Irish citizens "don’t want to shoulder the burden for private investors"
Irish citizens "don’t want to shoulder the burden for private investors"
TEXT OF STORY
JEREMY HOBSON: It’s official. Late yesterday European leaders announced a bailout for Ireland worth more than $112 billion. The hope is that the injection of cash will stabilize Ireland’s banks and calm markets around the world.
But it doesn’t seem to be calming the Irish people as Christopher Werth reports from London.
Sound of protests
CHRISTOPHER WERTH: This was the sound of demonstrators in the Dublin streets over the weekend. But, as unpopular as the bailout is, the protests aren’t about the European rescue package in-and-of-itself.
BRIAN LUCEY: Why are people opposed? You know, they don’t want to shoulder the burden for private investors.
That’s Brian Lucey, a finance professor at Trinity College Dublin.
People in Ireland may be embarrassed by the need for a bailout package. But what they’re angry about is unfairly paying for the mistakes of wealthy individuals who invested in Ireland’s banks during the boom years.
When the crisis began in 2008, the Irish government guaranteed those investors against any losses. That’s why Ireland needs the bailout it’s getting today.
In London, I’m Christopher Werth for Marketplace.
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