SERIOUS MISTAKES were made in Irish banking in the course of the current crisis, former AIB group chairman Dermot Gleeson SC has told the MacGill Summer School at Glenties, Co Donegal.
... “As a former Chairman of AIB the first thing for me to say in plain and unvarnished language is that some serious mistakes were made in Irish banking and there is absolutely no getting away from that,” Mr Gleeson said.
And who exactly was responsible for making those mistakes? Gleeson evasive language is fooling no one (at least I hope so). Take responsibility man, and admit you fucked up.
On another note: arrests? prosecutions? Where are they?
Everybody knows that the Catholic Church ruled the roost in Ireland. Everybody knows that children in school were beaten. Everybody knows that there was child sexual abuse. But until a few days ago the vast majority of the people of Ireland did not know how widespread the sexual abuse and violence were and that children were enslaved, raped, tortured and abused systematically in both residential and day schools and institutions.
The forms of physical abuse reported by witnesses ranged from being smacked on the hand to being beaten naked in front of others. They described being hit, slapped, beaten, kicked, pushed, pinched, burned, bitten, shaken violently, physically restrained, and force fed. The Committee also heard reports of witnesses having their heads knocked against walls, desks and window ledges, being beaten on the soles of their feet, the backs of their hands, around their heads and ears, having their hair pulled, being swung off the ground by their hair, and made to perform tasks that they stated put them at risk of harm and danger. The locations where physical abuse was most frequently reported to have occurred included dormitories, refectories, landings, corridors, classrooms, churches, offices, kitchens, work areas and recreation halls.
(We were)... beaten everywhere, bang your head off the wall, pinch your cheeks, beat you with a cane.... She ...(Sr X)... would grab you and hit you.
I remember once I got a big yellow blister on my hand, it was really painful.... Normally when you got a beating from someone you had to hold your hand out for a slap like that ... (demonstrated outstretched palm)... not always of course, some of them would hit you anywhere on the legs or anywhere. ... She ... (Sr X)... said “Why are you holding your hand out like that? Give me the other hand”....You have to have 10 on that hand and 10 on the other. I couldn’t part with this hand, it was yellow and throbbing it was, and she forced it open and slapped it. The blister burst, I’ll never forget the pain.
Further forms of physical abuse described by witnesses involved being made to kneel for hours on hard surfaces, both indoors and in outside yards, being locked in confined and dark areas such as coal houses, furnace rooms, animal sheds, broom cupboards and fridges, made to stand for lengthy periods and being doused and immersed in cold water.
Having objects such as a wooden statue, metal tray and knives thrown at them was reported as a physical abuse by a small number of witnesses.
In addition to being hit, witnesses reported that, at times they were burned, had water thrown over them or were held under water, as described:
Nineteen (19) witnesses reported being put into cold or scalding baths or showers.
Twelve (12) witnesses reported having water thrown over them, five of whom were scalded with hot tea or water.
Eight (8) witnesses reported having their heads held under water, including two whose heads were held under a cold running tap.
Five (5) witnesses reported being burned with hot pokers or by having their hands held to a fire or on a hot stove.
Two (2) witnesses reported having their fingers held to electric sockets.
One of the girls she was very sick. I let her come into my bed one morning, she was very, very ill. They brought me down to the shoe room, they stripped me off, they threw cold water over me ... (prior to severe beating).... It was the shoe room you know where all the shoes were, even now if I get the smell of shoe polish, the feeling of enclosement, it was awful.
Six (6) witnesses gave accounts of nettles being used by nuns when punishing residents. They described being pushed into patches of nettles, hit on the legs with them, and, in one instance, their bed being full of nettles. ‘Sr ...X... put nettles in the bed of the girls who wet the bed.’ Other witnesses described being pinched with pliers, jabbed with a knitting needle, hit with shoes, a shovel, wet dishcloths, bunches of keys, serving spoons, scissors, electric cord and the treadle belt from a sewing machine.
Witnesses described a daily existence that involved the possibility of being hit by a staff member at any time, for any reason or for no reason. Witnesses also reported being physically abused by co-residents. It is notable that witnesses at times described daily, casual and random physical abuse as normal and wished to report only the times when the frequency and severity of the abuse was such that they were injured or in fear for their lives. Three hundred and forty six (346) of the 403 witnesses reported that they were subjected to frequent physical violence; they described a climate of pervasive fear in the Schools and provided consistent reports of generally not knowing why they were being beaten.
The forms of physical abuse reported by witnesses to the Committee included punching, flogging, assault and bodily attacks, hitting with the hand, kicking, ear pulling, hair pulling, head shaving, beating on the soles of the feet, burning, scalding, stabbing, severe beatings with or without clothes, being made to kneel and stand in fixed positions for lengthy periods, made to sleep outside overnight, being forced into cold or excessively hot baths and showers, hosed down with cold water before being beaten, beaten while hanging from hooks on the wall, being set upon by dogs, being restrained in order to be beaten, physical assaults by more than one person, and having objects thrown at them.
