “major game changer” at the time, it was expected that Ireland would use EU funds to retrospectively recapitalise AIB and Bank of Ireland, which received some €25 billion in State funding after the crash. But a deal has not yet materialised.
Burton said today that that announcement in June 2012 was an important “confidence building” measure in the capacity of the Irish economy to recover.
But she insisted that the conversion of the promissory note arrangement into a long-term debt repayment plan has been the basis for this recovery.
“To go back now and read the Dáil commentary, and the commentary by various people in opposition, about how this would fail and could never happen, it’s really ironic to see that that was the point really at which we got back in our feet in a serious way,” Burton said today.
So I would say that in a certain sense the question [about retrospective recapitalisation] is redundant because we’re now out of the Troika process.
Taoiseach Enda Kenny insisted that the 2012 agreement was made as part of “a number of options that could be considered”.
He said the situation had now changed since half of the €64 billion Ireland borrowed was ploughed into the two pillar banks.
Finance Minister Michael Noonan has already indicated that the government expects to sell some of its 99.8% shareholding in AIB this year if it is returned to government.
Burton added that proceeds from the sale of those shares means that the money ploughed into the bank will be largely returned to the exchequer and to taxpayers over time.
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Can I have my money back now
It’s like’…..burning your furniture – to keep warm!
Why are PwC saying this instead of IBRC and NAMA?
As property prices start to rise nama , ibrc start to dump property
Can someone explain why?
Dumping loans philip, not property. They’re Dumping the loans as they’re non-performing and want to get them off the balance sheet.
If they had the patience, they’d put arrangements in place to allow the properties to return to positive equity and then seek a sale, this recouping more of the tax payers money.
Unfortunately, they’ll sell the loans for a discount and allow the new purchasers to do this and net a tidy profit.
The article outlines that IBRC (IBROKE would probably be a better name) will offload € 15 billion in loans.
Yet the linked article tells us that IBROKE have already offloaded 90% of its loanbook, € 19.8 billion out of € 21.7 billion leaving just € 1.9 billion on hand.
This can only mean, if the previous article is correct, that it is NAMA that is offloading the majority of the loans.
Why the subterfuge?
Why make people think that this is some kind of joint enterprise when it is NAMA that is leading the charge?
Have the shiny suit brigade from the canal something to hide?
Given their obsession with secrecy it would not surprise me if they have, perhaps selling the loans to some preferred customer with an inside track at a serious discount.
The way things go it will all be wrapped up before we know anything, plus ça change.
Who in their right mind would buy this junk?
It might only be worth 30% of face value but if you buy it for 20% it’s a good deal. For the buyer anyway.
@ Irish Revolution
The Banks?
Hedge funds bought it. They will now sell off all the ghost estates etc at a lower price so people that have houses for sale at the min will eventually have to sell for half or take them off the market.
Fab house here in drogheda asking price €325. Hilarious. You could now nearly get a house for that on raglan road or ailsbury road!! So that house is realistically worth less than €150 really.
People and notions ha
What about Bank of Scotland selling on my mortgage & others in their Irish portfolio to a company called Tanager Ltd.
I’m in a tizzy all day because I don’t know what it means for us.
have your say