Pallbearers arrive to remove our profligate corpse

THE squandering of our sovereignty is an outrageous betrayal of national trust that has taken just eight years to accomplish.

Brian Cowen and his cabinet must think the electorate live in a fool’s paradise when they blather to them that they are “not looking for a bailout” from the EU, ECB and the IMF on the basis that the country is fully funded for the next six months. They have no choice in the matter. The financial pallbearers and embalmers have arrived and they are in an extraordinarily strong position to impose their will on profligate Ireland, its feckless leaders and their delusionary advisers.

80% of Ireland’s net national debt of close to €90bn is borrowed from foreigners — an amazing feat in a country which boasts the eighth highest per capita GDP in the world, according to the IMF.

A further €50bn, at least, is needed next year, of which €33bn is required to cover the spiralling and unascertainable bank losses which have spooked markets, tarnished our national reputation and undermined the credibility of the Central Bank Commission, within six weeks of its inauguration, and that of the Department of Finance which never seems capable of providing accurate projected data on anything.

All of this additional borrowing must come from foreign sources because indigenous resources have been squandered on welfare, subsidies, handouts, a dysfunctional national health service, unwanted hotels and ghost housing estates giving rise to an exchequer deficit in the past decade of more than €52bn. Japan, in comparison, is second in indebtedness to Zimbabwe with a national debt/GDP ratio of close to 200%. But 95% of Japanese sovereign bonds are owned by Japanese people who, incidentally, also own 20% of the US national debt.

The integrity of Japanese sovereignty is intact while Ireland faces the prospect of celebrating a centenary of nationhood a humiliated pauper, beggared and stripped of effective independence and afflicted with a leadership that is devoid of vision, pride, prudence foresight and discipline.

Myles Duffy

Glenageary

Co Dublin