91Èȱ¬

I do not think that the prayers of Presbyterians will achieve much good. How much taxpayers money does he want?

It is curious that the Presbyterian Church spent over £4 million renovating its HQ.

/news/uk-northern-ireland-11017332

Sorry newlach, but you are wrong on two counts. Prayer sustained many of us through trouble and violence we endured for many years and this matter will be resolved. It is man's perversity not God's that causes hurt and suffering. I'm not Presbyterian (not even someone who normally writes on Faith issues) but I'm glad to see that the work of the church continues unhindered by this (temporary) set-back.

@newlach (1)

What's curious about it? Plans to refurbish Church House were made well before the PMS crisis and the money that was raised for it was given for a particular purpose. PCI can't go and use it for another purpose, otherwise they would effectively be stealing from those who gave. Given David Cameron's pledge to help, why would PCI be looking to cover the PMS (which, incidentally, it wouldn't have the resources to do - £4 million is a drop in the bucket)? Wouldn't that just give the government an excuse to drag their feet even more?

That aside, are you upset about 'taxpayers money' being used to guarantee savings in bank accounts?

The PMS was a building society in all but name every £1.00 that was lodged attracted modest interest limited by Society rules. Members are savers not investors. All we ask is to be treated the same as other savers and that should have included Gordon Brown honouring his pledge 'no uk saver has lost a single penny' and his Government recognising the legislative gap left in NI for the PMS to fall into. It took a member of his own party the then John McFall MP to recognise that and embarrass the NI Executive Ministers Foster and Wilson.
I trust David Cameron will honour his promise to make it right.

The PMS is similiar to the Dunfermline Building Society and other financial institutions that Gordon Brown rushed to help along with the overseas Icelandic Bank. His govt failed the PMS savers. They were left with no financial protection due to a failure by both London (under Direct Rule) and Stormont to put in place a proper regulatory framework. Savers in the PMS have been made to suffer like no other UK citizens. Stormont spent months keeping the gap hidden. Neither London or Stormont under Gordon Browne's regime wanted to take responsibility and preferred to see innocent savers suffer particularly the elderly and the vulnerable. For 2 years they have been unable to access their savings. I concur with everything that Dr Carson says. PMS savers have been discriminated against and subjected to the worst possible treatment by a Labour govt who caused the problem in the first place; including the run on PMS funds following Mr Brown's £50k guarantee during the banking crisis. At least the Conservative Government have recognized that a terrible injustice has been done and appear prepared to take fair and just action to rectify it.
These savers deserve equal treatment and should be fully compensated.

Dr Carson has worked tirelessly on PMS. For this he deserves much credit.
John McFall's report in January clearly illustrated that these savers were the innocent victims of regulatory failure and that they had been let down by the very people who should have been working for them. Before the election, David Cameron pledged at The La Mon Hotel to bring a 'fair and just' resolution to this situation if he were elected. He recognised that the PMS savers had been treated unfairly by the Labour government compared to all other savers in the UK who had not lost a single penny throughout the crisis.
Now is the opportunity for the new government to honour their pledge and make sure that the savers receive equal treatment

I would just like to thank Dr Carson, and the lobby group, as they are currently and continuing to work extremely hard for all savers in the PMS, I just want to show my support to them by posting this up.
Mr Brown stated that not one british saver has lost one penny, and David cameron stated if he was prime minister, he would work together with the executive to ensure a just and fair resolution of the PMS. I just pray that God will put his hand upon this matter, and upon the hearts of people who seem to be "anti PMS" so that all savers will in return recieve 100p in the pound. I hope this in posting this, that "anti PMS" bloggers will realise how big an effect this has had upon so many people, and I hope and pray that each one of those people will take into consideration the families and individuals that are now in financial hardship and devistation due to this.

To my mind the PMS was set up to encourage people to save. This is a good policy. This is in sharp contrast to what people have been doing in recent years- borrowing money they can't afford to pay back. Many of the PMS savers are elderly and thought that they were saving money for their retirement. If people had saved as the PMS savers had done, and not borrowed, then the world would not be in this financial crisis. It was investors from Northern Ireland and beyond who put the property market out of proportion, knocking the first-time buyer off the ladder. The elderly who have saved for their retirement must be suffering terribly these past two years and need an urgent resolution to the PMS crisis and have access to their SAVINGS. What about the Icelandic Banks? They were bailed out because Labour Councils had invested money with them. These Councils etc hadn't even kept their money in their own country, in order to get very large amounts of Interest.

