Statement by the Communist Party of Ireland
8 October 2012
The statement today by the minister for finance, Michael Noonan, calling on the European Central Bank to make a “declaration of intent” about some kind of solution in relation to the Anglo-Irish Bank promissory notes is a clear sign of desperation by a government that has neither the political will nor the courage to challenge this illegitimate and odious anti-people debt dumped on the backs of our people.
The Irish establishment have been claiming almost every time they come back from these jamborees that they have struck a deal; but no sooner have they their backsides back in their Mercs than their “deal” unravels.
This is the first time that any Irish minister has publicly admitted that there is a direct link between the government’s budget strategy and the repayments of this odious debt. This he did when he stated: “It would help me doing the budgetary arithmetic if something could be arranged” in relation to the promissory notes.
The sick, the poor, pensioners, those who need and use government services and all working people are paying and will increasingly pay an unbearable price for a debt that is not the people’s. Our people are being crucified to pay the debts of bankers and speculators and to keep the EU and Irish elite in the wealthy life-style they believe is theirs by right.
There is no shortage of capital in Europe: it is estimated that nearly €3 trillion is accumulated within the EU that cannot be invested because there are too few investment opportunities outside financial speculation. All this unused capital is in the hands of the very same banks and speculators that demand the payment of this odious debt.
How can the Labour Party stand over massive cuts in spending while making the people pay for this corporate debt? What we need from this government is a declaration of intent to stop paying this debt, to repudiate it as an anti-democratic imposition on our people by the external troika in co-operation with our own internal troika.