The locations where physical abuse was reported to have taken place included: classrooms, offices, cloakrooms, dormitories, showers, infirmaries, refectories, the bedrooms of staff members, churches, work areas and trade shops, fields, farmyards, play/sports areas and outdoor sheds.
I had a hiding in the boot room, you had to take your shirt off, you were completely naked and he ...(Br X)... beat me with a strap and a hurley stick on the behind and the legs and that.
I was beaten up quite a few times for not making the bed right, I had to go to the boot room. We used have long night shirts then you know, he ...(Br X)... dragged it off me, naked and whop, he knocked hell out of me, he knocked the shit out of me ... he hit with a leather strap with coins in it. One Brother ... he used a tyre he did, a bicycle tyre, it used to wrap around your arm. That was for wiping my nose in my sleeve, he didn’t like that, it “wasn’t a nice thing” he said.
A small number of witnesses stated that Brothers were trained to beat residents and reports were heard of religious Brothers demonstrating the exercise of discipline to trainee Brothers.
One day it was ...visitor’s day... they used to pick about half a dozen lads. You would be called to the hall. I was picked once and they would actually show the ...visiting student Brothers... how to do the hiding. The Brother who was in charge of the playground, mostly Br ...X... or Br ...Y... would show them how it’s done, they would give you a hiding to show them and then they would have a go, with the black jack ...(leather)... with loops of lead in it or steel.
Witnesses reported being introduced to a strict regime from the moment of their arrival in the School.
We were met by Br ...X... he ruled the roost, he told us about the rules, said if we ran away there was severe punishment, the second time our head would be shaved and the third time we would be sent to ...named School.... He then stripped us off, told us to bend over the desk; he hit the desk with a leather strap and said, “Say the Our Father”. I could not say it. He hit me across the legs and warned me not to step out of line. He told us to get in the shower, cold water, “to scrub away your sins”, with carbolic soap. He then left and came back with clothes, comb ... he hit me with the strap when I had the clothes on because I should be in pyjamas. We went to the dormitory, the boys were asleep, he said, “This will always be your bed unless you wet the bed, then you will end up with the smellies with Mr ...Y...”. It was dark, there was no food. I was very upset and frightened. Then that night Mr ...Y... came walking down with his walking stick, he touched my penis with the stick and said, “Don’t ever let me catch you”. Later I could hear kids crying as he lashed kids with a stick, getting them up for the toilet. That was my first night in ...named School....
The day I arrived there, I was in the yard and there was all these boys, they all seemed like giants. I remember running up to this man and saying “hello Father” he laid into me, he was a very cruel man, I thought he was a priest, he said “don’t call me Father”. He laid me on the ground, he gave me a few terrible clatters and I was terrified from that moment. He was Br ...X... I was terrified of him, oh Lord! ...distressed... he was just cruel.
These accounts cover just one of the four aspects of abuse. See the reports for more detail.
The Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse has published its five volume report on 20 May and this report has examined in detail the accusations and evidence presented to it.
The Commission was established on 23 May, 2000, pursuant to the “Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse Act 2000” and given three primary functions:
to hear evidence of abuse from persons who allege they suffered abuse in childhood, in institutions, during the period from 1940 or earlier, to the present day;
to conduct an inquiry into abuse of children in institutions during that period and, where satisfied that abuse occurred, to determine the causes, nature, circumstances and extent of such abuse; and
to prepare and publish reports on the results of the inquiry and on its recommendations in relation to dealing with the effects of such abuse.
The reports are damning, and the acts uncovered are criminal.
The reports make for horrific reading. The vast majority of children were committed to industrial or reformatory schools from 1936 to 1970 because they were ‘needy’. Other reasons of commitment were involvement in a criminal offense or school nonattendance. Involvement in a criminal offense included girls who had been ‘morally corrupted’. In fact, girls as young as eight who had been raped or abused, or even those children in contact with such girls, were considered unsuitable for an ordinary industrial school and were sent to reformatories instead.
It took little to be committed. Orphans, poor children, abused children and children who skipped school were committed.
Once the child's time was served, their parents could get them out but parents' weren't informed nor educted and the procedure was complicated.
The children were tortured and enslaved by the Catholic Church in Ireland.
The state failed to supervise.
The state indemnified the Church.
The state is still fighting survivors in the courts.
The violence, torture, rape, abuse and slavery that happened is obscene. Those who directly enslaved, raped, tortured, abused and violated children have been indemnified against civil prosecution. Those who stood by and let it happen are just as guilty.
The words of President McAleese "it was an atrocious betrayal of love" are mealy-mouthed and underplay the obscene treatment of children.
