AIB pass the point of no return

     
The top four banks are Ireland's most profitable companies. A profit that is generated by imposing costs on Irish households and Irish firms
Allied Irish Banks passed the point of no return last week when they announced their profit results for the first six months of 1997. The bank headlined the results which showed half year pre-tax profits of £242.2 million as a ``Quantum Leap'' for the company. The bank is now making over £1.3 million daily in clear profit.
AIB has also set another precedent. They also disclosed that after its acquisition of the Dauphin Deposit Corporation in the US last year, the majority of the bank's assets are now held outside Ireland.

Last December the Irish parts of AIB constituted 51% of the group; now that figure has fallen to 43%. The USA accounts for 34% of the group, British interests make up 26%, while AIB's 60% stake in the Polish WBK Bank makes up a further 3% of the group.

The AIB accounts show that the company is now a truly international corporation. The question is, what effect will this have on the Irish economy? It is the dominant role that the company has in the Irish economy that has allowed AIB to expand internationally. The profits that AIB have been sucking out of Irish customers have paid for this foreign expansion.

In common with many other states the Irish banking sector enjoys a privileged role in the economy. They can dictate the pace and direction of economic development. The end result is that the top four banks are Ireland's most profitable companies - a profit that is generated by imposing costs on Irish households and Irish firms. It is a parasitic relationship.

The only payback is that 32% of the profits went into the coffers of the Dublin Government. Is this enough though? Another question is what should the money be used for?

Finance minister Charlie McCreevy is, according to news reports, planning the sale of ICC and ACC banks. He also has to decide on the status of TSB. Should it be sold to one of the top four banks and also what role should the Post Office Savings Bank have in the future?

One course of action is to merge these companies into one group using the the tax take from the private sector as an aid to their long-term development. Then you could have a banking sector that facilitates and encourages economic development to socially defined criteria, like aiding regional development and funding community enterprises overlooked by the commercial sector or offering low cost mortgages to cut housing costs. Now that would be a real quantum leap.

Teletubbies in struggle

     
Even in Teletubby land there is discord, strife and now commercial pressures.
Is there nowhere in the world where you won't find workers struggling for their jobs, their rights and working conditions? That there must somewhere be a workers' utopia is a crutch I have used as a comfort when writing of the strikes, redundancies, exploitation and profiteering that most workers endure.

Imagine my dismay to find that even in Teletubby land there is discord, strife and now commercial pressures. The Teletubbies, who have graced the morning television schedules since last March, are the latest victims of exploitative employers.

Tinky Winky, Laa Laa, Dipsy and Poo have shown us over the past months an idyllic version of how life can be as they playfully help each other through the tribulations of daily running and jumping through flower and rabbit filled green fields.

Now the show's producers have axed Dave Thompson, otherwise known as Tinky Winky, from the show. He has been told that his ``interpretation of the role is not acceptable'' and is being replaced.

The message from Ragdoll Productions, who make the programme for the BBC, is clearly that no Teletubby is bigger than his furry suit.

The pressures of the marketplace have also hit Teletubbyland. In the coming weeks Teletubby merchandise will hit the shops selling footwear, toiletries, greeting cards and minature teletubbies. It seems that even Teletubbies will sell out if the price is right.

Privatisation pains

Last week we brought you the sad tale of South East Trains who wanted to hire passengers as part-time train guards. You might have thought that couldn't be topped, but enter right South West Trains who want to pay their train drivers a £1000 plus bonus if they don't go on holidays.

Train crews are being offered cash bonuses of £250 a day and up to £1,500 to give up a week's holiday. So why have South West taken such drastic measures? Simple really. South West are one of the newly privatised rail franchises in Britain. Their new owners bus giant Stagecoach have caused the problem by sacking too many drivers. Already this year South West had to cancel train services not because of a lack of passengers but because they had no drivers for the trains. The bonus scheme is supposed to head off a similar crisis this summer.

It seems that the drastic step of actually hiring extra drivers has not yet occurred to Stagecoach management. Maybe they should take a leaf from South East Trains and hire passengers to drive the trains. Don't laugh, it could just happen.

 

INOU call for government statement on jobs

``Nobody pays attention to unemployment figures unless they are rising. But the fact that unemployment is not falling in the middle of a boom sholuld be of as much concern''. This was the view of INOU chairperson Paul Billings after 26-County unemployment figures for July were released last week.

The CSO figures showed a decrease of 400 in the seasonally adjusted unemployment level to 255,100. The Live Register figure jumped by 4,178 to 259,041 as many seasonal workers such as teachers and administrative workers are laid off for the summer.

The INOU is a statement said that ``THe Department of Finance has recently reported that over 1,000 jobs a week are being created in the Irish economy. The fact that this is leading to a decrease on the dole queue of only 100 a week is an apalling indication that the benefits of economic growth are not being shared''.

The INOU called for a a ``comprehensive statement from the Government on what they believe is happening in the labour market and why the unemployed are not getting the benefits of the boom in jobs.