Economy – Page 70 – Slugger O'Toole

Lenihan: “if the banking problems in the country are too big for this small country to manage…”

Pete Baker on November 17, 2010, 4:23 pm

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The EU finance ministers meeting in Brussels have denied holding detailed discussions on a potential bail-out for Ireland. From the BBC report [Belgian finance minister] Didier Reynders, who chaired the talks, said the situation was not addressed because the Irish government had not requested financial help. “There’s no reason to ask all the participants for an answer because we did not receive a question,” he said. And why would they discuss it? The detailed discussions will be held tomorrow in Dublin. …

Republic of Ireland (1949-2010)

John Ó Néill on November 17, 2010, 8:23 am

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Nice quote from the Irish Times to begin the morning: “When you borrow, you lose a little bit of your sovereignty, no matter who you borrow from.” So said Brian Lenihan, last Finance minister of the sovereign Republic (sic) of Ireland. From a government that had promoted reckless borrowing, a property boom and general fiscal anarchy, you can either take it as a belated admission of guilt or a unique moment of clarity. I would like to believe there has been a note of …

Economic crisis blogburst 2: Not an overnight crisis…

Mick Fealty on November 16, 2010, 3:04 pm

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Okay, the news is coming thick and fast so here’s a slice of today’s comment, bloggish and otherwise: – Ronan has a piece pointing out that whilst other periphery countries have their budgets in the public domain, Brian Lenihan is having to work with the most unbearable public scrutiny and an EU Commissioner taking in everything he does over his shoulder: Is this the crux of that economic sovereignty issue we keep hearing about: …no-one in Europe wins if, for …

Van Rompuy: “We’re in a survival crisis”

Pete Baker on November 16, 2010, 1:49 pm

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The Irish Minister for European Affairs, Dick Roche, tells European finance ministers not to “panic“… as the EU President, Herman Van Rompuy, panics? A Guardian report indicates the extent of the concern “The Irish problem is spreading, but it could get more volatile,” said Ashok Shah, chief investment officer at London Capital, a fund management firm. “They have to get this bailout, they have a period of time before it gets impossible, before nasty things happen. The longer they leave it, …

“I do think it would be seen as a failure of the assembly…”

Pete Baker on November 15, 2010, 11:01 pm

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The BBC reports the concerns of Northern Ireland Finance Minister, the DUP’s Sammy Wilson, about the potential need for an emergency budget if the NI Executive fails to agree a draft budget. From the BBC report Mr Wilson said some ministers had been co-operating with his department. “It would be wrong to blame everybody and I hope everyone doesn’t get tarred with the one brush,” he said. “I do think it would be seen as a failure of the assembly …

Economic crisis blogburst 1: Government in denial of bailout

Mick Fealty on November 15, 2010, 1:40 pm

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The sovereign/bank debt story has moved on over the weekend, with the Government denying it was talking about triggering a bailout, and everybody else talking about the likihood that they would. So, with little or no attempt to editorialise, here’s some of the best commentary of the day: – Dan O’Brien suggests this is no longer a domestic only issue. The question of a bail out for Ireland may be secondary to a larger crisis in the Eurozone… – As …

Offshore tax evasion crackdown expected to raise £10bn…

Dewi on November 14, 2010, 1:01 pm

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Yesterday’s Guardian reports on Osbourne’s negotiations with Liechtenstein, Switzerland and a further 3 unidentified tax havens. The Treasury appear confident of raising £10bn over the next 5 years: The Treasury had only budgeted to raise £1bn across the parliament, mainly from an agreement with Liechtenstein. But George Osborne, the chancellor, is now expecting to raise £2bn to £3bn from secret bank accounts in the mini-state alone. Officials said a further £3bn was expected to be raised from Swiss bank accounts …

Reuters: “Talks are ongoing and European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF) money will be used”

Pete Baker on November 13, 2010, 3:43 pm

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Despite the apparent ‘good news’ yesterday, it appears the pessimists may be right after all. The BBC picks up on a Reuters report quoting “euro zone” sources Euro zone sources told Reuters that aid discussions were under way, however. One official said it was “very likely” that Ireland would get financial assistance from the EU facility set up after Greece obtained a 110 billion euro bailout in May. “Talks are ongoing and European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF) money will be …

“They’re not putting a time scale on it”

Pete Baker on November 12, 2010, 11:03 pm

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It shouldn’t be a surprise that as the BBC reports, “Northern Ireland to be last UK nation to fix a budget”. A mandatory coalition, by its nature, will generally find such a process more difficult than a voluntary coalition. But according to that BBC report On Friday, the Sinn Fein [Northern Ireland] Regional Development Minister [Sinn Féin’s] Conor Murphy said no budget would be agreed within the next two weeks. Mr Murphy said a draft budget “cannot be about a …

Cross-border shoppers spent €418m in Northern Ireland over the last year

Pete Baker on November 12, 2010, 5:12 pm

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That’s the figure given in the Irish Central Statistics Office (CSO) quarterly national household survey on cross-border shopping [pdf file]. According to the iol report The figures showed a 2% drop in cross border shoppers in the 12 months compared to the previous year, when an estimated €435m was spent. The CSO said: “While there was a decline in the proportions of households making shopping trips to Northern Ireland, this was offset by the fact that households who were making trips were doing …

