Last Friday, former Maoist – and head of the European Commission — Jose Manuel Barroso mentioned Iceland and Ireland in the same breath.
He intimated that, without the euro, Ireland would be Iceland. The same day, Jean-Claude Trichet, the head of the European Central Bank (ECB) and a man who has never had a job outside the cosseted French – and then European – public sector, claimed that there were no difficulties with any eurozone member. Yet, maybe as a result of Barroso’s claim, the markets in London decided by last Friday afternoon that Ireland was more likely to default than Greece.
So, are they right? Will Ireland default? Will Ireland become Iceland within the eurozone? Will we become the first country to default in the currency union because we do not have the cashflow to fund ourselves? Was Trichet simply blurting out what had been on his mind for some time, which is that the euro is weakened by the parts of its sum?
Those parts are Ireland, Greece, Spain, Portugal and Italy. While we are in the eye of the storm, we are by no means alone. In fact, we should probably try to keep bad company for awhile, rather than standing out as uniquely delinquent.
What both Eurocrats know is that, if this gets any worse and liquidity continues to dry up, either the euro will break up or one of the countries within the eurozone will default. It is quite possible that one or more of the high borrowing group – which includes us – will run out of money at some stage.
The dilemma then for the EU will be whether it has the stomach, or indeed the political will, to organise a huge bailout for the weaker countries. If this is even being partly contemplated, then we’d be better off hiding for as long as we can behind the shield of delinquency with our newly acquired Club Med friends.
In return for a bailout, federalists in the EU would demand increased political integration as the quid pro quo for the money. If you doubt this, look a bit at European monetary and political history.
A monetary union with the euro was fast-tracked following the last currency crisis in Europe. As a result of the 1992-93 devaluations – which saw Britain leave the European Monetary System (EMS), and Ireland and Italy devalue by 10 per cent – the European elite decided that the only way to lock Germany into the EU was through monetary union.
This was particularly the case following what Brussels saw as an alarming attack on the French and Belgian francs. If the markets would not believe that the rest of the European currencies were as good as a Deutschmark, they believed that the EU would eliminate this risk by creating a single currency.
The moral of the story is that Eurosceptic traders in London need to appreciate what happens when they attack the foundations of the EU through its monetary chinks. The reaction is always more federalism, not less federalism. With the likelihood of an EU-wide bailout in mind, let’s go back to the utterances from last week at Davos. Barroso appeared to suggest that Ireland was a basket case, and was only being kept alive by the paternalistic protection of Europe’s single currency.
By extension, he must believe – if he has an ounce of economic grey matter in his head – that, without the euro, an independent Irish currency would collapse.
If this is the case, he has just made the most compelling case for why the single currency is inappropriate, and why much greater central EU tax and budgetary powers are necessary if the euro is not to break up. For this to come to pass, the EU has to become a much closer political entity.
The point of a currency union is that it must be appropriate for the country concerned. If a country’s debt position and economic predicament is so perilous that it would find it difficult to maintain a particular exchange rate if it were outside the union, then the euro is an overvalued currency for that country.
This means that the country would suffer social explosion from membership, resulting from huge unemployment and bankruptcies. Most countries wouldn’t tolerate this for long.
They would try to become more competitive by cutting wages, but workers wouldn’t accept this – and the country would either defaultor pull out of the euro, or most likely both.
Trichet has figured this out, which is why he is telling anyone who cares to listen that the euro is okay. He obviously thinks it’s not, because he has followed recent events through to their logical conclusions. So does all this mean that the credit default swap (CDS) traders were right last week? After all, they are betting now that Ireland, the country with the lowest debt to GDP ratio in Europe, will default more quickly than Greece – the country with the highest.
The answer is that they might not be right, but we should be concerned. We have seen (and I am no conspiracy theorist) an orchestrated campaign against Ireland in the British financial press of late.
This is how defaults happen. First, the country gets itself into a mess. Then the tail starts wagging the dog.
The CDS traders start to take positions against the country in the thin CDS market. Then, the much bigger sovereign bond market begins to reflect this. So people start to say things like ‘‘the CDS market is saying that Ireland is moving into default territory’’, even though we might have huge borrowing capacity.
The traders who are taking abet against Ireland continue to drive the CDS prices upwards, and they leak stories to the media about us. This activity attracts others. Large investment banks start to write notes about the deteriorating Irish position.
