Irish Prime Minister Enda Kenny never discussed his country’s crippling financial crisis with U.S. President Barack Obama this week.
Kenny has also admitted that he didn’t bring up Ireland’s ailing economy when he met British Prime Minister David Cameron during the earlier Queen’s visit.
During his swift trip to his ancestral homeland, President Obama had offered to: “Do everything we can to help on the path to recovery.”
The Irish Independent now reports however that Prime Minister Kenny never asked the President if the American government had blocked an attempt by the previous Irish government to burn €30bn worth of bondholders.
Nor he did discuss interest rates on British loans to Ireland – part of the EU/IMF bail-out deal – when he met Cameron during the Queen’s state visit.
“No I didn’t raise it with President Obama. We discussed a whole range of issues,” Fine Gael leader Kenny told the paper.
He added that he was not aware of any US view on an attempted ‘haircut’ for bondholders by the previous Irish government even though he had met with the Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithnerin in Washington last March.
The meeting on Monday between Obama and Kenny was regarded as ‘official bilateral’ which allowed the Irish PM to raise any issue he wanted to discuss.
Topics at the talks between the two men included the economy, Northern Ireland and the Middle East, Ireland’s relationship with the United States, and the Queen’s visit to Ireland.
Kenny did reveal that when he met British Prime Minister Cameron he had discussed the EU’s interest rate to Ireland. But no mention was made of the British rates.
“The British Treasury has been supportive of Ireland on more than one occasion,” Kenny told the Irish parliament.
----------------
READ MORE:
Obama will use hurley stick to put manners on Congress
-----------------
Comments