Fine Gael hasn’t saved the country
Anyone who watched the Irish banking crisis unfold will recall that the government, whether it was Fianna Fáil or Fine Gael, were like stunned rabbits throughout proceedings and it was Department of Finance realpolitik who orchestrated events, created NAMA and stabilised liquidity.
The Troika played a significant role too as did the people of Ireland through taxes and cuts.
The combined profit contribution of the banking and financial services sector was €7.1 billion in 2015. Meanwhile, the Irish Central Bank, since 2009 has made a staggering €8 billion in profits.
Banking investigations and enquiries have not told us anything we didn’t already know and the banks are still being managed in the same old way.
And it looks like the latest banking enquiry report is being used for political gain to tell us again how bad Fianna Fáil was and to help copper-fasten a FG victory. Meanwhile, international economist Joseph Stiglitz has warned that Ireland’s “recovery” is not set in stone: “What is still clear with Ireland... even with your 7% growth, GDP per capita is lower than it was in 2007-8”.
So, we’ve not really moved that far forward since 2008. It’s a pig in a poke.
