Presidential spat proves politics will always be a cyclical process
World of Politics with Harry McGee – [email protected]
What with Michael D Higgins and Christine Legarde dominating Ireland’s political landscape this week, there were moments when it seemed like we were revisiting 2011 all over again. It started with reports that Michael D has told key Government figures he may seek a second term, evoking memories of the fraught election campaign seven years ago and certain promises he made – and then on Monday, the Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund was in Government Buildings to meet Taoiseach Leo Varadkar and Minister for Finance Paschal Donohoe.
As Christine Lagarde reminded us, the first time she visited Ireland in her IMF role growth was only 1.6 per cent as opposed to 7.8 per cent in 2017. Unemployment was 14.6 per cent in 2013 where it is now less than six per cent with long time unemployment at around two per cent.
Back in 2011 we were going through the bailout programme. We had acquired a loan of €67 billion from the Troika. NAMA had been set up to buy the bad debts of the banks. The banks had to be rescued and refinanced. There was senior debt, subordinate bonds, liquidity tests, stress tests.
There was a sharp rebuff from Germany’s Angela Merkel and France’s Nicholas Sarkozy to new Taoiseach Enda Kenny's attempts to get a better deal on interest rates.
Later on Kenny and Noonan announced a big breakthrough on interest at a June EU Summit but it never really materialised. There was a deal on Anglo’s Promissory Note but it was complicated and there was uncertainty if it was quite so good as the showman Noonan claimed.
This was the time when the Troika delegation, headed by AJ Chopra, came to Dublin every three months, with stringent quarterly targets. The word ‘conditionality’ entered the lexicon, as did austerity and memorandum of understanding.
Personally I would have loved to see that format of government performance continue. A tangible target is set out for actions to be done with a very tangible time frame. And then an independent assessor comes in every three months to adjudge progress.
But as soon as Ireland was out of the bailout programme, it abandoned the format for the usual metric of putting every tough decision on the long finger.
For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.