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WELL FRANKFURT’S WAY Labour’s way! Varadkar’s “not a cent more to Anglo Irish Bank” became €34 billion and all bond holders have been paid, with our Taoiseach proudly announcing after his election that Ireland would pay every red cent of its debt. But nothing shows the extent to which banks are running Ireland and Europe more than the recently published Insolvency Guidelines and Rules which were launched in April.
The Irish banks were recapitalised and their bad loans were taken from them into the hands of Nama, which is paid for by workers and other tax payers. They received further recapitalisation funds in respect of anticipated mortgage defaults of up to 30 per cent of mortgage holders and there is no significant evidence that they have accepted a write down of any mortgages as a result.
Instead the Irish Banks, and their highly-paid executives, have skilfully managed to shift the burden of their debt onto the state and the general public. They have avoided the impact of austerity which has largely fallen on those who are dependent on welfare and public servants. However, their biggest coup of all was the hard ball they played with government which now allows them dictate the level of penury imposed on a generation whom they, the politicians and the developers, convinced to incur debt on the basis of “you must get onto the property ladder”.
It was government, fully aided and abetted by the opposition politicians of the day, who allowed land prices escalate beyond anything that could be considered reasonable and allowed the price of houses rise to the point where the cost of production bore no resemblance to the sale value.
The current government have now created a “PIP” – Personal Insolvency Provider whom, they say, will advocate on behalf of the debtor (mortgage holder) against the big bad banks. The reality of this is that they have created a middle man who will charge the debtor for any assistance provided and who, in the way of these things, will ultimately become practitioners or businesses that have a more familiar relationship with the banks than any individual client whom they deal with. Criminals facing the court are entitled to free legal aid but unfortunate mortgage holders, the victims of an overheated economy for which they hold no responsibility, will have to pay for their representation in the insolvency process.
The Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation (INMO), two years ago successfully promoted a resolution to the Irish Congress of Trade Unions which would have sought a fairer resolution for the generation of mortgage holders whose principal private residence was overvalued to the extent that they are now in negative equity. The motion sought, among other things, that the capital amount would be written down to the current value of the principal private residence, very similar to the scheme which has operated successfully in Iceland.
The Icelandic government were prepared to force their banks to burden their share of their reckless lending. Although passed at the ICTU conference and adopted as policy of the ICTU, it never featured in any pre-budget submission or economic analysis presented by the ICTU. But that is another matter which is not untypical of the tyranny of consensus which imposed silence on even the largest civic society organisation in Ireland.
But alas we have become used to the idea that the first casualty nowadays of politics is the truth. You can almost be guaranteed that if a government minister or spokesperson says something is fair it will be inherently unfair. Such was the case with the proposals promoted under the Croke Park Extension which, when reviewed independently by an equality expert, were deemed to be discriminatory and inequitable. Likewise, the sight of two government ministers promoting the notion of tax concessions at the same time as Minister Howlin was trying to take €3,000 out of the pocket of the vast majority of nurses and midwives is yet another example that nothing has changed in spite of the huge promise that we would never return to auction politics.
The insolvency debacle and the mortgage problem which is still the biggest problem facing citizens in Ireland, along with the sustained attack on public service workers, are huge disappointments to anybody who voted for new politics when they voted in this government. Regrettably, this government, to an even greater extent than its predecessors, have debased politics and have further alienated working people and those who contribute most in our society.
The recent massive rejection of the Croke Park Extension proposals was the first opportunity that any significant body of Irish people outside of the Irish election got the opportunity to say no. The resounding “No” by approximately 70 per cent of the entire public service should not be ignored and if it is, then the time has surely come for a full confrontation with politicians who ignore the people and believe that they know better.
Dave Hughes is the Deputy General Secretary of the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation.
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This Govt has no balls… They all talked the great talk to get elected… Frankfurts way… Not any cent more to Anglo… Etc etc etc… Where are we now? Up to our necks in a recession money being drained from an already struggling economy and the only one to win…. Bankers and bond holders!
As interest rates in Europe fall, Ireland’s rise… Enda says that they can’t interfere with banking policy… Noonan says that the banks must return to profitability!
My question is when they return to profitability will they re- align themselves with ECB rates? Or will Enda and the boys finally grow a pair and insist that this be the case.
