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muriel_volestrangler

(101,388 posts) Tue Feb 28, 2012, 09:25 PM Feb 2012

Irish to vote on EU fiscal treaty

The Republic of Ireland is to hold a referendum on Europe's new fiscal treaty, the Irish prime minister said.

Enda Kenny said it was in Ireland's national interest that the treaty be approved and he was confident the referendum would be passed.

Last month, Mr Kenny joined 24 other EU states in agreeing the pact for stricter budget discipline.

The government had sought advice from the attorney general as to whether a referendum was necessary.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-17196560

Given the ill feeling about austerity, and Ireland's history of referenda being rejected if the people aren't happy, I'm surprised they're so confident about it passing.

9 replies

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Irish to vote on EU fiscal treaty (Original Post) muriel_volestrangler Feb 2012 OP

Message deleted by the DU Administrators dsfgerher Feb 2012 #1

Well, if they don't pass it, they'll just enlightenment Feb 2012 #2

And being that my descendents are from there, DocMac Feb 2012 #3

Ireland did very well in the EU for a long time muriel_volestrangler Feb 2012 #5

Ireland doesn't have to act like the US. DocMac Mar 2012 #7

The SNP is rather embarrassed by its enthusiasm for the banks muriel_volestrangler Mar 2012 #8

Wow. You are well informed. DocMac Mar 2012 #9

Bankers went on a spree, and now the people will have to pay their debts back... midnight Feb 2012 #4

The Irish should tell the EU to texshelters Feb 2012 #6

Response to muriel_volestrangler (Original post)

dsfgerher Message deleted by the DU Administrators

enlightenment

(8,830 posts)

2. Well, if they don't pass it, they'll just

Reply to muriel_volestrangler (Original post)

Tue Feb 28, 2012, 10:07 PM

Feb 2012

make them vote on it until they do pass it - as they have in the past.

DocMac

(1,628 posts)

3. And being that my descendents are from there,

Reply to muriel_volestrangler (Original post)

Tue Feb 28, 2012, 10:18 PM

Feb 2012

i'd like to see full disclosure.

I'd also like to know why Ireland is involved with the EU?

Perhaps people didn't understand the first time!

muriel_volestrangler

(101,388 posts)

5. Ireland did very well in the EU for a long time

Reply to DocMac (Reply #3)

Tue Feb 28, 2012, 10:57 PM

Feb 2012

When it joined (the EEC, as it was then) in 1973, its GDP per capita was only just above half the EEC average. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Statistics_relating_to_enlargement_of_the_European_Union#1973_enlargement

By 2000, it was above Germany's, France's and the UK's : http://data.worldbank.org/indicator/NY.GDP.PCAP.CD?page=2

It's the boom and bust from the influx of money under the Euro that was the problem. And the fatal decision that it would guarantee all the debts of its casino banks when the bust came.

DocMac

(1,628 posts)

7. Ireland doesn't have to act like the US.

Reply to muriel_volestrangler (Reply #5)

Thu Mar 1, 2012, 07:04 PM

Mar 2012

They could actually put those bankers in prison. I'm surprised that they don't.

I hope Scotland puts some banking laws into place before they leave the UK.

muriel_volestrangler

(101,388 posts)

8. The SNP is rather embarrassed by its enthusiasm for the banks

Reply to DocMac (Reply #7)

Thu Mar 1, 2012, 09:09 PM

Mar 2012

Alex Salmond regrets backing Goodwin

...
Yet Salmond's mea culpa is more significant than most: he was once an energy economist for RBS, and the first minister is keen to show he is comfortable and knowledgeable on banking. He cites Sir George Mathewson, the former chief executive of the RBS, as one of his mentors and allies; Mathewson is now on Salmond's financial services advisory board.

His supporters will argue this is a brave step: Salmond is a proud man. Scottish Labour disagrees: that was simply a half apology, they argue. They have been brandished the letter Salmond wrote days after winning the Scottish election in 2007 urging on the then Sir Fred Goodwin to take over the Dutch bank ABN Amro.

He offered Goodwin "any assistance my office can provide", for a take-over which toppled RBS and forced then Chancellor Alistair Darling to spend £46bn saving it from disintegration.
...
Labour took great delight in quoting back Salmond's words from an article in the Times on 7 April 2007:

We are pledging a light-touch regulation suitable to a Scottish financial sector with its outstanding reputation for probity, as opposed to one like that in the UK, which absorbs huge amounts of management time in 'gold-plated' regulation.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/scotland-blog/2012/feb/01/alex-salmond-regrets-backing-goodwin

Their current stance is that it was all Westminster's fault after all, and the Royal Bank of Scotland is nothing to do with Scotland:

Still the numbers come. Mr Salmond told Channel 4 News last night that Scotland would take 8% of Britain's national debt, in line with its share of the wider British population, but would not take on any of the bad debts associated with the failed Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS), the Edinburgh-based bank which at one point grew to 250 times the size of the Scottish economy (with Mr Salmond enthusiastically egging RBS on in its disastrous plan to buy ABN-Amro, the Dutch bank). The British Treasury collected tax revenues from RBS and failed to regulate it properly, Mr Salmond explained, prompting Channel 4 News to headline its report "Salmond: you keep Scots bank debt, we'll keep the oil money".

http://www.economist.com/blogs/bagehot/2012/01/independence-debate-scotland-0

DocMac

(1,628 posts)

9. Wow. You are well informed.

Reply to muriel_volestrangler (Reply #8)

Thu Mar 1, 2012, 09:23 PM

Mar 2012

Scotland and Ireland have some of the best minds that i'm aware of.

I would argue that , even after a few pints, that they can debate the best and beat up the rest. lol

midnight

(26,624 posts)

4. Bankers went on a spree, and now the people will have to pay their debts back...

Reply to muriel_volestrangler (Original post)

Tue Feb 28, 2012, 10:51 PM

Feb 2012

For a decade, Ireland was the EU's superstar. A skilled work force, high productivity and low corporate taxes drew foreign investment. The Irish, once the poor of Europe, became richer than everyone but the Luxemburgers. Fatefully, they put their newfound wealth in property.

As the European Central Bank held interest rates low, Ireland saw easy credit for construction loans and mortgages. Developers turned docklands into office towers and sheep pastures into subdivisions. In 2006, builders put up 93,419 homes, three times the rate a decade earlier.

Anglo, founded in 1964, spent its first three decades making small commercial real-estate loans. But when Sean FitzPatrick, an ambitious accountant, took the bank's reins in 1986, he opened big offices in London and the U.S. Anglo bankrolled marquee projects, putting $70 million behind the Chicago Spire, planned as America's tallest building.

Rivals followed suit. Allied Irish Banks PLC deployed "win-back teams" to claw away borrowers from Anglo. Bank of Ireland executives wooed clients with trips on corporate jets.http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704506404575592360334457040.html

I don't know why this model of austerity is being used to deal with this banking crisis?

texshelters

(1,979 posts)

6. The Irish should tell the EU to

Reply to muriel_volestrangler (Original post)

Tue Feb 28, 2012, 11:11 PM

Feb 2012

Foc il leat!

Austerity is a way to crush the people while the banks get off free. Go the way of Iceland!

http://polizeros.com/2012/02/17/iceland-is-recovering-after-arresting-its-banksters/

Peace,
Tex Shelters

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