21.2.2009
Reports obtained from:
(1) Business Post Online, (2) Irish Republican News
Saturday, 21 February, 2009
Friday-Thursday, 13-19 February, 2009
Thousands protest over govt's handling of economy
By Sunday Business Post
Up to 120,000 people marched through Dublin today in an emotional and angry national demonstration over the Government’s handling of the economic crisis.
The sheer size of the turnout meant it had to set off earlier than was organised, with the parade stretching the entire length of its two kilometre route at one stage.
Hundreds more lined the streets of the city centre, many clapping and cheering, as both public and private sector workers came together under the banners of several trade unions for one the largest demonstrations ever seen in the capital.
The demonstrators marched past the Dáil for a rally at Merrion Square, where the Irish Congress of Trade Unions (ICTU) general secretary David Begg accused a wealthy elite of “economic treason” by destroying the country’s international reputation.
Mr Begg told cheering crowds which thronged the wide Georgian avenue running down towards Leinster House that there was fear and anger throughout Ireland among school leavers, mortgage-holders and people finishing work without decent pensions.
“There is fear about how to keep body and soul together,” he said.
“There is anger then, because everybody knows that it is not our fault, that a business elite has destroyed our economy and has as yet to be made accountable for it.”
As the rally got under way at Merrion Square in the city’s southside, the last of the protesters were still setting off from Parnell Square, two kilometres away on the northside of the river Liffey.
The city centre was brought to a virtual standstill with several streets and roads closed down, in an outpouring of anger at the Government and banking chiefs.
“There’s anger because our generations yet unborn have been mortgaged in order to keep this banking system together,” said Mr Beggs.
“Your children and my children and our grandchildren will all have to try to deal with what has been laid upon their shoulders.
“The best educated generation that we have ever had is effectively being put on the waste heap.”
Demonstrators, many who had brought their children, came from all over the country, and included most of Ireland’s trade unions.
Originally planned as a protest at public sector cutbacks and pension levies, organisers later called on all workers, from the public and private sector, to turn out in a “national demonstration” against the Government’s handling of the downturn.
Placards that read “Down with cosy cartels”, “Ireland Inc is bankrupt and corrupt”, “Why no pay cuts for corporate swindlers” and “Charge the fat cats”, left no doubt about who protesters blamed for cutbacks directed against people on lower incomes, soaring unemployment and almost daily scandals in the banking industry.
Sean Whelan, 45, a public sector worker with Dublin City Council for 27 years, said taxes and levies on his already low pay were making it impossible for him to get by.
“I’m on a gross wage of €650 a week, and by the time all my reductions are taken out I take home €106 a week. Now with the Government levy and the Visa card that I have to pay off I will be left with €6.50 to live on – chicken feed,” he said
Like most marchers, Mr Whelan said his anger was directed at the Government and the banks.
“You could practically say it’s illegal what they are doing,” he said.
Bobby Kennedy, a private sector worker for 39 years at the troubled Waterford Crystal plant, was sacked four weeks ago without a pension or redundancy package.
“I’m going on 61 and I’ll never work again,” said the clearly emotional father-of-four young children, as others around him sang along to Bob Dylan’s 'The Times They Are A Changin’' and John Lennon’s 'Power To The People'.
“We got a raw deal at Waterford Crystal, and like the rest of the country we are being stamped all over. I blame the Government and the bankers, it’s time for them to go.”
In an unusual move, the Government issued a statement in advance of the demonstration to insist its cost-cutting measures were essential.
“The Government recognise that the measures which it is taking are difficult and, in some cases, painful,” it stated.
“The Government is also convinced, however, that they are both necessary and fair.”
Patricia McKeown, ICTU president, told the demonstrators that “casino capitalism” had brought the country to its knees.
“It is a system I am told by some analysts which needs every so often to shake itself out,” she said.
“Our message to this Government is that Irish workers will not be shaken out in this system.”
The leading trade unionist said an economy cannot be built on shady financial deals, property speculation, on privatisation of public services and the “ever insatiable greed of the very, very wealthy”.
“We face a Government which wants the workers who built the economy to now be the sacrifices while it protects and bankrolls those who wrecked it. We are not prepared to live in that type of society,” she said.
The Gardaí said between 100,000 and 120,000 protesters took part in the march, in one of the largest ever demonstrations seen in Dublin.
