Are lenders too keen to go for the nuclear option when a business gets into trouble?

67% YES 33% NO

The Irish Times Poll is a forum for people who wish to express their views on issues of topical interest. In order to represent as wide a range of opinions as possible and provide a stimulating platform for discussion, we ask all our contributors to only post comments which are relevant to the daily question.

Your Reaction

• irish banks like spanish cajas etc are all in denial hoping that something just anything will come along to save their stupendously stupid a**es.with oil about explode that something may be many yrs away nuclear or not they are all in a very ugly place
  Xpornstar  Canada
• It doesn't matter to the bank if they have to write off your loan and destroy you honey. First they now know that if they get into trouble they will get bailed out and second, if they make a loss on you they can write it off against future taxes. Life's not fair is it? Irish banks won't be paying taxes for years. We will be paying extra taxes for years to pay their bonuses.
  Dyed Blonde Celebrity Basher in  Ireland
• AFFIRMATIVE. "NUCLEAR" IS NOT IN THE TAXPAYER'S BEST INTEREST! As far as a "nuclear option" goes my take on this is that government nationalises lending institutions and forces these institutions to lend to small/medium sized businesses. Of course the bankers would pray that the government "take over" and when the businesses go "bust" it'll be the taxpayers who lose big time. It'll be a repeat of the demise of the Celtic Tiger. Bankers, developers and politicians walk away from the "nuclear damage" and leave the working public holding the bag. So bankers it's time to pony up and lend sensibly to those companies that have the best chance of succeeding and leaving the "loser firm" to fend for themselves. After all there is only so much money to go around and like a lifeboat that is designed to hold only 50 people the 51st had better be an Olympic swimmer. Moral? There are just as many winners as losers in life. Sacrifice and hard work is the key to survival. HOO RAH!
  eddie- the Aggravator  Ireland
• Would you be "too keen" on an "nuclear option" if it looked as if someone mightn't be able to pay you back? Or would your response depend on what security you had for your loan, your priority ranking, how the chap conducted himself with you, your assessment of the cause of the bother, your assessment of the best way to proceed, what laws the politicians were likely to bring in to restrict you in collecting your money, your personal business circumstances, . . ..
  Hawkesbury  Argentina
• Possibly where the business is construction related and there is no income coming in. Banks would be insane to put a trading company, particularly those earning cash, out of business instead of restructuring debt. It may take 50 years but they'll get their money eventually.
  Togo  Bolivia
• At the moment pull the plug and then ask questions later. They take the short tern view not long term .
  Mark Long  Ireland
• I agree with our dyed Blonde comments ,its for sure theres no mystery of why Irelands fertility rate is the highest in all 27 states ...and with all that no kiss :-)
  paorach  Canada
• The question as to why the banks, all the way up to those in Frankfurt, London, Paris etc, do not pay for their mistakes has not been answered. Why does the market not decide? Why do taxpayers have to pick up the tab?
  tony  Ireland
• Of course. If you have the opportunity the March issue of Vanity Fair magazine has an excellent article on the Irish financial meltdown (should be able to get it from their web page). After reading the article you are left wondering who was more stupid, the government or the bankers. I vote for the government. Sadly, as Irish citizens know, the article indicates that the government did not have to guarantee the banks bad investments. By doing so they set Ireland back decades & Irish citizens will be paying for the banks & governments stupidity for generations to come.
  Stephanie, Baltimore  United States
• Its true the banks are pulling the plug too soon and in fact are shooting themselves in the foot. While putting the nation under the gun to help them with their financial problems, they seem to be very quick to pull the credit from small and medium sized companies collapsing the flow of cash, this in turn is having a domino effect through jobs and taxes. Knowing they are in a bad way with mortgages with 10% now in problems what will happen when the last years redundancies run out and more mortgages go into arrears? this could rise to 20%.
  Hubo  Ireland