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IMF leaders back in Ireland to oversee bailout progress

The bail-out boys are back in town

CATHAL DERVAN,

IrishCentral.com Staff Writer

Published Tuesday, July 5, 2011, 7:47 AM

Updated Tuesday, July 5, 2011, 9:46 AM

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Famous photograph of IMF reps walking to Irish Government buildings passing by a homeless man

Just when you thought it was safe to go back on the streets of Dublin – the Bailout Boys are Back in Town.

And this time they’ve decided the leave the monetary hitman known as The Hammer at home.

Agents from the International Monetary Fund, the European Commission and the European Central Bank are back to check on Ireland’s finances.

The regulatory hit squad arrived in town on Tuesday for the latest three month check on Ireland’s €85billion bail-out.

But the infamous IMF chief Ajai Chopra – now known across Ireland as The Hammer – isn’t scheduled to travel with the group this time as his skills are needed to sort out the latest Greek mess.

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The Irish Independent reports that the bailout team will be in the Department of Finance and the Central Bank until Thursday of next week checking on the progress of the package.

Among the items on their agenda are spending cuts, including reductions in the public sector wage bill in the event of a shortfall in the saving from reform of the public sector.

Government Ministers have already warned that if those savings from efficiencies and reductions in staff numbers are not achieved this year, there will be more cuts.

On the eve of the visit, Department of Finance officials were adamant that the Government has met the targets set as part of the bailout programme for the first half of the year.

The department’s assistant secretary general Michael McGrath said government officials will work with the IMF-EU team when the review begins.

“We will engage with them and afterwards they will have to go through their own process,” he said.

Nster.com

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seanomelbourne | Jul 06, 2011, 09:04 PM EDT

The European banks will make a $13billion profit from this extortion.

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Searlit | Jul 06, 2011, 10:16 AM EDT

@jamthecat, you make the dire circumstance amusing. I think I see an image of a political cartoon forming. Interesting commentary by all you posters, on this absurdity.

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CitizenWhy | Jul 05, 2011, 10:46 PM EDT

The IMF enforcers tell Ireland: We extract, you contract. Them's the rules.

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cillowen | Jul 05, 2011, 09:37 PM EDT

blood sucking should be a piece of cake by troika governators and their tribe connected. Ireland now available and becoming moreso for a song.

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seanomelbourne | Jul 05, 2011, 07:02 PM EDT

They look like a couple of Mafia collection dudes.I apologise to the Mafia.

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CitizenWhy | Jul 05, 2011, 03:04 PM EDT

The IMF New Irish Ascendancy visiting their faithful estate agents. How very charming. ... And the so-called bail-out is not only a loan with extortionist interest rates but also a loan devised to bail out the European banks, that is, a loan made so the foolish Irish government can pay the debts of its privately owned banks to the privately owned banks of Europe, who made foolish loans to Irish banks and should be required to write them off, as a free market system would dictate. O the power of misrepresentation by terminology and media coverage.

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Trealach | Jul 05, 2011, 01:05 PM EDT

"BAIL-OUT!!"? What Bail-out - didn't anyone explain to the moronic journalists the difference between a "BAIL-OUT" and a Very Expensive LOAN? Ireland has received a LOAN with a high interest rate .... for the moronic journalists - that means you have to PAY MORE MONEY than you BORROWED. A "BAIL-OUT" is FREE GIFT!! So now you might have some little understanding of the difference, perhaps you might try and explain - what is WRONG with a Government BORROWING money? That's how economies work.

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LoyalCitizen | Jul 05, 2011, 10:04 AM EDT

Yesterday's Irish Press were saying that there is no commercial interest in buying Irish Banks. Add this story and yesterday's stories and it explains how much trouble we are really in. The corrupt have been running Ireland for to long. We desperately need a clean out of Ireland's systems.

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jamthecat | Jul 05, 2011, 09:44 AM EDT

Well...we do HAVE to protect the banks from the consequences of their actions. Otherwise they might lose the money they stupidly (and sometimes criminally) lent out. Imagine that -- accepting responsibility for your own behavior. It's...it's anti-rich-people! And who gives a damn about how much pain it's inflicting on those who most need assistance thanks to them crashing the economy.

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