TDs WHO HAVEN'T YET COMMITTED TO NOV 27th MOTION

This is the complete list of those TDs who haven't yet committed to voting (one way or the other) on the Technical Group Motion to the Dáil seeking the full and final destruction of the Promissory Note sovereign bonds and all costs associated with them. That Motion will be put to the chamber and debated on the evenings of Nov 26th & 27th, the vote taking place at 9pm on the 27th.

The list will be updated promptly as we get notice of any change.

We are asking that you:

• Contact your local TD on this list (e-mail: firstname.lastname@oireachtas.ie) and ask them to vote in favour
• Join us at the Dáil from 6pm to 10pm on the evening of the 27th (Wed) to add your voice from outside to those in the chanber who will be arguing our cause.

 

PARTY	NAME	CONSTITUENCY
Fine Gael (69)	James Bannon	Longford–Westmeath
	Tom Barry	Cork East
	Pat Breen	Clare
	Richard Bruton	Dublin North–Central
	Ray Butler	Meath West
	Jerry Buttimer	Cork South–Central
	Catherine Byrne	Dublin South–Central
	Ciarán Cannon	Galway East
	Joe Carey	Clare
	Paudie Coffey	Waterford
	Áine Collins	Cork North–West
	Seán Conlan	Cavan–Monaghan
	Paul Connaughton, Jnr	Galway East
	Noel Coonan	Tipperary North
	Marcella Corcoran Kennedy	Laois–Offaly
	Simon Coveney	Cork South–Central
	Michael Creed	Cork North–West
	Jim Daly	Cork South–West
	John Deasy	Waterford
	Jimmy Deenihan	Kerry North–West Limerick
	Pat Deering	Carlow–Kilkenny
	Regina Doherty	Meath East
	Paschal Donohoe	Dublin Central
	Andrew Doyle	Wicklow
	Bernard Durkan	Kildare North
	Damien English	Meath West
	Alan Farrell	Dublin North
	Frank Feighan	Roscommon–South Leitrim
	Frances Fitzgerald	Dublin Mid–West
	Peter Fitzpatrick	Louth
	Charles Flanagan	Laois–Offaly
	Brendan Griffin	Kerry South
	Noel Harrington	Cork South–West
	Simon Harris	Wicklow
	Brian Hayes	Dublin South–West
	Tom Hayes	Tipperary South
	Martin Heydon	Kildare South
	Phil Hogan	Carlow–Kilkenny
	Heather Humphreys	Cavan–Monaghan
	Derek Keating	Dublin Mid–West
	Paul Kehoe	Wexford
	Enda Kenny	Mayo
	Seán Kyne	Galway West
	Anthony Lawlor	Kildare North
	Helen McEntee	Meath East
	Nicky McFadden	Longford–Westmeath
	Dinny McGinley	Donegal South–West
	Joe McHugh	Donegal North–East
	Tony McLoughlin	Sligo–North Leitrim
	Olivia Mitchell	Dublin South
	Mary Mitchell O'Connor	Dún Laoghaire
	Michelle Mulherin	Mayo
	Dara Murphy	Cork North–Central
	Eoghan Murphy	Dublin South–East
	Dan Neville	Limerick
	Michael Noonan	Limerick City
	Kieran O'Donnell	Limerick City
	Patrick O'Donovan	Limerick
	Fergus O'Dowd	Louth
	John O'Mahony	Mayo
	Joe O'Reilly	Cavan–Monaghan
	John Perry	Sligo–North Leitrim
	John Paul Phelan	Carlow–Kilkenny
	James Reilly	Dublin North
	Michael Ring	Mayo
	Alan Shatter	Dublin South
	David Stanton	Cork East
	Liam Twomey	Wexford
	Leo Varadkar	Dublin West
Labour Party (34)	Joan Burton	Dublin West
	Eric Byrne	Dublin South–Central
	Michael Conaghan	Dublin South–Central
	Ciara Conway	Waterford
	Joe Costello	Dublin Central
	Robert Dowds	Dublin Mid–West
	Anne Ferris	Wicklow
	Eamon Gilmore	Dún Laoghaire
	Dominic Hannigan	Meath East
	Brendan Howlin	Wexford
	Kevin Humphreys	Dublin South–East
	Alan Kelly	Tipperary North
	Seán Kenny	Dublin North–East
	Ciarán Lynch	Cork South–Central
	Kathleen Lynch	Cork North–Central
	John Lyons	Dublin North–West
	Eamonn Maloney	Dublin South–West
	Michael McCarthy	Cork South–West
	Michael McNamara	Clare
	Gerald Nash	Louth
	Derek Nolan	Galway West
	Aodhán Ó Ríordáin	Dublin North–Central
	Jan O'Sullivan	Limerick City
	Willie Penrose	Longford–Westmeath
	Ann Phelan	Carlow–Kilkenny
	Ruairi Quinn	Dublin South–East
	Pat Rabbitte	Dublin South–West
	Brendan Ryan	Dublin North
	Seán Sherlock	Cork East
	Arthur Spring	Kerry North–West Limerick
	Emmet Stagg	Kildare North
	Joanna Tuffy	Dublin Mid–West
	Jack Wall	Kildare South
	Alex White	Dublin South
Fianna Fáil (19)	John Browne	Wexford
	Dara Calleary	Mayo
	Niall Collins	Limerick
	Barry Cowen	Laois–Offaly
	Timmy Dooley	Clare
	Seán Fleming	Laois–Offaly
	Billy Kelleher	Cork North–Central
	Seamus Kirk	Louth
	Michael Kitt	Galway East
	Micheál Martin	Cork South–Central
	Charlie McConalogue	Donegal North–East
	Michael McGrath	Cork South–Central
	John McGuinness	Carlow–Kilkenny
	Michael Moynihan	Cork North–West
	Éamon Ó Cuív	Galway West
	Willie O'Dea	Limerick City
	Seán Ó Fearghaíl	Kildare South
	Brendan Smith	Cavan–Monaghan
	Robert Troy	Longford–Westmeath
Not in Tech Group:	Michael Lowry	Tipperary North
	Noel Grealish	Galway West
	Lucinda Creighton	Dublin South–East
	Terence Flanagan	Dublin North–East
	Denis Naughten	Roscommon–South Leitrim
	Billy Timmins	Wicklow
	Brian Walsh	Galway West
Ceann Comhairle	Seán Barrett	Dún Laoghaire