Suddenly, what began as a trickle – with a few isolated traders taking a punt – becomes a torrent. It is important to remember that the CDS market is still small, but its ramifications are felt everywhere.
Ultimately, Ireland goes to raise money, and fails to get all the debt sold. This causes a run on the Irish government bond market and it becomes ‘common knowledge’ that Ireland is in trouble.
Because we are already going to borrow at least €18 billion to cover day-to-day spending this year, any shortfall in tax has to be paid for by borrowing. If the ability to borrow falters, we face the very real prospect of a fiscal crisis this year. A fiscal crisis is when the Minister for Finance informs the Taoiseach that we can’t pay teachers’ salaries next month because we don’t have the cash.
This is not so far-fetched. Our banks are being drip-fed loans by the ECB to keep them afloat – like many other banks across the EU. This is obviously what Trichet sees every day, and what worries him about the entire single currency. What has happened to our banks is likely to happen to our state.
Although it might not feel like it this morning, we are seeing the beginning of a process that is likely to lead to serious questions about the future of the euro, as well as the membership of the small countries which have borrowed highly, and about their ability to repay their debts.
We are one of this group. Our best hope now is that we do not end up on our own, and that at least a few strapped countries end up playing Russian roulette with the EU.
David says our economic reputation is at stake, so let’s try to get a handle on the actual state of the Irish economy. This is long, so anyone suffering from a hangover just skip down to the last paragraph. All figures given below are educated guesses, but if David or any readers have better estimates, please pass them on? In October 2008 the Irish government guaranteed a maximum of €400 billions to calm the nerves of international investors. (Money they don’t actually have.) Putting this figure in perspective, our total annual Gross Domestic Product is about €250 billions. Total government… Read more »
Barroso is the de-facto Irish Minister for Finance
To big to fail maybe so, and then the need to save is paramount but not without some form of serious reprimand and fines on those that have acted in a most irresponsible way. It can not be accepted that all three banks over leveraged their loan books and Anglo irish went beyond that , where a select group of customers were actually running the bank.Why was this tollerated and who else benefited? The on going corruption here is too big to pass by and has too bigger repercussions for later, if not handled right now, what ever the political… Read more »
Am thinking that we did well to reject Lisbon Treaty when we did; it gives us a good bargaining position in refloating the Irish economy while the EU further integrates – we are the only impediment. The standard EU response to problem is to write a big cheque. We would switch from sceptics to our usual position of Euro Zealots. @ Malcolm Mclure – you’re right – the sums don’t add up. We are at risk from the market turning against us. However the political response of a move to greater federalism will effectively counter the move by making the… Read more »
So the sum of the parts are greater that the whole and if a dog wags his tail that will initiate an avalanche of devaluation in the part(s) and unless it/they is/are decapacitated the whole becomes rotten . So this brings us back to our own problem ‘why buy a dog if it does not bark for you ? ‘ .The Irish gov paid the existing chairman and ( resigned ) chief executive of the Irish Financial Regulatory Authority to do an honest days job and they failed .As a result the ECB is now the de-facto Regulatory Authority .What… Read more »
Saw X Factor on TV a few days ago, so I’ll do a poor Fr. Trendy impersonation, You know, The markets are a lot like Simon Cowell, they don’t care what is it someone does it can be rap, country, pop whatever they are just looking for talent and potential so if they invest they can get a return, if they loan money they can get money back…. So were at the (currency) auditions, before they start. Iceland steps up to the camera, talking big, making all the right moves, super confident, already cracked London, gonna storm the world this… Read more »
“The answer is that they might not be right, but we should be concerned. We have seen (and I am no conspiracy theorist) an orchestrated campaign against Ireland in the British financial press of late.”
David McWilliams suffering from a bout of Dr Jeckyl/Mr Hyde syndrome?
http://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/video/Ireland-economy-to-shrink-by-47-percent/Video/200901415213557?lpos=video_Article_Related_Content_Region_1&lid=VIDEO_15213557_Ireland_economy_to_shrink_by_4.7_percent
Malcolm’s note articulates it very well and the educated guesses are pretty well spot on. Superb addendum to DMcW’s article. Really, I do not know why anyone is surprised. Once we took on the Euro we became defacto federalised. Just need to tidy up the taxation, laws etc so they are aligned with mainland Europe – and to be honest, the sooner the better. We need to drag this looney asylum kicking an screaming into the 21st Century and have a greater socialist mindset beaten into us here – freudian slip from a Euro fundamentalist :) Lets be very pragmatic… Read more »
Let us not forget that that Mr. Barosso has a larger agenda – ie the passing of the Lisbon Treaty – I would regard his remarks as more pointed in this direction than in any other – the Irish people are now so scared that the next refrendum will be an 80% yes.
