“Irish Prime Minister Enda Kenny would ideally like to use the ESM as a way of getting European taxpayers to shoulder the risks associated with all the debts of the Irish banking sector. He intends to use the six months of his European presidency to push through a banking union that would also make the bailout fund responsible for dealing with toxic assets in the European banking system left over from the financial crisis of 2007-2008. The [existing] €68 billion ($90 billion) in bailout funds are only expected to meet the country’s financial needs until the end of 2013.”
