Ireland has no need to feel grateful to Britain

(Regarding letter ‘Like Stalin, Irish PM seems to think gratitude a disease’, Davy Wight, News Letter, April 15),

It’s because they would face paying a €200 million penalty fee under a break clause in the deal.

Compare that with other loans which have been paid back early, because there was no penalty in doing so.

The loan to Ireland was purely an investment for Britain. It was money lent at a considerable interest rate initially of 5.8% reduced now to 3.5%. Compare that to the interest rate to Sweden of 1.07% and to the IMF of 2.79%.

Ireland has now paid £358 million (€428 million) in interest to the UK on a crisis loan it gave to the State in 2010. Britain will do well out it’s loan/investment to Ireland.

It was not for any great concern for Ireland, but purely in the interest of self protection of their own banking systems and economy that Britain made that loan,

A British treasury report in 2017 stated that “The [British] government agreed to provide a bilateral loan to Ireland because it is in the UK’s national interest that Ireland has a successful economy and a stable banking system”.

There is no need for Ireland to feel grateful. It’s paying handsomely for the loan given by Britain to protect British interests.

Mary Russell, Ballyregan, Dundalk