Sutherland’s intervention will bolster Kenny’s case

FORMER EU commissioner and current chairman of Goldman Sachs’ overseas arm, Peter Sutherland, wants the EU to review the terms of Ireland’s bailout package on the grounds it could be totally counter productive.

Sutherland, who is also a former attorney general in a previous Fine Gael-led coalition government, said money lent to states following breaches of the agreed limits on budget deficits had to carry some penalty “but should not amount to an unduly punitive sanction like it does now”.

His comments were made in a column he wrote earlier this week for the Financial Times and anticipated yesterday’s face-to-face between Enda Kenny and his European counterparts in Brussels.