The state and the various congregations have gone along with the "few bad apples" argument which as been disproved time after time. (Philip Zimbardo The Lucifer Effect: understanding how good people turn evil)
None of the 18 religious congregations that were party to the redress agreement with the Government seven years ago has any plans to look again at its terms, the Conference of Religious in Ireland (Cori) said last night.
The 18 congregations involved were those which managed residential institutions where children were physically, emotionally and sexually abused, as well as neglected, according to the Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse report, published on Wednesday.
In a statement to The Irish Times , following a query on the matter, Cori said: “In 2002 the Conference of Religious in Ireland facilitated 18 of its members in entering into an agreement with the Government on a Redress Scheme for victims of institutional abuse. This agreement included an indemnity clause that lapsed after three years.
“An agreement was made between the congregations concerned and the Government that a contribution of € 128 million (cash and property) be made to the Redress Scheme, which was established by Government. As far as we are aware none of the congregations concerned plan to revisit the terms of the agreement made in good faith.”
It makes me sick to my stomach to know that such crimes were widespread. The mealy-mouthed "apologies" and shocked expressions is not enough. Firstly we have to name what happened. These acts by religious congregations were crimes against children and crimes against humanity.
The Catholic church has to own up to its criminal responsibilities and convictions must be sought. Then all assets should be frozen and confiscated. Then we remove any mention of the church from our constitution and public life. Once they have repaid financially and served time for their crimes, the named congregations forced to leave the country.
It's been referred to as Cowengate, GUBU 2 and on twitter as #picturegate but the story of the illegal hanging of two nude paintings of Brian Cowen is what's buzzing on the Irish corner of the net. Is this the best public relations strategy in the history of the FFers or a major fuck up by people such as Michael Kennedy TD, who can only comprehend a situation when it is put in terms that he understands. His wife was kind enough to enlighten him on the grevious nature of l'Affaire Cowen.
But soon enough the smiles were wiped from our faces. Dear Leader's minions were up in arms when RTE had the temerity to report the news story.
God knows that we could do with a bit of a laugh – half the country has lost their jobs and the other half is being losing half their income on taxes. But the FFers have lost all sense of proportion and humour, assuming they had any to start off with.
Then Kennedy, the prince of village idiots, contacted RTE director general Cathal Goan and complained about bias and the obviously neferious ageda of RTE. Instead of telling Kennedy to go shite, RTE relinquished its last smidgen of credibility and apologised.
Let me reiterate that. The national broadcaster apologised to the Government for covering a news story.
The broadcaster received a number of complaints about the item on Monday’s 9pm television news, including one from the Taoiseach’s office. RTÉ had deemed the report to be inappropriate before complaints were received, a spokeswoman said last night. Consequently the report did not run on subsequent bulletins and was taken down from the RTÉ website, she said.
RTE has asked satirist Oliver Callan, of Nob Nation, to "go easy" on the Taoiseach stating that his increasingly controversial portrayal of Brian Cowen as a drunken buffoon "might be perceived to be a bit personal at this stage".
... Supporters of Mr Cowen are known to be upset at the Nob Nation portrayal of him as a hard-drinking and sometimes crude politician surrounded by Cabinet members who are also frequently portrayed in a similar manner.
Rumours which, by the way, are confirmed by the patrons of Doheny and Nesbitt's pub near Government buildings. Oh and by the way, the Government most certainly did not request that RTE censor Nob Nation. I'm sure they're insulted and appalled at the very suggestion. Yeah just like that time Conor Lenihan "assured" me that no one got a particular position through the old boys network. It's time to quote Hamlet, methinks.
So RTE apologies and proceeds to censor "in the national interest". The managers of Ireland Inc. throw their weight around like a pack of rapid rhinos, crushing freedom of the press in the process. Then the gardaí were ordered to the offices of Today FM with the dubious demand for emails and the artist information. “The powers that be want action taken”, Will Hanafin, was told.
Mr Hanafin told The Irish Times he was “totally shocked” to be confronted by a garda. He said in “no circumstances could this be considered an appropriate use of Garda resources. It seems to me that the powers that be have lost their sense of humour.”
Fine Gael justice spokesman Charlie Flanagan criticised the Garda move. “At a time when the majority of gangland murders remain unsolved, to have gardaí spending their time investigating what amounted to a practical joke that offended the Taoiseach’s ego is a scandalous waste of resources,” he said.
“Today FM has clearly come under pressure to hand over e-mails about this matter, while RTÉ News has obviously been browbeaten into a grovelling apology. The way this matter has been handled is more reminiscent of Russia in the 1930s than Ireland in 2009,” said Mr Flanagan.
Wouldn't the gardaí be better served arresting the bankers, property developers and other criminals rather than persecuting an artist? Are we returning to the normalisation of a stagnant culture where books like "Brave New World" and "Gulliver's Travels" are banned? Are we regressing to the time when the powers that be decided that "Natural Born Killers" or "Clockwork Orange" was too corrupting for the Irish people.
