Noonan warns against ‘very high price’ of default

THE spectre of people starving to death or reduced to rummaging in bins for food has been used by Finance Minister Michael Noonan to warn against Ireland defaulting.

Mr Noonan insisted painting default as a “soft option” was highly misleading as he pointed to experiences elsewhere.

“I remember when Argentina defaulted and it wiped out the savings of every middle-class family in Argentina. And they were searching the rubbish bins to try and feed their kids. People who never had a poor day in their lives were in penury and they got totally wiped out.