"...the journalist who broke news of the likely liquidation of Anglo earlier this week on the wires, Laura Noonan who is the European Banking correspondent with Reuters..."

"you'll be glad to know I haven't time to ask you about the likely source of the Anglo liquidation leak..."

- RTE Radio 1 presenter speaking to Laura Noonan on Sunday 10th Feb 2013.

Formerly a journalist with the Irish Independent her appearance on the Vincent Browne TV3 show in Feb 2012 was used to illustrate "the consistent insistence of most of our financial journalists that any action that ran counter to government policy would result in disaster."

Karl Whelan who wrote the 2012 article goes on to say
"I guess the more interesting question is whether Laura is passing along what she’s been told by Department of Finance spinners or whether she came up with this exciting stuff all on her own."

http://www.irisheconomy.ie/index.php/2012/02/28/2012-tina-award-winner-laura-noonan/

Laura 'Leaky' Noonan - Reuters journalist who broke news of the likely liquidation of IBRC

"And the government...particularly the Minister for State were running around like headless chickens not knowing what to do. We didn't know all afternoon whether we were meeting on this or whether we weren't. Eventually at half past 8, Paul Keogh the government Chief Whip came into the Chamber and said he wanted to meet at 10.30pm to introduce legislation - there was a bit of an uproar because we actually happened to be at this stage debating Anglo anyway - a motion which I had down with the technical group"

What did you want to do with Anglo in that motion?
"In that motion we asked for the govt to go to the ECB ...and to look for a write-off of debt - a fundamental change ...not looking just merely for a lengthening of the debt - we wanted a write-off."

"The idea was to put pressure on govt back benchers particularly Labour party who were very unhappy about what was going on and to try and flush them out on what the hell was going on there and it may have played a part in this it may have played a part in the leak and in them hurrying the situation" 

- Pat Kenny interviews TD Shane Ross of the Dáil Technical Group on the morning after legislation was passed liquidating IBRC.  Thursday 7th Feb 2013.

15 TDs, led by Shane Ross, tabled a motion calling for a public assertion that Ireland won’t make the next repayment. "The motion will be debated on Tuesday and Wednesday evening, with a vote on Wednesday night"
http://www.thejournal.ie/dail-vote-promissory-note-repayment-779599-Feb2013/

'Debt Write-Off' Motion Scuppered by IBRC Liquidation Legislation

Derek Nolan Labour Galway West TD speaking on behalf of the government. When did you find out?

“We [inaudible: discovered again] 
and I have to admit that Shane is right there were rumours 
flying around from approx 4 o clock that 
something was on
that we might be sitting late
RTE were reporting it and TV3 were reporting it and so on
we were eventually confirmed
late in the evening about half 8 that we would be sitting late
and that we got 
a briefing then
[inaudible: as the] Labour Party 
at approx 10 o clock 
in the evening as to the contents of the Bill.”

“The Bill has been ready since the Autumn,
and the reason we were given - and I can understand why people would look at it and say that that isn't the best way to do legislation, and I'm sure it isn't.
The reason we were given is that 
much to the governments dissatisfaction 
it got out into the 
the open
that
d 
that 
liquidating Anglo
as [inaudible: part overall?] package to deal with the
with the Promissory Notes had gotten out into the market and"

Can you clarify
and we know about that 
Reuters got the story from where they got it we don't know
Can you clarify 
was this
already agreed with the
ECB that this is
whatever deal is going to be done
that they agreed
Anglo gets liquidated or 
IBRC gets liquidated.
Was that 
a precondition from them
or an agreement with them?

"Again I am not party to to
to the negotiations Pat 
but from what I understand and what I'm I'm [garnering?] and from what I'm hearing 
is that the shape of the deal
is coming along
is emerging and that involves the liquidation of Anglo..."

…The other question which I'll ask you and again you don't seem to have been briefed very thoroughly  as to what the objective of this whole exercise is
and maybe they were afraid you'd leak hahaha
but anyway... 

Pat Kenny of RTE Radio 1 interviewing Labour TD Derek Nolan - Thurs 7th Feb 2013

Labour TD speaking following IBRC Liquidation Legislation - RTE Radio 1, Thurs 7th Feb 2013