Not a snowballs chance in hell will they. Our politicians are corrupt. They are self serving in the way that they won’t upset big business because when their political career collapses that’s where they turn next for The big pay packets to supplement their bulging pensions… The nations people can rot as long as that fool Kenny and the other p***ks with him in Kildare st are set for life while we are set for depression in Ireland and depression in our homes…
Look at the relationship between AIB in particular and government. That’s tells you all you need to know and why my local FG TD will not have my vits next time out
Eamonn Gilmore has no willy
I doubt if they are corrupt but they have no vision or the cajones to implement it
Good luck to my poor compatriots of this god forsaken country but i’m outta here in the next couple of months….
Tax the downtrodden and bail out the wealthy.. I’ve had enough!!
I’ve a mortgage , and to hell with them all….. I’ll start again in a new country,,,,,, bunch of liars cheats and back slappers,,,,
Connolly,Griffith, Pierce and Dev, let alone Collins must be doing somersaults in their graves, as the men and women that represent their ideals dance merrily on their graves!!!
Return to profitability. A special land , the promised place. Not so long ago they were all there and where was the benefit to their mortgage customers , now they’ve been in trouble we must buy into to this vision if profitable banks so we CAN KEEP PAYING, what changes for people , oh my cynic awakes YES it has changed now we pay tax on top of out of line interest rates. It’s okay though because thank The Lord Enda and his group of merry men penalty diving TDs can’t intervene in banking policy , imagine if they could help , the trouble , the disaster , they would yield.
Best way to complain = don’t vote for labour, ff or fg ever ever ever again. No matter if you think the politician running locally is good, if they’re in any of those parties, don’t vote for them.
This government unfortunately was voted in by the people and so we have to suffer them.
Just don’t forget when the next election comes around, and please, have some balls yourselves and go out and vote for anyone else but ff, fg or labour.
@popeye
Can I green thumb your comment twice?! Well said
And just to add to the list of ‘Bankers first’ government, just look at the way our credit unions are being screwed by the proposed (& being steamrollered) personal bankruptcy rules. Rather than share a fair pro rata percentage of write downs, credit unions are being told they will lose 100% & banks get 1st rights to any remaining value.
As has been said already, it was banks’ that were responsible for reckless lending on a property Pyramid scam, not credit unions. But who pays? Again, not the banks or their executives, but the rest of us.
So whose interests are the political leaders & senior public servants actually representing? Looks like the bankers & their own again, not ours. By any definition, this is not democracy.
I suggest that before we do anything else, we demand a right of referendum to be able to cancel a government that does not do what is said it would, & have a new general election.
Sealing a government in place for 4 years to take decisions of massive & far reaching importance, for which they have no mandate, is not democracy.
When a politician makes a pre election promise (such as the BS FG/ Lab promises about Anglo Irish) they must be required to sign a legal undertaking to act on that promise or be forced to resign. FG/ Labour knew they were going to sell this country down the river and lied through their teeth.
“If you have a gun you can rob a bank … if you have a bank you can rob everyone!”
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Facebook Page “Repeal Local Property Tax Law”
Legal challenge to property tax at attackthetax.com all welcome even if you paid it out of fear
Well there you have it. A bunch of low life liars protecting their “buddies” in the banking sector.
These liars are determined to do as much damage as possible.
Let’s see the hacks spin this shite.
Don’t mention manifestos … Before last election both FG and Smoked Salmon labour said that there would be no rise on the 3rd level Reg fee .. By the time their term on office is up it will have gone from 1600 to 3000 euros…. That’s what piss’s people off with politicians and as I was informed by my local TD from the Labour party before the election that Labour in Government with or with out anybody else would protect education I now could not give two hoots about the next election
The end of the fight club…. Thats what has to happen…. Show no mercy to the rich heartless money sucking b’stards…. They show you none….
Excellent article. However I think the biggest problem facing Ireland is that there is no proper mechanism, other than armed insurrection, to remove corrupt, inefficient, or just plain disobedient governments. There is endless back and forth on this forum about, well you voted for them, sap – etc. Etc. There is room for a citizens petition to the EU, however you must have exhausted local remedies! No matter who voted for who, I can guarantee NO-ONE signed up for what we now have.
Sheik,
Mass civil disobedience is a hugely powerful force if the necessary numbers can be found to make a stand. A national mortgage strike would bring the government down in a matter of weeks.
We the people of ireland voted to be in the EU
No Our People voted this current Govt in under false pretenses, not 1 red cent & the 5 point plan shite, now look were thst has got Us as soon as thry got into Power all promises null & void. Fianna Fail Fine Gael both the same & as for the party of the working class Labour they will face same fate as the pds & greens come next election & watch this space ff/fg coalition next time around as they are 1 of the same anyway as has been proven by fg implementing ffs policies from their failed Governance.
