Ex-Fianna Fail leader (and current Taoiseach) Brian Cowen didn’t tell us yesterday the reaction of Green party (and junior coalition partner) leader John Gormley, when Brian rang him to inform John of his decision to resign as party leader. Maybe, as on the night of the banking guarantee, the battery of John’s mobile was dead and Brian just left a voicemail. Maybe he just sent him a text – “Outtahere. Don’t worry – just as party leader! LOL! BC”. But in whatever way the communication took place, the events of the past week demonstrate the critical importance of clear communication – witness the almost diagonally opposite views of Fianna Fail (Brian Cowen, John Curran, Tony Killeen) and the Greens (John Gormley, Dan Boyle, Eamon Ryan) of the exchanges that took place on Wednesday morning regarding the announcements of replacements for resigning ministers. And later today we will find out if the Greens will walk from government, something they’ve presumably been threatening for much of the last two months since their announcement (without pre-consultation) that they would be walking from government in January. And then there’s the small matter of an emerging leadership battle between the Dublin Lenihan/O’Rourke dynasty and the frontrunner from Cork. All amidst sniping from the Opposition whose constant and predictable refrain for the past two years has been “Go now to the Aras and call an election” (remember Irish political life is particularly bleak in Opposition so the object of the game always is to get into government and stay there).
Stepping back from it all, you’d have to say we’re getting terrific entertainment value from this circus (though I’m not sure it’s worth €300,000-a-pop for departing ministers). All the better because it seems to be hastening an election which is now widely desired. Though be careful what you wish for. And I am particularly looking forward to manifestos that will describe in detail how bondholders will be burned, the IMF/EU bailout will be re-negotiated, NAMA will be reversed and scrapped and a new investment bank will be created – yes it’s sometimes easier being in opposition where your policy positions are to a large extent left unexamined, and certainly untested.
But stepping back even further, the country is still in the eye of a storm with deposit flight at our banks, challenging capital raising targets for banks (particularly Bank of Ireland) in 36 days, our lenders at the IMF/EU seeking weekly updates on our condition and particularly seeking the legislating of the measures agreed in the Memorandum of Understanding and reassurance that we will abide by the broad terms of the 4-year plan. As NAMA is a key interest on here, there is talk of an amendment to the NAMA Act which is not a little confusing because when asked what the amendment will contain, the government response is that it will allow NAMA absorb €0-20m loan exposures at AIB and Bank of Ireland – this is confusing because the existing legislation doesn’t specify thresholds and no legislation was needed last September 2010 when the Minister for Finance announced that the threshold for AIB and BoI was to rise from €5m to €20m. This confusion instils suspicion that major changes to NAMA are afoot. And remember yesterday the Taoiseach referred to two key pieces of legislation that needed be enacted – the Finance Bill which was published on Friday last and an amendment to the NAMA Act. Yes indeed, there may well be some important changes afoot at NAMA.
So as entertaining as the present circus is, it should be remembered that we are being viewed by outsiders on whom we depend for finance (deposits, ECB liquidity assistance, IMF/EU/bilateral aid) and these present performances are undermining credibility and specifically perceived political stability. It is to be hoped that these present tricks by political animals can be drawn to a speedy conclusion and the desperate needs of our economy can take centre stage again.
NAMA Wine Lake 
The banks and the bondholders get bailed out by the government , the government gets bailed out by the EU, the taxpayer foots the bill and the goverment ministers who granted this circus the entertainment license in the first place retire with huge pensions.
The electorate now has a chance to demand that candidates pledge legislation to prevent any future bail outs, legislation that will properly regulate the banks and discourage speculators.
The opposition and the unions, bodies whose economists should have forseen the the inevitable cost of Charlie McCreevey’s give-away budgets, now have an opportunity put up or shut up.
How quick we are to accept that they must be paid their fat pensions. For what? For delivering unprecedented failure and national insolvency? We need to cop ourselves on and demand that those who failed to act according to their oath of office, those that put their party before their country, who bowed to every vested interest and who stuffed over 1000 quango’s with their friends and benefactors are not paid ANY pensions. These are unenforceable contracts because they are based, at best upon gross incompetence and at worst upon fraudulent misrepresentation of their jobs as parliamentarians.
The deal we cut with them should be that we wont send them to jail but no pensions that must be a given and if they earn any income from books and films on the stupidity of their time in “government” all proceeds should go to a housing charity. NAMA will be re-engineered so that funds can be diverted to fill the black holes that are about to appear in relation to “ordinary” mortgages. There is no foreign deposits left in Irish banks no wonder Manuel Boroso was apoplectic though it was good to see how many friends we have in Europe after casting the democratic will of our people aside so that people like him can be in power. Ireland will bring down the Euro when we hit our stride which we have not done to date but are pacing ourselves nicely.
Ah c’mon there Robert, when the wife of the Tunisian president was fleeing the country she only tried to take 1500 kg of gold with her (she obviously wasn’t using Ryanair to guide her to refuge in Saudi Arabia). By comparison our ministers are only getting some €300,000 in some cases in their first year of retirement (equivalent to only 9 kg of gold). I agree with you that the pensions do look outrageous in the current climate.