“I think the process which was used was very damaging for parliamentary democracy in Ireland - I fully accept that if, 
you know, you need to pass emergency legislation late at night because a leak gets out about a bank being liquidated and you need to protect state assets - I fully accept that you may all have to come together and put something together quickly and and vote it through with a
less parliamentary oversight than you would like but
thats not what this Bill was - this Bill didn't just say – 'Look, the state assets to the tune of about 12 billion euro in IBRC are not to be touched by anybody else' - I mean thats thats essentially
the rationale they gave for passing this Bill but of course the Bill went much further than that. The Bill liquidates IBRC
that in effect hands the Promissory Note over - the 28 billion thats left over from IBRC - to 
the Central Bank of Ireland that essentially therefore to the European Central Bank
and it also - Section 12 in the Bill also gives the Minister the power to issue securities - now in this case my understanding is what that means is it will give him the power to negotiate with Patrick Honohan, negotiate with Trichet and the 
the governing 
members of the ECB and essentially do a deal so
I felt at a democratic level last night was very bad - obviously there was no chance for us in Opposition to take legal advice to to really
go through it. The government TD's weren't allowed speak on it, they were just asked to vote on something that none of us really could fully understand and there was no Finance Committee involved.
Committee stage lasted for 15 minutes. Now, in the Taoiseachs speech, he said that the money at stake is 40 billion euro - so - I wasn't in the last Dail - but I was sitting there at 2am, watching, you know, a 40 billion euro piece of banking legislation – specifically to banking debt - go through and I thought, we clearly don't, we don't seem to have learnt very much from the mistakes we made since 2008,”

- Wicklow Independent TD, Stephen Donnelly interviewed by Pat Kenny, RTE Radio 1 - Thurs 7th Feb 2013



Ind. TD Donnelly speaking following IBRC Liquidation Legislation - RTE Radio 1 -  7th Feb 2013

In terms of what happened last night (emergency legislation Bill)
This would always have happened after hours wouldn't it?
- RTE Radio 1 presenter, Pat Kenny

“Yeah it 
that was the intention that it would it was always going to happen at very short notice. They had a 
this this Bill apparently ready, 
they had a plan in place to pass it if word leaked out and apparently there was a couple of times 
over the last couple of months they were ready with their effectively with their finger on the button 
ready to press it because they thought 
as a result of some queries or some questions or some reports that were out there
that it was going to emerge that this was the governments plan so they were going to move straight away to as Michael Noonan said last night secure the assets and and clear up any uncertainty or ambiguity.”

“the plot didn't leak out until about 4 o clock yesterday. 
So the problem yesterday wasn't really that the
the specific that
Patrick Honohan was going to come to the ECB board meeting with a new proposal today their difficulty emerged effectively later in the afternoon 
when the the specific word that the liquidation of the IBRC 
was part of that plan and at that stage they effectively had to move 
rather swiftly to pass last nights legislation.”
- 'Irish Independent' newspaper political editor, Fionnan Sheahan

I'm sure you're getting briefings from officials, how did they feel the morning after...?
- Pat Kenny

“and the fingers of blame were were pointing quite squarely 
at Frankfurt
last night from anybody in govt circles in relation to where where did this information come from
it seemed to be 
crystal clear that Ministers were were of purely one view this came from Frankfurt and that was it.”
 - 'Irish Independent' newspaper political editor, Fionnan Sheahan

“I don't know Pat, why Frankfurt would leak it, why why would it be in their interest to leak it, you know, I think this is just shambolic if this afternoon we get a situation where Draghi comes out and says 'we have not agreed to this particular package at this stage we come we haven't come down to it'
and we've actually, you know we've had emergency legislation in the Dail which is the first part of a package and the package is now up in the air and not agreed. I suspect that the leak came from here not not from Frankfurt because I can see no reason why Frankfurt would want to have a fiasco of this sort.”
- Independent TD, Shane Ross.

11am News Headline:
President Higgins has left Dublin for Rome this morning having signed the legislation to liquidate IBRC...
he was recalled from his official visit to Italy last night.  
 
The governing Council of the ECB will resume discussions this morning following the passing of legislation by both houses of the Oireachtas to liquidate the IBRC.

“From the ECB sources I've been talking to this morning ...what the ECB thinks and whether or not we have a decision and if we do have a decision whether that is a full decision or a 
an acceptance in principle an indication of acceptance with further details to be worked out or the thing that the Irish govt is certainly worried about where the ECB say, no the deal that has been currently been put forward by the Irish govt is simply unacceptable because its deemed to be monetary financing, in other words funding govt and thats something the ECB is constitutionally prevented from doing.”
- RTE Europe correspondent, Paul Cunningham

Code name 'Project Red'! - Emergency Legislation - RTE Radio 1 - Thurs 7th Feb 2013

I gather they really aren't too happy at all?
- Marian Finucane, RTE Radio

"Michael Noonan, as you recall
was on Pat Kenny (RTE Radio 1, Fri 8th Feb)
and he was quite open about the long push for a promissory note deal and he was talking about
who was helpful and who was concerned and he was naming names and as
far as the Bundesbank is concerned that's just not done, you know there's a gentlemans agreement that sort of everything is cloaked in mystery and deals come out of the ECB tower and we're not quite sure who's in favour and who's not."
- Irish Times reporter in Berlin, Derek Scally 

European Central Bank chief Mario Draghi said the ECB will examine the Irish swap further.

His comments came after the German governing council member and Bundesbank chief Jens Weidmann said Ireland's promissory note transaction comes dangerously close to contravening a ban on the monetary financing of governments.
http://www.rte.ie/news/2013/0215/367919-draghi-ireland-deal/

The Bundesbank president said that what the Irish government had said about the deal had in his words “underscored the fiscal elements in this transaction”
 
Article 123 of the EU treaty forbids the ECB from engaging in monetary financing. However many officials close to the deal have conceded that both the original promissory note deal and its successor arrangement did just that – or at least came very close.


