DONEGAL TD Pearse Doherty TD says he is shocked at the latest Irish Independent revelations – and wants answers from Fianna Fail over how they handled Anglo Irish Bank.
“The latest revelations beg the question that everyone is asking: why did the Fianna Fáil-Green Party government persist with bailing out bondholders when even the the executives of this bust bank, Anglo Irish, were suggesting burning them?” said Doherty.
“Sinn Féin, at the time, was calling repeatedly for the government to step up and save the taxpayers from the burden of this debt, but was being accused of engaging in “fairytale” economics. This week the EU adopted the burning of bondholders as the default position to take when banks fail.
“The latest revelations in the Anglo tapes show that even David Drumm was preparing to burn bondholders to the tune of €9 billion, which we must remember would account for the cuts imposed on working people in three austerity budgets.”
The tapes reveal that David Drumm believed he had the backing of the Central Bank and the Department of Finance to offer bondholders a 50 per cent bond buyback.
They also reveal that the government-appointed new chief executive of the bank, Alan Dukes, was aware of the counsel of government advisor, Merrill Lynch to let Anglo go under.
“Really, it is time for Micheál Martin to stand up in the Dáil and explain how come while he was in cabinet, the Fianna Fáil-Green government persisted in bailing out the bondholders. And, the current government, which pledged “not another red cent” for Anglo bondholders before the election have not protected the citizens from this crisis caused by the likes of the men we hear on these tapes and those who gambled with them,” said Doherty, Sinn Fein’s finance spokesman.
“Fianna Fáil has been claiming for the past two years that the party has learned its lessons, but still has not come clean about the banking crisis. People are suffering for this. They deserve to know.”
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