RADIO REVIEW:IT SOUNDED like he was in a bunker with Ulysses S Grant, Winston Churchill and Michael Collins, plotting a way out of a war with no end in sight. "We continue to be in a battle for our survival," Brian Lenihan crackled to Mary Wilson on Tuesday's Drivetime(RTÉ Radio One, weekdays). He was supposed to be in the studio, but he was delayed by a vote, so he was on either a dodgy fixed line, mobile phone, or in an underground war room with nothing but a walkie-talkie.
With Lenihan’s tentatively authoritative and impatient tone of voice gathering pace these days, it was Brian Cowen, our faltering leader, who I pictured nervously stirring powdered milk into his compatriot’s tea.
Wilson asked the Minister if he could still change his mind on the recapitalisation of Bank of Ireland and Allied Irish Banks. Lenihan allowed himself a brief moment of lightness, not necessarily unwelcome these days. “Eheh!” he replied. “Of course in the case of Anglo Irish Bank the due diligence did lead to a change of mind. But I don’t think that will be the case in either Bank of Ireland or Allied Irish Banks. Our enquiries there to date have been very satisfactory.” He added, “It still remains very difficult out there . . . We’re living in a very stressed world financial order.” On hearing those words, I imagined an embattled Cowen dropping his spoon.
Had billions of euro left Ireland last week? Wilson asked. “The outflow of funds from Ireland and the inflow of funds to Ireland are reported to me on a regular basis,” Lenihan said. “How much is it?” she asked. “There have been stresses in the markets in recent weeks. There has been some outflow of funds. It has not reached critical level,” he replied. “Is it billions?” she pressed. “Again, I’m not going to discuss how much was involved,” he replied. “Is it billions?” she repeated. “I think the important issue to understand is that there are billions transferring in and out of the banking system at all stages,” he said. More than a florin or thru’penny bit, so, but less than €420 billion.
It wasn't supposed to be this way. In Prime Ministers(BBC Radio 4, Tuesday), Nick Robinson analysed the survival skills of Sir Robert Walpole, the longest-serving British prime minister, from 1721
to 1742, who had his own financial crisis, the South Sea Bubble. “He used a mixture of patronage, fear and political manipulation to stay in power,” Robinson said. Walpole invoked the Jacobite threat when under fire, banned parliamentary reporting, but was finally politically weakened when a mob protested his plans for a new excise tax.
A few hundred years later, last Monday to be exact, Green Party leader John Gormley said he'd be open to the concept of a national government – it being wartime, 'n' all – and Labour leader Eamon Gilmore showed Eamon Keane on Lunchtime(Newstalk 106-108, weekdays) the calm, measured tones of someone waiting in the long grass, sending out foot-soldiers with cryptic messages. On Gormley's comments, Gilmore said, "It means effectively that he doesn't have a great deal of confidence in the government that he is actually serving in," and he reminded Keane that Labour had already called for a general election. "If we had the general election then it would be over by now." Gilmore said Labour had suggested an inspector for Anglo. But Keane cited the Director of Corporate Enforcement's "raid" (Lenihan called it that too, by the way). "That's right," Gilmore added, without missing a beat, "and a lot of people will say about time." He said some of Labour's suggestions had been partially adopted, mentioned their national insulation scheme, and further called for an end to tax breaks for the wealthy, "an emphasis on creating jobs," and investment in science and technology. (Me too! I suggested the latter two in a Civics class essay in 1988.) He then added, "This is not a time for people to be putting a copyright on ideas." Bit late for that, isn't it? He said it would be a "ruse to continue with some of the people who have been responsible for getting us into this mess in the first place."
He also lamented the demise of Waterford Crystal. “Do we give up without a fight?” Gilmore proclaimed. “We are in a battle for our economy and the future of this country.” Remember those battle lines if you ever run out of ideas. And, as for putting down our weapons and having a national government, we can probably take that as a no.
qfottrell@irishtimes.com