THE DIRTY DOZEN w/e Nov 24th 2013

This week, a guest columnist, Fiona Fitzpatrick, teacher, mother of three fast-growing young kids.

THEY HAVEN'T GONE AWAY, YOU KNOW

What really happened to the promissory notes - and what you can do about our crushing bank debt, according to Fiona Fitzpatrick.

First published in the Cork Independent

Wednesday, 13 November 2013

Fiona with Brian Crowley MEP in Brussels

I am somewhat confused by the jubilant declarations that we are poised to successfully exit the bailout.

What bailout? I ask. The term itself implies assistance, or help. It’s true that the troika loaned us €62.5 billion. But it wasn’t a gift and it came with plenty of strings attached.

More importantly, though, not one cent of that money was for the benefit of the Irish people. Look at the facts. The money came in one door and out another to repay banks and bondholders elsewhere. We got just over €60 billion in troika loans; we ploughed almost €70 billion into our banks. The banks were bailed out. The people were screwed. We got debt piled on debt, crushing not only this generation but ensuring that the next generation will remain debt slaves also.

So, I ask again – why the celebration? Look around. Everywhere, we see the result of our bank recapitalisation. High unemployment, soaring suicide rates, increased emigration, mortgage arrears crisis, cuts to payments to help the sick, the disabled, the elderly, children. We crush the very people we are supposed to protect as a society. We are draining resources from our health service, education and community projects. And for what? To repay private bank debts. Debts which were not and, are not ours.

In Ballyhea, we have been marching for 141 weeks now in protest against the bank debt burden. What started as a small weekly march has become a focused, determined campaign which has travelled from Ballyhea to Brussels, with plenty stops along the way, while all the while maintaining that weekly protest.

We have held discussions with MEPs, Sharon Bowles Chair of the ECON Committee, European Commission personnel, Council of Europe representatives and, most importantly, ECB officials. There is an acceptance everywhere that Ireland's people have had an unfair burden placed on their shoulders. And the most odious part of this debt is, without question, the now-infamous promissory notes.

Of course, we are told that those pesky notes have gone away. This is also untrue. They are hiding out in a new home, with a new name. We refer to them as the promissory note bonds. €25 billion of sovereign bonds issued in February of this year in lieu of the remaining promissory notes sit with the €3.06 billion bond also being held by the Central Bank of Ireland, payment of the 2012 Promissory note. Waiting.

