Terms and conditions of recapitalisation programme tokenistic - Morgan
Sinn Féin Finance Spokesperson Arthur Morgan TD has described the terms and
conditions of the State's recapitalisation of the banks as tokenistic
gestures. Speaking this evening after the Government announced the detail of
the recapitalisation programme Deputy Morgan said Minister Lenihan should
consider his position having failed tonotice the activity of Anglo Irish
Bank in cooking their banks.
Deputy Morgan said, "The terms and
conditions of recapitalisation programme are tokenistic gestures. The banks
have said they will put a one year moratorium on mortgage repossessions yet
only today the Master of the High Court said there will be an avalanche of
mortgage repossessions.
"The banking executive's pay cut of 25%
is nowhere near sufficient. They should only be getting 25% of their salary
rather than a 25% pay cut. Bonuses have only been postponed for 1 year -
again a completely tokenistic gesture. Sinn Féin feels that executives who
received bonuses over the last three years should be forced to give them
back.
"The clearing groups that are to be established as a
conduit between SMEs and the banks are toothless entities without the power
to ensure credit streams to SMEs.
"Brian Lenihan will have to
consider his position having failed to notice the activity of Anlgo Irish in
cooking their books and having admitted in the Dáil today that he never
fully read the Price Waterhouse Cooper report on Anglo Irish Bank's debts.
This admission is deeply disturbing. Surely an activity which was done to
deceive people over Anlgo's loan books should have been noticed. At the time
of the nationalisation the Minister had a duty to disclose this information
to the public and the Dáil about these types of transactions.
"Anglo
Irish is Ireland's Enron. This is a poisoned bank and should not have been
bailed out by the Government at the tax-payers' expense." ENDS