September 8, 2010

Ireland Moves to Split Up a Troubled Lender

By LANDON THOMAS Jr.

The Irish government, bowing to market fears that its escalating banking losses might cause it to seek a bailout, said Wednesday that it would split the troubled Anglo Irish Bank into two entities, one of which would eventually shut down.

The move represents a backtracking of sorts for the government, which has said that it would be more expensive to close Anglo Irish, which is weighted with bad loans incurred during Ireland’s debt-fueled real estate boom, than to keep it going as a smaller institution.

But a recent deposit run, as well as a sharp rise in government bond yields to 6 percent — a level that some analysts consider “unbearable” — has forced the government to act.

Last week, Anglo Irish said that the cost to the government of supporting the bank would be 25 billion euros, or $32 billion. But that figure has been rejected by analysts as well as the rating agency Standard & Poor’s which, in a recent report, said that it would cost as much as 35 billion euros.

The increasing uncertainty over Anglo Irish’s losses and the extent to which the deeply indebted Irish government will be able to finance them have rapidly become a Europe-wide concern.

Greece’s financing costs are now 11.7 percent, and spreads, or risk premiums, widened again Tuesday on reports that the country’s largest bank, the National Bank of Greece, would raise 2.8 billion euros — sparking concerns that the banking sector will need to raise more capital than originally expected.

In Portugal, while the government was able to raise just over 1 billion euros at a debt auction Tuesday, it had to offer a yield of 5.9 percent for bonds due in 2021, up sharply from 4.1 percent in March.

A crisis in Europe this spring was set off by Greece’s disclosure that it would have trouble refinancing its debt and led to a 750 billion euro rescue package from the European Union and the International Monetary Fund.

The current bout of nerves has less to do with liquidity — Ireland has enough capital to finance itself through the second quarter of next year — than the willingness and capacity of governments to pay for the sins of bankers.

“Governments are on the line globally for their banking systems,” said Aziz Sunderji, a credit strategist at Barclays Capital. “And this is being reflected in the yields. It is not a liquidity issue, it’s a solvency issue.”

In an era of global banking excess, Anglo Irish was perhaps one of the most reckless lenders — funneling the bulk of its loans into the country’s real estate market. When the market crashed, so did Anglo Irish, prompting a government takeover.

Of the 75 billion euros in loans on Anglo Irish’s books when the government stepped in, only 12 billion euros are said to be performing, according to bank management.

The government said Tuesday that Anglo Irish would be split into a recovery bank that is to be either sold or run down, and a funding bank that will be owned by the government.

“Resolution of this, our most distressed institution, is essential to the promotion of confidence and stability in our financial system,” the Irish finance minister, Brian Lenihan, said Tuesday.

As most economists, inside Ireland and out, will say, Ireland is not Greece. It has a cash cushion of close to 40 billion euros, part reserves and part from its pension fund. Even with the current interest rates, its financing cost, about 3 percent of gross domestic product, is manageable.

And as the I.M.F. made clear in a recent report that questioned the notion that some indebted countries in Europe might be better off defaulting, restructuring Ireland’s debt would do little to close its primary deficit, which excludes interest payments, of about 10 percent of G.D.P.

But the increasing burden of Irish banking losses, which some economists say could push Ireland’s debt-to-G.D.P. ratio to 115 percent, has become a difficult millstone for the government, which guaranteed not just the deposits of its banks, but bondholders as well — a move that remains extremely controversial.

The panic relapse has caught European officials by surprise. Having cobbled together a bailout package for Greece as well a broader rescue fund, they did not expect such levels of fear and uncertainty — especially as European growth has done better than expected on the strength of Germany’s strong performance.

“I have to admit this puzzling to me,” said Paul de Grauwe, an economist in Brussels who advises the European Commissionpresident, José Manuel Barroso. “If anything the fundamentals have improved.”