Censorship is the enemy of democracy and with democracy, as with many other system, what is most important is the behaviour during the tough times, the bad times and the ugly times. That RTE is cravenly bowing to the government during this recession is a very bad omen for the future of democracy in this country.
Freedom of the press and freedom of expression are being stifled in this country. What the hell happened to our human rights? What the hell happened to this country where the Dear Leader is covering his government's ass at the expense of the people; where "I didn't read that part of the report" is an acceptable reply to accusations of incompetence; where a bank is nationalised to save one interest group and the Minister for Finance does not even report the report; and where artists are persecuted on trumped up charges?
I call for a general election now. I don't want to wait until Brian "I didn't read the report" Lenihan submits his third budget of the year. Third? Ridiculous doesn't even begin to cover it.
Newton Emerson is a heteronormative, sexist, homophobic, condescending asshole, disguised as an unfunny and embarrassing "humourist". Of all the material available to riff on about the recession, Emerson chooses to show the world his emotional maturity. Epic Fail.
The article is aimed at the straightest, married couple ever. It places the white male as the default and women as the other. It assumes that all men are hetero. It plays into a backwards notion of patriarchy and control.
Satirising gender roles is hilarious when well done but all Emerson does is play tired stereotypes and lurid prose. I'm surprised the Irish Times published this shite.
Does the woman in your life really need a job?
Emerson seriously WTF? An article devoted straight partnered men who retain the 1950s attitude towards coupling? Yeah like we don't have enough of them.
Admittedly, this is not a fashionable question. From Iceland to Australia, men are blamed for causing the credit crunch, while a more feminine approach to finance is proposed as the solution.
What the fuck is a feminine approach to finance? Does he mean a female approach or a gender based approach? I think he's just pissed off at all those uppity women who dare to leave the house - shades of a former Flynn perhaps... In all his dick swaggering he fails to realise that he is outing himself as a whiny little boy who has yet to realise that having a penis does not make you a super special snowflake, entitled to be comforted over every little booboo.
Then there is the patronising:
Of course there will always be a place in the world of business for exceptional women. Women also have an important role to play in jobs that are too demeaning for men, like teaching.
Since when is teaching demeaning for men? I think the thousands of male teachers in Ireland didn't get that memo.
But the general employment of women is another matter. Indeed, working women almost certainly caused the credit crunch by bringing a second income into the average household, pushing property prices up to unsustainable levels.
Nope. Wrong again. The property developers and speculators pushed the property price up. The people that were putting Evian in their car radiators pushed the prices up. The greed in the banking, building and industrial sectors drove the prices up. Why think logically when you can blame half the population based on whether they possess a penis or a vagina?
Whether working women actually caused the credit crunch is now a moot point. The point is that removing women from the workforce would mitigate its effects.
Too much competition for you Emerson? Are You Robbed Of Your God-Given Right To Be A Dick?
Consider the issue of unemployment. There were 221,301 men on the live register last month and just under one million women in work.
What about the menz? Does gender equality hurt you poor baby?
Surely at least half these women have a partner who is earning? Surely at least half would be happier at home? One half of one half is a quarter and one quarter of a million is roughly 221,301. I think we can all see where this argument is going.
Yeah in the toilet. Your argument is a thinly disguised rant against those mean bitches who insist on being equal. Also your logic is not our earth logic. Assuming that all women are partnered and straight makes you an ignorant jackass as well.
...In short, women were the driving force behind the greed, consumerism and materialism of the Celtic Tiger years and it was female employment that funded their oestrogen-crazed acquisitiveness.
Just when I near the end of this piece of "journalism" Emerson decides to blame the recession on oestrogen. It's the MRA special. Blame the scary female hormones.
It's incredibly offensive, not to mention ignorant, to have our behaviour attributed to hormones. I am not blaming your testosterone for you being a sexist, homophobic jackass. That's just you.
The time has come to build a more sustainable, equitable and progressive society. Why not make a start by telling your other half to quit her job? She can ask you for the housekeeping on Friday.
Oooh! Did it take you long to come up with that zinger? You forgot to mention chaining her to the kitchen sink, barefoot and pregnant.
Satire is supposed to be funny and supposed to make a person think. Emerson, this falls flat.
Two days later, the Government announced it wouldn't put €1.5bn into Anglo. It would instead nationalise the bank, at even greater potential cost to the taxpayer.
Why? Because Anglo is the country's "third-biggest bank". Well, it's not.
Yes, in money terms it's huge. But Anglo isn't a high street bank. It's a casino within which rich people -- speculators, developers, builders -- gambled on the property bubble.
Yes, it's huge in money terms, but not because it's embedded in the Irish economy -- only because it borrowed and loaned to reckless extremes, for gambling purposes.
