Sir, – I wish to protest at the planned redemption at par value of a €1.25 billion bond on January 25th by Irish Bank Resolution Corporation, formerly Anglo, Given that this unsecured, unguaranteed bond traded at less than 60 per cent of par within the past year, why is the Government redeeming this bond at par notwithstanding that the issuing bank is insolvent and being liquidated?
The proposed payment is equivalent to the salaries of 5,000 extra nurses for five years; or one-third of the cuts and tax increases in the 2012 Budget: or the full cost of two new national children’s hospitals. Instead, the money will be used to reimburse anonymous bondholders who provided funds at the peak of the boom to a bank which operated as a virtual casino.
Irish taxpayers are entitled to expect the Government to stand up for their rights and to either refuse to redeem the bond or to pay on the back of an explicit quid pro quo from the ECB if the latter wishes to avoid contagion. To this end, I call for an unwhipped Dáil debate where -isms, -ologies, outdated manifestos and failed policies are, for once, put aside in the national interest and where the bond redemption and related economic and social policies are reviewed in an open, honest way.
It will be patently obvious to any TDs who held clinics during the Dáil recess that current policies are failing and that redemption of the bond will simply add costly fuel to a fire which is currently smouldering but could easily get out of control. – Yours, etc,