But for many investors, Germany’s robust growth underscored the increasing north-south divergence and the possibility that a stagnating economy like Portugal or Ireland may not be able to generate sufficient income to close deficits or that mounting bank debts will become unaffordable.

According to widely read research by Barclays Capital, for a country to borrow at a 6 percent rate of interest is “unbearable” and represents a prelude to a bailout or rescue — especially if it cheaper borrowing is made available from the rescue fund.

In the case of Greece earlier this year, the country quickly began to lose the confidence of the markets once its borrowing costs surpassed 6 percent.

“Its déjà vu all over again — but this is different from Greece,” said Daniel Gros of the Center for European Policy Studies in Brussels. If Ireland’s banks “can’t refinance themselves the numbers get very big very quickly,” he said.

Mr. Gros pointed out that loans to depleted Irish banks from the European Central Bank are about 40 percent of the country’s G.D.P., a dynamic that he believes to be unsustainable and will ultimately lead to Ireland seeking assistance from the Europe and the I.M.F.

“I think things are going to get worse,” he continued. “And over time, the E.C.B. will have to refinance a very large part of the Irish banking system.”

The Irish in Latin America and Iberia

The Irish in Latin America and Iberia A Bibliography By Edmundo Murray Argentina 4 A-D E-H I-L M N-R S-Z (by author's last name) ● MacCann, William, Two Thousand Miles' Ride through the Argentine Provinces: Being an Account of the Country and the habits of the people, with a Historical retrospect of the Rio de la Plata, Monte Video and Corrientes. Detailed description of the country in the first decades of the nineteenth century (London: 1853; reprint New York: AMS Press, 1971). ● MacLoughlin, Guillermo, 'From Shepherds to Polo Players: Irish-Argentines from the First to the Last Chukker' in Irish Migration Studies in Latin America 6:1 (March 2008), pp. 67-73. [document] ● MacLoughlin, Guillermo, 'Pablo MacDonough, polo player' in Irish Migration Studies in Latin America 6:1 (March 2008), p. 87. [document] ● MacLoughlin Bréard, Guillermo. “La presencia irlandesa en las invasiones inglesas” in The Southern Cross 132:5927 (August 2007), 2. ● MacLoughlin, Guillermo, Argentina: The Forgotten People, in: Irish Roots (Cork), No. 4, 1993. A disciple of genealogistEduardo Coghlan, Dr. MacLoughlin continued to mapping out the story of the Irish families in Argentina. ● MacLoughlin, Guillermo, Casey and the One-Eyed Deer, in: Irish Roots, No. 3, 1994. ● MacLoughlin, Guillermo, The forgotten people: the Irish in Argentina and other South American countries, in: Celtic News (Buenos Aires: March, April, and May/June, 1998). ● MacLoughlin, Guillermo, The Irish in South America, in: Aspects of Irish Genealogy, M.D. Evans & Eileen O'Duill (ed.) (Dublin: Irish Genealogical Congress Committee, 1993). ● MacMurrough Mulhall, Marion, Erin in South America, in: The Irish Rosary, Vol. XII, No. 11, November 1908. ● Macnie, J., Work and Play in the Argentine (London: T. Werner Laurie, 1925). In 1899 Dublin-born Captain J. Macnie decided to try his fortune in Argentina. He worked in estancias in Entre Ríos and Santa Fe, and learned to drive cattle and other ranch jobs. But what really fascinated him was hunting, horse racing, foot-ball and polo playing. 