Sign in. It’s quick, free and it’s up to you.
An account is an optional way to support the work we do. Find out more.
Updated 3.22pm
GREEK FINANCE MINISTER Yanis Varoufakis has accused Athens’ creditors of “terrorism” in an interview published today, a day before Greeks vote in a high-stakes referendum on their bailout.
“What they’re doing with Greece has a name — terrorism,” the blunt-spoken Varoufakis told the Spanish El Mundo daily.
“What Brussels and the troika want today is for the ‘yes’ (vote) to win so they could humiliate the Greeks.”
Referring to the IMF, European Central Bank and European Union, he said:
Why did they force us to close the banks? To instill fear in people. And spreading fear is called terrorism.
After failing to reach a deal with its creditors last weekend on an extension of its bailout programme Greece’s radical leftist government closed the country’s banks and imposed capital controls until July 6.
Varoufakis said that whatever the result of Sunday’s vote, in which the government is calling for a ‘no’ vote, the banks would reopen and Athens would end up reaching an accord with its creditors.
“Europe needs an agreement, Greece needs an agreement, meaning we will reach an agreement,” he said, reiterating a pledge to resign if the ‘yes’ vote carried the day.
He was forced to deny a Financial Times report that suggested Greek savers could lose 30 percent of their bank deposits to shore up the banking system, slamming it a “malicious rumour”.
Closer to home, hundreds of people took part in a demonstration outside the Central Bank in Dublin to show support for the Greek people.
The Greek Solidarity Committee is called for a No vote in tomorrow’s referendum.
The demonstration moved from the Central Bank to Dawson Street to protest outside the Dáil and the European Commission offices.
RTÉ News reports as many as 2,000 people were in attendance.
The most recent polls suggested Sunday’s plebiscite on Greece’s latest bailout offer was too close to call, with the nation of 11 million people evenly divided.
EU leaders have warned that a “No” victory could cause Greece to crash out of the eurozone.
A defiant Tsipras told 25,000 cheering supporters at Friday’s rally to “say ‘No’ to ultimatums and to turn your back on those who would terrorise you,” adding: “No one can ignore this passion and optimism.”
Sinn Féin’s Pearse Doherty is travelling to Greece today on the invite of Syriza.
“Sinn Féin stands in solidarity with the people of Greece and firmly against austerity,” he said in a statement last night.
“The actions of the Troika in relation to Greece in recent months have been akin to those of the schoolboy bully.
“Unfortunately, our own government and Michael Noonan in particular has not only stood with the bullyboys but actually put the boot in himself when the opportunity arose.
While other European leaders are trying to paint this as an in out referendum the truth is that this is a choice voting accepting a bailout package that will further damage the Greek economy or on the other hand strengthening the hand of the Greek government in further negotiations.
Rumours that capital controls imposed by the government were leading to food and medicine shortages were spooking Greeks, as was growing uncertainty over when the country’s banks would re-open.
“I’ve heard shops are running out of flour, sugar and salt. I’m really worried, how will we manage if we can’t get to our money and there’s no food to buy?” said Lena Antoniou, a 35-year old mother of two.
Fresh ATM queues snaked along pavements Saturday morning, with many faces drawn or pinched with anxiety as voters confessed they thought Sunday’s referendum was going to be an extremely tight race.
- © AFP, 2015. Additional reporting by Nicky Ryan. Originally published 12.30pm.
Call it what you like, it’ll still be the same old dinosaur with the same terrible attitude to competition and customers alike.
10yrs with sky. 1 phone call to customer care. 6mths with Eircom, over 25 calls and 10 different engineers have called to the house. Most are from companies where the work has been sub contracted to them. All are as useless as the last. Sorry I ever left sky.
The best those over paid Gob**ites can come up with is a rebrand !! Huw about not leaving your customers hanging on the line for 2hrs when they ring up to report a fault !!!
Messed about by so call customer care, Moved to UPC 1 year ago no issues.
It’s alright if your able to get upc , but not all of Ireland is covered.
just wait till you try to cancel. atrocious service. look at the Twitter
Eircom are a joke. Two complaints to Comreg regarding there shabby broadband. Moved to SKY and no problems with my broadband since. People are sick to the back teeth of companies like Eircom with their half price offers for their half baked services.
the ‘Only’ ‘Free’ ‘Just’ services. be sick of them. nothing is just, only, free. its all crap.
look rebranding wont change anything bar the name…in general “if it looks like sh!t smells like sh!t its usually sh!t”
The telecoms regulator seems pretty useless and overwhelmed by everything
They need to take firm action again Eircom when they mess their customers around
Only way to change the Eircom culture
left sky a few years ago to join eircom. what a mistake. rejoined sky again recently. Eircoms customer service was brutal. No manners, unprofessional and didn’t give a toss. sky might be more expensive but the quality is second to none. Never again using eircom
You can put a fairy on it and cover it in lights, but it’s still a tree.
I’m sure it will be a suitably shite branding effort by a bad marketing team that will waste money, pat themselves on the back and push the company further into the debt.
The creation of eMobile to differentiate it from Meteors downmarket image had to be the worse, least creative, no clear message, creation of a brand that just wasted masses of cash…
Sooo glad to be away from eircom. Ever since I’d been with them there’s been nothing but problems.
A turd in a tuxedo is still a turd.
One of the worst companies i ve ever dealth with.
The area where my parents live was supposed to get efiber in January, then June, then July, now September! They throttled the line into the exchange and did sod all about another exchange even though they knew there was a problem. Sky were more than helpful in trying to sort out speed issues but couldn’t do that much because Eircom ultimately run the lines. The biggest holdup to top rate broadband in this country is Eircom who have held us back by years. If you live in a big city or town you are sorted, the rest of the country doesn’t matter in Eircoms eyes.
I will be rebranding my anger and disdain in response.
Any telecoms company that offers a service that runs 24 hours a day, ie. Broadband, should have a 24hour customer care line, with people who can speak clear English.
All operators resell Eircom lines, so it all comes back in the end
Sky use BT Ireland to provide their service but in the end its Eircom who service the call.
No matter what you call it, it’s still the same shite, never have and never will use eircon
Eir is the new brand name.
Lennie – surely it couldn’t be that corny?? Eir?
has nobody told them that people read the small print now? how can people come out of a recession with their wages still cut in s*** and ye expect us to pay your overpriced ripoff service? i mean €80 for 2 months tv/broadband, thats insane. change your name, do what ye like, your marketing people are deluded if they think a name change can change peoples will to spend what they don’t have.
Their marketing departments have always been deluded, you see what passes for advertising or customer promotions with those guys? They think this stuff is dynamite.. Only a deluded person could ever think that.
Answer then better to improve there broadband services rather than pay millions on new logo .Ask some them engineers we can’t understand when we ring with problem to give it a new name then no one will know who to blame then because no can every make out there saying.
Are you sure it’s not the customer service people that can’t understand what YOU’RE saying?
The government needs to step in and separate Eircom the service provider from Eircom the engineering and line installers. They can’t be trusted to install lines and do service calls for other operators, they’ve been shown to give priority to their own customers first. There needs to be a completely independent engineer company that can handle service call outs and line installs for all the operators without giving priority or just being flat out sh!t
Changing the brand won’t make a fig of a difference. A brand change is not a magic wand. You’ve got to fix the problems first, then when you’re beginning to operate properly you can begin to think about a brand change.
Eircom have many issues to sort out. The company should be ashamed of itself that it allowed the company to sink so low. Very very bad management obviously.
have your say