Ordinary citizens pay for greed of a few

THE NAMA bailout, for that is what it is, allows bankers and developers to escape the consequences of their actions by imposing a huge burden on future generations in order to pay for more than a decade of stupidity fuelled by greed on the part of a select few who benefited hugely from the so-called Celtic Tiger.

The actions of a number of bankers – facilitated by political cronies – have been described, correctly, as criminal in their reckless disregard for the consequences of those actions. How many of them will even see the inside of a courtroom, not to mind a prison cell? How many will even be required to repay their ill-gotten gains? Now that ordinary taxpayers have been saddled with a mountain of debt for years to come, will the financial institutions that are being bailed out at their expense show some compassion when mortgage-holders run into difficulties meeting their repayments?

I somehow think the banks will not lift a finger to help them. I wonder how those bankers and others can sleep easy because, with the burden they have to carry, ordinary people certainly cannot do so.