The panic decision to nationalise Anglo Irish Bank is not done to serve social needs and the welfare of the majority of ordinary people in society, but to once again bail out the speculators and major developers whose activities have crashed the Irish economy and to save market capitalism itself from the crisis that engulfs it. Taxpayers are being saddled with the risk of massive burdens of bad debt with no real information on what the exact situation is in this bank.

The Socialist Party has always demanded nationalisation of the banks and major financial institutions. But by ‘nationalisation’ we mean public ownership under democratic control and management so that these institutions are harnessed to serve the needs of the majority in society rather than facilitate super profits for major shareholders and to facilitate the obscene property speculation and profiteering which have plunged the economy into an unprecedented crisis.

Open The Books: Today the Government should be forced to publish in full the real situation in Anglo Irish Bank, to name those to whom the bank has loaned large amounts for property dealing or other forms of speculation and what the losses are on these loans. There should be no compensation whatever for these people, indeed other major assets they may own should be taken into public ownership to compensate for the huge damage they have already inflicted on society.

Nationalise Allied Irish Banks and Bank of Ireland

AIB and Bank of Ireland should be taken into public ownership as part of a plan to overcome the current crisis and develop the economy for the benefit of the majority. The profits and assets of these institutions should be used for the benefit of society and not to further enrich their billionaire shareholders. This is also the best way to protect the funds of small depositors and pension funds, and to guarantee investment for small business and self employed people.

The events of the last few weeks have exposed the fundamental weakness of capitalism. Globally, the capitalist system has failed, it is bankrupt.

Right-wing politicians claimed that the market would provide a decent health service, that it would provide the means to educate our children and meet people’s housing needs. Instead it has plunged the country into enormous crisis wrecking the livelihoods of tens of thousands of working people and threatening hundreds of thousands more. This latest crisis in capitalism is once again confirmation that it is time to end the domination of the market and to instead replace it with democratic socialist policies in which the priority is the needs of the majority.