Ireland Government Crumbles As Green Party Pulls Out Of Ruling Coalition

It has been a while since we had one of those "before Asia opens" kind of Sundays. Today just may be one. BBC has just reported that the Irish Green party has pulled out of the ruling coalition with Fianna Fail which is "expected to bring forward the general election from 11 March." In other words suddenly the entire Irish "rescue", taken for granted for over a month, will have to be reexamined, once the new ruling party, which will certainly be from the current opposition reevaluates the terms. Elections are now expected to come some time in mid-February. Look for peripheral bond spreads to go whooosh tomorrow.

From BBC:

The party's announcement, after a meeting in Dublin, follows a
decision on Saturday by PM Brian Cowen to quit as leader of his Fianna
Fail party.

Mr Cowen had said he would stay on as PM until the election, a move opponents had described as "farcical".

The Greens' decision removes the ruling coalition's two-seat majority.

The Green party is having a press conference right now which can be watched here:

Full green party statement:

Green TDs and Senators leave Government

COMMENTS BY GREEN PARTY LEADER JOHN GORMLEY AT A NEWS CONFERENCE IN THE MERRION HOTEL, DUBLIN

Good afternoon ladies and gentlemen and thank you for joining us.

On November 22 last we said that an election should be held early this
year because of the events surrounding the IMF bailout. On that occasion
we identified four key priorities, which needed to be addressed before
this election could take place. These were: concluding financial
arrangements with the EU/IMF; producing a four-year economic plan;
passing Budget 2011; and passing the Finance Bill to give effect to that
Budget.

Today, three of these four objectives have been completed. We believe it
is possible to complete the Finance Bill quickly before going to a
general election.

We believe that this election is absolutely necessary. The Irish people
have begun to lose confidence in politics and in the political process.
They have watched aghast the conduct in Dáil Éireann of political
parties.

The Irish people expect and deserve better.

For a very long time we in the Green Party have stood back in the hope
that Fianna Fáil could resolve persistent doubts about their party
leadership. A definitive resolution of this has not yet been possible.
And our patience has reached an end.

Because of these continuing doubts, the lack of communication and the
breakdown in trust, we have decided that we can no longer continue in
government.

We will remain true to our promise to support the Finance Bill from the
Opposition benches, with the promised cooperation of the opposition
parties. Yesterday, Eamon Ryan initiated contact with the main
opposition party in this regard. And they have undertaken to facilitate
the passage of the Finance Bill.

I understand that similar undertakings have now been given by other opposition parties.

We hope that they will keep their word.

We also hope that the Fianna Fáil party will make every effort to fast-track this legislation.

It has been a very rare privilege to serve in government. It would of
course have been preferable if our time in government had not coincided
with the worst economic downturn in our nation’s history. It has meant
having to take the most difficult decisions that any party could have
faced.

We did so it was because it was the right thing to do.

I am proud of our many achievements in the areas of planning, renewable
energy, energy-standards of buildings, water conservation and other
environmental areas. I’m proud that we gave rights to gay couples
through civil partnership, and that we persisted in our belief that
education and the arts should be protected. These two areas are
absolutely vital for our economic recovery.

I regret obviously that we did not have more time to complete our other legislation, which is very well advanced.

I would like to thank our party members for their steadfast and loyal
support in the face of unprecedented challenges. I’d like to thank our
hard-working staff and our families who have had to endure the pressures
that go with being in government.

Our record is one of responsibility, reform, steadfastness and creativity.

And these are the very characteristics that will enable this country to
get back on a path of sustainable recovery, underpinned by a very
different set of values.

GO RAIBH MILE MAITH AGAIBH.

Comments

[Quintus]

Time will reveal all, I guess.

[jez]

"It would of course have been preferable if our time in government had not coincided with the worst economic downturn in our nation’s history."

==================================

"coincided" is good.

[beastie]

EVERYONE and I mean everyone I talk to in Ireland knows what the hell is going on and what it means. Ireland isn't like this country where people are surprised to find the Federal Reserve is a private bank. It's a small country with a population that can read and does. Everyone knows they are getting fucked and unless they default they are going to get more fucked. Fucked if the do and fucked if they don't.