Everybody rolls with their fingers crossed
No Irish citizen has any interest in Lenihan's great gamble failing, but the unknown, unknowns make the chances of failure extremely high. If we don't know how much the bad debts will be how can we, with any certainty, say that the €7bn figure will be enough?
Everybody knows that the war is over
Mr Kenny instanced the case of a public servant on €15,000 who would have a net reduction in take-home pay of €450, a decline of 3 per cent. Somebody on €19,500 would have a net reduction of €105 because he or she paid 0.5 per cent due to the taxation system.
A single public servant earning €36,400 would have pay reduced by €1,769, while another single person on €40,000 would suffer a reduction of €1,649. A married person earning €45,400 would have take-home pay reduced by €2,537, but somebody earning €55,000 would have €2,403 deducted. “These are clearly anomalous situations,” said Mr Kenny.
Everybody knows the good guys lost
Flare ups in the Dail today as Labour staged a walkout over questions to Brian Lenihan on the recapitalisation package
Everybody knows the fight was fixed
He chose this morning to announce that he was closing the classrooms of over 500 special needs children
The poor stay poor, the rich get rich
people expressing anger at how the bankers, builders, stockbrokers etc who got us into this mess were getting away Scot free. There is an expectation at the few dozen people who contributed greatly to the rapid descent in our economy must pay the price.
That's how it goes
All over the world, governments are being destabilised by the consequences of dealing with the economic trauma. As jobs are lost and incomes cut, disgruntled workers are taking to the streets to vent their anger. The years of plenty are over.
Everybody knows
HE might not be able to bring himself to say sorry to the people of Ireland, or even to his former shareholders, but Sean FitzPatrick will one day admit that he was wrong.
That's what millionaire businessman Ben Dunne believes the former chairman of Anglo Irish Bank will have to do if he is to overcome his "addiction to money".
The circular mechanism used to transfer the temporary deposit enabled Anglo Irish to categorise the money as a customer deposit, enabling the bank to prop up its deposit levels and disguise the dramatic levels of withdrawals suffered by the bank during the unprecedented financial upheaval last September.
Everybody got this broken feeling
No-one has any cash and companies without cash-flow are going bust. This week alone three friends of mine told me they are going out of business.
Like their father or their dog just died
Deflation takes hold and it causes people and companies to go bankrupt which leads to the banking system imploding and the economy moves into a depression. As people feel that deflation is around the corner, they put off spending until the future when they feel they will get a lower price.
The owners said last night it will continue in business under direction of the liquidator, with no loss of the 40 full- and part-time staff jobs. “The existing management and staff will continue with the Sandhouse and it will remain open for business as usual.” The hotel, closed for the winter, reopens on St Valentine’s weekend.
And a long stem rose
Public sector unions have given notice that they intend to stage a day of action next Saturday, St Valentine’s Day, demonstrating at TDs’ offices. It will be followed by other demonstrations. There will be bells, whistles, drums and speeches vowing to fight the pension levy to the end.
Everybody knows
Unlike the previous recession in Ireland, this time there is little point emigrating as other countries such as the UK and the US are also experiencing jobs crises.
Dermot Ahern, the man who's indifferent to the torture of young girls, had the rank hypocrisy to say on Prime Time tonight that everyone in Ireland must take responsibility for the economic shitstorm together and that the government doesn't bear any responsibility.
That's fucking unbelievable. This government has been in power since 97. They carved up the country, drove prices up and rode the property boom to its death rattle.
If Dermot Ahern really believes that the government with its system of cronyism and nepotism does not bear responsibility for the current crisis he should be fired. He is obviously incapable of understanding the situation.
Can we please have a new finance minister now? Lenihan seems to have lost the plot. According to him the economy is thriving.
Ireland "has a thriving economy", and it would be wrong to compare the country's economic situation with that of Iceland's, Minister for Finance Brian Lenihan has said. "The Irish economy has headed into the current recession in a very strong shape. We doubled our workforce in the last 20 years and we have very low public debt, but like economies throughout the world we're under a severe challenge . . . and we have to take firm decisions as a Government to control our fiscal position," he said.
Oh well that's grand so. I'll just run out and tell the car sales people that a 68% decline in sales compared to last year in normal in a thriving economy. Economists saying that house prices may fall up to 80% demonstrates a thriving economy! Businesses closing down and tens of thousands of new dwellings unsold really convince me Brian that we have a thriving economy!
Yanno it takes more than bailing out the property developers / FF contributors and nationalising a bank to shore up the economy. I think a logical thinking person might in fact believe that nationalising a bank and taking on its debt, so certain favoured citizens get to walk away from their criminal decisions, is a clear sign that the economy is not thriving.
As for the very low public debt, we owe the same amount of money as we did in the 80s. The different is that now it's private debt which ballooned up because of 120% mortgages, people getting mortgages they can't afford and bloody property developers sucking the lifeblood and cultural heritage from the country's bones. Nothing was sacred. People are defaulting on their loans and being evicted and you, you who bailed out those vampires, have the temerity to claim that the economy is thriving. It's a load of baldfaced lies and a slap in the face to the public.
