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TAOISEACH ENDA KENNY has admitted that Ireland faces challenges in securing an agreement with the European Central Bank on a deal to avert the annual payment of over €3.06 billion under the promissory note arrangement.
Kenny told the Dáil that discussions on a securing a deal to avert the repayment – with the next one due in 60 days’ time – would be challenging, saying the current arrangements were “not an easy situation to unravel”.
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“If this were a simple issue to untangle, it would have been done long ago,” Kenny said.
Answering questions from Fianna Fáíl’s Micheál Martin, Kenny said the government had been seeking to discuss “the source of funding, the duration of the notes, the interest rates applicable, and all of that,” with the ECB.
“I’ve been very clear in saying that what we want to do, effectively, is restructure and re-engineer this” from a “high interest rate overdraft to a long-term, low interest rate mortgage.”
The Taoiseach said he ‘expected’ a conclusion to these talks by the end of March, when the next repayment is due, and seemed to dismiss reports from last week that the ECB had rejected Ireland’s preferred option – of replacing the promissory note with a long-term bond – as illegal.
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@Osprey: Oh look,more ordinary people thinking that there is a bottomless pit of taxpayer’s money to pay for everything that we want.Every single day there are calls for this that and the other to be done from high speed rail to housing for everyone that wants one to free crèche’s to free college’s and hundreds of other things that we want to come out of general taxation….ie ,free.
@Temp Stuff:
I would like to have a short summary about the responsibilities of everyone involved.
If the the companies providing the mica blocks has gone bust (they did),
there should be insurance.
The insurance is there, but, as far as I know, limited to 10 years – after that you’re on your own.
From my understanding, and that’s where I might be wrong, somehow, someone, has to ensure that there’s no mica in the blocks.
My understanding is – and again I might be wrong – the government put this down to the producers of the blocks, as “self-regulating”.
If this failed = the government failed in it’s regulation = the government has to be responsible.
I’m not a fan of wasting tax money.
But, in the end – if the state, or state institution, fail to do their job,
it’s not the person’s/owners fault.
In the end, it’s the same like the 100′s of cases with fire security issues,
on paper approved by a state employee.
@Wolfgang Bonow: someone somewhere working for the state signed off on all this. That’s the reality. If I’m buying materials off a supplier, those materials are over a certain quality, usually European Standard or EN. Now I don’t have a lab that I can test, so I’m trusting the suppliers, and the suppliers are trusting the manufacturer who is the one responsible for ensuring that standard is met. Now obviously the state has a responsibility to ensure those standards are being kept too. But in this instance the state’s solution was hands off and let them self regulate, which is beyond stupid. The whole point of having regulations is to ensure that manufacturers don’t cut corners or make sub prime products.
@Wolfgang Bonow: by your logic then, if the government is ultimately responsible because of self regulation in the supply chain…. who then seriously goes to jail?
The materials used had a mark that certified they were of EU standard. There’s no ‘trying to get us taxpayers to fork up for it’ nonsense. The materials should not have been allowed into the country without that quality mark as per regulations of the EU.
@I can see clearly now: the materials were made in the country. The government didn’t enforce its own regulations. That’s the issue. The manufacturer has sailed off into the sun set, and somewhere they’ll be a state employees signature to say they met all the requirements
@Martin Mongan: I don’t mean the blocks but some of the materials used. Yes, the manufacturer was at fault as no testing on the block was done as per the building control regs and they prob passed them off as being fit for use too so it’s possibly number of factors. Was the concrete company regulated? Yes, they can say that adequate building control wasn’t in place by the building control section of L.A’s which could be a point, I don’t know – would they have the equipment to do stress tests on aggregates?
All that aside, I still think those people deserve to be looked after – they didn’t expect this to be the outcome of their building a home, for it to literally be crumbling under their feet and uninhabitable. They’re not asking for anything more than the original plan.
@I can see clearly now: The defective materials were quarried here, in Ireland.
The root problem was, and remains, self-regulation.
Self-regulation, where each business regulates itself.
As meeting standards can impact profits, there is a very real incentive to allow standards to slip.
And slip.
Self-regulation of our banks resulted in our banking crisis too.
@Rex Tynan: but the builder didn’t make the blocks and I assume he didn’t carry out lab tests on them either and they wouldn’t be expected too either. Would you only employ a builder who would test the blocks for mica?
@Derek Lyster: no I wouldn’t, if I had a team of builders, I would expect the foreman to be qualified enough to spot something as basic as substandard blocks
@Rex Tynan: we already had discussion Murphy and your wrong…why do you persist to agitate?… how wait that’s because your a paid online opretive to cause trouble and division…to try drive people away from the nationalist and anti mass Immigration movement…
@Rex Tynan: yeah ok so, the proper way to test blocks for mica is to carry out a petrography test, will your foreman do that test in the back of his van or is the foreman you hire so good that he can determine whether a block has mica or not just from a visual inspection?
The block manufacturers are to blame here not the end user. No proper regulation = no proper quality standards.
No the blocks with Micra looked the same as the blocks that did not have Micra. I know a couple who ahs rebuilt their house because of Pyrite, he built the house himself.
All blocks built by the 2main quarries in Donegal and Mayo did not have Pyrite, we built our clubhouse in 2003 with blocks from he Mayo quarry, the clubhouse don’t have Pyrite.
When our builder made a mess of the structure of our house we had to pay for it ourselves. Cost a fortune in legal fees and the stress nearly finished us off. Lost the house ultimately. Nobody jumped in to help us. Why are my taxes being used to sort out this mess.
@Ali123: then you obviously had the worst solicitors in the entire country. If a job isn’t built to spec then it’s on the builder to put it right. And from a legal standpoint that’s air tight.
@Martin Mongan: That’s not the way it works in this country.
Even if an ordinary person can progress a case to the courts – an onerous task at the best of times – the builder can simply declare bankruptcy, and then create a new company and carry on.
@Ali123: you could have hired someone with a law degree printed off the internet, and they would win the case. If something is built substandard, or not built to the exact requirements of the drawings, then 1000% the builder is liable for any or all alterations/remedial works. If I put a socket 50mm away from where it is on the drawing then it’s coming out of my pocket to have it moved. Like I said you must have employed the worst solicitor in the country or your just making it up.
@Sean oSuilleabhain: Oh yeah,SF/IRA Would have had everything in place so this wouldn’t have happened……and all the other safety nets that people go on about in here.give me a break.
That’s not the case though is it…the state was in charge and allowed this to happen therfore the state is ultimately financially obligated to cover their own fxck up…
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