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The last of the First?Author(s): Patrick FoxSource: Fortnight, No. 470 (MAY 2010), p. 3Published by: Fortnight Publications Ltd.Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/25704391 .

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?fingsbriefingsbriefingsbriefingsbriefingsbriefingsbriefingsbriefingsbri

about the successes of the Irish

economy, it was for northern

nationalists about the self-evident

success of just simply being Irish. It was like the Midas touch: every

thing, from U2 to Mary Robinson to the Cliffs of Moher, was taken as

evidence that to be Irish was enough in itself to be successful. It was in our DNA. Even our peace process was the best in the world. And its final triumph would be manifest when unionists accepted the inevitable and joined us at the bar for a pint of Guinness.

It doesn't look like that now.

Northern nationalists avert their

eyes from the church scandals, the

collapse of the economy, the cut

backs in public services, and the bitter letters to newspapers from the

graduates forced to emigrate. The

designation of nationalist is now

less to do with long-term ambitions for unity, and more to do with the

way in which the Catholic popula tion in the north asserts its presence

within the boundaries of Northern Ireland. This is where Sinn Fein, now to all intents and purposes the Catholic Party, really has its finger on the pulse. Unity, yes please, but not yet, oh lord. A united Ireland is no

longer the core raison d'etre, but

something of a side project, to be entrusted to a

special Task Force.

The language has shifted according ly. The struggle was yesterday; this is a campaign. Its home is in the

hotel conference room, not the

hedges and ditches of South Armagh or West Tyrone.

Watching the way the revolu

tionary content drains out of the

Provisional movement one is

reminded inevitably of the Officials

absorption into the political main

stream, but also of a famous remark

by the historian AJP Taylor. When asked if it was true that he held

strong political opinions he replied, Oh no, I have extreme views, weak

ly held' - a formulation that has been changed in the re-telling to

'Strong Views, Weakly Held'. The

likely trajectory of the Unite Ireland

campaign can be described in simi lar terms. Strong views. Long cher

ished. Quietly abandoned.

The last of the First?

Patrick Fox thinks the First Trust Bank couid become the first casualty of the banking crisis in Northern Ireland

The

1991 take over of TS Northern Ireland by Allied Irish Banks was

delicately portrayed as a

'merger' to pre vent the widespread leakage of business to rivals in the Northern and Ulster Banks.

The newly emerged First Trust Bank

proudly announced itself as the most

balanced financial institution in an

industry much maligned at the time for imbalance in sectarian employment prac

tices. Could it be that both stools the bank tried to straddle will give way and that First Trust Bank is to become the first major casualty of the banking crisis in Northern Ireland?

Under major pressure from the Irish Government to

recapitalise or be nation

alised, AIB Bank in the Republic of Ireland has undertaken a radical asset

offload. AIB UK, the merged entity of First Trust Bank and the 31 branches of AIB in Great Britain, is to be sold off as a matter of urgency. The terms of the sale allow for the bank to be sold as one

entity or as two separate units - AIB GB

and First Trust Bank. AIB (UK) made a

loss before tax of l6m in recently released 2009 year end results. The 70m profit of the GB arm being off-set

by 86m loss at First Trust Bank in Northern Ireland. As a single entity and with extreme time pressures it would

appear that it may be difficult sell a loss

making entity at such short notice.

Investors, however, may see the GB enti

ty as a more attractive proposition released from the burden of the Irish

banking crisis - on both sides of the

border.

So where does this leave the floun

dering First Trust Bank, its 1,300 staff and Northern Ireland customer base?

With the Dublin based AIB and its London based GB counterpart going in

opposite directions, First Trust Bank could potentially find itself abandoned and isolated.

Could it be that the Northern

Ireland Assembly will have to look at a rescue package for the third largest bank in this region? The example of the failed

Presbyterian Mutual Society demonstrat

ed the inability of the Assembly to

respond quickly to the crisis in the financial sector. They have sat comfort

ably whilst London, Dublin and every other directorate in Europe has had to

respond with emergency actions to pre vent economic meltdown. Northern

Rock and Bradford and Bingley in Great Britain and the Dublin based Anglo Irish Bank have all been nationalised in recent times - an option not open to the

Assembly - or is it?

With so much at stake for the local

economy it will be interesting to see the full extent of options open to regional government in times of crisis. The

Dublin Government has acted by forc

ing the sale. Westminster has shown no

interest in the fate of Irish-owned banks to date. The question that remains is if the NI Assembly has the clout, know how or desire to prevent the job losses and local credit crisis created by such a

scenario as outlined. We await their

response. It has at last acted bn PMS.

We await their response on First Trust.

FORTNIGHT MAY 2010 3

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