Draw line in the sand over promissory loan

Eamon Ó Cuív has got it exactly right. We are not looking for a bail out or a dig out for the Anglo promissory loan; rather we are looking for what is fair and equitable.

Reckless European banks lent recklessly to Irish banks who lent recklessly to Irish developers and ordinary citizens who relied on those banks getting at least the fundamentals of lending policy right. They did not, and while the ECB may not have had direct control over banking, it had oversight of the system and let a huge property bubble grow throughout Europe.

The Anglo promissory loan was a dastardly deal done at a dastardly time when we were asked to save the European banking system from crisis and collapse. We did and are doing, our bit. Rightly, when lender and borrower act recklessly, they should carry any loss equally, as has now happened for some Greek loans.

So Enda, we are looking to be bribed, not in the sense of getting something for nothing, nor a Greece-like bailout, nor even for European solidarity sake which we now know exists in name only, but in fairness and equity. The Anglo promissory loan should be restructured to a low interest (1.5%) bond repayable in 30 years or within 30 years, such that our economy can rise phoenix-like and prove those in the IMF, which believes it can be done, right. If Enda Kenny wants to achieve this via a side deal, so be it, so long as it is done.

The time has come to draw the line in the sand.

Kevin T Finn

Mitchelstown

Co Cork