TAOISEACH ENDA KENNY will announce a new burden-sharing plan for bondholders at Thursday’s EU summit in Brussels, according to Agriculture Minister Simon Coveney.
In an interview with the Irish Mail on Sunday, Coveney said Kenny will unveil the new policy while also reiterating Ireland’s refusal to increase its corporate tax base.
Speaking of burden-sharing, which has also been termed ‘burning the bondholders’, Coveney said:
We don’t think that it’s fair or equitable that Irish taxpayers should be required to take on all of the debts associated with the mistakes made by Irish banks and by banks who lent money to Irish banks.
Kenny has already underlined Ireland’s corporate tax stance, but is expected to do so again at this week’s EU meeting. He and Finance Minister Michael Noonan, who meets with fellow eurozone ministers tomorrow, will also be pushing for reduced interest rates on Ireland’s EU/IMF bailout package.
Fine Gael TD Brian Hayes told RTÉ’s This Week that the main issue for Kenny is to “work at it diplomatically, skilfully, to persuade Europe that it’s in Europe’s interest and in or interest to resolve this issue on a pan-European basis”.
Hayes said “it’s the ambition of the government” to reconsider the issue of burden-sharing given the €22bn in subordinated and unsecured debt remaining, but said that people don’t go into such negotiations shouting and screaming about burning the bondholders.
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