As a saver with the PMS, I appreciate and fully support the extremely strenuous hard work of the very Rev. Dr Carson and the lobby groups, in trying to resolve the PMS crisis.
Dr Carson’s statement which reiterates the prime ministers pre election pledge, namely ‘to ensure a just and fair resolution of the PMS issue’ clearly sets the only way forward to resolve this disaster.

As a saver with the PMS, We appreciate and fully support the extremely strenuous hard work of the very Rev. Dr Carson and the lobby groups, in trying to resolve the PMS crisis. We have worked hard and saved hard and feel very let down by the last government when the then Prime minister said no saver would loose out.
We are very pleased that the Secretary of State is taking a keen interest in the plight of the PMS savers.

Why don't they just sell a few church buildings and pay the people they lost money for. Why should the government bail them out when they didn't take the right precautions.

Lots of people have lost money because the interest rates were low, but they didn't wander into the PMS (we are a church so you can trust us) society.

The Presbyterian church offered a financial deal, it failed to protect it, it should compensate people.

Dave - The Church may have encouraged it's members to save in the PMS but PCI did not cause the collapse. Legally they are not linked. The previous govt have already conceded that the collapse was indirectly caused by the £50k guarantee scheme implemented by G Brown during the banking crisis which caused a run on the funds. Both the previous Sec of State admitted in the Commons that there was a gap in regulations, a point also admitted by the Fist Minister in the Assembly and also highlighted in the Treasury Select Committee Report following an inquiry into the PMS held at Stormont in January of this year. That report also makes it clear that the savers were innocent - yes savers and that they could not have known.HMG have a clear responsibly to compensate all PMS savers not PCI. In comparison with savers on the mainland they have been discriminated against as Dr Carson quite rightly points out. There was no financial deal offered by the PMS. Interest was based on the BOE base rate. In fact better deals could have been found elsewhere. What I do know is that terrible suffering has been caused particulary to the elderly and vulnerable and it never should have been permitted by the Labour Government given their failures.

To everyone who does not agree that PMS savers should get their money back please understand that PMS members like a lot of other people lost money in investments in other institutions. However money in PMS was savings similar to a Building Society. To look at it any other way is missing the point completely. When we put money into PMS we were told it was 100% safe since the money was savings and therefore all we would get back was what we had deposited in our account. This is the same as any Bank or Building Society, which of course the previous government guaranteed up to £50,000. If anyone does not know the difference between savings and investments please look up the meaning of both in any dictionary.

We are savers, not investors. All other savers have been protected UK wide. Every political party in NI supports the integrity of our request. We are hoping and praying for a just and fair resolution.

I acknowledge that there are so many people working very hard to resolve the plight of the P.M.S. To all of them I owe them a great deal of thanks. I put my savings in the P.M.S and I am now suffering from bad financial hardship. I pray that God will direct the political leaders to a just and fair resolution.
The Government was quite right to make the pledge to see that every saver would NOT loose out, but it is now time to honour that pledge.

I too appreciate the great efforts being made on behalf of PMS savers by local politicians and churchmen. It has been galling to see institutions that were brought almost to ruin by excessive greed and risk-taking being promptly supported by government, while we wait for a fair resolution to a problem not of our making. I look to the present government to honour the very clear promises made in pre-election statements and hope it will be soon.

A lot of people are working very hard in the background to secure a fair resolution to this issue. I would just like to express my thanks to all those including the members of the lobby group and those in positions of power and influence. Please keep the pressure on and hopefully this dreadful situation will soon be resolved.
It is disappointing to blogs that attack and undermine those who simply want their hard earned savings returned and the same degree of respect and generosity shown to other Banks and Building societies in their time of need. God bless you

While I am grateful that David Cameron with Owen Patterson are making promising statements with regard to finding a solution to the PMS savers plight I wonder how much longer do I have to be patient. Any money which I as a nurse managed to save was worked very hard for and now as a pensioner I have been deprived of any small comforts which it could have brought me. On my behalf and others in a similar position please redouble your efforts to find a solution