When was that vote?
False pretences Ritchie? Nearly half the country voted FG and obviously didnt bother to read their manifesto. FG are leading a gov doing what they said they would, mind the rich and screw the rest of us. Wait till they sell out assets, we’ll be rightly screwed then. Hopefully labour won’t prop them up much longer…..
Ollie, how is your statement relevant to this article? Thanks.
I didn’t hear this crowd complaining when Bertie was handing them money hand over fist. Strange I’m thinking, because this money was being handed out at the same time house prices were going through the roof. I suppose it was easy to turn a blind eye to all this though, when benchmarking was the only game in town.
The money that was being dished out to nurses during Bertie’s watch was stamp duty income, so it’s not very surprising that the INMO had so little to say about the property bubble at the time.
Hindsight is 20/20 of course.
The sad thing is Richie that it will all happen again next time with the promises and the propaganda. “We will fix this and right the wrongs…” blah blah blah. The Irish people are sheep with bad memories. Also it doesn’t help that there is nobody to vote for. All wannabe governments are of for themselves an their wealthy friends fires. The public is nowhere bear the radar. I GUARANTEE this will all happen again next general election. All mouth from all parties and independents but just more b@astards at the trough.
Great article, it should be engraved into the walls of the Dail. It’s the complete opposite of Robin Hood except there was very little fighting. I dread the day when I have to explain to my children how we let these eejits take everything from us because they lost all their money and wanted to stay rich.
In a nutshell … We want the taxpayer to pay our inflated salaries, we want the taxpayer to pay our debts for us …
Eric,
Every person in Ireland who bought a home to live in from around 1999 to 2007 or so was ripped off to a greater or lesser degree. This problem needs to addressed if the country is to recover. A large part of this mortgage debt will not be repaid as it cannot be repaid. The banks played a large part in the exploitation of ordinary people and must be made to shoulder some of the burden. It should be remembered also that their massive speculation on commercial property caused every Irish bank to collapse into an insolvent heap in 2008, years before the ordinary people began to default on their residential mortgages. The bill for the collapse of that banks was handed to those very same home owners along with everyone else in Irish society.
Ireland has tried to preserve the banks as private concerns with the injection of 100 billion (including NAMA) or so of public money in the past 5 years and it has broken us economically. We cannot continue with this illusion that the banks can be saved as private profit making institutions and the policy of placing the interests of the parasitic banks over the welfare of the people.
The retail banking system needs to be nationalised properly. The banking function should be retained for the benefit of the people and not left in the hands of free market capitalism. This would involve a true nationalisation of the banks where the banks are run for the general good of society and not for short term profiteering. Nationalisation would allow the state/people to collectively benefit from the relatively easy profits to be made from the banking utility as well as enforcing proper regulation so that the self destructive pursuit of short term profits at the expense of long term stability is eliminated. The banking institutions could be run as separate entities and measured against each other to preserve competition and maintain efficiency but the controlling stake in each would be held by the state and its citizens.
The bank nationalisation would also allow us to deal with the looming mortgage default crisis in a holistic manner. Mortgages in trouble will be restructured, extended and written down as appropriate to keep families in their homes. Investment properties can be repossessed and used for social housing needs for example. If other institutions or people choose to engage in investment banking and trade in the riskier instruments of financial capitalism then so be it. But they will do so at their own peril and will not be bailed out with once cent of the citizen’s money if they incur losses in their speculation.
Always thought it is only matter of time before someone is pushed too far loses everything and takes one of the bankers out. Wouldn’t pretend to be upset if someone put a few bullets into Seany or Fingers.
I think there would be a massive queue to urinate on their graves ( & I would be in it)
Witness the death of democracy.
A pox on all of them and on their spawn.
And as an almost Master in Magic I don’t say that lightly.
: )
Well then, do something, Anne
@ Anne.
Please include this sham of a government and the spawn they create.
I wish them every bad fortune that can befall them.
Various proposals such as the one above have been floated and rejected for one straightforward reason, they all require banks to accept write downs of outstanding loans across classes of borrowers. Their insistence on write downs on an individual case by case basis allows them to pretend every other distressed loan in similar circumstances is still an asset that may yield its proper return over time. Should they ever had to agree to the proposals set out by the INMO it would expose their balance sheets as works of absurd optimism if not outright fiction. They are secure in the knowledge that nobody in any official or regulatory position, whether in Government, in the Dept of Finance or in the Central Bank will ever permit allow such a burden be imposed on them. It is reminiscent of Vichy France, our leaders are collaborating with the enemy.
