Kenny plans to address nation ahead of budget

TAOISEACH Enda Kenny has announced that he intends to make a state of the nation-style address on TV before the budget to inform people of the position of the country’s finances.

The Government has come under fire in recent days over the repayment of $1 billion to Anglo bondholders and in light of Greece’s intention to hold a referendum on its latest bailout deal.

Failure to repay what amounts to €715 million would open a “second front” on the euro which “could bring the whole thing down”, Minister for Finance Michael Noonan said yesterday.

Mr Noonan said Irish people would have to “grit their teeth” and put up with it because “to default takes us over the edge of the cliff”.

He said Greece’s shock referendum announcement put “a spanner in the works” of efforts to resolve the eurozone crisis.

As Greek premier George Papandreou prepared to meet German and French leaders, Mr Noonan said: “The sooner clarity is restored, the better for us all.”

He said the decision to repay the Anglo bondholders was “the lesser of two evils”, and not doing so would place the euro in further difficulty.

“I am not prepared to put the Irish people or this House in that position and I take that responsibility,” he said.

Earlier, Taoiseach Enda Kenny dismissed calls in the Dáil to prevent Anglo paying senior unsecured bonds.

Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin said Mr Kenny had made a “solemn promise” not to give any more money to the banks, adding: “Your words mean nothing here.”

The Taoiseach responded: “It has not been possible for this government to unravel the agreement that was made by your government.”

Minister for Agriculture Simon Coveney said the Cabinet discussed all options and ministers “haven’t signed off on this lightly”.

“We had repeated discussions on this issue and the feeling of ministers was if we could possibly avoid this payment we should,” said Mr Coveney.

He said the payment would “infuriate people” and “everybody would love to see the bondholders burnt and we’d love to oblige them”. It was a “galling day for Ireland” and for the Cabinet, he added, but the consequences of not paying would be worse.

The repayment to bondholders sparked angry debate in the Dáil, when Sinn Féin and independent TDs walked out in protest.

The Anglo repayment came as the latest Exchequer figures showed a deficit of €22.2bn so far this year — up €14.4bn from the same period last year because of bank recapitalisation.