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Army almost called in to protect banks during the crisis

Simon Coveney said the country was “bust”.

PLAY YOUR PART The Army Reserve are looking for Defence Forces / Facebook Defence Forces / Facebook / Facebook

THE ARMY WAS almost called in to protect Ireland’s banks during the depths of the financial crisis, Agriculture and Defence Minister Simon Coveney has said.

Coveney told Newstalk the public didn’t realise how close to the edge the country was during the worst phase of the economic recession, which took hold in 2008.

He said Enda Kenny had been briefed that the army may need to be called in to protect banks in case they ran out of money.

“We were losing about 1,000 jobs a week in the economy, the country was bust.”

The Taoiseach was getting briefed by the Central Bank that actually he needed to have a fall-back position whereby the army may have to surround banks to protect them because we could literally run out of money. That is how close to the edge we were as a country because of political mismanagement in the past.

During the interview Coveney defended Kenny, saying he had led “from the floor” after years of “political mismanagement”.

Ireland’s economy might be picking up, but workers’ earnings are still going backwards

‘The IMF did not sufficiently tailor its advice to countries during the crisis’

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    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Warren McAllister
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    Jan 13th 2014, 2:41 PM

    2008 called, they want their Blackberry back

    54
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    Mute Marc
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    Jan 13th 2014, 2:25 PM

    I never send a regular text. I use Whatsapp. The best app in my opinion for sending texts, pictures and videos. And all free.

    45
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    Mute Fozz
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    Jan 13th 2014, 2:44 PM

    Yep, same here but with Viber.
    What luddites still send SMS :)

    14
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    Mute Andrew Hickey
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    Jan 13th 2014, 2:49 PM

    The ones that get unlimited texts in their bundle.

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    Mute Tom Hara
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    Jan 13th 2014, 3:28 PM

    I always use the generous free SMS that I get in my monthly bundke. Only cheapskates use whatsapp etc

    9
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    Mute Lily
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    Jan 13th 2014, 3:37 PM

    Pay as you go people u mean…

    9
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    Mute Marc
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    Jan 13th 2014, 6:09 PM

    I have unlimited texts with my plan. Never use them. I prefer whatsapp. SMS is so 90s :)

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    Mute Bilbo Baggins
    Favourite Bilbo Baggins
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    Jan 13th 2014, 8:00 PM

    Are people missing the irony in your comment John ‘you only use Free sms, cheapskates use whatsapp’…. wait that was meant to be sarcastic right? …..

    1
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    Mute Neil O'Reilly
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    Jan 13th 2014, 3:14 PM

    A good 20 billion of them will just say “lol”.

    Lol.

    21
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    Mute Mark Byrne
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    Jan 13th 2014, 3:17 PM

    K ;)

    12
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    Mute Byyys
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    Jan 13th 2014, 2:38 PM

    “While instant messaging is expected to grow this year, SMS messages will continue to generate more revenue”..

    If more and more people are using smartphone Apps to send messages via whatsapp ,viber ,kik etc..
    how will SMS messages generate more revenue when you usually have to pay to send a text message?.

    17
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    Mute Begrudgy
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    Jan 13th 2014, 2:39 PM

    Alot of messages there for the US government to scan through.

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    Mute graham galvin
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    Jan 13th 2014, 4:10 PM

    If you are concerned about NSA snooping & use android then download sure spot. It will encrypt your texts.

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    Mute Daddy De La Noche
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    Jan 13th 2014, 2:30 PM

    Since you used a picture of a blackberry I would have assumed you’d include their BBM app that went cross platform months ago, some authors on this app really do not know their stuff.

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    Mute Tom Colgan
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    Jan 13th 2014, 8:47 PM

    Technology has changed alot in the last 5 years, exciting times ahead!

    1
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    Mute COOM
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    Jan 14th 2014, 12:29 AM

    TAX the TEXT. Could you imagine the revenue.

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