There is no point in Mr. Barosso scaremongering any more in this regard, he is simply going to damage the Euro as a whole.
In this article from todays Indo, http://www.independent.ie/opinion/analysis/a-second-republic-could-cure-our-ills-1622858.html Professor John Crown suggests a revamp of our fundamental State structure and quotes; “At the core of our public governance is a dysfunctional interface between inexpert ministers and senior civil servants who have generally risen to the top of their departments on the strength of their adroitness at navigating its bureaucracy. The ministers are unfortunately drawn exclusively from a cohort of generally mediocre, frequently nepotistic TDs, whose entree to national politics was based not on a grasp of the big issues of state, but on their ability to manipulate a local constituency party… Read more »
Barroso is still hurting, because the rejection of the lisBOA Treaty, prevented him from becomming, Great Helmsman of Europe. Like the original of the species, Great Helmsman Mano, never doybts his own ‘judgement’, firmly grabs the helm, and is liable to take devasting swipes at dissenters. We just wonder will Europe’s starling population be next in line for a reprimand ?? This latest attempt to smear the dissenting voice is an attempt to knock the rebellious Irish in the their place. It seems as if the current Europeanwide bureacracy/rule making machine/faith system does not like dissent, and regards it’s authority… Read more »
David > He intimated that, without the euro, Ireland would be Iceland. By the same token David, you seem to be intimating that without the Euro we wouldn’t be Iceland. David > Yet, maybe as a result of Barroso’s claim, the markets in London decided by last Friday afternoon that Ireland was more likely to default than Greece. Or maybe it was because of Moody’s putting Ireland on Credit watch on Friday? Or has confirmation bias so clouded your judgement? David > In return for a bailout, federalists in the EU would demand increased political integration as the quid pro… Read more »
furrylugs – it was I who first suggested a new republic way back in earlier articles on this site .
There is a tSunami of epic propotions arriving from the US very soon to decimate the Bond Market and that might ‘the tail that wags the dog’ …….not vice versa – welcome to iceland .
Guys, There is a financial equivalent of a meteorite headed this way for sure. 100% certain. Do not even consider otherwise. Also, you may not be that fit or healthy if our utilities cannot keep water flowing in your taps or electrical power for your heating etc. We are dealing with a economic breakdown and with it, all else. The system we have is falling to pieces before our eyes. And the elite here are too stupid or are making preparations to get out. Sunderland in Davos indicated that maybe our cohesiveness as a nation may pull us through. Frankly,… Read more »
I noticed that Sutherland also says we are comparable to Iceland, if we didn’t have the € we would be Iceland….. Now, if I recall well, he was once the boss, or one if the top honchos, of a big investment bank wasn’t he? The bank has given up being an investment bankas a result of the financial mess, I think , so why would we take any notice of him?? Sutherland is now the boss of BP, that’s what happens when you are part of the golden circle. Of course Sutherland is a FG person, maybe he is playing… Read more »
Just withdraw from the euro , abolish income tax and Vat and tax land.Renegotiate our national debt with overseas banks and trade freely with the 6 billion people outside of europe.Prices will fall by 50% and with competitiveness restored Ireland will be the most prosperous nation on the planet.See “Ireland in crisis” by Raymond Crotty (1986).Conventional economic analysis does not apply to Ireland.
