About ten months ago I first heard about the weekly bondholder protest in Ballyhea in county Cork. I must admit couldn’t even find the place on a map, and even thought it was being mis-spelled by one of its local residents and that its correct name was Ballyhay, but no, the village and community of Ballyhea just south of Charleville is real enough and for the past 51 weeks, it has been marching week-in, week-out on a Sunday around the 11 o’clock mass. The Ballyhea-ers joined up with a similar march in Charleville in the second half of 2011, and they now march each week, alternating between Charleville and Ballyhea. A modest march, it takes about 10 minutes, no loud-hailers or chanting, with two simple signs at the front and rear of the marches, the one at the front saying “Ballyhea/Charleville says No to bondholder bailout” In July 2011 one of the marchers, Diarmuid O’Flynn launched a website, Bondwatch, which is a service to the whole country and which shows what bonds are being paid in Irish banks.
The 52nd weekly march is being held this coming Sunday, 4th March 2012 in Ballyhea at 11.30am. It’s a small enough place, the locals would tell you it’s hardly even a village, but the gathering will take place again in the church car-park before doing what they’ve done each week for the past year, stepping off the footpath into the road, to march in protest at the payment of the nation’s income to bondholders, and to redeem promissory notes. You can see photos of all their marches here, the seasons change, the white hawthorn comes and goes but except for a couple of families that have emigrated, the marchers have remained resolute, They’ve had a few special guests in their marches during the year and they’ve hosted RTE, Australian, French and German TV, they’ve hosted the Sunday Independent and Guardian. And on Sunday next they will again be joined by a few special guests including Dr Constantin Gurdgiev. The protesters seem generous to a fault in not wanting to claim any limelight and the biggest compliment you could pay them is to start your own local protest, but on this Sunday they’d welcome your support and presence in Ballyhea.
What follows is a brief interview today with one of the organisers of the marches, Diarmuid O’Flynn
NAMAwinelake: You maintain two Facebook pages, one for the Ballyhea protest, one for tracking bond repayments, you maintain “bondwatch Ireland” which is updated each week with the forthcoming bond repayments, you maintain a blog, the chattering magpie14, you march each week, in rain, hail or shine, you’ve run/cycled/crawled all the way from Ballyhea to Leinster House to hand in a petition, you’ve fasted for a week, you’ve had two sit-down protests on the Ballyhea to Charleville road – pictured here – you’ve dealt with the media, both domestic and international, to explain what is happening. After one year of marching, how do you generally feel and has it been worth it?
Diarmuid O’Flynn: It’s been worth it, yes, unequivocally, unqualified. It’s taken time and effort but when I look at what those across north Africa and in the Middle East are risking and sacrificing to right the injustices they are suffering, what we’re doing here pales by comparison.
NWL: What is it that has kept you and the communities in Ballyhea/Charleville persevering in your protest?
DOF: Even within our own parishes we’re a small group but this fight is on our own behalf, on behalf of our families, on behalf of our communities, on behalf of our fellow-residents in this Republic. We know the wrong that’s being done to us. Just as Ghaddafi and Assad and all the other despots were prepared to use their military might against their own people, so the ECB is using its financial muscle against us, so the Merkozy duarchy using its political muscle against us, forcing a debt that isn’t ours on the weak government of a weakened nation, extorting tens of billions from us. It’s as wrong now as it was a year ago – we’re a stubborn bunch!
NWL: You’ve published an article setting out how you organise your protest in Ballyhea/Charleville. Why do you think other towns, villages and communities haven’t copied your protests? [Bystander Syndrome or Effect is described here]
DOF:The Bystander Syndrome, the phenomenon whereby the more people there are who witness a crime (and extortion is a crime), the less likely someone is to intervene; the lack of media coverage of the real issue – Assad is bombing his own people and in outrage the media cry for him to stop; a government minister here, Leo Varadker, speaks of a metaphorical bomb going off in Dublin if we don’t do as ordered by the ECB and pay these bonds, but where is the outrage, where is the cry for the ECB to stop crushing the people of this Republic? Does the media here call on the people ofSyria to accept the dictatorship of Assad and thus avoid their suffering? No, they call on Assad to stop his brutality. Does the media here call on the ECB to cease its bullying of the Irish people, to stop its extortion of tens of billions, its infliction of more and more austerity and suffering on the Irish people? No, instead it focuses on what they’ve been assured the consequences will be if we DON’T pay up. Those are the two main reasons – bystanders, where they hope/believe someone else will intervene; the thrust of the media coverage, where fear and confusion has been spread wide.
