Bank debt scandal - We’ve been too weak for far too long

It is almost an article of faith that a long, ultra-patient game is the best way to convince the EU and the ECB to reduce or, God forbid, cancel the €64bn private debt imposed on taxpayers to cover failed banking investments and to steady what was a staggering euro.

This debt, and we must never forget this or let Europe forget it, had nothing to do with us. It came about because private money risked by private investors in private banks was lost. Had the bet been profitable every trick in the executive-lounge game book would have been stretched to illegality to minimise payments to the exchequer now expected to rescue those who got it so very wrong.

It is hard to think of a peacetime imposition on a small country, especially one assured that its interests are best served by being part of the community of nations that imposes the horrific burden, that is as dishonest, as unjust, or, simply, as immoral.

It is modern Ireland’s great tragedy that we — the fighting Irish — have so supinely accepted the normalisation of this re-colonisation, this re-conquest by economic rather than military means. That it has been done by those who characterise themselves as our friends just adds great insult to the everyday immorality.

Lest anyone think this view is tinged with a green bias, it is not. In his book, European Spring, Philippe Legrain records: “Eurozone policymakers, notably ECB president Jean–Claude Trichet, outrageously blackmailed the Irish government into making good on its guarantee, by threatening to cut off liquidity… in effect, threatening to force it out of the euro.” Lest you imagine Legrain a radical of any colour, he was, until earlier this year, leader of the strategic policy advisers working for European Commission president José Manuel Barroso.

So there it is from a top-table insider… the imposition was a bully-boy shakedown or, if that characterisation offends your pro-European sensibilities, a strong-arm squeeze from a Euro Don for what amounts to little more than protection money.

In the last week unprecedented numbers of Europeans have, through the ballot box, expressed a growing disgust with the institutions of the EU and their remoteness. In some countries, especially Britain and France, that discontent is almost at the point that some kind of unravelling might be expected. Yet, in Ireland, where eurosceptic voices are barely audible, Taoiseach Enda Kenny and Finance Minister Michael Noonan persist with a softly-softly approach to resolving this immoral debt crisis. Their deference, their inside-the-tent negotiations have, to date, largely failed. They have assured us all time again that patience will be rewarded. The seismic changes across Europe brought by last week’s elections are an indication of what happens when patience runs out. If Mr Kenny and Mr Noonan reach the next general election without resolving this issue they, and their colleagues who would hope to succeed them, can expect the sternest of judgements.

In less than two weeks, the World Cup begins in Brazil. Had we qualified, thousands of Irish supporters would chant themselves hoarse, assuring the world that “you’ll never beat the Irish”. The reality is that, on the bank debt scandal, the ECB does it every single day.

We, our Government, our Taoiseach and our finance minister and those other small member countries susceptible to the EU’s and the ECB’s bureaucrat bullies have been far too weak for far too long on this issue. It’s time to demand a resolution to this outrage and if that makes the sky fall in, then so be it.