There is a storm brewing. Any politician who wants a career more than one election cycle knows that they will be marked for life with how they vote on this.

Fianna Fail at 8% is huge. It's the equiv of Ronald Reagan getting 8% of the vote for his second term.

Like most civilized people you can only push them so far. Normally I wouldn't give a Sinn Fein politician the time of day but right now they would have my vote.

[Bob]

Thanks for the reality check.  It's hard grinding along on faith alone. 

[Quintus]

It's a sad state of affairs when a bunch of murdering B*stards like Sinn Fein are the best hope for the country.  What has our democracy come to?

[Bob]

I recall Uncle Warren saying that it was a class war--and that the elite were winning by default. 

Of course, it's more like non-default, but still. 

[beastie]

"The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants."

Tommy J.

[Buzz Wired]

@ Beastie - Your insights via your contacts in Ireland are quite helpful in understanding what is happening there now. I am woefully ignorant of Irish politics as I suspect most Americans are.

Are there any Irish folks on ZH who can offer their perspectives on current developments around the bailout package? Thanks in advance for your input.

[Breaker]

Rick:

Love your avatar. Bob is right. One of LBJ's worst ideas (and he had a lot of them) was that the government got to spend the money in the social security trust fund and give an IOU to the treasury on regular ol' bill. So if 50 billion is collected in social security contributions but the deficit is 75 billion, the social security contributions are borrowed from the treasury and used to reduce the deficit to only 25 billion that year. Win-Win for the dems, who funded a huge exansion in entitlements with that little scam.

I understand the IOU's are actually held in Ohio. I picture an old filing cabinet in a government office building basement full of dusty paper saying "IOU 10 billion dollars, Signed LBJ" and "IOU 30 billion dollars, signed Richard Nixon." and of course the grand champion of deficit: "I owe you 1.4 trillion dollars, signed Barak Obama. He got the moniker "Zero" from all the zeros that accompany his debt :)

Bottom line, congress critters have been spending the ENTIRE social security trust fund and amazingly, since the late 60's and that hasn't been even a blip on our Old Media's radar screen.

We have already spent grandpa's money. I'm sure he'll take it in the fun spirit in which it was intended.

[DukkButt]

These "SS is solvent until 2039 (or whatever)" idiots don't seem able to comprehend that an IOU from Uncle Sam is NOT the same as money in the bank. They have to be the stupidest people on the planet, or shills for the system. There really isn't a third choice.

From here on out, the government will be borrowing money to pay full SS benefits. Basically, giving out IOU's to pay back IOU's. Not a sustainable plan.

[Bob]

Other Treasury loans, e.g., T Bills, are not money in the bank either--but they're considered as good as money.  They're "guaranteed."  That guarantee is founded upon nothing but intent to perform on a promise, however--they're guaranteed until Treasury defaults on them. They're nothing but securitized loans. 

For some reason that is wholly bizarre to me, a meme has taken hold that the loans held by the SS Trust are not equally binding, essentially due to the form of paper they are printed on.  Yet they are debt obligations of the Treasury, plain and simple.  I don't care if they're just scribbled on the back of cocktail napkins, they're assets that are just as real as any other form of government debt . . . popular pretenses to the contrary notwithstanding.  Failure to pay them is a Treasury default, plain and simple.

It was clearly stupid (interpreted as benign intentions) for the Treasury to fashion this debt in a form that allowed it to conveniently exclude it from calculations of its debt.  Yet it remains a debt.

If the Treasury is going to default, let them start elsewhere. 

I find it strange that so many people who expect the entire system to melt down within 1-5 years have such a hard-on for slashing SS due to "sustainability" problems that will emerge in 2030--20 years from now at the earliest. 

[Browncoat79]

I'm from Ireland. Our only hope is to vote Sinn Fein. They are the only ones not in thrall to the bankers, and the only ones who will tear up this farce of a Finance Bill and reject the bailout. We need to pull out of the euro. Sinn Fein are the only ones with enough balls and enough integrity (never thought I'd be saying that!) to do it. Anyone Irish reading this-vote Sinn Fein! We have to reject the bailout. Things are set to get a whole lot worse if we do not.

[bullchit]

Time to change from pulling pints to pulling pins.

Regards.