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Breaking stories
Kenny accuses Cowen and FF of Anglo ‘cover-up’
By Paul O’Brien and Mary Regan
FINE Gael leader Enda Kenny has claimed Taoiseach Brian Cowen and Fianna Fáil are involved in a continuing “cover-up” of dealings at Anglo Irish Bank.
With the Dáil resuming today following its Easter break, Mr Kenny gave a clear signal as to where Fine Gael’s focus would lie for the coming term – pinning responsibility for the banking collapse and subsequent bailout on Mr Cowen.Speaking at a function in Dublin last night, Mr Kenny said there was a “culture of cover-up” at Anglo and linked Mr Cowen and Fianna Fáil to it.
Fine Gael has argued that Anglo should negotiate with its bond-holders so that these investors bear some of the losses incurred by the bank by writing down what they are owed.
But the Government has refused to countenance this, and is instead pumping billions of taxpayers’ money into the bank in a bid to restore its balance sheet to health, he said.
Mr Kenny said the cost of including Anglo in the bank guarantee scheme and providing cover for all the professional investors who speculated on the bank “is astronomical”.
He called on the Taoiseach to publish the names of the bondholders, saying this would “introduce a degree of transparency that has been missing”.
Refusal to do so would mean “continuing the tradition of denial, half truths and spin that has misled and angered the Irish people to date”, he added.
“We know Brian Cowen and Fianna Fáil had, and have, a close relationship with Anglo. What we need to know now is who have they committed the taxpayer to bailing out?” Mr Kenny said.
“Fianna Fáil and Brian Cowen cannot continue to cover up the cosy relationships that lie at the heart of the bailout of Anglo Irish Bank and its faceless, nameless bondholders.”
But the Taoiseach has already rejected accusations that the Government’s actions to rescue Anglo were motivated by a desire to protect “friends of Fianna Fáil”.
Mr Kenny also criticised the €1.5m pension top-up to Bank of Ireland chief executive Richie Boucher.
“With hundreds of thousands of public sector workers being encouraged to adopt a new pay deal with no pay increases for four years, the payment of this €1.5m top-up sends all the wrong messages and should be blocked,” he said.
Environment Minister and Green Party leader John Gormley admitted the top-up sent out the “wrong signal” but said the Government was powerless to prevent it.