German Central Bank Not Impressed With Promissory Note Deal - RTE Radio, 16 Feb 2013

So it's an improvement in its legality?

“Yeah, I mean people, 
some of the bank people were saying to me 'look, what you're saying is illegal'
and I said, I used to say to them [unintelligible: 'twas not] its an awful lot more legal than what you [unintelligible] three years ago' haha”.

- Finance Minister Michael Noonan interviewed on RTE Radio 1, Friday 8th Feb 2013

Broken field rugby

2:46
Jorg Asmussen, he used to work with the German finance minister and then he got promoted to the number two position in the ECB. He was extraordinarily helpful and I didn't know him but after being in Berlin to talk to [German Finance Minister] Wolfgang Schäuble 
we had a discussion and he said, 'look, theres an EU meeting in Cyprus and I'll make an appointment for you with Asmussen'
because he had worked as his chief of staff.
And I said to Wolfgang 'will you come to the meeting with us?' so he did, so the three of us met and that really what set the ball rolling, from then on we had a serious negotiation. So the name that the Irish people don't know is Jorg Asmussen, he was  extraordinarily helpful to us.

3:33 
Leak to Reuters

conspiracy theorists would say it was all choreographed

criminal offence

half way across the river 

a deal by teatime

formal meeting

very concerned

selling Ireland across the world

we needed this by February

relationships are very good
to be able to 
present that this wasn't monetary financing


Michael Noonan on RTE Radio 1 - Friday 8th Feb 2013

Imminent Cypriot bailout… there is growing expectation that losses may be imposed on senior bank bondholders. This evening in Brussels euro zone officials are considering proposals to force bank bondholders to take a write-down on their debt. The move to include bondholders would represent a marked change of policy by euro zone authorities, who stopped a similar quest by Ireland to burn senior bank bondholders of Anglo Irish Bank.

RTE Radio 1: News At One, report by Europe correspondent Paul Cuninngham in Brussels
Friday 15th March 2013.

Cypriot Bailout May Burn Bondholders

4:48
this seems to be analogous to the famous night of September 28th 2008 in this country where the government was effectively press ganged into having the 
bank guarantee maybe more extensive than might have been needed
but it seems that the Cypriot govt was bounced into this particularly by 
a member, a German member of the European Central Bank's board, telling their Finance Minister that stop-gap funding for Cyprus would be cut off if no agreement was reached? - Sean O' Rourke, RTE Radio 'News at 1'

“That seems to be the case, Sean, I was at a briefing this morning w the director of the Finance Ministry here and he was, I suppose, making the point that really... all along they opposed this particular move they said that it would have... exactly the repercussions that we're seeing here at the moment, and it certainly does seem that a gun was held to their head in the early hours of Saturday morning. But it also very clear that at the moment they're running out of options and its really a question of who's going to blink first at this stage.” - Will Goodbody, RTE news, Cyprus 


Cypriot Government Being Forced into Deal by ECB?

Minister for European Affairs, Lucinda Creighton questioned on Cypriot and Irish bank bondholder bailouts. Galway County Council 8th April 2013.
Also on the 'European Movement' Regional Dialogue Panel were:
HE Ambassador of the Czech Republic to Ireland, Tomáš Kafka
and
Vice President of Galway Chamber of Commerce and Secretary/Financial Controller of GMIT and Marine Institute Chairman, Jim Fennell.


I'd like to ask a question about the relationship Irish citizens have with the citizens in Cyprus. Why did the Irish government welcome the initial bailout proposal for Cyprus where bank account holders of €20,000 to €100,000 were to be taxed? Then the eventual deal saw deposits of over 100,000 levied but also that senior bank bondholders were to be burnt. Many people in Ireland now are left wondering why exactly we've had to pay out bank bondholders? There's €800million been paid out to Bank of Ireland bondholders today. Why after whats happened in Cyprus, why isn't there a pause being put on senior bank bondholder payments in Ireland?

1:26
Why did EU Finance Ministers allow the government of Cyprus go back to Cyprus with that deal?
1:47
Like the blanket bank guarantee was a mistake?
2:18
Like the late night liquidation of Anglo Irish Bank?
3:44
What about the Greek bonds that landed Cyprus in trouble in the first place where was the solidarity with Cyprus there? Did they not end up needing a bailout because of their investment in Greek bonds?
4:26
I believe but I don't know, that some of the big bondholders in Anglo
were Credit Unions, Irish Credit Unions who were holding the savings of ordinary people.
See:
http://www.irishtimes.com/business/sectors/financial-services/credit-unions-lose-15-million-after-liquidation-of-ibrc-1.1334698
4:40
I believe more of the Anglo bondholders may very well have been some of our large multinationals employing large numbers of people. 


Food Not Bonds