Lucinda taking a roasting on behalf of the government about renegotiating the EU/IMF deal and/or burning the bondholders
Panellists: Lucinda Creighton (FG), Stephen Donnelly (Independent), Timmy Dooley FF, Clare Daly (Socialist Party) and Mary Regan of the Irish Examiner.
Lucinda Creighton: “Can I ask a question? Is it expected that the government is going to do this magically overnight? I mean, you know, we have a huge task ahead of us to rebuild relations right around the European Union where Ireland’s reputation is effectively in tatters, em, and, you know, to think that a new government is going to go in and change entirely the terms of an agreement that was signed up to by the Irish state…”
Clare Daly: “That’s what you told people you would do.”
Creighton: “No. Overnight? No we didn’t, Clare. We didn’t. Em, em, that we were going, that I mean… It’s just not credible that a new government would come in overnight change entirely an agreement that was signed up…”
[Several voices arguing]
Vincent Browne: “But this is what you promised? You promised this.”
Creighton: “No, no, Vincent. We didn’t promise that we would renegotiate overnight. Now there are a number of issues here. One is the burden-sharing and my aspiration, and of course I would love to see a situation where it would be feasible to em, to, to share the burden with some of the bondholders. And it may be possible down the road.”
Browne: “You said you would insist on it. And you said in respect of the junior bondholders you would do it unilaterally.”
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Creighton: “Can I, can I, can I finish my point? We never, ever said we would do it unilaterally and, and in relation, and there are other elements to this.”
Browne (to camera): “OK could I just arrange to get the chapter in the Fine Gael manifesto to do with banking policy?” (To Creighton): “This is just untrue. You specifically said that you unilaterally would force discounts on the junior bondholders. That was explicitly said in the banking section of the manifesto.”
Creighton: “And the other element which is very much a live part of our work with our partners around the table at EU level is the issue of the interest rate and that is already, em, there, as part of the text of the European council conclusions, em two weeks ago. It’s something that we have to work out the detail of.”
Browne: “Did anyone in Fine Gael read the Fine Gael manifesto on banking? Did they?”
Creighton: “I read it.”
Browne: “Are you sure?”
Creighton: “Yes.”
Browne: “You didn’t notice the commitment unilaterally to cut the…”
Creighton (laughing): “Are you not even interested in the interest rate, Vincent?”
Browne: “I’m just interested… Did you bother reading the thing, did you?”
Creighton: “I did actually, yeah.”
Browne: “Did you read the bit that said Fine Gael in government will seek a mandate on the renegotiation of the EU/IMF bailout? Did you read that bit?”
Creighton: “Em, yes. And we have a mandate, which we’re working on.”
Browne: “You didn’t have a mandate, in government. ‘Fine Gael in government will seek a mandate to renegotiate the IMF/EU deal.’ Did you read that bit?”
Creighton: “Well I would like to find out perhaps the draftsman of that because clearly that was…”
Browne: “That didn’t mean anything?”
Creighton: “Well clearly…”
Browne: “Clearly you were shafted like the rest of us.”
Creighton: “Clearly an aspiring government seeks a mandate, not a sitting one.”