We can all look to the US and cluck our tongues at the bailout there as socialism for the rich but you Brian, have made it a reality in Ireland too. Citizens are losing their homes and you bailout wealthy property developers and have the citizen foot the bill. I wonder if criminal charges could be brought
"There's been an alarming growth in our public borrowing this year, and the Government is determined to check that and take whatever corrective decisions are required.
Am I the only one who sees the cognitive dissonance here? The government is the entity that borrows money. Therefore dear Brian, you have to curb your own spending and the spending of your party. Perhaps you think it sounds tough to speak out against public borrowing but you are the person who borrowed - you and Cowen! Do you think the citizens of Ireland are fools or do you just not care?
In a wide-ranging interview on the state of the country's economy, Mr Lenihan rejected suggestions that Fianna Fáil's policies were to blame for the crisis.
Ok Brian then what is to blame for the crisis? You don't get to blame the Americans either. Fianna Fail [sic] have been in power since 1997. Creevy, Cowen and yourself have (mis)managed the country's finances. Take responsibility for the actions and inactions of your party and government. Don't try and brazen it out. Fianna Fail [sic] has been robbing this country for decades. The least you can do is take responsibility. Otherwise how can the people of Ireland have any confidence in your blundering in the future.
The Financial Times called Ireland a banana republic and in doing so led us into the honoured halls of banana republicanism. We join such countries as El Salvador, Belize, Nicaragua, Honduras, Zimbabwe, and Guatemala.
It's true if you think about it. The hallmarks of a banana republic are large wealth inequities, poor infrastructure, poor schools, a "backward" economy, low capital spending, a reliance on foreign capital and money printing, budget deficits, and a weakening currency. Let's just see how many of those boxes Ireland ticks...
1. Poor infrastructure 2. Backward economy 3. Poor schools 4. Reliance on foreign capital 5. Budget deficits 6. Weakening currency 7. Poor health system
Bet the EU is regretting letting us into the euro now. What a corrupt little country we are. Fintan O'Toole states it best.
There were two possible conclusions that any rational investor could have drawn. One was that cooking the books is illegal, but that the authorities were rushing to protect a well-got banker with strong connections to the ruling party. The other was that naked deception is perfectly legal in Ireland and that you can’t trust any accounts published here. It is not easy to say which conclusion is more damaging, but either way the consequences were bound to be disastrous.
And they were. The Independent newspaper of London reported: “Analysts were also stunned that the practice was not illegal in Ireland.” The Financial Times called Ireland a banana republic. The description in 2005 by the New York Times of Dublin as “the Wild West of European finance” was widely revived. Whatever shred of credibility the Irish banking system still had was torn apart. The nationalisation of Anglo Irish, with a potential doubling of the national debt, became inevitable.
We have to understand that the “reputational damage” that has caused this crisis is not merely to the banks – it is to our entire system of governance. Once the Government locked itself in, apparently by accident, to the message that FitzPatrick broke no laws, our legal system became, from the point of view of international investors, a joke.
We are an international joke. We are lucky that the EU doesn't just kick us out of the euro. Despite the idiotic mumbling of some, it would be suicidal to leave the euro. Might as well write the country off.
Sssh. Be careful what you say. Be careful what you let slip out. It's in the national interest. And if you do bad mouth the government or the economy, it will become all your fault; at least according to Cowen. Our Dear Leader has sent some letters to opposition parties asking them not to be the chief meanies of meaner town.
The Taoiseach, Brian Cowen, has sent letters to the leaders of the opposition warning about the damage that could be caused by making rash comments on the banking crisis.
Listen lads, let's not make things worse by actually telling the truth or admitting what utter scum bags we are.
Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny and Labour Party leader Eamon Gilmore received the letters last night in advance of today's debate in the Dáil on the nationalisation of Anglo Irish Bank.
Seems that Cowen is pulling both the Dubya manoeuvre and the true spirit of communism, the "if you're not with us..." and "solidarity baby".
Mr Cowen is warning that anyone speaking about the banking situation should consider how their comments might impact on the national interest.
He is insisting that the measures taken by the Government are designed solely to boost confidence and stability in the banking system and suggestions of ulterior motives could trigger a further loss of confidence in banking institutions.
Don't you dare question anyone's motives? Fianna Fail [sic] is as pure as the driven snow. We work purely in the national interest. It is certainly not that we don't want journos or opposition parties nosing around our dirty laundry, oh no! It's all in the national interest. We swears it master, on the precious.
Mr Gilmore, however, has insisted that the opposition is not undermining the national interest and the Taoiseach should pay more attention to the damage caused by his own Government's mishandling of the situation.
Yes to this.
