I have been very disappointed at the revelation that the Finance Minister Michael Noonan misled the Dail on the question of the European Central Bank and what happened between the Government and Mr Trichet in 2011.
We were told in 2011 by Deputy Noonan that the European Central Bank and Mr Trichet made no threats to the Irish Government if they proposed to burn any bondholders, yet during the Banking Inquiry Mr Noonan said that Mr Trichet told him that a bomb would go off in Dublin if the bondholders were not paid. Clearly the Dail was misled in 2011, and moreover it is clear that there was no one in the Irish Government ready, willing or able to stand up to Mr Trichet and the other European bankers who rode roughshod over the Irish people. With an election coming up, Michael Noonan needs to clear this matter up.
Once again we have evidence that the Irish Government failed to stand up to the Eurocrats in Brussels and Strasbourg and this policy cost the country very dearly as the ordinary people have had to pay the price with grinding austerity over the past seven or eight years. The next Government will have to take a stronger line with Europe and stand up for it’s people unlike what happened in this case.