'If the reader has had a quarter as much pleasure in reading about the Argentine as I have had in writing about it, then I need feel no qualms of conscience' (p. 183). Accounts of pioneering horse racing and polo in Venado Tuerto. A translation into Spanish by José Bernardo Wallace has been launched in Venado Tuerto. ● Maguire, John Walter, La Pezuña de Oro (Buenos Aires: author's edition, 1980). Las pampas de Buenos Aires, las vaquerías y relatos camperos. Marcas de Santa Fe; Marcas de Buenos Ayres; Buenos Ayres; Llegada del gobernador; Bucaneros en el Río de la Plata; la boda de Juan Manzanares; El gaucho; las recogidas; la Estancia; los grandes arreos y el comercio de ganado; vocabulario de términos camperos. Numbered edition (540 copies), 402 pp. ● Maguire, John Walter, Loncagüe (Buenos Aires: author's edition, 1967), 250 pp. Relatos de frontera, costumbres, leyendas, La Pampa, con un estudio sobre Platería Pampa por E. Greslebin. Loncagüe is the name of a lagoon in Nueve de Julio department, west of Buenos Aires province, where John Walter Maguire's father and James Gaynor rented from the government, and later purchased, 16,000 hectares in 1865. ● Maguire, S.J. 'A Loughrea link with Argentina' in Galway Reader, 3:1-2 (1950), 117. ● Martin, Liam Padraic. Bas in Erin: A Roadmap for the Unity of Ireland (Buenos Aires: author's edition, 2007). [document] ● McCartan, Michael (attributed to). La actualidad o la solución de las cuestiones de Roma, del Oriente y del Poniente, demostrada, en las profecías divinas, por un presbítero cristiano (Buenos Aires: Imprenta Alemana, undated). Fr. McCartan (1798-1876) of Belfast had a disagreement with the bishop of Dromara, Co. Down, and was banished to Nova Scotia. He travelled to England, North America, the West Indies and Chile, and arrived in Argentina in 1836. He was appointed parish priest in Gualeguaychú, Entre Ríos province, from where he was banished for extreme political opinions. After that he celebrated at San Roque chapel of Buenos Aires. The book includes a series of apocalyptic essays written between 1866 and 1871 (thanks to Dr. Roberto Di Stefano for this reference). A copy is available at Museo Mitre of Buenos Aires. ● McCaughan, Michael, True Crimes: Rodolfo Walsh, the life and times of a radical intellectual (London: Latin America Bureau, 2002). ● McCullough, Darragh, Ear to the Ground: Argentina Special (RTÉ documentary, aired 18 January 2007). A radio and TV documentary aired on RTE 1 television, which was announced with the hyperbolic tones of the mainstream Irish discourse about Irish contribution to Argentina's development: 'They [Irish immigrants in Argentina] shaped Argentina's agricultural future, [...] they shaped Argentina's political and social development, and the Irish Argentine community grew to become among the largest landowners in the country' (RTÉ Television website, http://www.rte.ie/tv/eartotheground/thisweek.html, accessed 25 January 2007). See also O'Keeffe's newspaper article in this bibliography. ● McGinn, Brian, The South American Irish in Ryan , Christopher (ed.) Aspects of Irish Genealogy III: A Selection of Papers from the Third Genealogical Congress (Dublin: Irish Genealogical Congress, 1999), pp. 25-54. ● McGinn, Brian, St. Patrick's Day in Peru, 1824 in 'Irish Roots' N° 1 (1995), pp. 26-27. [document] ● McGinn, Brian, An Irishman's Diary in 'The Irish Times' (Dublin) 7 September 1999, p. 15. ● McGinn, Brian, The Mulhall Brothers of Dublin: Pioneers of Argentina's English-language Journalism in 'The Irish Times' (Dublin, 7 September 1999). ● McGinn, Brian, The South American Irish, in 'Irish Roots' 25-28. [document] ● McGinn, Brian, Che Guevara's Irish Blood: The Lynch Family of Argentina in 'Irish Roots' 2 (1993), pp. 11-14. ● McKenna, Patrick, Irish Migration to Argentina, in: Patrick O'Sullivan (ed.) 