Sunderland again? No-one should listen to this man; give his “fiery” words no oxygen whatsoever. Formerly the Attorney General here, also EU Commissioner for Competition and now BP boss, not to mention his Goldman Sachs job, ……. this guy is CERTAINLY a D4 apologist. He seems to believe that the 60% of workers in Ireland (PAYE people) should pay the bill for everyone else and allow the free tax avoidance by the fat-cats. He once had a go at teachers earning 30K, reckoning that they were a “protected” profession – disgusting stuff, coming from a guy who earns multiples of… Read more »
I agree with Philip that disaster is heading our way – we’ve elected idiots and the asylum is now out of control. The system has to change – the more I learn of what Cowen did as Minister for Finance, the more I wonder about our ability to govern ourselves. I can’t believe that this guy could have come through one of our third level institutions and do what he did – if this is indicative of the quality of its output, then, forget about a knowledge economy and concentrate on a bawneen sweater one instead. Today’s Times, has a… Read more »
Malcolm: I thought the 1% MWIA figure on the London currency exchange was a bit steep. Agree with the gist of your article and if you ever decide to setup http://www.malcolmmclure.ie I’ll be sure to have a look. Anyway, if the US economy doesn’t start recovery within the next 12 months then all the finger pointing at Ireland will be forgotten as every major European economy will start to show serious signs of strain. It’s not just us, any financial tsunami from the US hits the entire Eurozone so we’ll need some retorts to those Iceland jokes. The Germans are… Read more »
Furrylugs, Spot-on with the Professor Brown link. Root and branch reform is an absolute necessity. However, Prof Brown states: “These observations explain the now-exposed incompetence of our Government, an incompetence which was obscured from our view by the Celtic Bubble” — so what obscured it from view prior to the Bubble? The answer, I suspect, is nothing. The Irish were used to it. It was only with the advent of ‘prosperity’ (and access to new-media which allowed us to make comparable judgements), that the shortcomings of the pillocks who lead became evident. http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=e3vEOSkk5AM. If it looks like a biffo, walks… Read more »
Furrylugs said: “Professor John Crown suggests a revamp of our fundamental State structure and quotes; At the core of our public governance is a dysfunctional interface between inexpert ministers and senior civil servants who have generally risen to the top of their departments on the strength of their adroitness at navigating its bureaucracy. The ministers are unfortunately drawn exclusively from a cohort of generally mediocre, frequently nepotistic TDs, whose entree to national politics was based not on a grasp of the big issues of state, but on their ability to manipulate a local constituency party machine. These observations explain the… Read more »
Thinking : what side does a worm that has turned lie on ?
I’m the gold bug!
And just a little bit of lateral thinking – Why not ignore our busted banks with all the toxic property loans, and instead put the billions earmarked for recapitalisation into a couple of nice brand new clean banks?
We’re “sailing in puddles of the past” as Paddy Kavanagh ruefully opined.
Tim – Marianne Finuicane does not have to mention Gene Kerrigan – here is the link in case anybody missed out… http://www.independent.ie/opinion/analysis/cutting-costs-doesnt-amount-to-a-plan-1622878.html Concerning Eddie Hobbs – The Corkman recommended that Irish graduates get themselves to Australia or Canada and forget about trying to build up experience in Ireland (or the rest of Europe we can assume). Hobbs got criticised harshly from Matt Cooper on Today FM. And bear in mind, that only Today FM will let him speak to the public. With advertising income hard to get, media outlets are getting slightly even more censorous on the likes of Hobbs.… Read more »
we’d be better off hiding for as long as we can Surely David I not reading you correctly. How could you have a toxic bank and not know the real story. The problem really would it all be done in secret (has the deal been done) and if so it could spell civil unrest equal to war. Unless it’s calming talk Britain is about to tackle EU law on working terms and conditions which they should have been doing for years being a Labor government. Things are about to turn a little nasty. Davos if anything did spell out loud… Read more »
” If the ability to borrow falters, we face the very real prospect of a fiscal crisis this year. A fiscal crisis is when the Minister for Finance informs the Taoiseach that we can’t pay teachers’ salaries next month because we don’t have the cash.”
Please make a stronger attempt to strike a balance between realism and provoking panic. While your noble commentary is always welcome, such speculation will do little to build a cohesive unified national strategy.
“We have seen (and I am no conspiracy theorist) an orchestrated campaign against Ireland in the British financial press of late.”
That’s a fairly serious, and disturbing allegation. Why would they do that? What would they gain? Are they sore at the inflow of deposits that resulted from the Irish government bank guarantee and is this (trying to engineer a default) some kind of punishment?
If there is such a campaign, isn’t it something that the Irish government should be raising with the British government?
