TAOISEACH BRIAN COWEN has denied suggestions that Ireland has already applied to the European Union or the International Monetary Fund to tap into reserve funding for either the state or the Irish banking sector.
The Taoiseach told the Dáil, however, that finance minister Brian Lenihan was still partaking in meetings in Brussels with his counterparts in order to ascertain whether any Irish actions could be taken that would help to ease the current European debt crisis.
Acknowledging that the recent rises in the cost of Irish borrowing were “a concern”, Cowen said it was in the interests of every state to resolve the current fiscal crisis, but stressed that Ireland had “made no application for external support”. The European Union had stressed this, he added.
Because the National Treasury Management Agency had ensured the country was fully funded into the first half of next year, he said, there was immediate funding pressure on the sovereign.
Earlier, Cowen – in response to complaints from Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny that Fianna Fáil had failed to fulfil the pledge of Seán Lemass, who said “the historical task of this generation is to consolidate the economic foundations of our political independence” – had stressed that the EU and European Commission had given their blessing to every major action the government had taken.
Kenny insisted, however, that the government had lost the faith of the people, once again calling for a general election, and said the current crisis affecting the Irish banking sector was not one of liquidity – which had been dealt with by introducing the banking guarantee – but about their solvency.
Cowen also said that the final terms of the four-year budgetary strategy were still being discussed, but that pending cabinet approval it was hoped to publish it next week.
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