Court Of Auditors Report Confirms Failures Of Irish Governments – Carthy

Speaking in response to the European Court of Auditors report into the Commission’s management of bailout programmes, Sinn Féin MEP Matt Carthy, has said that the report reconfirms the fact that it was the Fianna Fáil government policy choices which saw the Irish people sacrificed in order to save Banks and protect vested financial interests.

Carthy who is a member of the European Parliament’s Economic and Monetary Affairs Committee stated:

“The report published by the European Court of Auditors has confirmed that the Fianna Fáil Government forfeited the welfare of the Irish people in order to protect vested financial interests. That position was subsequently embraced by the current government parties.

“The findings of the report state that between 2008 to 2010 the Irish Government chose to inject capital amounting to more than 20 % of the state’s GDP into the banking sector. It also confirms that the Irish Government’s obligations to the financial sector had pushed spreads on government bonds to historic highs and significantly reduced market access for the country.

“The fact that this report outlines in such stark terms that the Irish people were effectively thrown to the proverbial wolf in order to save the Banks is something that every ordinary citizen should be mindful of when casting their vote in the upcoming General Election.

“Moreover, only last week in Davos, Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz, stated that Ireland’s economy would have fared better if it had been permitted by the European Central Bank to burn private debt holders.

“What is patently clear is that over the last few years we have seen the Irish people suffer because of a grossly inequitable and economically unsound decision to transfer the debt of private bankers onto the shoulders of ordinary Irish citizens through the socialisation of private banking debt.

“What makes the findings of this report even more disconcerting is that it further states that the European Commission was not prepared for the first outworkings of the 2008 financial crisis because warning signs had passed unnoticed.

“8 years after the collapse we are still firmly in an extreme pro-cyclical space in the Irish economy and it’s an unfortunate reality that we are back to déjà vu territory here again and all the indicators are being ignored.

“For our part Sinn Féin are intent on ensuring that the next Irish government manages a sustainable and fair economic recovery and moves away from the Boom & Bust economic model that has been the hallmark of Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael administrations”.