Memo to Mr Gilmore and Mr Kenny - seize the day, cos your parties will never be in a better position to show their leadership potential. To be frank, if you can't rally public opinion now, you better resign because the people of Ireland need some competent politicians. Seriously.
The troika of Cowen, Lenihan and Coughlan are trying to rule through fear but embarrassingly enough, they fail and reveal their transparent motives. Information control through WWII-era propaganda?
You are responsible for this economic and social mess. You will clean it up or resign, MinisterCowen. Do the job that the Irish people re paying you to do.
How does a country go from the Celtic Tiger to almost bankrupt? How can the ruling political party disavow responsibility when they have been continuously in power since 1997? Fianna Fáil has been in power for twelve years. That political party has presided over public spending during the boom years.
Charlie McCreevy, Brian Cowen and Brian Lenihan have been Ministers for Finance during the good years. Now Charlie is shipped off to Europe, Cowen is the Dear Leader and Lenihan is stuck in finance and, god knows, it's not his strong suit.
At least he's in a prime position to help out his buddies, even if he has to throw the country under a bus to do so. It is truly amazing that housing developments lie empty across the country yet the property developers don't seem that affected.
With water cascades, a Japanese garden, triplex penthouses and a chance to live in Ireland’s tallest residential building, a €2m Leeside penthouse in Cork city’s Elysian apartment complex was billed as the ultimate in Celtic tiger living. But four months after units in the 17-storey development officially came on the market, just one person has taken up residence in the €150m complex.
The Elysian was backed by a considerable marketing campaign. It featured in TV3’s The Apprentice, in which contestants competed to design a television commercial for Michael O’Flynn, the complex’s developer. However, even that publicity did not help to shift units.
This is the story all over the country. Vast property developments stand finished but empty. These must be costing the developers a pretty penny. And yet four of the five major property developers have not got bust. How is this possible? Could it be that the developers have friends in high places? Friends that are willing to nationalise banks to ensure the financial security of property developers?
The Minister for Finance Brian Lenihan has told the Dáil the nationalisation of Anglo Irish Bank is necessary to address a 'systemic threat' in the banking sector.
TDs and Senators are debating the legislation to nationalise Anglo Irish this afternoon. The Government wants the bill passed into law by this evening.
Introducing the Bill, Mr Lenihan said Anglo Irish presented a 'particular problem'. He said concerns about corporate governance and the concentration of its lending to the building sector exposed the bank.
The Minister said taking Anglo into state ownership would have no immediate impact on the general Government debt or current deficit. He said there was enough money - €7 billion - within Anglo Irish to take the strain of loan losses over the next three or four years.
Oh right, Anglo Irish is a 'particular problem'. What is that problem, again? Is is that we might bankrupt the poor developers who have finished picking the last of the meat from the carcass of the Celtic Tiger?
Anglo Irish wasn't picky with its loans either. It lent to developers outside Ireland and even outside the EU. Why were Israelis getting property loans from Anglo Irish to buy apartments in New York? Why is the Irish economy now dependent on the decision of a foreign, religious court? Was it corruption or incompetence?
Our Minister for Finance just put the cost of the developers excesses and the moronic financial decisions of the corrupt administrators of Anglo Irish on my back, on your back, on the bank of every taxpayer in the country.
Anglo Irish Bank looks set to give up to €6.3bn in new loans to property developers and other customers for pending deals, despite the weakened funding position that forced the government to nationalise the bank last Thursday.
If drawn down in full, the loans will force Anglo – and now the government – either to raise more money in deposits or source new funding on the capital markets to cover the commitments.
Industry sources also said it wasn't certain how much of the €6.3bn could get called down, as many of Anglo's customers – especially property developers – have been putting deals on hold or pulling out entirely due to cash problems.
What are the odds that the public will never know the full extent of the wheeling and dealing? I'm writing to all my TDs to get information. And I'm thinking of asking the EU to provide some oversight.
Why couldn't the government just liquidise Anglo Irish? If developers fucked up then they should have to pay the piper. Morgan Kelly has the right idea,
YESTERDAY’S CATASTROPHIC collapse of Irish bank shares stems directly from the Government’s proposal to nationalise Anglo Irish Bank. With the Government’s finances already buckling under the collapse of our bubble economy, financial markets began to fear that with the added burden of Anglo’s debt, the Irish State cannot afford to finance itself, let alone support the remaining national banks.
Facing the imminent collapse of the national financial system, the Government needs to perform a ruthless triage. The worthwhile banks need to be maintained by any means necessary, including nationalisation, while Anglo Irish and Irish Nationwide must be allowed to collapse.
Today Lenihan declared that AIB and BOI would not be nationalised in the event of a crisis.
The Government will ensure AIB and Bank of Ireland are not nationalised and will proceed with a planned recapitalisation, the Minister for Finance told the Dáil this afternoon.
