+353 1 604 1040
Last Sunday morning the Gods smiled on the small village of Ballyhea, Co Cork.
After Mass, the residents gathered in the winter sun to protest – for the 200th time – against Ireland’s crippling bank debt. After a short, silent march – with banners galore – the crowd assembled at a hotel in nearby Charleville.
Everybody is utterly turned off by Ireland’s Fiscal Advisory Council (FAC). You are. I am. The Government that appointed it obviously deeply regrets its very existence. It is the party pooper, constantly spoiling the Coalition’s tall tales of a national recovery.
“Not me guv,” retorted Pontia the Central Banker.
Last week Michael Noonan caused ructions in the Irish stock market. The Finance Minister morphed into a financial adviser. He set himself up as a guardian of the small shareholder.
Margaret Thatcher would have been proud of Mario Draghi last Thursday.
Back in 1984 the Iron Lady famously dismissed all Irish proposals for a Northern Irish solution, rejecting each possible solution with the contemptuous words: “Out, out, out.”
At a press conference in Frankfurt on Thursday the long-winded ECB chief was equally dismissive of questions about Ireland and its relationship with the ECB.
Did you notice how Joan and Michael were trampling all over each other to hit the mikes last week?
So you never understood why Davy bought bits of the battered Bloxhams?
Why would a blue -blooded stockbroker buy a bundle of trouble? Well, back in 2012, Bloxhams went bust. Davy, the big beast of the Irish stock market, picked the juicy bits off the corpse.
Congratulations to AIB. They have pulled the stroke of the year. Last week they appointed a new chairman. Behold, the whiter than white knight on a charger anointed by the AIB board. Enter Richard Pym, the celebrated bank troubleshooter.
Richard the troubleshooter is being sold as a different kettle of fish from his disastrous predecessors.
Richard is the ideal choice for the State-owned bank. The board has dug up its dream director. He is steeped in banking experience.
THE heavies are hovering. Our bailout friends are showing signs of panic. The IMF, the European Commission and our own Fiscal Advisory Council (FAC) are queuing up to warn us: triumphalism is premature.
AND we thought we had seen the last of Wilbur. No such luck. Wilbur Ross has twice taken us for a ride recently. Indeed, he has become very partial to us. Imagine the yarns he spins to his rich pals back in South Carolina about Ireland – the land of suckers and easy pickings.
So the bondholders were burned after all? No? Oh yes they were. Burned big time. Not those bondholders, the other bondholders. Big bondholders guaranteed. Little bondholders burned to a cinder.
