Irish Election - Coverage of Irish Politics, News and Current Affairs

Previously posted at Granite Shavings.
The Government says that the amount involved being guaranteed is €400bn.  The current standard rate for interbank credit default swap insurance for the Irish banks ranges from 2% to 3.2% (as of last April).  So, this guarantee is worth at least €8bn per annum to the Irish banks (or a maximum [...]

A visit to the website of Depfa Bank PLC will show the top sentence saying “Responsible Supervisory Bodies: Central Bank of Ireland”.  It must depend on what the meaning of “responsible” is.  In a disastrously timed decision, German real estate bank Hypo took over Depfa last October.

Many thanks to Stretch (he reads Hot Press so we don’t have to!) for pointing us to the recent interview with Declan Ganley, the chairperson of Libertas.
You might have seen Mr. Ganley on the Late Late Show on Friday night last, he has also been in Brussels recently. He’s getting ready for Lisbon the [...]

The Department of Finance has issued the latest Exchequer returns.  With the government now backing the liabilities of the banking system, one might have hoped that the situation would look less bleak than it does.  The bottom line is a €6 billion increase in the overall deficit over the corresponding period (year to end-September) last year. [...]

Here’s the text of the Credit Institutions (Financial Support) Bill being rushed through the Dail tonight by Brian Lenihan.  You can read the whole thing and not see anything that resembles the media descriptions of the bill as a simple blanket liability guarantee for the 6 Irish HQ’d banks.  Instead, as the debate this evening [...]

Via redmum

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BmqCUrQ4uRA

It’s useful to look at the details of the guarantee that Alistair Darling gave Bradford and Bingley yesterday in comparison with Brian Lenihan’s dramatic announcement today.

In a statment released this morning, the Government signalled that it will “safeguard the Irish Banking system”. The world fell apart yesterday and surely some of our most famous banks are hanging on by a thread. Their stock pummelled and - in private at least - their reputation is now in tatters, they need security [...]

Part of the UK’s new short-selling rules is to require that investors disclose short positions in quoted financial institutions.  The list reveals that some big investors are looking negatively at Irish banks –
[Wall Street Journal, subs. req'd] Lansdowne and Blue Ridge Capital disclosed short positions in Anglo Irish Bank. Kynikos Associates held a short position [...]

While some on Questions and Answers last night were talking of socialism for the rich, New York bourses plummeted again on uncertainty about the Hank Paulson bailout plan. The Dow ended down 3% again, ISEQ fell over 5% this morning and everyone is left scratching their heads. The problems lie in Donald Rumsfeld’s known unknowns.

In a carefully calculated Friday afternoon news dump which will be lost in all the financial excitement, Minister for Justice Dermot Ahern has added at least 6 months to his earlier timetable for a Victims’ Rights Bill.  This is a sequel to his killing of Alan Shatter’s private member’s bill on the same subject back [...]

It’s been a particular achievement of the last 11 years of government to have had Eircom try a few years with every just-past-its-prime ownership model.  The current is the Australian innovation of an investment bank which runs a separate fund bringing in other investors to own and manage the target company which is acquired with [...]

Reads very well for the deal to benefit private sector workers before public sector and address concerns over the lower paid. It might be a nightmare to get passed by ICTU though.
From
PRIVATE SECTOR PAY TERMS
It is agreed by the parties that the following basic pay terms shall apply in the Private Sector:
A Pay Pause [...]

And the overall economy?  Today’s Wall Street Journal reports on what sounds like advanced deliberations inside Dell about shifting its manufacturing capacity from Limerick to Lodz in Poland.  Office jobs in Ireland would be retained.  But as the article explains, Dell is unusual among computer makers in its retention of substantial manufacturing capacity — most [...]

Lehman’s collapse could not be prevented over the weekend and we are definitely facing into “Great Depression” territory now in the banking system. It doesn’t create the greatest macro-economic background for a globalised economy but one thing could make it worse; a collapse of a bank here leading to queues around corners for money.
Will it [...]