NWL: Now that most of the unsecured, unguaranteed senior bonds have been fully repaid at Anglo and Irish Nationwide, do you have any plans to wind down the protest or change the focus of the protest to the promissory notes?
DOF: We will focus on the Promissory Notes from Anglo, for the coming month especially – burn those Promissory Notes, that will become the cry for March. But €55bn in bonds being taken from the Irish banks and by extension taken also from the Irish economy over the four years 2012/13/14/15, that too has to stop. Is that not hurting us? With that massive debt on their books, how can those banks function as normal banks? What have they got left to lend? ALL guarantees should be pulled, all bets off, all bonds treated on their individual merits/demerits. The ECB was worried about contagion if the Irish banks defaulted, the ECB should have itself assumed the debt, in its entirety.
NWL: What do you see as the future for the marches? Do you see yourself marching in a year’s time?
DOF: The future? A year ago we certainly didn’t see ourselves still marching this week, what can I say now? We will not give up, we will not just stop, that I can say for certain. Burning the Promissory Notes is a must – in fact I’d go so far as to say that we should now throw down the gauntlet to this government; burn those Promissory Notes or resign.
NWL: Your protests are non-politically aligned. Do you have any views on the role of politics in dealing with the bondholders or promissory notes?
DOF: I believe that at this stage we need another general election but one that returns a national government, a government which – without having to be in any way arrogant or confrontational – will stand firmly and immovably against the bailout of banks at the expense of its people, starting with the burning of the Promissory Notes.
NWL: You have been covered in the media, locally and internationally. What is your view of the media coverage of the bondholder/promissory note issue?
DOF: The Irish media have been abysmal, have actually been complicit in the extortion by the ECB. Lies, half-truths, misinformation, disinformation, these are the weapons of a propaganda war, these were the weapons perfected by Goebbels for the Nazis during the Second World War, these are the weapons still being used in getting the people of this Republic to accept what’s being done to them, to accept their own enslavement by the ECB. ‘We have no choice; we all partied; economic Armageddon if we don’t pay; we’ll grow our way out of this in a few years; we’re working hard behind the scenes and it’s looking good’ – etc. etc. The simple – very simple – fact is this: that was bank debt, for-profit deals done between consenting adults in the private commercial sector, deals which, when they failed, should have been dealt with in the normal private commercial fashion. The blanket bank guarantee of September 2008 was given under false circumstances, bad law based on bad grounds – it should be undone. Since then, in using its financial muscle to blackmail our government – now simply the overseers for our new masters – into assuming this debt, the ECB and the EU have grossly abused their own power. This bank debt is not our debt, will never be our debt, and yes, it is that simple.
NWL: What was the high point of the year for you?
DOF: There hasn’t been a high point, and until we start to burn those bank bondholders – starting with the Anglo Promissory Note due this March 31st – there will be no high point.
UPDATE: 27th February, 2012. Dr Constantin Gurdgiev who has confirmed he will be attending on Sunday 4th March in Ballyhea has sent the following message about the march.
NWL: Now that most of the unsecured, unguaranteed senior bonds have been fully repaid at Anglo and Irish Nationwide
NWL, do you have that number handy? What is the total sum to date that was paid to them?
I echo Diarmuid O’Flynn, we really should throw the gauntlet, indeed should have done that long ago.
