Debt audit criticises bondholder secrecy

THE secrecy surrounding the identity of bondholders lending to both the state and the banks has been criticised in a new report by an accounting and finance lecturer in the University of Limerick.

Dr Sheila Killian said there has been “constructive ambiguity” or “fudging” surrounding the bank bailout.

In a report, An Audit of Irish Debt, published on a left-wing website claims to provide an explanation of the €92 billion in debt for which taxpayers have become responsible. It states that 99.74% of the debt registers is occupied by Euroclear, an international clearing house in Brussels which “maintains a register of nominee accounts that does not reveal the identity of investors holding Irish Government bonds”.

Finance Minister Michael Noonan recently told the Dáil that the identity of the holders of the balancing 0.26% of government bonds is “treated as confidential”.

However, the Central Bank does gather basic information “from indirect sources” on the residence of Government bondholders, which shows that non-Irish residents hold 82% of long-term debt. The report gathers information from a range of newspaper articles and Dáil records, as well as financial data.

The Unite trade union, which commissioned the research, said it unveiled a “shady complexity that lies behind the actual ownership of Irish debt”. It said Ireland is “acting as a roulette wheel for the world’s largest financial gamblers” as a result of secondary trading on sovereign debt.

The report is also supported by NGOs Action from Ireland and Debt and Development Coalition Ireland. It will soon be available to view on nodebt.ie, a website of left-wing campaigners for a referendum on repaying bank debt, sponsored by socialist councillors Declan Bree and Ciaran Perry, artist Robert Ballagh.