I like the article but unfortunately the unions in this country are also more than partly to blame. They supped at the table of Ahearn and co. for the sake of their own pockets and now those roosters are coming home to roost as they say.
Heard a load of td’s got their bank debts wrote off…..this would explain why the people of this country are been treated the way they are…..next time you meet one of your bank’s workers ask them about the rumours going around the staff. One of mine was very informative.
Yes, so far the banks have won, but the game was fixed. Banks have the ability to “buy” politicians and even entire political parties. You can’t except teachers, self important hearse chasers and all the rest who have been getting money from banks since their collage days to stand up for people who they only have to fool once every five years. its a good bet for a gambler to rig the play so that even when he looses he wins. Since the days of beef barons straight through the church scandals and now for the second time a bank bailout the person who pays is never the one making donations to politicians.
There is a simple weapon in the ordinary citizens armoury but too few have the balls to follow it through, and that’s to halt the repayment of every loan, credit card and mortgage to financial institutions and i suggest that we’d have a solution on the table from banks within 5 months. Problem is we’d need at least 500,000 as a minimum figure to make it work, and there’s too much fear out there for people to give it a shot.
“The biggest problems facing citizens in Ireland”
Ehh, no, the biggest problem facing me is that even though I did not speculate on the property market during the boom, i have to pay higher taxes to cover for peoples property speculation loses. That’s the biggest problem facing me. I couln’t care one bit about any other problem that is not relevant to me.
And there we have it ladies and gentlemen͵ the reason why we‘re being so easily trodden on as a nation. Typical me-feiner attitude there buddy. Bet when Iceland sorted their situation out there was some bigger thinking involved than “I only care about my situation“. Have you considered running for election? You‘d fit right in upstairs at the big house.
‘Ahh me feiner’ ‘ ahh begreudgery’ …Is that all Irish people have to say?
Well Sarah, this country was destroyed by FF and I have completely given up on it. I will not raise my children here as I am lucky enough (intelligent enough) to not have bought a silly little cardboard box in rainy, dull backward, religiously-controlled Ireland for e400k.
I am here working in the tech sector and am earning a nice salary well above the average, but as I said my biggest problem is with my taxes paying for all you suckers who thought Ireland was the best place in the world with your ‘rent is dead money’ stuck up attitude…
Well guess what, someone doesn’t give a c**p about you…. get over it.
We have to support the 2 pillar banks otherwise FG plans would lie in even more tatters. Small little men in government bowing down to the “experts” who got us into this situation.
No wonder suicide rates have gone up.. to look at the way we are beaten down at every turn.. flipped on our heads as money spins the earth with greed,, “leave no man behind” is a thing of the past, I’ll grab my shovel and dig a shallow grave, for all that life is worth to the hungers of the rich, would fit beneath the soils..
sick to death of banks,, i am in trouble with my mortgage,,, cant sell my home as worth less than i bought for ten years ago,,, they keep coming up with a new scheme for me,, and change their minds so often,, i got an offer of 20 thousand less when i went to sell, went to bank and asked would they take it,, as what i paid and payments over the years is way more than that,,,interest of course,,,,,, lol,,, and they said no,, but will put on auction block and take 50 thousand less,, then government will have to house me and kids,,, this is what is going on in homes,, i am depressed,, hungry and sick of it all,, i could walk out that door and not look back, live in my car and be happy and never again answer a phone call,,, i would never again take a mortgage, or have a bill, i will happily live in a caravan in the middle of nowhere,, but nope banks still calling me ,, now they want to extend my terms,,, what a year,,,, and still going on,,,, if i had money i would hire a secretary to talk to them,, but nope i just gotta listen to more crap and gain more pain,, and the simple cure is a job,, a real job,, not a scheme,, just a job,, but not in kerry in any near future,, ha ha,, we cant even get an ambulance now,, gotta call cork,, so dont have a heart attack in kerry,, you only have a time limit for medication,,, you wont make it,, i gotta go to bed and dream and get out of this country for a while,,,,,,
As I always say…to bring the banks to heel we need to reverse all the legislation that makes a bank account a necessity for everyone. If everyone had more control over their own money the banks might behave !!
Judging by the verbiage directed toward the elected, would a direct system suit the country better than proportional representation, thereby eliminating the entirely pointless party structures who swing each election via their organised ‘party line votes’?
A PIP was an investment product sold by Bank of Ireland – and now a PIP is a ‘Personal Insolvency Provider’ – sums up the last five years perfectly.
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