The country is being ?drip fed? bad news on the economy and the state of the banks, Labour party?s Joan Burton said today.
The party?s spokeswoman on finance called on the Government to ?come out and explain the bottom-line figure? it is prepared to put into Anglo Irish Bank and Irish Nationwide.
Ms Burton?s comments come after the governor of the Central Bank Patrick Honohan yesterday said the cost of propping up Irish Nationwide could rise to €3.2 billion.
Speaking to RTE?s Morning Ireland, Ms Burton said we are almost at the end of the life of the bank guarantee of September 29th 2008 and we are ?simply being drip-fed continuously more bad news?.
She said the successful National Treasury Management Agency bond auction yesterday came at a ?huge cost? in terms of borrowing costs meaning the Government will have less money to spend on hospitals and schools and education.
?People who are commenting simply from a markets point of view talk as though the rise in the cost of Irish Government debt has no consequences for Irish citizens and taxpayers.
?I?m trying to restore some balance to this debate so that the Government cannot get away with the pretence that dealing with the banks is something theoretical.
?Dealing with the banks is real, the money that has gone into Anlgo Irish - now about €26 billion of commitments ? and the €4 billion that will go into Irish Nationwide is real money and it means there are things in the economy that we can?t do like health and education that ordinary people depend on,? she added.
