Watershed agreement for Coalition

YESTERDAY Taoiseach Enda Kenny presented to the Dáil the most significant agreement negotiated by any Fine Gael leader since Garret FitzGerald signed the Anglo-Irish Agreement in 1985.

Economically it is in a narrative continuum with the Anglo-Irish Treaty of 1921 negotiated by Michael Collins and Arthur Griffith. It is freedom to regain economic freedom. Fine Gael will exploit that.

If the hyperbole in that comparison is obvious, it has enough truth to hold water. Yesterday’s revised agreement on the promissory note was a watershed. It falls far short of what was promised by the Government when it was in opposition. It confirms rather than repudiates the enormous debts incurred by the State on behalf of rogue banks. If it significantly delays and in real terms appreciably reduces our liability it also irrevocably confirms it. We are not burning the boldholders. We are doing it Frankfurt’s way. We are paying for all our fiscal incontinence as well as that of those abroad who profited from lending ultimately unaffordable money our banks lent on to us.