SINN FÉIN:SINN FÉIN'S Martin Ferris accused the Government of "robbing" about €12,000 from every man, woman and child in the State.
“If we use the recent Liam Carroll example in the courts, that €77 billion worth of loans would be lucky to be repaid at €20 billion,” he added. “Yet, this State is paying €54 billion for them.”
Mr Ferris said Sinn Féin was calling on all TDs and Senators to sign a petition for a referendum on Nama. “This issue is of such importance that it is imperative we ask the people what they want,” he added.
Mr Ferris said that the banks had lent too much money to a small number of “profit mad, greedy developers and the Government cheered them on with billions in tax breaks . . . and now our banking system has collapsed.”
Capitalism, he said, had brought about the downfall, but they could not let capitalism sort itself out. “The taxpayer must step in with €54 billion and bail out the banks, the developers and the most corrupt government in the history of the State,” he added. “We can privatise profit, but we must socialise debt.”
Mr Ferris claimed the Government knew what it was doing to the Irish people. “Fianna Fáil has a tradition of stealing from the taxpayer and then lying about it,” he added, “but what they have done to date is nothing compared to what they are planning to do.”
He said the Government was robbing this generation and the next one after that, too.
“Sinn Féin has been calling all summer for a referendum on Nama. You cannot put through a bill of this magnitude without asking the majority of people on the island if they support it.
“We all know why Fianna Fáil will not support a referendum: they know that asking people to vote Yes to Nama is akin to asking turkeys to vote for Christmas.”
Mr Ferris accused Fianna Fáil and its “friends the developers and speculators”, of digging a black hole for the State and the only way out was the nationalisation of the banks.
He added: “Sinn Féin is not interested in temporary nationalisation like the Labour Party. We would not hand back these banks to the very sector that ruined them. We would, instead, create a State bank which would foster the economy and give ordinary citizens the right to a bank account and a secure and affordable mortgage.”
Fianna Fáil and the Green Party no longer had a mandate from the people, said Mr Ferris.
“If they proceed with Nama, if they push through all the cuts in the report from An Bord Snip and if they deliver the budget the whole country is expecting, they will have ruined us,” he added.
Labour’s Ruairí Quinn called for the resignation of the board of the Central Bank. He welcomed the appointment of Prof Patrick Honohan as the bank’s governor, adding that his reputation would help restore credibility.
“But he should be assisted by a new board,” Mr Quinn added.
