Send a letter via email to all your TDs.
E-mail addresses of TDs are usually of the form: firstname.surname@oireachtas.ie
Here are the links of contact details of the majority of our TDs by party:
http://www.fiannafail.ie/people/listing/tds/
http://www.labour.ie/peopleandplaces/
http://www.finegael.org/people/d/
http://www.greenparty.ie/ga/people
Here is a is a full list TD names and email addresses and some suggested questions for the letter courtesy of Brian Lucey
http://brianmlucey.googlepages.com/namapetitionandoireachtasemails
Below we propose a draft letter, but the important thing is to write and express the opposition to NAMA. It is imperitive that you CC NoToNama@gmail.com on the email so we can keep a log of the letters sent to the TDs and thus insure that the TDs respond to our protests.
Draft Letter to Send to All our local TDs.
Dear XXX
As my representative, I am writing you to express my opposition to the proposed NAMA legislation and I urge you to vote against it. I also ask you to demand that the Minister for Finance makes public the detailed regulations of the proposed valuation methodology before the legislation is debated in the Dáil .
NAMA, as it is currently proposed, will overpay for bad loans that Irish banks have made to property developers around the country.
The proposed legislation says that NAMA will pay no more than the “long tern economic value” of these assets and clearly states that this value is greater than the current market value of these assets and loans. (Section 58.4.ii of the Draft NAMA Bill 2009: “a greater [than the current market] value [...] that NAMA considers appropriate in the circumstances”).
A recent case in the high court demonstrated how far current market prices have fallen below the price levels prevailing when these bad loans were made.
The judge in the case stated that projections of a quick recovery to these price levels were bordering the fanciful.
However, by the government’s own assumptions and indications, NAMA will overpay maybe as much as 15 billion euro or even more.
I think that this is an unacceptable squandering of taxpayers money that puts the long term fiscal position of the country in grave danger.
In this current period essential state services are being cut (e.g. cancer treatment service in Sligo, problems at the Crumlin hospital) putting lives in risk.
Charges for universities are being considered, hampering the access of young people to university and reducing the productive potential of the Irish economy.
In the same time the proposed NAMA legislation will transfer billions of resources to banks in a completely unaccountable and secretive way.
I urge you to consider alternative courses of action.
NAMA in its final form should be made to pay the lowest possible price for the assets, safeguarding the interests of the taxpayer first. Additionally, NAMA will give the banks a warrant, allowing the banks and its shareholders to participate in the potential upside income from the management of the bad loans.
If these low current prices paid by the NAMA for these loans cause bank capital to fall below the required levels by the regulator, the governments will inject capital in the banks in the form of common and preferred shares. This approach has been already used in the USA, with great success. Banks, having the government as a shareholder, have been able to quickly raise additional funds in the capital markets. Many of them have already paid back the government with considerable profits.
I therefore ask that you vote against the proposed legislation, and ask you to consider a more fair approach that safeguards the interest of the taxpayer and the Irish economy first before the interests of the banks. Additionally as my representative at the Dáil , I would like to know how you will vote on the current proposal and what are your reasons and justification for your vote.
Sincerely,
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Full list of emails here
ReplyDeletehttp://brianmlucey.googlepages.com/namapetitionandoireachtasemails
It is obscene that any government would bail out rich land developers and bank shareholders, while cutting social welfare schooling and health payments and increasing taxes on citizens!
ReplyDeleteThis is positively evil!
Cancer treatments are being cut in Sligo due to a rationalisation of the way cancer care is provided, on the back of a lot of expert clinical evidance, it has never been presented as an expenditure issue, rather as a method of gathering clinical expertise in viable clusters with the critical mass of patients required to facilitate the growth of real expertise (i.e. experience). Whether you agree with the strategy or not, lumping it in with NAMA as an example of expenditure cuts only confuses the issue and demonstates a lack of understanding of the issues in each case.
