ECB veto letter - The power of commerce

If a letter from the European Central Bank telling the late Brian Lenihan that senior bondholders could not be burnt exists then it should be published.

Far too much secrecy surrounds the collapse of our economy and especially the fateful bank guarantee. The call to publish, from Fianna Fáil’s finance spokesperson, Michael McGrath, might be easier to welcome if proper records of how a decision on the bank guarantee had been reached by his party colleagues were available.

Nevertheless, and despite some reservations, the publication of such a letter would underline the power commerce wields over government and hopefully provoke reforms designed to reassert the control of society over international bankers and the ruthless interests they represent.