“Putting Ireland and the IMF in the same sentence can trigger palpitations in the credit markets”

Pete Baker on November 11, 2010, 4:16 pm

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According to an iol report, Irish Finance Minister Brian Lenihan is blaming German Chancellor Angela Merkel for the rising cost of Ireland’s borrowing. Perhaps he’s been channeling Sarah Carey in today’s Irish Times? Meanwhile RTÉ notes that Elsewhere, the Minister for Finance has said the main reason why Irish bonds yields are rising is because of uncertainty surrounding European Union plans for future debt. However, Brian Lenihan also said it appeared that the markets did not fully believe the bank …

Scottish Parliament Faces Budget Crisis

Peter Geoghegan on November 10, 2010, 12:30 pm

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Budgets, budgets, budgets. While EU monetary commissioner Oli Rehn has been in Dublin trying to force through the Republic’s budget, across the water in Scotland a budgetary crisis looms large. The Scots might not be on the verge of calling in the IMF but at present Holyrood is on course for a serious shortfall next year. George Osborne’s Comprehensive Spending Review cut the Scottish Government budget by £1.3billion in 2011-12 (a 4.2 per cent reduction overall). As if this cut …

100 years ago today – Churchill and Tonypandy

Dewi on November 9, 2010, 2:51 am

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On November 9 1910 troops were despatched to the Rhondda and Cynon Valleys in response to industrial unrest and rioting in support of striking miners. Read the succinct Wiki. – and Rhondda Cynon Taf have a nice web-site. Tonypandy girl Carolyn Hitt writes very well: My own knowledge of the Rhondda’s most compelling historical event had also been passed down the generations. As the youngest child of my grandmother’s youngest child – her 12th – I had the oldest Nan …

Olli Rehn says consensus would be of great benefit to Ireland

Pete Baker on November 8, 2010, 11:05 pm

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The ECB might have “the keys to Ireland’s silver”, but there may be some loose ends to tie up. There’s also a counter-argument to Morgan Kelly’s analysis here. The European Commission’s Internal Markets Commissioner, Michel Barnier, can “see light at the end of the tunnel…” Not excluding the possibility of an oncoming train… And as RTÉ reports European Commissioner for Economic and Monetary Affairs Olli Rehn has called for political consensus to back the Government’s four-year economic plan and the Budget. Which is …

Having handed the keys to Ireland’s silver to the ECB…

Mick Fealty on November 8, 2010, 5:57 pm

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MOrgan Kelly is back in the Irish Times telling it like it is. And it’s not pretty. The question of why Fianna Fail/Green government chose to bail out high risk investors in Anglo (that notorious subordinated debt) to the tune of £9 billion is now a mere academic question for historians, or investigative journalists and/or restless bloggers. Ireland PLC no longer has that option. Kelly explains: September marked Ireland’s point of no return in the banking crisis. During that month, …

“I see light at the end of the tunnel…”

Pete Baker on November 5, 2010, 4:09 pm

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That was the optimistic assessment the European Commission’s Internal Markets Commissioner, Michel Barnier, gave to the Oireachtas European Affairs committee today. Of course, it could be an oncoming train… Pete Baker

Don’t abandon the idea of a university

Brian Walker on November 5, 2010, 11:13 am

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It’s a pity Simon Jenkins doesn’t run his own blog as ace controversialist as well as Chair of the National Trust. This champion of that oxymoron the civilising market is in fine form today, denouncing in a dozen ways in as many paragraphs not only the UK government’s proposed university settlement but the thinking behind it and the basic concept of what’s being financed: There is not an arts course invented that could not be completed in 18 months, and …

Karl Whelan: “They have taken far too long to admit the scale of the fiscal problem that we are facing”

Pete Baker on November 4, 2010, 4:48 pm

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Today the Irish Economy blog called for a little escapism, with Irish 10-year bonds at 7.601%… And the Irish Independent noted yesterday that Irish yields had risen for six days in a row. [Make that seven? – Ed] “The amount of selling has been relatively small, but the market is all sellers and no buyers, which drives up the yield. The ECB has come in to prevent this becoming a rout,” said Padhraic Garvey, Head of Developed Markets Debt at …

Obama’s faces a rocky road to 2012…

Mick Fealty on November 3, 2010, 2:02 pm

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Okay, so John was first to the off on the US mid terms. I’m not sure I agree that the Tea Party failed to define itself as a party (thus providing Dems with a visible target). By which I mean, its intention was never to become another party but rather to break up the long term romance within the Republican party between its Ivy League and corporate elite and the Christian right for the small government, fiscal conservatives. According to …

Dublin web summits while Belfast stays in base camp

John Ó Néill on November 2, 2010, 12:39 am

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Lots of teeth gnashing over how to manage cuts to the budgetary provision allocated by London for running Northern Ireland. Regardless of their real value, at least some proposals have been produced by Sinn Féin and the DUP. Meanwhile, the UUP and SDLP have yet to wake up to the fact that they are not actually in opposition, though, and are yet to grace the public domain with some constructive suggestions. While Brian has noted that a few modest balloons have went up for revenue raising, nothing can actually paper …