‘Worst fears confirmed’ for protesters

The spokesman for the “Ballyhea Says No” movement has described the dramatic events of the past few days as “our worst fears confirmed” and said it was time for Irish people to take to the streets in mass protest.

The Ballyhea protest marked its 100th week last month and this Sunday a march will take place in Charleville to reiterate its opposition to continuing payments to unsecured bondholders and the promissory note.

Yesterday, organiser Diarmuid O’Flynn said the signing into law of the Irish Bank Resolution Corporation Bill 2013 had been “too late” and the deal on the promissory notes had “solidified” the debt that this and future generations would have to pay.

“It is our worst fear confirmed. We wanted to see the end of IBRC and see it done years ago when they still had billions [worth] of senior unsecured bondholders. We wanted to see the end of the promissory note and what we have seen now is the solidification of that. From the very beginning we have said there needs to be debt writedown — not an extension.”

He described the Reuters report on Wednesday and the leak which led to it as “very sinister” and said: “I think this whole thing has been orchestrated by the ECB. It has changed from debt we owed to ourselves to now government bonds that we owe to the ECB. This suits nobody but the ECB.

Hundreds marched in Ballyhea in North Cork last month to mark the 100th protest and organisers have been calling for similar events to spring up in other towns around the country in response to the ongoing debt issue.

Yesterday Mr O’Flynn said the Government had been “undermined” by the ECB but had also sold the Irish people “up the swanee”, adding: “We are being handed on a plate by the government to the ECB.

“How much has our actual debt been reduced by? How much burden-sharing will there be with the banks, instead of burden-sharing with our future generations? What people have to do now is take to the streets.”

Picture: Diarmuid O’Flynn wants mass protests on streets