Behind the handshakes we have very few friends in EU

Ajai Chopra, former IMF reviewer for Ireland, has said it was unfair for Irish taxpayers to suffer the cost of bailing out the banks when senior bondholders got their money back.

We know this to be true, particularly in the case of Anglo Irish Bank and Irish Nationwide, both which ultimately proved not to be of systemic importance to the Irish banking system. Yet their creditors were paid in full.

Then we had EC President Jose Manuel Barroso addressing a news conference saying it was our entire fault. It didn’t take long for our masters in the EU to begin rewriting history; well I suppose that is what the victors do, for there can be little doubt that Ireland are the losers.

In his mostly vitriolic speech he lambasted Ireland and blamed much of the EU’s woes on us. Not once did he mention that most of the so-called ‘bailout’ went towards paying reckless banks on the Continent and in the US. Behind all the smiles and handshakes we have very few friends in the EU.

John Bellew

Paughanstown

Dunleer

Co Louth