Readers like you keep news free for everyone.
More than 5,000 readers have already pitched in to keep free access to The Journal.
For the price of one cup of coffee each week you can help keep paywalls away.
Readers like you keep news free for everyone.
More than 5,000 readers have already pitched in to keep free access to The Journal.
For the price of one cup of coffee each week you can help keep paywalls away.
DO YOU WANT State of the Nation delivered to your inbox every morning at 9.30am? Sign-up to our email alert at the bottom of this story.
Matt vs Mario.
ECB President Mario Draghi has written a letter to Matt Carthy, after the Sinn Féin MEP raised a number of questions about the European Central Bank’s involvement in the Irish bailout.
Draghi told the Midlands North West MEP the ECB did not call on Ireland to burn bondholders.
I must be absolutely clear that the ECB does not have any authority to issue instructions to any euro area government or its ministers, in the same way as euro area governments and EU institutions are not in a position to issue instructions to the ECB.
However, he said he thought the decision to protect bondholders was the right one.
Draghi reiterated his position that the ECB cannot appear before the upcoming banking inquiry, telling Carthy:
“Owing to the ECB’s accountability to European institutions and primarily to the European Parliament, the ECB is not in a position to participate in inquiries conducted by national parliaments.”
However, Dragi did add that the institution “stands ready” to interact on an “informal basis, outside the context of the banking inquiry”.
Speaking on Morning Ireland, Carthy said he was not satisfied with Draghi’s stance, saying the letter “reinforces” the need for the bank to send representatives to appear before the inquiry.
“The letter is long and in some respects detailed, but it raises as many questions as it does answers,” Carthy stated.
Carthy said he and fellow MEPs “will do whatever we can to get any level of engagement” and called on the government and banking inquiry committee to “exert enough pressure” on the ECB to provide witnesses and documentation.
The legal structures needed to compel politicians such as Bertie Ahern and Brian Cowen, as well as senior bankers and institutions, will be signed off on today. It’s unlikely the ECB will be included in this.
Michael Noonan and Pearse Doherty had great craic during yesterday’s Oireachtas Finance Committee meeting – yes, really. Must be the spring weather.
There was good will on Twitter yesterday, after the adoption rights bill was passed in the Seanad.
Originally published: 9am
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site