If you wonder what will happen to them, it’s quite simple. They will be sold on. The money received will be destroyed. We will pay interest on them and, when the time comes, we will have to repay the money destroyed. My children will pay this debt unless they take off to far flung places, like so many young people today. The only other option is to get this debt written off.

Many people feel powerless, but the truth is we have so much more power than we think we have. Our government representatives are in power because we elected them. Whether they like it or not they are answerable to us, although many of them may need to be reminded of this.

On 26-27 November the technical group, in the Dáil, intends to put forward a private members’ motion asking the government to ask the ECB to destroy the 'promissory note' bonds. It is actually incomprehensible to me that anyone, with the people’s interest at heart, could vote against this motion but we all know how politics goes. We need to remind our local representatives that we elected them and ask them to support the technical group’s motion. This is a chance for every party to put the people first. This is a chance for us, the people, to begin the process of fixing a system that appears so badly broken. This is a chance for politicians to fight for us, and not against us.

Imagine our country with the debt burden lifted? We would have a real opportunity to soar, to reform the way we do business and to create a more equal and just society.

The bank debt burden is destroying us. €69.7billion.

So, who was bailed out? Not us, that’s for sure.

Fiona Fitzpatrick is a member of the Ballyhea Says No protest group.

THE DIRTY DOZEN w/e Oct 20th 2013

In the week that's in it, the corporate entity of Kenny, Noonan, Gilmore & Howlin having come up with the latest attacks on the old, the youth, the infirm, to maintain the protection they offer to their friends in banking and big business, isn't it good to know that we continue to pay in full all those failed bondholders in the failed Irish banks? Isn't it good to know also that all those Fine Gael and Labour backbenchers continue to offer their unqualified support to those measures?

'No more Promissory Notes!' crowed Minister Noonan, yet again publicly proclaiming this utter untruth - the €25bn in P Notes were converted to Sovereign Bonds, are all still very much alive and current, sitting in the Central Bank awaiting buyers, every cent of that €25bn then to be destroyed, just as was the case with the Promissory Notes.

For your perusal then, here they are - eight unsecured bonds in the this next dirty dozen, averaging over €10,000,000 per bond.

THE DIRTY DOZEN - w/e Oct 6th 2013

I was going back through a series of newspaper headlines from the past couple of months. This is what I found:

Jun 17^th 2013               Irish Times               PROVISIONAL FIGURES SHOW 20% INCREASE IN RECORDED SUICIDE

 Aug 24^th 2013             Irish Examiner        100,000 MORTGAGES OVER 3 MONTHS IN ARREARS

Aut 28^th 2013               New Statesman    THINK OF BOSTON, NOT BERLIN - Ireland is second only to Greece in terms of the scale and speed of health cutbacks undertaken by “developed” countries

Sep 8^th 2013                 Sunday Times          IRISH OUTLOOK: WAVING FAREWELL TO OUR SMART FUTURE

Sep 24^th 2013               Irish Examiner        POLL: 85% OF WORKERS EXPERIENCE FINANCIAL STRESS

Sep 27^th 2013               The Irish Time          EMIGRATION RISES TO RECORD HIGH – ‘GENERATION EMIGRATION’

Sep 28^th 2013               Irish Independent   WE ARE NOW €1.64 TRILLION IN THE RED, SAYS CSO

Coming in the midst of all the above, the announcement that Ireland is now out of recession:

Sep 19^th 2013               Irish Times                NOONAN WARNS OF TOUGH BUDGET DESPITE UPBEAT DATA - The recession is over but budget will still bite

I like to get my news also though from independent sources – here are two.

Sep 23^rd 2013               Irish Left Review    SINCE THE GOVERNMENT TOOK OFFICE

Sep 26^th 2013               C Gurdgiev blog     EVEN WITH HOPIUM INJECTIONS WE’RE NOT THAT FAR FROM GREECE

Read down through the above – suicide on the increase, mortgage distress, cuts in health and education services, emigration at record levels, stress and distress everywhere, a combined national debt with so many zeroes that even the Irish Independent is confused.  

And still Finance Minister Michael Noonan will introduce another Budget of more cuts and more taxes.

Through all of this increasing misery we have a Taoiseach who goes around the country and around the world sporting a permanent inane grin, impervious to any blame, to any shame, feigning fellowship with those who are suffering, pretending all is well and about to get even better.

