Brian Lenihan has said the following according to the FT:
The minister claimed there were “no funding difficulties in the Irish banking system”, and pointed to stress testing that had already taken place, along with the removal of much of the toxic debt to the government’s National Asset Management Agency.
In recent months, the banks have become increasingly dependent on funding support from the European Central Bank, accounting for a quarter of all outstanding liquidity provided to the euro banking system by the ECB in October.
Mr Lenihan said: “The question of weaning the banks off European Central Bank support is only one of a number of issues that have to be tackled here.”
1) There are serious funding difficulties in the Irish banking system
2) The stress test was nonsense
3) The banks are still facing massive losses, including NAMA loans
4) There was essentially a run on Irish banks in October, so serious that Irish banks were forced to get emergency lending from our Central Bank to the tune of €20 billion. BoI saw €10bn in deposits leave the bank.
5) Irish banks have been on life support via the ECB since 2008
6) Brian Lenihan is lying through his teeth