'Patterns of Migration', Vol. 1 of The Irish World Wide, History, Heritage & Identity (London: Leicester University Press, 1997). ● McKenna, Patrick, The formation of Hiberno-Argentine society, in: Marshall, Oliver (ed.), 'English Speaking Communities in Latin America' (New York: St. Martin's Press, 2000). ● McKenna, Patrick, Nineteenth Century Irish Emigration to, and Settlement in, Argentina (St. Patrick's College, Maynooth, Co. Kildare: MA Geography Thesis, 1994). Together with Sabato & Korol's essay, this is one of the most important research studies on this field, including the chain migration led by Father Anthony Fahy and Thomas Armstrong, geographic and demographic profiles of the sending areas and the emigrants, and several details of their social and economic life. Since the cited sources are written primarily in English, the thesis lacks some of the insights of the Spanish-speaking bourgeoisie of the River Plate, and its role in the immigration process. Argentina's nineteenth-century social and political leaders were particularly Anglophile, and they were eager to gain public and social recognition among members of the British Empire. Additionally, contrary to the dominant beliefs of the leading classes in the English-speaking territories, they did not have any major negative ideas about the Irish (who, according to the Argentines, were ingleses católicos). We should add to this fine research that, particularly in 1825-1852, the local pro-British bourgeoisie was fundamental to the well-being of the Irish newcomers, and that this was one of the basic reasons why the ingleses católicos were 'the most successful Irish immigrant community anywhere in the world within their own lifetimes' (McKenna, 1997). Though Spanish misspelling creates some reference confusion, this is the most well-rounded research work written in English about the Irish in Argentina. The thesis is now available online at NUI Maynooth Eprint Archive [website]. ● McKenna, Patrick, Irish Emigration to Argentina: A Different Model (Cork: Irish Centre for Migration Studies, 2000). [document] ● Meehan, Helen, Patrick McManus (1864-1929) in 'Sínsear', Folklore Commission U.C.D. N°8 (1995). Biographical information about the founder of Fianna magazine. See also by the same author, The McManus Family of Rossylongan in 'Donegal Association Yearbook' (Dublin, 1998), and The McManus Brothers in 'The Donegal Annual: Journal of the Donegal Historical Society' N° 46 (1994). ● Meek, Bill, Neath the Southern Cross (RTÉ radio documentary, Dublin, 1987). A series of eight radio programmes aired between September and November 1987, focusing on different aspects of the Irish in Argentina. These programmes are a unique testimony of oral history about the Irish Argentines, with a remarkable quality of historical, linguistic and social information. ‘My grandfather came with a potato in his pocket. A potato in his pocket, right? That was all he had. That’s all he had. And he planted that potato and we made a big farm then, after that.’ Testimonials of the Irish Argentines, who speak with Westmeath and Wexford brogues, intermingling with Spanish vocabulary. Among others, the following persons were interviewed: genealogist Eduardo Coghlan, The Southern Cross editor Fr. Fidelis Rush, Juan Clancy, farmer Edmundo Moore, Bertie Flanigan, Fr. Federico Richards, historians Hilda Sabato and Juan Carlos Korol, 99-year old Mrs. Clancy from S. A. de Areco, Mrs. Sils, Mrs. Mackey, Anselmo Byrne, descendant of The Standard editors Eric Mulhall, Mrs. Casey, MP Jorge Connelly, Lucy Scally, Willy Ford, Jimmy O'Durnin, Brian Healy, Imelda Dunleavy, Fr. John Manion, Kevin Farrell, Suipacha major Miguel Geoghegan, farmer Clemente Kelly, John Nicholas Murphy, writer Horacio Verbitsky, singer and poetess Maria Elena Walsh, film-maker Oscar Barney Finn, and literary agent Lawrence Smith. [website] ● Michael Ham Memorial College. In 1923, members of the English-speaking community asked a group of Passionist Sisters to open a bilingual Catholic girls school in Buenos Aires. Michael Ham and his wife Ana María Lynch, both members of affluent Irish-Argentine families, assisted the nuns in their mission