During a debate on legislation to provide for the nationalisation of Anglo Irish Bank, Brian Lenihan said the Government’s “firm intention is that both banks [AIB and Bank of Ireland] remain in private ownership”.
Shares in Irish banking stocks have suffered further heavy falls today with AIB losing a third of its value following a 60 per cent fall in the value of its share price yesterday.
Mr Lenihan said the decision to nationalise Anglo Irish was taken because of the very serious disruption its collapse would have caused the financial system, due to its “systematic importance”.
Well the developers don't bank in AIB or BOI so sure let them collapse.
Ah yes, the thievery and corruption is exposed. The former chairman Seán FitzPatrick transferred the bulk of €87 million of loans/debts to another bank each year while the auditors were doing their job. After they had finished and given Anglo the ok, back the loans would flow.
The upshot of this is that instead of injecting €1.5 billion to save Anglo, the government is turning red. Why they have suddenly departed from the save-our-crony with a bailout is unclear especially with prominent economists arguing in its favour.
A paper by TCD economist Patrick Honohan on the banking crisis argued that capital injections in the banks were a prerequisite for recovery. The financial regulator needed to decide now which banks had systemic importance to the economy – in other words, are “too big to fail”, and which are “zombie” banks.
Luckily, Taoiseach Cowen is off in Japan begging the Japanese to import Irish beef to boost the economy and doesn't have to listen to those pesky reporters asking awkward questions. How very convenient.
Madam, – Brian Cowen says it will be “business as usual” at Anglo Irish Bank. Surely he can’t mean this literally? – Yours, etc,
AIDAN FEIGHERY, Dun Laoghaire, Co Dublin.
Madam, – Now that you and I are part-owners of Anglo Irish Bank, I wonder if you could let me know which is the appropriate Government Department to approach for a no-strings-attached, interest-free and fully concealable loan of approximately €87 million? – Yours, etc,
JONATHAN SHANKEY, Lally Road, Dublin 10.
Madam, – I note, in the light of the nationalisation of Anglo Irish Bank, that the Minister for Finance, as 100 per cent shareholder, is now the sponsor of the forthcoming Anglo Irish Bank Supreme Novices Hurdle at the Cheltenham Festival 2009.
The festival is usually seen as leisure time for the hard-pressed financial and construction sector, but given the reality of Minster Lenihan’s call for patriotic action, should this sponsorship not now be cancelled? Is is appropriate for a state company in the light of the wider economic reality? Listed runners for the race include Honest John, Endless Intrigue, Do Less Than Me, Conflict of Interest and Touch of Irish. – Yours, etc,
Cllr JOE RYAN, Cromwellsfort Drive, Wexford Town.
Madam, – If Bertie the socialist was still Taoiseach, wouldn’t all the banks be nationalised at this stage? – Yours, etc,
Dr JACK McGINLEY, Pearse Street, Dublin 2.
Madam, – The State now owns Anglo-Irish Bank. Anglo-Irish Bank owns land and property which are held as security for loans that may never be repaid. Is there now any good reason we should continue to have a social housing waiting list or people homeless (both of which have doubled during the Celtic Tiger years)? – Yours, etc,
Fr PETER McVERRY SJ, Jesuit Centre for Faith and Justice, Upper Sherrard St, Dublin 1.
I'm going to drop in to my local branch for my daily coffee from now on. After all, a nationalised bank belongs to all the people. Perhaps I'll help myself to a stapler or two while I'm at it.
While Sean Dunne might be a financial scumbag who screwed the country to maximise his profits, it seems wrong to publish what he said at 3am in a pub after getting totally hammered. I think it's related to the issue of consent. Did the alcohol affect Dunne's discretion? Does Dunne have any discretion? Is it ok to quote someone under the influence? The NYT seems to think so. I think it's a scumbag move.
It’s 3 a.m. at Doheny & Nesbitt, a favorite watering hole of Dublin’s political and business elite, and the property tycoon Sean Dunne stoops to retrieve a penny from the pub’s grimy floor.
One would think that Mr. Dunne, Ireland’s best-known building developer, would be in bed at this hour. It’s a weeknight, after all, and he has meetings that begin before first light.
What’s more, the Irish economy, pummeled by the most severe housing bust in Europe, has collapsed. And the gossip around town is that Mr. Dunne, whose brazen deal-making and Donald Trump-like lifestyle epitomized the country’s euphoric boom, might be going bankrupt.
But, no matter, a penny is a penny.
“I am never, never too proud to pick a penny up from the floor,” Mr. Dunne said. He is on perhaps his fifth pint of Guinness, capping a rollicking night of Champagne cocktails, followed by a wine-soaked dinner — yet his thick brogue is clear of even the faintest slurring.
“I grew up with nothing and I know the value of money,” he adds. “The Celtic Tiger may be dead and if the banking crisis continues I could be considered insolvent. But the one thing that I have is my wife and children — that they can’t take away from me.”
