Open Letter from an angry father, taxpayer, citizen

I've submitted this to a few papers, but I won't hold my breath. I hope you feel likewise, and are not shy about expressing it.

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I was already angry at the government borrowing money to prop up the loan books and liquidity of reckless banks. I read with disgust that in September, on top of all the other burdens, 55 Billion Euros had to be found to pay bank bondholders in the banks for bonds that had matured. The banks didn't have it, nor did the Dept of Finance have it lying around (despite all the lying around the department).
I phoned, and e-mailed the Dept. of Finance, Central Bank and Brian Lenihan's office asking how this 55 BILLION was paid off.
I got some amount of waffle, and no answer. I can only assume we've borrowed it, and then given it to the banks to pay their bondholders.

This is equivalent to being forced to remortgage your house in order to pay people who are owed money by the local bookie. And it works out at over 12,000 per man, woman and child in the country, and that's before interest.
None of us would agree to it, no matter what type of waffle was presented. Yet as a national policy, talking heads try to defend it on the airwaves, and this nonsense is given some credence.

I also asked how much MORE of this bank debt is still outstanding, when it is due, and what rate of interest is being paid on the bonds.
You can image I was not buried with responses, despite the fact that as a taxpayer, I am expected to pay for this.

To those of us who have been side-tracked into arguing over the crumbs, (cutting of the minimum wage, or whether pensioners or the unemployed should be screwed, rather than students) I say, you are missing the big picture. The longer this government is in power, the more it drags us into debt to pay off banking speculators.

Like most people in this country who are not TDs, tax exiles or speculators, I work hard to provide for my family. I pay taxes because I like the idea of schools, hospitals, and a transport system, and a safety net for those who lose their jobs, or health. The rest is for rent, food, clothes, etc and a small bit for the kid's piggy bank on the window.
Nowhere in our family budget is there a provision to support bank and property speculators, and somehow hope our children won't be educated in prefabs, worry about being on hospital trolleys, paying for drinking water, or having to emigrate because the economy goes down the tubes.
My children are my responsibility, my duty is to them. Bank speculators can whistle at the wind for all I care.

I suspect most of your readers feel likewise, and if so, I would encourage us all to resist this scam, by strike, boycott or whatever peaceful means are at our disposal, until we are rid of gombeens and
vultures, and can get on with out lives, more vigilant than before of the dangers of trusting the 'experts', rather than common sense.

Is mise,

Tim Hourigan
Limerick

P45 Vox Pop. Munster Fans say why Govt should be kicked to touch.

Yesterday, as fans poured into Thomond Park to watch Munster v Cardiff, I brought along a camera to do a quick Vox Pop of the fans, asking one simple question:

"Why should the Irish Government be kicked to touch?"

Some of the answers are not fit for print, and some shy people turned out to be civil servants not wishing to appear on camera, but here's the 'PG' version of the answers (with only one case of swearing I wasn't able to edit out).

These are some nice German ladies from Múnster, who didn't understand the question, but did want their photo taken!

I found nobody willing to speak up for the govt, despite another trip to Willie O'Dea's clinic. This time I had tagged along to someone else's protest, one organised by the Limerick Socialist Party, and attended by about 18 people, despite the cold, and the rugby match being on. There were almost as many Gardai in Belview Gardens as there were protestors.

Most of the picket at Willie O'Dea's clinic on a cold Saturday.

About half of the Gardai who were there (the unmarked cars were at other end of the road)