We were speaking with Sean O’Rourke about mortgage rates, that they were falling as part of a trend and that new moves to force them down would likely not work. It came on the back of a piece by Conor Pope in the Irish Times that quoted us in the article entitled ‘New bank levy could see mortgage rates rise not fall‘.
Text of Budget announcement 2009
Here is the text of the Budget 2009 speech given by Brian Lenihan today.
STATEMENT OF THE MINISTER FOR FINANCE
MR BRIAN LENIHAN, T.D.
7 APRIL 2009
INTRODUCTION
A Cheann Comhairle,
As your Minister for Finance for the past ten months I have submitted one Budget and two rounds of Expenditure Adjustments to this House. Economic turmoil globally and in Ireland dictated these measures. The measures that I am bringing forward today will complete this process for 2009. I want to assure the Irish people that we have the capacity and your Government has the will to bring us out of this period of severe economic distress. We can work our way through our problems. We have faced adversity in the past – and we have prevailed.
Many of the factors that made us an economic success story in recent years are still with us: social cohesion, political stability, a young, well educated, flexible workforce, a pro-enterprise, export oriented economy. All of this remains intact. What is wrong in our economy, …