Cowen vows to write ‘any cheque’ to rescue banks

By Paul O’Brien Political Correspondent

Wednesday, July 15, 2009

THE Government has to write whatever cheques are necessary to rescue the banks, Taoiseach Brian Cowen has said.

"You write whatever cheques you have to write in the interests of maintaining the financial stability of the state," he said.

Mr Cowen also insisted most people would be okay even if living standards fell back to 2004 or 2005 levels.

As the Central Bank predicted continued job losses on a massive scale, the Taoiseach urged people to see things "in proportion".

"If people can reflect back on where they were in 2004 and 2005 or whatever, and say, you know, it wasn’t a bad place to be at that time… That’s the way we have to think about this."

Speaking on NewsTalk radio’s The Breakfast Show, Mr Cowen said this was the only way the country would recover.

"We are going to have to go back to standards of living of five or six years ago in order to come again in the future, and if we don’t do that, then we put all of what we’ve gained at risk."

Mr Cowen downplayed talks of a cabinet reshuffle and admitted Fianna Fáil has little chance of winning a by-election in Donegal South West in the current climate. Even though the constituency is now under-represented, he said the by-election would not be held in the near future. Asked why, he responded: "Because I don’t think it’s in my interests."

He insisted the Government would be proceeding with the National Assets Management Agency (NAMA), its proposal to restore the banks to health.

"If you didn’t have a NAMA, to what extent would the banking system be able to survive in this country? In my opinion, it wouldn’t be able to survive."

This story appeared in the printed version of the Irish Examiner Wednesday, July 15, 2009