There were no public order incidents.
Copyright © Business Post Online 2009
Adams appeals to Labour to form alliance
By Sunday Business Post
Gerry Adams has appealed to the Labour Party to explore a possible alliance with Sinn Féin.
The President of Sinn Féin told delegates at his party's Ard Fheis that he would like to see all parties of the left work together in order to serve the needs of all citizens.
He said that in his view the Labour Party has a duty not to prop up either Fianna Fáil or Fine Gael.
He also called on the Minister for Finance to resign, bankers who have broken the law to be jailed and an end to huge salaries and expenses given to high ranking public servants and politicians.
Copyright © Business Post Online 2009
100,000 march in national protest
By Irish Republican News
The protest against the manner in which the financial crisis is being handled by the Dublin government today has seen the largest march in the capital in several years.
The march was forced to begin fifteen minutes earlier than scheduled this afternoon to accommodate the sheer number of people gathering in Dublin's Parnell Square.
The Irish Congress of Trade Unions (ICTU), organisers of the march, say more than 100,000 people are in attendance. The first protesters had reached the Dail parliament as people waited to begin marching at Parnell Square on the north side of the city.
The ICTU says the march is likely to be the first step in a campaign in support of "a fairer and better way" of dealing with the economic crisis.
March organisers have stressed the protest demonstrates opposition to the recently announced pension levy for public sector staff, but also for private sector workers to express concern about issues such as wage cuts and unemployment.
In a statement issued this morning, Brian Cowen's coalition government called for an "integrated national response to the current crisis", something which it said had been recognised by the trade union movement.
The statement described the pension levy as "reasonable" and said it reflected "the reality that we are not in a position to continue to meet the public service pay bill in the circumstances of declining revenue".
It is understood that trade union leaders are considering the possibility of balloting members in both the public and private sectors for industrial action. Such a move would be aimed at ending divisions between public and private sector workers.
About 13,000 lower-paid civil and public servants, who are members of the CPSU, are to stage a one-day strike next Thursday. Thousands of other workers in the education sector and in the Civil Service are balloting on industrial action, while bus workers are scheduled to strike within two weeks.
Copyright © Irish Republican News 2009
Friday-Thursday, 13-19 February, 2009
Smash the Golden Chains
By Irish Republican News
The 26-County coalition government of Brian Cowen is in crisis over a 'golden circle' of wealthy Irish developers who received almost half a billion Euro to purchase shares in a potentially fraudulent transaction at the scandal-plagued Anglo-Irish Bank.
The transaction, which is likely to cost the taxpayer 451 million Euro, has created huge political controversy for the coalition government, which is under pressure to name those involved.
The loans were issued in July on the extraordinary basis that the money would be used to buy shares of Anglo-Irish Bank itself, which were collapsing in value at the time. The shares served as the only collateral required for the loans.
The apparent plan was to artifically support the bank's share price, while rewarding 'circle' participants with a one-way gamble: if the bank failed, the debts would be written off.
A further 15 per cent stake in the bank bought by the family of Cavan billionaire Sean Quinn was also financed using the bank's own money. This means that over a quarter of the bank's shares were purchased in private deals last July, using the bank's own money.
The Dublin government stands accused of complicity, seen in the bank's subsequent nationalisation and its continuing refusal to name the ten people involved. They are believed to be major customers of the bank and include prominent Fianna Fail supporters.
Brian Cowen is also known to have been closely involved in the banks's activities. Last year, Cowen dined privately with directors of the bank at a Dublin hotel after he had been warned of a dangerous position with the bank's shares that threatened the entire Irish financial system.
The collapse in the bank's share price risked triggering a mountain of share selling, largely a result of trading by Sean Quinn in high-risk, leveraged contracts known as 'contracts for difference'. Trading in the CFDs is a form of spread-betting on the bank's share price.
Anglo-Irish Bank's collapse became inevitable last month following revelations that its financial statements were manipulated to disguise the scale of the bank's balance-sheet problems and shore up its stock price.
The scandal began over the issue of irregular loans by the bank to its directors, which continues to rumble on. It led to the resignations of Anglo's chairman, Sean Fitzpatrick, and chief executive, David Drumm, in December. In a statement today [Friday], the bank said it was unlikely to recoup the loans, which total 255 million Euro.
