Committee for the Abolition of Illegitimate Debt

The Anglo: Not Our Debt campaign has warned the government against replacing the Anglo promissory note payments with a long-term sovereign bond Bond A bond is a stake in a debt issued by a company or governmental body. The holder of the bond, the creditor, is entitled to interest and reimbursement of the principal. If the company is listed, the holder can also sell the bond on a stock-exchange. .

Campaign spokesperson Niamh McCrea described the debt as “illegitimate – it was accrued to pay off the speculators who gambled their money on a dodgy bank now under criminal investigation. It is not the debt of ordinary Irish people and should under no circumstances be reclassified as ‘sovereign’”.

Also speaking on behalf of the campaign, Marie Moran said that extending the period of time over which the debt might be repaid was “simply pushing the burden onto the next generation” and called for the promissory note payments to be suspended immediately, not restructured.

Ms Moran said that it was long past time for “technical papers and sleights of hand, we need the government to take a principled stand and renounce unjust debt being foisted on innocent people, over any time frame”.

The campaign also called on the government to clarify as a matter of urgency what the total estimated cost of the Anglo bailout will be in the light of reports that this may rise to a staggering €52 billion, a figure described by Ms McCrea as “nothing short of obscene”.

Notes
Anglo: Not Our Debt campaign is supported by the Debt Justice Action network, which consists of the following broad range of organizations:http://www.notourdebt.ie/supporting-organisations

A simple ‘questions and answers’ document on Anglo debt can be found at http://www.notourdebt.ie/

For further information contact any of the following: (+ 353)

Marie Moran – 086 3212217
Andy Storey – 087 6543872
Niamh McCrea – 087 2458140
John Bissett – 087 9889132
Nessa Ni Chasaide – 087 75070

24^th September 2012