Sinn Féin Finance Spokesperson Pearse Doherty has said Minister Michael Noonan should be using his time with EU leaders to push for a reduction in Ireland’s debt burden through retrospective recapitalisation of our banks and not just agreement on the IMF loan repayments.
Deputy Doherty said he hopes Minister Noonan can get agreement from the ECB and EU to repay the IMF loans so that some savings can be made on our interest rates.
“I urge him too to push for the retrospective recapitalisation of our pillar banks.
“We must remember that the reason Ireland owes the IMF money is because of the bank bailout. It is now over two years since the EU committed to separating banking and sovereign debt.
“At the time the government called this a ‘game changer’ and a ‘seismic shift’ and implied that it meant that Ireland would have its banking debt recapitalised through the ESM. In October, it will be one year since the Taoiseach wrote a letter to all EU leaders calling for this commitment to be followed through on.”
He added the Minister should be forthrightly putting Ireland’s case on this matter to EU leaders.
“Ireland needs to reduce our debt burden further and the focus must remain on retrospective recapitalisation.”
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