@Georg, in terms of senior unsecured unguaranteed bondholders at what was Anglo and INBS, I believe there is €1.462bn outstanding, comprising
Anglo (€)
23/03/2012 8,000,000 XS0288559585
23/03/2012 3,500,000 XS0286152482
28/03/2012 9,000,000 XS0290744530
25/04/2012 2,000,000 XS0215894030
26/04/2012 12,982,528 XS0298047290
27/04/2012 10,000,000 XS0294693774
27/04/2012 30,000,000 XS0293036819
14/05/2012 69,164,265 XS0363778449
27/06/2012 10,509,353 XS0306654657
28/06/2012 461,095,101 XS0307691559
18/08/2012 10,000,000 XS0382011749
8/11/2012 24,504,499 XS0327475074
22/11/2012 2,593,660 XS0276892212
4/07/2013 50,000,000 XS0373626208
22/07/2013 25,000,000 XS0367944377
30/11/2013 12,780,533 XS0333549599
9/01/2014 5,734,870 XS0340222834
7/05/2014 5,763,689 XS0363840777
9/07/2014 5,129,683 XS0376723945
10/09/2014 4,034,582 XS0388369190
10/11/2015 20,000,000 XS0234075314
13/06/2017 8,871,225 XS0305406034
INBS (€)
26/06/2012 598,100,000 XS0306307694
26/06/2012 33,198,847 XS0306306613
Yeah, but what have we paid them to date already in total? Thanks NWL
@Georg, I don’t know what your question means. We paid tens of billions to bondholders from September 2008-September 2010. Since Sept 2010, we’ve paid a few billion in unsecured unguaranteed senior bonds, I think the €1.25bn in Jan to Anglo’s bondholders and the €0.75bn in November 2011, also to Anglo’s bondholders were the 2 biggest.
Thats what I would like to learn, how many tens of billions were handed over to bondholder since 2008, the total sum to date. Sorry if I was not clear. Accumulated total bondholder payouts Anglo/INBS. Was that not somewhere in the 30 billion region?
Much as I would like to support this protest I believe we have no moral authority to demand a write-off of bank debts while we continue to run a high budget deficit. We are still spending more than we are collecting in tax revenue and using some of that borrowed money to pay some of the highest salaries in the world to politicians, civil servants, hospital consultants, professional fees to lawyers, and so on.
It is wrong that the State assumed private debt onto the national balance sheet. That said, it is only when we no longer have our hands out to the Troika for money to spend more than we earn can we begin to address these debts and expect a reasonable hearing.
I agree. I’d go a step further too and say that this paying off of bondholders is an INEVITABILITY of previous actions. These actions included our whole establishment (including the vast majority of our national institutions) nurturing and abetting a nationwide mania based on property and entitlement. – Practically every responsible professional and politician living in this country acquiesced in this paradigm, if they did not actively abet in it, while traditional professional and political codes of ethics were trodden underfoot… When the inevitable property collapse transpired, further actions were taken like the introduction of the bank guarantee and NAMA, concerted media narratives were promulgated, and so on.
Now there is all of this focus on ‘not paying back the bondholders’ etc. Why do all the bondholders need to be paid back? – Not only because of Lenihan’s desperate gamble of a guarantee (which gamble he took to try and cover-up for the previous establishment nurturing and abetting of a pathological mania), but also because of the systemic consequences that stemmed from this guarantee affecting the UK, Europe and elsewhere. For example, immediately after the guarantee, the UK had to try and match our guarantee to stop the outflow of funds from their banks to here. And then that had knock on effects over the whole of the rest of the countries that were experiencing problems of trust in their financial system to any degree. ie. Other promises HAD to be made, and since we are in effect funded by the EU, we have had some of those promises made come back to us and affect us.
But what annoys me is this focus on the EU and Troika and bondholders etc etc actually prevents us from intently focusing our gaze and our ire on our own institutions here in this country. – Our professional institutions; our media; our academic institutions; our government… and the symbiosis of all of the above with narrow business interests and the ideological CONTROL that is manifested through such symbiosis.
Nothing has changed. Nothing will change by the look of it. That’s a great pity. Burn the bondholders my hole.
I would agree with both Bunbury and roc that we have a plethora of home-grown problems, starting with the deficit but not by any means ending with those issues outlined above; I would argue however that these are separate to the bank debt burden, which is imposed on us from outside.
I would further argue that in not tackling head-on the problem of the deficit, in not tackling ALL the vested interests who are dragging this economy down, this government is merely being consistent in its cowardice, in its self-interest, in its lack of leaderhip. Those issues and the way the manner in which they should be tackled will divide us, that is certain.
The bank debt burden, however, is one issue that should unite us all and it’s for that reason that we have never deviated from our single stated aim – end the bank bondholder bailout. Take that burden at least off our backs, then we can all split up again into our own narrow camps and go back to beating up on each other.
It was “a bit Irish” for people to vote for an openly pro-European party this time last year and then expect them to tell Europe to f*ck off.
But Enda and Co. are on solid ground here. Their supporters will put up with whatever it takes.
The possessor class and the wannabe possessor class want the status quo to be maintained at all costs. If that means crippling the country, seeing your kids off at the airport and watching your grandchildren grow up via Skype – then so be it.