Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)

The Taoiseach said last week that the European Union deal was unique to Greece, would not harm Ireland and cause no damage. Despite the pre-election promises of Fine Gael and the Labour Party on the burning of bank bondholders, they subsequently did nothing about them. Although they had spent months promising the people that they would burn bank bondholders, the Taoiseach did not even put the issue on the negotiating table. This was in sharp contrast with Fine Gael's pre-election promises and the commitments made by him and the Minister for Finance, Deputy Noonan, in regard to what it would do in the Government's first 100 days in office.

In June the Minister for Finance announced in New York that the Government did not intend to give another cent to the banks, without burden sharing with senior bondholders. He described Anglo Irish Bank as a warehouse as it received no deposits and gave out no loans. These bank bondholders were not part of the EU-IMF deal or any bank guarantee, yet the Government is planning to sign-off on a payment to them today of €775 million. It is worth pointing out that it was Fine Gael's and the Labour Party's promises to burn these bondholders that drove down the price of the bonds. The investors who bought them will have doubled their money in the past nine months on the basis of the commitments given by Fine Gael and the Labour Party. The Government can hardly complain about speculators making money on these bonds when it was its empty promises that drove down their price and created the opportunity to make these gains. Last December, the Minister for Finance, Deputy Noonan, spoke about the obscene situation in which the poorest of the poor, through taxes and welfare cuts, were being asked to guarantee the speculation of investors in hedge funds and he declared that Ireland has no moral or legal obligation to cover this debt, yet this is exactly what he intends to do today.

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