DUBLIN – The Irish Congress of Trade Unions has warned that Ireland faces ‘the most dire consequences’ without a significant deal on the country’s 64 billion euro bank debt burden.
Speaking at a briefing on the February 9th demonstrations, general secretary David Begg said the bank debt now threatened the well-being of future generations.
‘This country faces the most dire consequences unless this burden is lifted, and future generations will pay a heavy price unless a significant deal is done at European level.
‘It is extraordinary to think that a country with a workforce of 1.8 million has been saddled with a debt of 64 billion euros and that Ireland has the highest bailout bill in the eurozone, larger even than Germany (41bn euros for Ireland, 40 billion euros for Germany).
‘It is even more extraordinary to think that every person in Ireland has already been hit for 9,000 euros to pay for the incompetence of senior management in the broken banks, while the average cost across the EU is a mere 192 euros per head. We have paid almost 50 times what everyone else has paid!
‘These figures show both the extraordinary unfairness of what has happened and how utterly unsustainable this bank debt burden is,’ Begg said.
He urged people from all sectors of society to participate in the February 9th protests: ‘This is an issue that transcends all others…there is no more critical issue facing Irish society at this juncture.
‘And given the timing involved, this may be our last chance to shape and influence the resolution of this problem. I suspect that if people do not participate on February 9th, they will come to regret that decision in future years as the full import and significance of this unjust burden becomes clearer,’ Mr Begg said.
The February 9th demonstrations will take place in six locations across the country: Dublin, Cork, Galway, Limerick, Waterford and Sligo.
The theme of the protests is ‘Lift the Burden: Jobs Not Debt’.
Meanwhile, SIPTU general president Jack O’Connor said at the James Larkin commemoration in Glasnevin Cemetery, Dublin, Thursday afternoon: ‘The government must hang tough on the 3.1 billion euros promissory note and the wider bank debt.
‘We fully recognise that refusal to pay has potentially enormous consequences. That is why securing a deal on bank debt is too important a political battle to be left to the government alone.
‘We must demonstrate massive public support and it is critically important that as many as possible turn out on Saturday, February 9th in support of the ICTU Day of Action against the bank debt and one-sided austerity,’ he said.
‘This is not just another demonstration. It is crucial in the battle to convince Europe that we have reached the end of the line in terms of what we can sacrifice, in terms of our own futures and that of our children, to sate the appetites of a new generation of what Jim Larkin would have characterised as “gradgrinds, scroogers, sweaters and hypocrites”.’
O’Connor was speaking after a wreath laying ceremony to mark the 66th anniversary of the death of the legendary labour leader. In his speech, he said: ‘It was blind obedience to the laws of the market and pursuit of short-term gain for the wealthy elite that led the previous Irish government into the greatest economic crisis in the history of the State and into accepting liability for the debts of private speculators.
‘This has resulted in Ireland carrying 40% of the entire eurozone bank debt. We shoulder almost 9,000 euros of bad bank debt for every man, woman and child in the country, compared with 192 euros per capita in other eurozone states.
‘The key demand in the weeks ahead must be for a deal on bank debt. All the complacent assumptions in establishment circles that a deal on the first element, the promissory notes, could be taken for granted, now stand exposed as a result of the recent ECB Council Meeting.
‘The consequences of not getting a deal could be disastrous. It would immediately jeopardise the prospects of emerging from the ‘bail out’ as the financial markets have been factoring it in since the June 29 Heads of Government declaration last year.
‘For this reason it is essential that all of those affected by this unsustainable bank debt turn out on Saturday, February 9th.’