“Fighting for our economic reputation” The Taoiseach Brian Cowen believes he can ‘run our country his way’. Has anyone seen this speech from an IDA meeting in Davos, this seems to be the plan to get Ireland’s ‘economic reputation’? Does this help the media report ? http://www.taoiseach.gov.ie/index.asp?locID=605&docID=4234 On a positive note, it is good to read something about ‘plans’ to create thousands of sustainable indigenous and multi-national companies – “To support high-value innovation of products and services that will create thousands of thriving Irish companies and associated employment”. But one of the big giveaways on the inaction over the past… Read more »
Folks, I see some extra regulation of the site tonight ……….. interesting development; last weekend, a crash; this weekend, a new registration procedure. What next?
Ya’ll, with very little if nothing coming form the Goverment does anyone think they could be deliberately letting the Country fall. I mean they seem to have no ideas at all and even worse no balls. The only time I saw our leader look concerned or show some passion was when a personal attack was made on him last week in the Dawl……if only he’d show half as much for those losing their jobs.
Josey, I suppose it’s possible that the Illuminati have organised the fake global recession just to frighten the Irish into signing the Lisbon Treaty so that they can continue with their Globalisation agenda. Just think: if you were running the world, would you allow the “sheeple” to mess it all up by being so fickle as to elect a leader who would “CHANGE” it all? Or, would you, because you ARE running it all, place your leaders as chess-pieces and frighten the sheeple into doing what will work for you?
Yeah Tim,
if it were my dastardly plan I’d have my minions strategically placed to pull in the desired direction all at the blow of my whistle………but then were I to believe such things I’d have a thin hat on, a bottle in one hand and shout “conspiracy” at people as they stepped over me on grafton st.
There’s no such thing as a conspiracy…..there’s no such thing as a conspiracy……there’s no place like home….there’s no place like home….ad finitum
I think under normal circumstances we could have weathered this credit crunch,with help from the pension fund and treasury reserves and the ecb,but this damn property bubble has put us way out on a limb.Linehans blanket guarantee has put us in way over our heads.The vultures in the market are circling over our heads,they sense weakness,because of the banks.They will swoop for the kill if we cant convince that we have a recovery plan. 285k per 10 million on swaps were heading for the roof.We cant afford the luxury of finger pointing anymore (sentencing posponed for future court date).All these… Read more »
Folks, I’ll say this again:
A 16 year old girl suggested to me THREE months ago:
“Why don’t we, like, just, shut down the markets, if they are speculating on us and ruining us?”
Since we are in crisis, ……. why not?
We have on this blog – some of us anyway- pointing out the stupid issues with this economy. Where history points to the real reason why we go ape where property is concerned and where hammering the very crap out of the Joneses explain why much of the gold-rush mentality. Someone or other pointed out the early eighties, when a land bubble, when a few subventions from Europe saw the baby of what we have been going through at the moment. And that and this were hardly the first time we have done this insanity. The or at least my… Read more »
The Power of Double Think : Recently , we had a Moon Wobble last 29th and the moon has waned since .On tuesday 3rd Feb we have the beginning of a moon gravity pull that will maximise on Monday 9th Feb ie Full Moon .This tuesday was suppose to allow the moon wobble to exit the previous gravity and its energies have not been allowed to rest and so it is quickly dragged back to the Moon again creating a serious stress in the air around us . Viewing the present national economics current affairs now makes all of what… Read more »
“By extension, he must believe – if he has an ounce of economic grey matter in his head – that, without the euro, an independent Irish currency would collapse.” I think thats obvious enough. Sterling almost collapsed. Whether a hypothetical Irish independent currency was sound or not, in the current climate it would be under sustained attack, along with the banks whose debts are guaranteed. There is only one result when that happens unless your currency is one of the few thats bigger than the bully boys. On the comments re a campaign in the British press… People don’t seem… Read more »
The credibility of the government to steer the country out of the current crisis is shot both nationally and abroad. With the banks to big to fail and equally to big to save, confidence in our present government must be restored immediately. An election now will not work to stave off the speculators. Cowen and co. must take a large pay cut (>50%) and show some leadership through this crisis. Just, consider what it will take to get the inter talking positively about any action taken on our behalf.
