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THE CHANCELLOR OF the Exchequer, George Osborne, has hinted that Ulster Bank could be sold off from its parent Royal Bank of Scotland in the UK.
In his annual Mansion House speech to bankers in London last night, Osborne said he has ordered a review of the break-up of state-owned RBS into a good and bad bank with the latter likely to include the troubled Ulster Bank and other non-performing assets.
He said the sale of RBS was “some way off” with that indications that the sale could be delayed until after the next general election in the UK, scheduled for 2015.
But this may not prevent the more immediate sell-off of Ulster Bank which reported over €1.2 billion in losses last year and has been beset by a series of problems in recent months including IT failures and under-collection errors.
“We will see whether its right for Britain to, in effect, see RBS broken up. The review will be swift. It will be conducted by the Treasury with external professional support,” Osborne told bankers.
“We’ll look at a broad range of RBS’s assets, but particularly assets in Ulster Bank and UK commercial real estate.”
The bad bank will only be set up if it meets three objectives, he said: if it supports the British economy, if its in the taxpayers’ interest and if it accelerates the return of the bank to private ownership.
The British government has pumped some £45 billion in into the bank which was rescued at the height of the financial crisis five years ago.
Earlier this month it was suggested that the British government might try to sell Ulster Bank to the National Asset Management Agency (NAMA) in a bid to shift it off its own books. This suggestion was quickly dismissed by the Irish government.
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‘An absolutely barbaric form of death’ is what his victims got; this man got off lightly.
@Crocodylus Pontifex: Both actions were barbaric.
@K Lawlor: Anyone figure out what the deal is with the scale behind his mugshot or am I still not seeing straight after Thursday night pints?
@Bah Humbug Soon: inches on the right.im guessing 80 is 1.80 metres,missing the 1
@Brian Gregan: the scale of monster.
@K Lawlor: Maybe more Countrys including Ireland should have the death penalty. One way of keeping the killing poplation in prison down Every am I look at the media there’s a murder ..
@Scottyal: The US has one of the highest murder rates in the world and the second highest incarceration rates so your argument makes zero sense.
@Cal Mooney: It works very well in Singapore. The death penalty is used for more crimes than the USA. Visit Singapore and see just how safe the country is. To me it says use the death penalty for more crimes to make it successful.
@John Horan: But Singapore has no social welfare. You can’t have a criminal class without taxpayer funding.
@Crocodylus Pontifex: While I agree with your sentiment, I would like to point out that Singapore does have a social welfare system. It is a system that aids those who cannot fend for themselves…..it is a million miles from the system in Ireland that rewards those who just don’t want to work and think that others should pay for their lifestyle. Either directly through taxes or the financial penalty of being a victim if crime and also paying high insurance premiums.
@Cal Mooney: of course it makes sense, why do people use the USA as a benchmark? Takes years and years for the execution to take place,and there’s very few of them! Look at other countries with it and crime has drastically reduced for that sentence, Singapore for a start. Also if u execute a dispicable human for their ghastly crimes there’s zero chance of them reoffending too!
@Dougal67:
And what do say to the family of a executed prisoner who subsequently is proved innocent?
Would you like to be that person who is on death row who didn’t commit the crime?
@Patrick Nolan: With dna now it is virtually impossible to have the wrong person.
What do u say to a parent of a murdered raped tortured child that the man got a sentence of free meals for life as his punishment ?????
@John Horan: 28 people have been put to death in singapore since 2010. May be used for more crimes but it’s used far less often. Iran had 506 executions in 2017, Pakistan had over 60, Saudí Arabia had 146, would you therefore call those places safe than singapore?I think it’s pretty clear that your assertion that it’s a deterrant is not an accurate one.
@Dave O Keeffe: The mistake of all these countries is they don’t use the death penalty enough. As an example Pakistan population is 40 times larger than Singapore but they only execute 4 times as many people: In the 90′s Singapore used it much more than now and had the 2nd highest rate per capita. So it worked…now they don’t need to use it as much as before because their crime rate is so low.
@John Horan: 441 people confirmed executed since 1991 out of a population of over 5 million isn’t anywhere near the rate of the other countries I’ve mentioned where it doesn’t seem to be working at all
@Dave O Keeffe: exactly my point. I am glad you agree…these other countries don’t use it enough. Criminals need to realise there is a real prospect of getting executed. Not a 1 in a million chance….then it becomes a deterrent
@John Horan: I think people like you secretely would like to be executed. Go to Singapore and drop some piece of paper on the ground by accident and see how you are treated. You really are a Moran.
