Voters sceptical of claims parties can renegotiate rescue deal

VOTERS in Cork South Central are pessimistic about the chances of renegotiating the terms and conditions of the EU-IMF bailout.

Fine Gael and Labour have insisted they would seek to renegotiate the bailout if returned to power, saying it represents a “bad deal” for Ireland.

But the poll shows that a majority of people in the constituency are sceptical of such claims.

More than three in five people — 61% — said they did not believe a new government would be able to renegotiate the terms of the bailout.

Just 27% said they did believe renegotiation was possible.

The remainder were classified as “don’t knows”.

The bailout — and whether or not it can be changed — has become one of the central issues of the election campaign alongside the economy and jobs.

In its manifesto published yesterday, Fine Gael stated: “Fine Gael believes that the IMF-EU bailout deal has not and will not restore investor confidence in our country, and must therefore be renegotiated to reduce the interest rate and to ensure a fairer sharing of the cost of fixing Ireland’s broken banks.

“The current deal is bad for Ireland — and bad for Europe.”

Similarly, in its manifesto published last week, Labour promised to “put jobs and growth first”, adding: “That means renegotiating the EU-IMF deal to include a jobs strategy, to share the debt burden with bondholders, to reduce the interest rate, and to leave room for Ireland’s economy to grow.”

Fianna Fáil, however, takes a very different line in its manifesto, as to be expected given that the party negotiated the deal.

“In government, Fianna Fáil will meet this country’s obligations under the EU-IMF Programme,” the manifesto states.

However, while making clear its view that the deal cannot be ripped up unilaterally, Fianna Fáil states that a reduction might be feasible to the interest rates charged for the money being loaned to Ireland under the deal.

“Governments from the 17 euro area and the 27 EU member states are expected to agree a comprehensive package of reforms to the rescue funds by end-March,” its manifesto adds.

This broadly tallies with the view in the European Commission.

EU Economics Commissioner Olli Rehn raised the prospect this week of an agreement being reached on the “pricing policy”, or interest rates, at next month’s summit.

However, Mr Rehn made clear that this could be done only in the context of an EU-wide agreement.

“If there will be any changes to the pricing policy, which I personally support and the commission supports, it will take place for the overall European reasons, not specifically because of electoral statements in Ireland,” the commissioner added.