THE IRISH GOVERNMENT will not be targeting bank deposits like Cyprus, Minister for Agriculture Simon Coveney told the Dáil today.
He made the comment during Leaders’ Questions, when questioned on the issue by Fianna Fáil finance spokesperson Michael McGrath.
Last night, Cyprus MPs rejected a proposed €10 billion bailout deal in parliament, which would have meant a levy on bank deposits.
Deputy McGrath said that the message that people will have received from the developments of the last few days “is that bank deposits are no longer sacrosanct in the eurozone”.
He also said it was difficult to believe that given Ireland’s repeated insistence that corporate tax is a matter for each member state, that this Government would agree to a condition in the Cypriot bailout for that country to increase its corporate tax rate.
“Can you give an absolute assurance to the Irish people that there are absolutely no circumstances… that our citizens will have their private savings targeted in the way Cypriot [people have]?” McGrath asked.
Coveney said that “there is absolutely no evidence to suggest that what is happening currently in Cyprus is having any impact” in Ireland on financial markets, or on bank deposits here.
He continued:
Let me give an absolute guarantee on behalf of the government that under no circumstances will this government look to introduce a Cypriot-style levy on deposits in terms of raising money.
He said he has spoken to the Finance Minister Michael Noonan about this, and that it is clear “from a government point of view that we will not be targeting bank deposits for any purpose as a government”.
Sinn Féin finance spokesperson Pearse Doherty said that Cyprus had “sent out a very clear signal that they wouldn’t be pushed around” but that “the Irish government shouldn’t have signed up to this blackmail”.
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