Paying back the billions

Letter in today’s Irish Times.

Paying back banks’ billions

Sir,

Ireland’s debt repayments for the now dead Anglo Irish Bank and Irish Nationwide Building Society (INBS) will reach over €47.9 billion if the repayments are not suspended. The bill could even rise to €85 billion when borrowing and interest charges are added in.

The debts run up by these two institutions are not primarily the responsibility of ordinary people living in Ireland – they are principally the responsibility of those who supported Anglo’s and INBS’ reckless lending.
Yet we have been saddled with repaying the debts through a system of “promissory notes”. The next payment, amounting to €3.1 billion, falls due on March 31st. Such payments are scheduled to continue until 2031.

This money could and should be used to maintain and expand public services and provide a desperately needed stimulus to the depressed economy. For example, €3.1 billion would cover the cost of running Ireland’s entire primary school system for a year.

It is clear that the Irish Government is viewed as a compliant debtor by the international lenders, especially by the European Central Bank (ECB). The Government must take action to fundamentally re-orient this unbalanced relationship.

We, 57 teachers and researchers from a wide range of Ireland’s third-level institutions, therefore call on the Government to immediately suspend these repayments so that Ireland is viewed as a challenging negotiator by the relevant parties, including the ECB, and to ensure that this unjust debt is written down.

Yours, etc,

IAIN ATACK (TCD); JOHN BAKER (UCD); TOM BOLAND (WIT); HARRY BROWNE (DIT); AUDREY BRYAN (St Patrick’s College); TOM CAMPBELL (DSC Kimmage); NICOLA CARR (QUB); MAURICE COAKLEY (Griffith College); BRÍD CONNOLLY (NUIM); COLIN COULTER (NUIM); LAURENCE COX (NUIM); TONY CUNNINGHAM (NUIM); LAURENCE DAVIS (UCC); DAVID DELANEY (WIT); DYMPNA DEVINE (UCD); Eilish Dillon (DSC Kimmage); VINCENT DURAC (UCD); ROLAND ERNE (UCD); MICHAEL FOLEY (DIT); MARK GARAVAN (GMIT); PAUL MICHAEL GARRET (NUIG); MARY GILMARTIN (NUIM); PAT HANNON (DIT); ANTHONY HAUGHEY (DIT); KIERAN KEOHANE (UCC); IAN KILROY (DIT); CARMEN KUHLING (UL); DAVID LANDY (TCD); CATHY LEENEY (UCD); SEÁN L’ESTRANGE (UCD); GERARD MCCANN (QUB) RORY MC DAID (Marino Institute); HUGH MCBRIDE (GMIT); TERENCE MCDONOUGH (NUIG); CHANDANA MATHUR (NUIM); ROSEMARY MEADE (UCC); GERARDINE MEANEY (UCD); FIONA MEEHAN (DSC Kimmage); MARIE MORAN (UCD); EITHNE MURPHY (NUIG); ENDA MURPHY (UCD); MARY P MURPHY (NUIM); TRÍONA Ní SHÍOCHÁIN (UL); CIAN O’CALLAGHAN (NUIM); TOM O’CONNOR (CIT); TOM O’CONNOR (DIT); KATHERINE O’DONNELL (UCD); AILEEN O’GORMAN (UCD); THERESA O’KEEFE (NUIM); HELENA SHEEHAN (DCU); PAUL STOKES (UCD); ANDY STOREY (UCD); FIONNGHUALA SWEENEY (UCD); GAVIN TITLEY (NUIM); BRIAN TRENCH (DCU); THERESA URBAINCZYK (UCD) JUDY WALSH (UCD),
C/o Arklow Street,
Dublin 7.