ReplyDeleteOzzy's Rules for Contradictory Success, No. 5:
Never feed your opposition a red herring with which to beat you or you will end up smelling of fish.
Ozzy, Have you written an email to your TD? Now is the time for action and not nit picking on blogs. The problem with Ireland is that the majority of people in this country just accept their fate, no matter what consquences this may have for them and the future of this state. NAMA is just over 1 month from being passed in a form that IMMEDIATELY take billons of taxpayers money out of our nation to bail out banks. This is pure theft on a colossal scale and excuse the repetition, but this is happening in 1 months time. Please please use your energy to gather as many people you can to rally against the NAMA proposal in its current form.
ReplyDeleteWhat you call nit picking, I call factual accuracy. If you want to be treated as a confused crank, go ahead, it's a lot easier to convince people of the validity of your argument if you have your facts straight rather that resorting to misleading populist jingoism (thats what politicans tend to do BTW).
ReplyDeleteFor the record, yes I have blitzed all my representatives with factually correct emails.
Like most Irish people, I have a deep interest in the well being of my country and its citizens. In this context the proposals that are been formulated to resolve the solvency issues with our banks are deeply disturbing.
ReplyDeleteA fundamental Principle of Finance, as taught on any undergraduate business programme, is the clear relationship between risk and return. The investor who is taking the risk is rewarded accordingly and the greater the risk borne by the investor the greater the return demanded.
The most inherent flaw with NAMA is that the taxpayer is taking on a sizeable risk with an inadequate return thus enriching the banks shareholders. Why are taxpayers been asked to pay above current market rates for the banks loans?? (whose value is based on the underlying security, a property or development land that has plummeted in value). No private sector entity would pay the long term economic value, as permitted under EU guidelines, as this would not reflect the risk been assumed by the investor. Does this long term economic value take account of the time value of money i.e. that €1 in the future is worth less than a €1 today?? The taxpayer will pay the banks for an asset now based on its future value.
If NAMA proceeds as currently envisaged the losers will be existing and future taxpayers while the winners will be the banks’ shareholders. It is no wonder that foreign fund managers are buying up bargain shares in the banks as their risk is been borne by taxpayers. The headline in the Irish Independent business section of the 11th of August 2009 noted,
“Investment guru buys up ‘bargain’ shares in Irish banks”
The article went on to state,
“AWARD-WINNING fund manager Gervais Williams, who oversees about £800m in Gartmore Investment Management, is continuing to buy up shares in Irish banks as falling stock prices make them a bargain........................................Mr. Williams said, adding that banks were still trading at only about 20pc of their asset value”
This asset value is obviously based on the inflated value that NAMA will pay for the banks loans.
The solution is to NATIONALISE THE BANKS, as endorsed by the IMF, thus making the transfer price irrelevant as the assets will move between two state agencies. In fact we should go a step further and dispense with NAMA altogether. The banks will administer the loans in any case and the cost of NAMA and all its expensive advisers will thus be saved. In relation to the recapitalisation of the banks, governments can borrow money on international money markets at a lower rate than private sector companies so Nationalisation while not without its risks should make sense. The NTMA has been very successful to date in raising the necessary finance to fund the budget deficit.
The taxpayer will incur significant losses in Anglo Irish Bank and in time Irish Nationwide but to throw away taxpayer’s money in our dealings with Allied Irish Banks, Bank of Ireland and EBS is totally inexcusable.
Thanks to the actions of ACC Bank the folly of the current proposals will hopefully be exposed for all to see in the coming weeks,
Maurice
Hi there,
ReplyDeleteI have created a service called www.writetoyourtd.ie
For €2.50 we will print and post a letter to a TD created with our site.
We also have a letter template system that we have yet to fully expand with good letters.
We would be pleased if you would allow us to use your open letter above as one of our templates.
In return we will donate 50c per letter template used to the cost of your website hosting.
Regards
Richard