and afterwards donated their impressive private residence in the outskirts of Buenos Aires to the newly founded school. The school has educated several female generations of the Argentinean bourgeoisie. [http://www.michaelham.esc.edu.ar/] ● Mirodan, Séamus, State Urged to Seek Justice for Irish in Argentina, in: 'The Irish Times', 12 March 2003. Several Irish surnames may be found among desaparecidos of the Argentine military regime 1976-1983. The author asks why the Irish government is not following other members of the European Union, as Spain or Italy, whose judges requested the extradition for crimes committed against Spanish and Italian citizens or their descendants in Argentina. Among the victims were the celebrated writer Rodolfo Walsh and 5 members of the Pallotine order slaughtered in their own church. There were many other victims with Irish names that the author does not mention, both among civil and military forces. ● Molina, Enrique, Una sombra donde sueña Camila O'Gorman (Buenos Aires: Losada, 1973). ● Moorhead, Patricia, Joseph Smith Sheehan, a Corkman with a picturesque career in 'Irish Family History' 16 (2000), pp. 72-87. Biography of Bernard Smith O'Brien Sheehan (1845-1926). ● Morner, Magnus, Obituary: Guillermo Furlong Cardiff (1889-1974) in 'Hispanic American Historical Review' 55:1 (February 1975). ● Muleiro, Vicente, Rodolfo Walsh, con las armas del lenguaje in 'Clarín' newspaper (Buenos Aires), 9 September 2006. Review of newly-published book by Rodolfo Walsh Un oscuro día de justicia (Buenos Aires: Ediciones de la Flor, 2006). The book includes the short stories "Irlandeses detrás de un gato", "Los oficios terrestres", and "Un oscuro día de justicia", which are related to the author's days in a school for Irish orphans and others without means, supported by the wealthy Irish women of the St. Joseph Ladies Society. [website] ● Mulhall, Michael George, The English in South America (Buenos Aires: The Standard Press, 1878; reprint New York: Arno Press, 1977). ● Mulhall, Michael George & Edward Thomas, Handbook of the River Plate, Comprising Buenos Ayres, The Upper Provinces, Banda Oriental, and Paraguay (Buenos Aires: The Standard Press, six editions 1863-69-75-76-85-92). Published by the founders of The Buenos Aires Standard newspaper. Web version, compiled from the 1863 original by Jeremy Howat, including a list sorted geographically: Foreigners resident in Buenos Aires and the province in 1863. [website] ● Murphy, Ana Castello, Irlandeses durante el primer año del "The Southern Cross" in 'The Southern Cross' Vol. 130, N° 5897 (February 2005), pp. 3, 5. Detailed account of the Irish community in the 1870s based on news appeared in the first year of 'The Southern Cross'. ● Murray, Edmundo, 'Horses and Horseracing: an Irish passion in Nineteenth-Century Río de la Plata' in Irish Migration Studies in Latin America 6:1 (March 2008), pp. 59-66. [document] ● Murray, Edmundo, '"Rugby gives you values: they aren’t written but they are for life": Interview with Felipe Contepomi' inIrish Migration Studies in Latin America 6:1 (March 2008), pp. 75-78. [document] ● Murray, Edmundo, 'Breve historia de la fiesta de San Patricio en Buenos Aires durante el siglo XIX' in The Southern Cross, 132:5922 (March 2007), pp. 8-9. ● Murray, Edmundo, 'Within and beyond the Empire: Irish settlement in Argentina (1830-1930)' in History in Focus N° 11 (Autumn 2006), available online (http://www.history.ac.uk/ihr/Focus/Migration/articles/murray.html), accessed 15 November 2006. [website] ● Murray, Edmundo, The Irish in Falkland/Malvinas Islands in "Irish Migration Studies in Latin America" (www.irlandeses.org), cited 18 October 2005. [document] ● Murray, Edmundo, How British Sports Became Argentine Passions: Paddy McCarthy, Irish Footballer and Boxer in Argentina in 'Irish Migration Studies in Latin America' (www.irlandeses.org), cited 22 July 2005. [document] ● Murray, Edmundo, Devenir Irlandés: Narrativas íntimas de la emigración irlandesa a la Argentina 1844-1912 (Buenos Aires: Eudeba, 2004). Revised edition in English, Becoming 'irlandés': Private Narratives of the Irish Emigration toArgentina, 1844-1912 (Buenos Aires: Literature of Latin America, 2006). Various reviews. [document] ● Murray, Edmundo, How the Irish became 'Gauchos Ingleses': Shared Values and Cultural Representations in Irish-Argentine Literature in: González, Rosa (ed.) 