Campaigners warn against government decision to replace promissory notes with sovereign bonds

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Anglo: Not Our DebtThe Anglo: Not Our Debt campaign, comprised of community, faith based, global justice, trade union and academic groups, has said that a potential government move to replace the Anglo promissory note payments with long-term sovereign bonds would be unacceptable.

Campaign spokesperson Andy Storey described the debt as “illegitimate – it was accrued to pay off the speculators who gambled their money on a dodgy bank now under criminal investigation, it is not the debt of ordinary people and should under no circumstances be reclassified as ‘sovereign’”.

Also speaking on behalf of the campaign, Marie Moran said that extending the period of time over which the debt might be repaid would “simply be pushing the burden onto future generations” and said “the promissory note payments should instead be suspended immediately, not restructured.” 

Mr Storey said that if the government chose to rush emergency legislation through the Dáil and Seanad this evening on this basis, this would be “devious and undemocratic – instead of having a proper, informed debate about this hugely serious issue the government would be railroading through legislation that would see people living in Ireland take formal responsibility for debts that are not theirs to pay”.

Ms Moran called on all TDs and Senators to vote against any legislation that legitimises such a restructuring if it were put before them.

Notes

Anglo: Not Our Debt campaign is supported by the Debt Justice Action network, which consists of the following organizations: http://www.notourdebt.ie/supporting-organisations
A simple ‘questions and answers’ document on Anglo debt can be found at http://www.notourdebt.ie/faq

Women Against Anglo Debt Call for Stop on Payment

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Debt Justice Action: Anglo Not Our Debt

On International Women’s Day, the women of the Anglo: Not Our Debt Campaign have called for the Anglo debt payment of € 3.1 billion due to be made on March 31st to be stopped. The women of the group – encompassing a unique coalition of representatives from the community, faith-based, global justice, environmental, trade union and academic sectors – argue that the debts of the state-owned institutions, Anglo Irish Bank and Irish Nationwide Building Society, are not the responsibility of women in Ireland, yet women are being hardest hit by its impacts.

Cathleen O’ Neill, community worker from the Kilbarack said, “The Anglo promissory note is utterly devastating to women. We are being forced to cope with the harsh reality of this unjust debt, yet we are not responsible for this crisis, The women in my community in Kilbarack and beyond, are losing access to vital community projects in our lives, health and education services, and services to elderly and disabled women.”

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Debt Campaigners Reject ‘Blackmail’ over Treaty

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Debt Justice Action Press Release, 6th March 2012

A campaign group calling for the write down of Irish debt has labelled the link being drawn between the debt and the Fiscal Treaty as “obscene and tantamount to blackmail”.

Community worker and campaign spokesperson John Bissett said he “utterly rejected any spurious quid pro quo between voting Yes in the forthcoming referendum on the Fiscal Treaty and the suspension or cancellation of the Anglo and Irish Nationwide debt.” He went on to say that “there has been far too much of this sort of horse-trading in Ireland in recent years and what we need now is for the debt to dealt with ethically and on its own terms”.

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Impressions from Afri’s Féile Bríde 2012

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Saturday 4th February 2012, Kildare Town

Mayra Gomez and Herman Tintaya carry the Brigid Flame
Colaiste Éinde students performing "What If"
Colaiste Éinde students performing “What If”

At the start of Afri’s Feile Bride, the pupils of Coláiste Éinde, under the direction of Pete Mullineaux, staged a remarkable drama that asked the question “what if?”. What if the world was organised differently, in a spirit of cooperation and compromise rather than of conflict and greed? I was reminded of a story told about the Irish revolutionary Peadar O’Donnell, who wrote an article critical of his erstwhile colleague Eamon De Valera and his record in government, especially the fact that half a million people emigrated from Ireland under De Valera’s stewardship. The story goes that De Valera rang O’Donnell to protest, claiming that had O’Donnell been Taoiseach half a million people would still have emigrated. To which O’Donnell replied, “Yes, Eamon, but not the same half million”. I like to think of the very different Ireland we might have now if those who had left had been able to stay, and if those we could have most done without had departed: what if? Continue reading “Impressions from Afri’s Féile Bríde 2012” →

Campaigners Say Fiscal Treaty Is ‘Doublethink’

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Press Release

Anglo: Not Our Debt

The campaign group Anglo: Not Our Debt has sharply criticized the EU’s new ‘fiscal treaty’. Campaign spokesperson Marie Moran described the treaty as “akin to someone being advised to keep the doors of their house locked tomorrow while thieves were ransacking it today”. “There is something obscene about insisting a country like Ireland reduce its deficit and debt levels, while at the same time forcing it to repay the debts run up by a private bank like Anglo Irish”, she continued. Continue reading “Campaigners Say Fiscal Treaty Is ‘Doublethink’” →

Campaigners Call for Halt to Anglo Debt Re-Payments

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anglo-not-our-debtPress Release – Debt Justice Action

18 January 2012

A new campaigning network of local and global justice organisations, Debt Justice Action, has today called on the government to stop paying the debts of the former Anglo Irish Bank / Irish Nationwide Building Society (INBS). The campaign group – encompassing a strong and unique coalition of representatives from the trade union, community, faith-based, global justice and academic sectors – argues that the debts of these now state-owned institutions are not the responsibility of people in Ireland. Their new campaign – Anglo: Not Our Debt – is calling for the suspension of Anglo/INBS repayments as a first step towards renegotiation and writedown of this unjust debt. The bulk of the re-payments are government issued “promissory notes” – a promise to pay money in future – to Anglo/INBS which will cost Ireland over €30 billion during the next 20 years.

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