Enough Is Enough
We've bailed them out this is how they thank us.
Protest 4.30pm to 6pm
Permanent TSB HQ Stephens Green East
After all the money that the ordinary tax payers have been asked to come up with to bail out the banks Permanent TSB has decided to raise its interest rates. On top of the levy?s and tax hikes already forced on the taxpayer this will add untold hardship to over fifty thousand of Irelands ordinary people and their families.
We believe that if Permanent TSB is allowed to get away with this that all the other Mortgage lenders will follow suit and already AIB and Bank of Ireland are predicting similar rate rises for the future.
The billions that are required for the bail out of the banks are already causing huge reductions in public services in this country, the McCarthy report has called for cuts in almost every area. Yet the banks are not satisfied that they owe their existence to the taxpayer, they want to use their positon to coerce even more profits from ordinary people.
We are calling on Permenent TSB to show some gratititude to the people whom they owe their existence to and recind these hikes and we are calling on the Minister for Fianance Brian Lenihan to exclude Permanent TSB from the bank gaurantee scheme if they refuse.
If the other Banks chose to follow the lead of Permanent TSB we will continue this campaign with a call for a national mortgage payment strike.
"Enough is Enough" are a group of like minded individuals who have come together to take action on the issue of interest rate rises by banks in this country.
Comments (6 of 6)
Jump To Comment: 1 2 3 4 5 6Hi All yahoo has disabled our e-mail account so please contact us on enough999@care2.com
To the eds this should be featurised , hopefully will be a big story by tomorrow evening. We've had interest from TV3 , examiner, 98fm and BBC nothern ireland.
PTSB have been given no money by the Government. In fact, they pay the Government money to be part of the guarantee scheme.
Tell us now - where would Permanent TSB be without the bank guarantee scheme? And who's paying for that? The Irish people are already paying the price for the bank guarantee as it damages Ireland's credit rating and increases the cost of borrowing. Not so "blah" now is it?
Where will you protest when the ECB raise rates? Time to get real - yes the banks are on taxpayer life support but that doesn't mean they have to operate at a loss! Unless of course you want the guarantee to be exercised? Irelands reputation is not being damaged by the guarantee (total lack of insight with that comment) - our reputation is damanged by the governments increasingly incapacity to manage our fiscal policy and budget accordingly. The protest should be aimed at the government because they are the only people who can put a viable solution in place - yesterdays exchequer figures are telling - cutting costs is essential and a transparent plan for NAMA is required
Fact is that interest rates are at a historic low and will only go one way - up - ECB will eventually raise their rate so people need to recognise and accept this simple fact.
while permanent tsb may be paying the government for being included in the bank guarantee scheme, it essentially means the irish government (and hence the taxpayer) must underwrite all the deposits and certain debt in the bank, regardless of how unwisely these were issued.
all "experienced investor loans" given out in the most recent boom years cannot possibly be paid back by a large portion of lenders. these loans were given out by permanent tsb on the basis that these investors knew what they were doing, would be turning a profit, and would easily be able to pay the loan back. now we learn that these same investors--bulk landlords and developers--have loans with ptsb and numerous other banks which they have no hope of repaying. unfinished properties which are uninhabitable, and holiday homes in leitrim... the profiteers will be written off, but the average home owner will be viciously pursued whenever the recession eases. if you have negative equity in your home and can't pay, you will be pursued through the courts for every penny the banks "lost".
it was this bank's (and essentially all the other banks' as well) stupidity that caused the over-exposure of lending and necessitated the government's offering a bank guarantee scheme. the government did this to retain a top rating and preserve the reputation of the foolish banking industry. but it also must safeguard all deposits (retail, commercial, institutional and interbank), covered bonds, senior debt and dated subordinated debt to the tune of nearly €500 billion across all institutions.
meanwhile, an borad snip wants to cut funds from everywhere, including the most vulnerable of irish society. where is the guarantee for the downtrodden? where is the punishment for a failed finance industry? if the average man had an ecb, i can assure you the rates for the banks would skyrocket. as it stands now, ptsb and the banking industry would just as soon bury us all in the grave which is rightfully theirs. enough is enough!
Indymedia Ireland is a media collective. We are independent volunteer citizen journalists producing and distributing the authentic voices of the people. Indymedia Ireland is an open news project where anyone can post their own news, comment, videos or photos about Ireland or related matters.