COMMENT

LAST week’s news that the Troika had given its best pupil in the class a good grade in its final report was described by the Taoiseach as

“historic

?.

That’s a word that gets bandied about a lot these days. So three years after the

“historic

? bailout, which saw Ireland lose its economic sovereignty, we are now set to stand on our own feet again at the end of the year.

It will be interesting to see who the Government will blame in future if they have to implement further draconian cuts or impose new taxes on a nation that can’t take much more.

While the Government went into self-congratulatory overdrive in taking credit for this flattering end of term report card, the Central Bank released figures showing an increase in the numbers of people turning to licensed moneylenders.

In many cases, these people had been turned away by their banks and credit unions, despite having savings with the same institutions.

This is indeed good news for the 43 registered operators in the moneylending industry – but not necessarily for the 360,000 borrowers being hit with high interest rates. There is $200m outstanding in moneylenders’ loans.

Worryingly, 25 per cent reported difficulties in meeting their loan repayments.

The report published by the Central Bank didn’t cover the issue of unlicensed moneylenders so the full extent of the problem can’t be fully assessed.

Borrowers’ increased reliance on the moneylending sector for credit lays bare the real obstacle to Ireland’s economic recovery.

Without a properly functioning banking sector that provides credit to its customers at realistic interest rates, can we really stay out of a bailout programme for too long?