Home
    Northern Ireland
    About the SWP
    Departments
    Theory
    Events
    Videos

In the Unions
UK Unions ballot millions to take on the Tory cuts

Sep 21, 2011.

The prospect of a Britain closed by a public sector general strike took a giant step forwards last week.

    ICTU caves in
    Coca-Cola Hellenic: Workers pay, Shareholders profit from crisis
    Coca-Cola Hellenic: Workers pay, Shareholders profit from crisis
    Siptu Votes to go to war – But it needs new generals

Defend the JLCs

Aug 11, 2011.

On 7 July, the High Court ruled that Employment Regulation Orders (EROs) agreed by Joint Labour Committes (JLCs) are 'unconstitutional'.

    ICTU caves in
    Coca-Cola Hellenic: Workers pay, Shareholders profit from crisis
    Coca-Cola Hellenic: Workers pay, Shareholders profit from crisis
    Siptu Votes to go to war – But it needs new generals

PCS Workers Strike to Defend Jobs and Pensions

Jul 06, 2011.

Thousands of PCS public sector workers struck today to defend pensions ,their jobs and pay. In the North 3,000 workers took part in the action, Socialist Worker reports from the picket lines.

    ICTU caves in
    Coca-Cola Hellenic: Workers pay, Shareholders profit from crisis
    Coca-Cola Hellenic: Workers pay, Shareholders profit from crisis
    Siptu Votes to go to war – But it needs new generals

More industry stories

    UK Unions unite against the Tories: 800,000 ready to strike
    Report from rank and file conference
    INTO conference report
    Members must rise up and take unions back
    CPSU vote for strike action
    Unite union calls for end to air attacks on Libya
    SIPTU slush fund disgrace
    Mass Defection from SIPTU

Some recent stories
EBS Workers To Strike Against Noonan Pay Cut


Stop the madness! Protest against the cuts!


The Sparks of Protest Ignite- All out Nov 26th!


Aviva using crisis as excuse to cut jobs and throw its workers under a bus


Marxism Festival 2011 Dublin Nov 18th to 20th


Owen McCormack
Attacks On Ogle Hide Real Agenda.


Vanessa O'Sullivan
Sexist adverts on the rise


Ian McDonnell
Student Fee Hikes


Shebeen Chic workers fight back


Home
Who are the Bond-holders?
Peter Sutherland
08/10/2010
Author:
Kieran Allen
'We must re-assure the bondholders about the economy'. This line is trotted out daily in the Irish media. But who are these bondholders? The strange feature of current debates is that the Irish people never get told to whom we are supposed to pay all these debts. Now, however, Socialist Worker can reveal who some of these powerful people are – and the results are quite surprising. Last Saturday the Financial Times published data on bondholders for Irish government debt. The figures relate to July 2010 when European banks were asked to provide information to the Committee of European Banking Supervisors as part of a stress test. Although the data is a few months old, we may reasonably assume that the pattern has not changed when interest rates shot up to 6.5%. It should be noted that the figures below pertain only to Irish state debt. We still do not know who the bondholders of Anglo-Irish or the wider banking system because this is supposed to be 'commercially secret' information. Read it carefully and you will get an insight into the shocking skulduggery that is going on here. TOP 10 BANKS WHO HOLD IRISH GOVERNMENT BONDS Royal bank of Scotland £4.3 billion Allied Irish banks €4.1 billion Bank of Ireland €1.2 billion Credit Agricole €929 million HSBC $816 million Danske Bank €655 million BNP Paribas €571 million Groupe BPCE €491 million Societe Generale €453 million Banco BP1 €408 million The Royal Bank of Scotland is owned by the British government and Peter Sutherland was one of its directors until 2009. Sutherland often lectures the Irish population on the need for cutbacks – but he never reveals this link. The big surprise, however, is that the two biggest bondholders are Irish Banks. The people of Ireland have already put €7 billion in these two banks – but they then screw us twice by lending back our own money at higher interest rates. Imagine working class taxpayers delivering billions at the front door of the bank and then the directors scurrying around the back door to lend us back our own money and to call for more sacrifices. It is time to end this madness now. The Last Card The Green Party have lost all credibility and face decimation at the polls. So in a desperate bid to seize the headlines, they have raised a call for a 'national consensus' between all parties. Meanwhile, Ed Washe, a former President of Limerick University and a right wing fanatic, has also called for a 'national government'. This, he suggested, would end the 'raucous noise' of parliament and might include such business heavies such as Peter Sutherland and Jim o Hara of Intel. This call for a national government or a consensus on four year budgets has dominated the media this week. It is the latest elite ploy to hoodwink the population and to prepare the ground for the most savage attack on living standards ever seen. But it is also further evidence of panic and weakness amongst the elite. They sense that the population are at breaking point and worry that 'the political system' will not cope. The whole purpose of a national government is to close down all real debate and promote'strong' leaders who can break the slightest opposition. It would restrict democracy and lay the basis for emergency laws to curtail strikes or mass demonstrations. In normal times, parliamentary debates do not cause great excitement among the population. A healthy cynicism means that many distrust politicians and so do not take their words seriously. But we no longer live in normal times and the Labour Party, in particular, has positioned itself to give some voice to the mood of protest sweeping the country. This voice is very muted and the party is terrified of being associated with any big, serious mobilisations lest these encourage the idea of 'people power'. So it TALKS about shifting the burden of adjustment away from the poor – but ensures that its friends among the union leaders do nothing to organise real opposition on the streets. However, the scale of the crisis is so deep that the rich are even terrified about the talk. They know that Irish politics is reforming on class lines and that Labour could emerge as the largest party. They understand that the leaders of Labour are loyal to capitalism and will not carry out any serious measures against the rich. But they fear that the expectations of their working class supporters will be raised and when Labour does not deliver these will start looking further to the left. Hence all the talk of a national government, a national consensus, or agreement on the parameters of a four year budget. It is an attempt to depoliticise society and appeal to a desire for experts to lead us out of crisis.