Lenihan dies soon after warning us about the EUROmafia

I had Brian Lenihan, former Finance minister of Ireland as a big idiot.
He bailed out the banks and didn't think twice about the public.

But he did tell the world that Ireland could last another year,
but the Eurocrats strong-armed him, blackmailed him into taking
a bailout.
He just said that a month ago or so. Now he's dead. Apparently he'd been
sick for 18 months with pancreatic cancer. No connection to politics at all.

-Costick67 ~(8^P
checkitout:
1 Irish Times
Ireland was forced by ECB to take bailout, says Lenihan
23/04/2011
DAN O'BRIEN, Economics Editor

BRIAN LENIHAN has claimed the European Central Bank forced Ireland into taking a bailout and rejected claims by a senior ECB figure that the bank warned Ireland in mid-2010 of the dangers it faced.

He has also accused members of the ECB executives of briefing against Ireland and of “betrayal”.

In a wide-ranging interview on the events surrounding last November’s bailout, Mr Lenihan criticised some of the 17 governing board members of the bank for the “damaging” manner in which they had briefed some media about Ireland.

“On the betrayal issue, I did feel that some bank governors should not be speaking out of turn and that only the president should speak for the bank.”

He describes as “at variance with the facts” a statement made in an interview in this newspaper in January by Lorenzo Bini-Smaghi, one of six executive board members of the ECB.

In the interview Mr Bini-Smaghi claimed ECB president Jean-Claude Trichet had pressured the Government from mid-2010 to bring forward the 2011 budget. Mr Lenihan denies any such representations were ever made.

The position of the ECB on Ireland’s seeking of assistance was different from that of the European Commission, said Mr Lenihan.

“I don’t think the commission were anxious to bounce member states into a programme.

“That was my strong impression from my discussions with Commissioner Rehn.” he said, adding that “the ECB clearly subscribed to a different view.”....

2
Ex-Irish finance minister Lenihan dies at 52
Brian Lenihan, who worked on the country's 2010 bailout, loses battle against pancreatic cancer.
Last Modified: 10 Jun 2011 14:16
Lenihan delivered four austerity budgets in his less than three years in the job [AFP]
Ireland's former finance minister Brian Lenihan, who was in office during Ireland's EU/IMF bailout late last year, has died after an 18-month battle with cancer, his family said on Friday.
The 52 year old combined one of the toughest jobs in Europe with his treatment for pancreatic cancer.
Colleagues, opponents and journalists noted his ability to retain his good humour, energy and sense of fun throughout the period.
"Brian Lenihan faced events at a scale and a pace of magnitude that no other Irish minister has ever previously had to contend," Michael Martin, ther leader of Lenihan's Fianna Fail party, said.
"When Ireland was in the eye of the storm, Brian Lenihan never faltered."

Lenihan delivered four austerity budgets in his less than three years in the job.

He bailed out the country's two biggest lenders, nationalised the third and took charge of the two biggest building societies.

Once seen as a contender to lead Fianna Fail, the humiliation of having to apply for an EU-IMF bailout and his poor health put an end to any such plans.

"I have a very vivid memory of going to Brussels on the final Monday and being on my own at the airport and looking at the snow gradually thawing and thinking to myself: this is terrible," Lenihan said in a BBC interview earlier this year.

"No Irish minister has ever had to do this before. Now hell was at the gates."

The former lawyer and university lecturer took over the finance portfolio just as the economy began to unravel in 2008.

A scion of one of Ireland's most famous political dynasties, Lenihan's father was a former deputy prime minister and one-time presidential candidate.

His aunt and brother served in parliament until electoral defeat in February.