Those of us living here know the truth; not all the truth but enough to know our way through the tissue of lies being presented to the world.

Here is another dose of truth, the next 12 bank bonds due for redemption. This Wednesday AIB has a billion-euro bond maturing - thank God it's 'Covered'! By whom though? Why, by the shareholders of course! And the shareholders are???

THE DIRTY DOZEN - w/e Sep 29th 2013

Just so you know - today, EBS (we own it by the way) pays yet another unsecured bond, a mere €50,000,000 but sure what would you buy for a mere fifty mil these days eh?

Go to the '3-yr debt summary' tab in the table below and check out the combined projected debt payments of our banks and our government for the three years 2013/14/15, then tell me how a banking system already up to its tonsils in mortgage problems, how a government up to its tonsils in debt (€192.5bn at the end of 2012, and growing rapidly), can survive - either one of them.

Our government and its media cheerleaders are living in lu-lu land, whistling past the graveyard as they continue to try to convince the world that Ireland is thriving, recession over. As our friend - Ireland's friend - Constantin Gurdgiev puts it, however, we are not a patient in recovery, we're a patient in an induced coma. Europe has helped put us in that coma, Europe is helping keep us there, but not in the way they would have it portrayed, the way they do have it portrayed.

The incomplete launch of an incomplete currency is at the root of this Europe-wide crisis; in Ireland it was the subsequent influx of cheap European hundreds of billions to this tiny economy, fuelling a property bubble that subsequently and inevitably exploded. To save the euro, to save the big European banks, the EU/EC/ECB ordained that Ireland would have to bail out every one of its banks and every one of the bondholders in those banks, thus the continuing bond payments above.

In Ballyhea we've been campaigning for 134 weeks against that bank-debt imposition, marching every week. In our efforts to get that bank-debt written off we have developed our own proposals, we have walked the corridors of the highest powers in Europe, sat face-to-face with senior people from the EU Parliament, the European Commission, the ECB, the European Council.

THE DIRTY DOZEN w/e Sep 8th 2013

It's been a while and apologies for that, busy on other duties. I see it's being widely reported that we're almost out of our 'bailout, that Ireland will be all free and clear in a few months, Europe even providing a new multi-billion-euro backstop for us to help us regain our economic independence.

That's it then, mission accomplished by the Troika.

Man, how we've been rolled over, how we've been sliced and diced and neatly packaged. How much debt write-off did we get in this 'bailout'? By how much has our national debt been reduced? Not a cent you say, in answer to the first? Not a cent you say again, in a reply to the second? What, the national debt has increased to the tune of tens of billions? And that's a bailout? 

I saw a clip during the week showing Richie Boucher again doing his thing at the Oireachtas Finance Committee meeting. In explaining how it is that at least 90% of the Bank Of Ireland's renegotiated mortgages will end up paying the bank more than what had been agreed in the original mortgage deal, the bould Boucher put it very bluntly to Stephen Donnelly TD -"Unless there is a writedown, the total repayment by the customer increases."

Doesn't exactly the same principle apply on a national level - if Ireland didn't get debt writedown (and we didn't), doesn't our total repayment increase? Extend and pretend, that's the policy of Bank Of Ireland, that's the policy of the EU/EC/ECB in dealing with Ireland. We are debt slaves, our children are debt slaves, their children likewise.

Nearly €70bn we've been forced to plough into our banks, to rescue the euro, to rescue the big investment banks in Europe and elsewhere, to rescue those Irish banks themselves. We know the projected cost of the €25bn Promissory Note Bonds currently held by the Central Bank, €25bn which will be burned in its entirety as it's taken in by the Central Bank but €25bn that will cost several generations €47bn in interest, plus the €25bn itself - that's €72bn. So how much will the remaining €45bn that we've ploughed into the banks cost us? It won't stop at €200bn, be sure of that.

But the con-job is complete. Just as Irish people nowadays speak of the Great Famine of the 1840s, now we speak of the 'bailout for Ireland' - the propaganda has worked. There was no famine of course; there was failure of the staple crop of the people but there was still food a-plenty, denied to the starving millions. There was no bailout for Ireland here either - bailout for the banks, the euro, the banks bondholders, the EU/EC/ECB, but for us? Debt piled on debt.

Ye know of course that we're still bailing out the banks and their bondholders (see the tables below), ye know they'll soon be back to us again, begging bowl in hand?

Ye know too ye can put an end to this. If ye just take a stand.