Irish governments allowed the vulture funds to evict tenants
During the economic crash, the banks ran crying to the late Brian Lenihan, who was then finance minister, and asked him for billions, because they were going to go ‘bust’. Brian was minded to say ‘no’, but he had flashbacks of Gerry Collins crying on RTÉ, asking for someone not to ‘bust-up’ the party, and he got confused and, in the end, buckled.
When he wobbled, the banks got Jean Claude from the ECB to phone Brian.
The Irish taxpayer was to pay to the banks whatever number of billions the banks told the minister were required.
This, in turn, would be given to the various bondholders to pay off the capital the banks had borrowed to pass out as personal loans, overdrafts, mortgages and credit cards, but the bank customer, whose debt the taxpayer had just paid off to the bondholder, would still be required to service their loan to the last cent.
While taxpayers would pay more tax to cover the bailout, the banks would keep the right to sell-on that loan (even though the taxpayer had just paid it off) to the highest vulture-fund bidder. This bidder could then change the mortgage rate at will, or serve notice to evict to sitting tenants, regardless of whether or not they had always paid their rent, so that the property could be sold on at profit.
The vulture fund didn’t want to be a landlord; they wanted to release the value of the asset.
But sitting tenants would be blocked from getting mortgages to buy that property, because the Central Bank had implemented a rule that you needed a 20% deposit to get a mortgage, even if the mortgage cost, at 100%, would actually be less than the rent you have a proven track record of paying. Where we need real and radical leadership, we have, instead, complete and utter silence from the Government still in power; a government with the ability to implement change, and we have silence, too, from those who seek to replace this Government. Anyone still want to bet the worst is behind us?
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