'The Representation of Ireland/s: Images from Outside and from Within' (Barcelona: PPU, 2003). ● Murray, Edmundo, Irish Place Names and Landmarks in Argentina: Murphy, Santa Fe in: The Southern Cross 127 N° 5860 (Buenos Aires, January 2002) [website]. ● Murray, Edmundo, Edgeworthstown Emigration to Argentina in: Leavy, John et al. 'Edgeworthstown Parish of Mostrim ó theachgo theach 1901-2000' (Longford, 2003), p. 429. ● Murray, Edmundo, Catalina Street in Ciudad de San Martín, Buenos Aires [website] ● Murray, Edmundo, The Journey of the 'William Peile' 1844 and 1851 [website]. ● Murray, Edmundo, Passanger Lists of Irish Immigrants in Argentina (1822-1929). Compiled from Table I of Coghlan's 'El Aporte de los Irlandeses a la Formación de la Nación Argentina' (Buenos Aires, 1982), and other passenger lists (e.g., CEMLA database). Includes individual records for 7,159 immigrants and descriptions of most frequently used ships. [website] ● Murray, Edmundo. 'The Irish Road to Argentina: Nineteenth-Century Travel Patterns from Ireland to the River Plate' inHistory Ireland (Dublin), Vol. 12, N° 3, Autumn 2004. A preliminary version of this article has been published in this website. [website] ● Murray, Edmundo, Researching the Irish in Argentina: an Irish-Argentine History or a History of the Irish Argentines?[document]. ● Murray, Joe, The Argentina Connection (RTÉ radio documentary, Dublin, 17 March 2004). Aired the day before a visit of President of Ireland Mary McAleese to Argentina, Chile and Brazil. Interviews with Clare Healy (NUI Galway), Silvia Kenny, Maria Rosa Murray from Capilla del Señor, farmer Jimmy Ballesty, economist Tommy Leavy, Juan Devereux and others. [website] ● Murray, John, S.J., The Irish and Others in Argentina, in: 'Studies: an Irish Quarterly Review of Letters, Philosophy and Science' (Vol XXXVIII 1949), pp. 377-388. Perspectives of Fr. Murray regarding the relations of the already well-established Irish community in Argentina with the Anglo-Argentines and the Argentines. Linguistic and other observations are worthy of note. It is interesting to notice that he did not mention 'The Southern Cross' when citing the English-speaking newspapers read by the Irish Argentines. ● Murray, John, 'Argentine Impressions: British and Irish in Argentina' in The Month, 186 (1948), pp. 291-299. ● Murray, Thomas, The Story of the Irish in Argentina (New York: P.J. Kenedy & Sons, 1919). It is the only history book (in English) of the Irish emigration to Argentina. Within the typical nationalist and officially Catholic discourse of the first decades of the twentieth century (it was written in 1917), the author presents a complete and detailed account of the Irish settlement in the River Plate. Subscription lists for different purposes, history of the religious institutions, sports, schools, and internal divisions of the Irish-Argentine community (TSC 2 Jan 1919, 7 Mar 1924). Copyright © Edmundo Murray, 2005 Online published: 1 April 2003 Edited: 07 May 2009 Citation: Murray, Edmundo, 'The Irish in Latin America and Iberia: A Bibliography' in "Society for Irish Latin American Studies" 2008. Available online (www.irlandeses.org), accessed 2 September 2010.

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