The Irish Government is being taught a lesson in cute whoorism for unilaterally guaranteeing deposits, hence causing a flight of money out of the UK. Big Brother is going to teach little brother a severe lesson. Now the Eurozone family will have to come together and take on the Anglo-American bullies, but the little bastard Ireland doesn’t really know who his family really is, his mother having had so many sires, in a manner of speaking about cute whoors. The respectability has slipped now, and streetwalking, panhandling, begging and other scams of the down and out, in a culture based… Read more »
David> It is quite possible that one or more of the high borrowing group – which includes us – will run out of money at some stage. This is a key aspect to the situation David. Yes, the market has marked Ireland down as risky, and why wouldnt they as our ‘vector’ is perilously heading in the wrong direction at break neck speed. Like a train heading towards a canyon, IF things continue as they are or as they might, we could very well default. If any trader is trading a market that deals with macros and Ireland Teo (lets… Read more »
Here’s how I see it – and I am not going to bother lambasting politicians etc. or whinging about our impending loss. 1) Most of the private sector was in construction or supporting it. 2) With construction gone, the private sector has no spare capacity to keep the country rolling by itself. This means, that taxes etc to fund government expenditure is choked off. 3) Demand has dropped and so has prices. So anyone maintaining their salary at current levels is actually experiencing an increase in living standards 4) Public services need to be improved. But they cannot at current… Read more »
Early in 2007 Norah Jones recorded a number that was to become a prophetic anthem for the credit crunch. Listen at:
http://www.last.fm/music/Norah+Jones/_/Sinkin'+Soon.
I wonder does it get much play-time on RTE?
Sorry; that didn’t paste properly. The last bit of link should read Norah+Jones/_/Sinkin’+Soon
Here’s the press release from Moodys from last Friday. http://www.ntma.ie/Publications/2009/moodys_rating_jan30.pdf In it, Dietmar Hornung, a Vice President-Senior Analyst in Moody’s Sovereign Risk Group, highlights the risks to Ireland’s economic reputation in this paragraph. “Moody’s notes that a downgrade would follow if Ireland, in the coming year, were to exhibit: (i) an economic downturn suggesting a structural erosion of what underpins the Irish “economic model”; (ii) a further significant deterioration of government financial strength, aggravated by liabilities arising from the troubled banking system; and/or (iii) a fiscal adjustment capacity that would fall short of being able to stabilise — in the… Read more »
Somehow , those moments we are in now seem so much more stranger than those before even as late as Nov ’08. We are out of Denial and into Fear and the silence of it is deafening .Babies names such as Canyon or Recession occupy our minds and instead of height we are thinking deep. Realism is the craft we want to hone into and believe that we have a safe pair of hands to do anything , but do we? Gordon Brown’s assertion that the UK banks were 3hrs from collapse at the time of the recent £37bn bail… Read more »
I agree with gadfly55’s premise, but not so much with the reasoning. We need to decide, to some extent, which side of the Atlantic we we are on, metaphorically. If we are to improve our financial reputation with the US/UK, then our approach needs to be very different than if we side with the rest of the Eurozone. The US & UK are frantically trying to get lending rates back up to where they were in 2007 – Gordon Brown has made this very clear, on a number of occasions. In spite of all the vague rhetoric, judging them on… Read more »
Just off the top of my head, time for: 1. A new Political Party 2. An Independent Media (not subject to government licence fee and approval) 3. Institutional Reform of Irish economic and political structures/organisations 4. End to tribunals as a means of investigating alleged corruption (should be carried out by Dail committees, with set deadlines, like successful DIRT enquiry). 5. Better distribution of state’s financial resources, targeting so called ‘disadvantaged areas’. 6. Affordable Housing (for all) 7. Free education (for all or for all those making less than €50,000 per annum) 8. Universal health care. 9. Capping of medical… Read more »
Bring Back the Death Penalty into banking
http://stumblingandmumbling.typepad.com
Also ………Prices tumble in Dubai
Under the new Mortgage Law in Dubai ( untested ) Principle Private Dwelling cannot be repossessed by the bank if it is your only home neither will the borrower be put in Jail and those native banks bailed out will be unable to recover the arrears from the borrowers .This is Sharia Law Dubai .Lets consider this and incorporate it under reformed Irish Brehon Laws and enforce it.
David, Not sure if you will read this, but one area that you may not have thrown a ‘spear’ at is the Auditors and indeed Accountancy (although you did with the Balance Sheet ‘mark to movi9ng average’ suggestion). As has been shown in the case of AnIB, E&Y auditors managed to somehow miss 127 million or whatever of sums which would clearly have a ‘material affect’ on the balance sheet, and which would result in the published set of accounts not “being a true and fair reflection of the company’s finances”. Not only should E&Y have resigned from being auditors… Read more »