The scandal has also placed the move by the Minister for Finance Brian Lenihan to guarantee deposits in the state's banks last September 30 -- the final day of Anglo's financial year -- in the context of a desperate attempt to cover up Anglo's misdeeds and malpractice.
More generally, it has threatened to collapse the state's entire banking system at a time of a profound global economic recession.
RESIGNATIONS
In the wider meltdown in the Irish banking sector, this past week has seen three further resignation announcements, most notably that of Peter Fitzpatrick, finance director of Ireland's third biggest financial services group Irish Life & Permanent.
His departure arose from the disclosure last week that the bank had put billions of Euro temporarily on deposit at Anglo Irish Bank in time for September 30. Fitzpatrick said he "apologised unreservedly" for "mistakes", but it is still unclear what trajectory the funds passed through.
Meanwhile, the chairman of Irish Nationwide Building Society, Michael Walsh, suddenly bolted from his position on Tuesday, declaring the institution "cannot survive" without significant government support and reorganisation.
And it was also announced that Bank of Ireland chief Brian Goggin, who infuriated the public last week when he complained that his disclosed compensation had fallen below two million Euros per annum, will quit his post within three weeks.
Public anger at Ireland's wealthy nexus of bankers, developers and politicians, who profited most from Ireland's recent boom and are seen to have contributed most to its downturn, is fuelling protests and demonstrations. Most cutbacks, pay cuts and redundancies introduced in recent months have been directed at average or low-paid workers, or those in receipt of social welfare.
Fianna Fail strategy in both the banking and the broader economic crisis appears focused on keeping property valuations high at all costs, partly to bolster over-leveraged developers, but also to hold back a potential avalanche of property selling and foreclosures.
The party's coalition partners in the Green Party are coming under immense pressure to abandon their support for the hated Cowen administration. The Greens, who issued another warning that they could pull out of government, were dramatically told on Wednesday night to "put up or shut up".
Fine Gael's Phil Hogan made the charge after the Green Party's chairman Senator Dan Boyle said his party could end its alliance with Fianna Fail if its politicians are implicated in the 'golden circle' scandal.
"Soon it will be time to put up or shut up. It's time for them to decide whether they want to be part of Government decisions that collude with the status quo and conceal information arising from the banking scandals stretching back to September 2008," said Mr Hogan.
CALL FOR ACTION
Sinn Fein President Gerry Adams warned that the 'golden circle' of the 1980s associated with former Taoiseach Charles Haughey was "alive and well" in Irish politics.
Speaking from Kerry, where he was meeting with community and resident organisations and local businesses, Mr Adams said the government's failure to deal with the banking crisis had linked Ireland to corruption and damaged its reputation internationally.
"Once again it is the actions of bankers, property developers and inept Ministers that has almost brought this country to its knees," he said.
Mr Adams said the admission by Minister Lenihan that he didn't fully read a report on the state of Anglo-Irish Bank prior to its nationalisation was "intolerable".
"Finance Minister Brian Lenihan should be removed and this government should resign from office," he said.
"The details that have emerged over the last number of days about the book-cooking of Anglo-Irish Bank and Irish Life & Permanent are nothing less than corporate corruption.
"Banking executives in both institutions must be investigated and those who have and indeed still are behaving illegally should be charged and subjected to due process."
FAS REPORT
Meanwhile, a damning report on the FAS training agency, was released today, which found the agency breached financial procedures at a heavy cost to the taxpayer. The report was commissioned in the wake of revelations that the agency had funded six-figure Florida vacations for political cronies, including current Health Minister Mary Harney.
"It is worth remembering that it is Mary Harney in her former ministerial role with responsibility for Trade, Enterprise and Employment who presided over FAS for much of the period covered by the report," said Sinn Fein's Arthur Morgan.
"And lets be honest, heads will have to roll in FAS but the buck ultimately stops with the government who have overseen the budgets and management of this state body.
"The golden circle culture embraced by Fianna Fail and the PDs since the 1980s has fundamentally undermined Ireland's economy, its banking system and the delivery of state services over the last three decades and we are all now paying the price for it,"
"The public anger that is growing on foot of every revelation of institutionalised corruption on the government benches cannot be underestimated. Today's report is further evidence that government needs to start looking from the top down rather than the bottom up when it comes to public sector savings."
Copyright © Irish Republican News 2009