Joe Behan - Independent Councillor - Wicklow County Council


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AIB Windfall not for the People

Archive Statements > 2017 - April-June

AIB Windfall - but not for the people
1st June 2017

It is almost impossible to believe but it’s happening again! We should be receiving about €3 billion from the sale of a bank we rescued with our own money and sacrifice but the powers that be say we can’t spend it. This is a repeat of the same mantra we heard when the EU decided we were owed €13 billion by Apple Computers. Then, we were told the Government doesn’t want the money at all! We can’t even get our hands on the interest on this money. The Government says we don’t need it.

Say that to the many full time carers who get no support from the Government despite the huge cost savings these carers provide to the state. Say it to the women of this country who worked outside the home in their younger days but because they don’t have enough PRSI stamps, they get nothing when they are at retirement age even though they made their payments like everyone else. Say it to the parents of children with special educational needs who have to fight to get even basic resources for their child. Say it to the hundreds of thousands of young people who have little hope of having a home of their own any time soon. There are many other people in this country, who could do with a help up from the Government, but they are being told- they must wait.

It is a disgrace that we gave €20 billion of taxpayers’ money, our money to save a bank destroyed by greed and now when we manage to get a small fraction of it back, we can’t use it for the benefit of the people.

There should be a public outcry about this and our TDs should immediately challenge this decision in Dáil Éireann and fight to keep this money to be spent on the needs of the people they are supposed to represent.

To add insult to injury, the AIB will probably be selling off its poorly performing business loans and mortgages to vulture funds resulting in many more house repossessions and business closures to ‘clean up the loan book’ and make the sale of shares more attractive to foreign investors.

The final sting in the tail will be that the salaries and bonuses of senior bank executives will no doubt be lined up for massive increases – because international investors will want to ‘incentivise’ these people to make even more profits for the shareholders.

Sadly, we continue to live in a land where the ordinary person the common good are last to be considered when the Government and the Banks combine forces.

Cllr. Joe Behan

Independent



Serving the people of County Wicklow since 1985 | joebehan@outlook.ie

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