@Cal Mooney: lived there for 7 years. Safest place I could imagine. You should try it before you knock it.
@Cal Mooney: The name is Horan not Moran…I am not related to Kevin. Unless you mean moron? In which case I guess the facts are blinding your argument and you can only resort to name calling.
Why don’t they just do to them what they did to their victims?
@Seriously stunned: ok, will you do it?
@Gediminas FX: Not that I’m condoning it but I’m sure in most cases there would be no problem finding a family member that would be more than willing to volunteer
@Seriously stunned: This means that you want the same brutal killing, to satiate yours and others repugnant heinous blood-lust
@Seriously stunned:
Because that brings the state down to the level of the killer.
@KingCrisp: i don’t care just get rid of him.hes a waste of space and money.
@ted hagan: Executing a murderer as punishment for their crime isn’t remotely comparable to murdering an innocent person.
@Seriously stunned: Jesus who wants to rape an owl fella?
Jaysus there’s a last meal!!
@shellakybooky: hillbilly till the bitter end!!
I truly hate to admit it but with some of the barbaric acts of murder here in Ireland I actually wish we had the death penalty here.
Or at the very least a functional justice system of incarnation.
We pay our taxes to keep these people in prison when we have roads to maintain, parks to keep clean,estates to keep clean etc etc .
Apologies, rant over.
@tommytukamomo: Tell that to the estimated 5 percent of American execution victims who were found to be innocent after the fact.
@Cal Mooney: tell that to the 100% of murder victims who are not guilty of any crime.
@Gavin Scott: not meaning to be pedantic but a lot of murder victims (especially in Dublin) are members of drug gangs or drug gang feuds who have taken part in murdering others in a tit for tat so I wouldn’t say 100% are not guilty of crimes but I do see where you are coming from. A lot of innocent people caught up in those tit for tat drug gang murder feuds also
Hope they wet the sponge.
@MarkS: I’d say he wet the sponge himself…..
@MarkS: A vile repugnant comment IMHO. To everyone who supports this state murder. You are all as bad as any killer/murderer. People here who supports this state murder, all have a deranged blood-lust, by lauding murder IMHO.
@KingCrisp: IMHO you should cop on you melt.
@KingCrisp: yeah ya pleb.. cop on.
@KingCrisp: leg it. You pitiful mongrel
Gas chamber is still on offer in two states while you can opt for firing squad in Utah. In New Hampshire, hanging is still available as a back-up method if lethal injection is unavailable / not practical.
@A Pop Fan’s Dream: I think many countries won’t sell them lethal substances for the purpose of execution. I still reckon the guillotine is the most humane method, if it comes to that.
I think I’d prefer a firing squad.
@Claire Cahill: bite the bullet
Death by firing squad would be more humane and far simpler to carry out.
@Sean: and a lot cheaper.
Supporting Sparky
Larry Murphy and many other sick bas could benefit from this in Ireland.
Why can we not have a referendum on introducing this in Ireland?
Could lower crime rates dramatically.
@Trevor Hayden: We had a referendum to remove the death penalty in 2001. It was legal up to then.
Last meal of pickled knuckles and tail.. medieval food for a true barbarian
“Only nine US states still use the electric chair”, ONLY? Thats almost 20% of states.
Shocking news
Those electric chairs are death traps. You’d never catch me sitting in one.
I often wonder why, in those states that use capital punishment, they do not administer an anaesthetic first. Then the person would not be subject to cruel or inhuman suffering. The object of the exercise is to end his/her life, not to inflict torture.
@Generation Snowflake: No, I agree with her, it’s not a punishment. It shouldn’t be. What’s a serial killer going to learn from it? He’ll be gone. It won’t bring back the victims. The families aren’t asked. We can do without sadists. Put them down as humanely as possible.
Didn’t want the 18 minutes of torture? The poor pet.
His last words were let’s rock,well I hope he’s rocking in hell now
Eye for an eye
Ashamed by the level of the comments on this page, literally!
I find it intolerable that somebody can be held in a jail for over 35 year then taken out of their cells to be executed
Ireland justice law change follow electric chair cos crazy murder near everyday
@Brian Flavin:
Might be wise to brush up on your English before you comment here.
Why don’t they use a cattle prod! Job done!
Pickled pigs knuckles and pigtails …….he sounded like a weirdo .
Nothing wrong with pig knuckles !!
have your say