Kenny: Not paying €1.25bn would trigger a catastrophe
The Taoiseach said the country had no alternative as withholding the money would trigger a Greek-style “catastrophe” and collapse of public services.
“To say you don’t pay is nonsensical,” Enda Kenny told the Dáil.
He was forced to admit he did not know the names of the people being given the money after Sinn Féin’s Gerry Adams insisted: “People have a right to know who you are giving their money to.”
The Taoiseach said they had changed hands many times since being issued.
“I do not have a list of names. I am quite sure that those who are in possession of these bonds… that their names have changed quite considerably since they first acquired them.”
Mr Adams accused the Taoiseach of incompetence and said the payment was shameful in light of cut backs in frontline health and education services.
Tánaiste Eamon Gilmore branded the Anglo payment a “sickener” as he again insisted the Government had no choice but to go through with it.
Michael Noonan, the finance minister, said not paying would hurt the country more as it would provoke international retaliation against Ireland.
“All along we have been told by the ECB the consequences would be serious if we did not pay.
“Nobody likes doing it, but it is worth noting first of all that it’s not an additional charge for the Government.
“It comes from what happened in the last government when they decided in the first instance to guarantee the banks and secondly, to nationalise Anglo Irish Bank.”
Mr Kenny said the Government was not looking for any write-off in respect of debts owed to the IMF and EU. “We have paid our way and will pay our way,” he told TDs, as he insisted ministers were working with the ECB to getting a better deal on the Anglo promissory notes set to cost the country €30bn over the next 10 years.
Mr Kenny said not paying the Anglo money would make getting a deal on the promissory notes harder.
Justice Minister Alan Shatter said the country needed to stay on the right side of the money markets if it was to secure loans in the future. “Defaulting on this debt could do substantial damage to our capacity to essentially escape from dependence on funding from the IMF and the ECB, we need to get back into the markets. Meeting this obligation is a very clear sign that this state can be relied upon to pay its debts.”
What €1.25bn could pay for:
* A student nurse’s or student midwive’s salary for 95,560 years
* A carer’s allowance for one person for 122,549 years
* Almost the equivalent of all health service cuts for 2011 and this year
* Jobseeker’s allowance rate for one person for 132,978 years
* 21 National Aquatic Centres
