Dail surrenders economic sovereignty

The Fianna Fail/Green Party coalition has won a vote in the Dublin parliament which will cede control over the day-to-day running of the 26-County economy to the International Monetary Fund and the European Union.

The 85 billion euro loan agreement was passed by 81 votes to 75. Three independents sided with the government who also backed a related austerity budget earlier this month.

Dublin will only recover its financial independence if the loans drawn down, reaching up to 70 billion euro, are repaid at an average 5.8% interest within seven years.

A vigil took place outside the Dail as the vote took place.

The government faced criticism by the Opposition parties over the scale of the five billion euro profit which is expected to be earned by the European Union from its relatively short-term loan facility of 45 billion euro.

It was also revealed today that Britain is to make a 3.25 billion pound loan, at an interest rate of 5.9%, making it a profit of over four hundred million pounds over a seven-and-a-half year term.

The loans will see further cash injections for the Irish banks and ensure the government does not have to return to the international money markets for a year.

The loss of sovereignty was defended in the Dail by Taoiseach Brian Cowen as a necessary evil and that the State had “no option”. Speaking before the vote was carried, he repeatedly appealed for “certainty” in the governance of the State.

There must be “no uncertainty about the fact that this House, representative of the Irish people, is anxious to ensure that we bring the funding certainty to this State over the next three years that this programme will provide,” he said.

Sinn Féin Dáil leader Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin said the IMF was the body to which the Taoiseach wanted to sell out the remaining economic sovereignty of the State.

“Make no mistake, personable and all as Mr Ajai Chopra can be, we do not want a new lord lieutenant here in Ireland.

“We have history books full of those experiences. We want to retain whatever last vestiges of our economic sovereignty and independence, and we can have that.”

Sinn Féin’s Mary Lou McDonald slammed the EU and IMF for behaving like loan sharks – extending credit at extortionate rates to pay back German, French and British bondholders who invested in private sector banks.

She also condemned the EU and IMF decision to force the 26-County State to pump the last of its wealth and savings – the National Pension Reserve Fund – into its failed banking system as “an international scandal”.

“Ireland does not need the EU/IMF loan; it needs a new government at the helm with a brand new vision.

“Bondholders need to be cut loose from the state’s sovereign debt. It’s not our debt to pay.”

Urgent Appeal