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I RARELY meet bank directors these days. David Duffy, the 10- grand-a-week boss at AIB refuses to return my calls. I spot distant Bank of Ireland directors, like Richie Boucher, high on the platform at their AGMs.
I used to bump into Anglo chairman Alan Dukes in Leinster House – but he has not been so visible since he lost his sinecure.
Perhaps it is time for us all to chill out. Calm down a bit.
The euphoria in financial and political circles last week was overwhelming. The hype was mighty. First there were the rumours. Then the vacuum. Then the announcement of a late sitting of the Dáil for legislation.
WHICH of our noble financial hierarchy recently said: “Our position therefore is that there is no need for further recapitalisation”?
Financial regulator Paddy Neary? Fallen AIB chief Eugene Sheehy? Sean FitzPatrick?
Yes, indeed. They all asserted such nonsense, but back in 2008.
Patrick Neary’s famous quote was a paraphrase of today’s Government line: “I believe,” declared the unloved regulator, “the Irish banks are adequately, more than adequately, capitalised. . .”
Paddy Neary is alive and well in the corridors of power. So who echoed the same nonsense more recently?
As our lame leaders have thrown in the towel, let the people decide how much plutocrats should earn in future, writes Shane Ross
RICHARD Boyd Barrett TD had just finished his questions to Bank of Ireland boss, Richie Boucher. Exasperated, the socialist TD turned to me: “Now perhaps you know why we want to nationalise the banks.”
The Great Survivor of the banking implosion appeared before the Dail Finance Committee last Thursday. Even those of us who are hardened observers of bankers stonewalling questions were gobsmacked by the arrogance of the bruiser from Zambia.
THE scene: AIB HQ Bank Centre, Ballsbridge. In the boardroom, taking a telephone call, is former Labour Party leader and AIB ‘Public Interest’ director Dick Spring. On the line is Labour Party leader Eamon Gilmore.
Eamon: “Morning, Dick.”
Dick: “Hi there, Eamon. I was about to ring you. What a terrible week you had with that wretch Roisin. Reminds me of the days when the old Left and the unions were giving me grief.
“I wanted to warn you not to back Dr Reilly. I never trusted a man with a beard, even Ruairi. David Begg and Jack O’Connor have the country ruined. The bearded brethren made my life hell when I was leader. And now you turn up backing a Fine Gael man with a red beard. I thought you had more sense.”
Eamon: “That is not why I rang, Dick. I wondered . . .”
IS the mattress your only man? Small investors ask the same question daily, as they contemplate the unthinkable. Where are their savings safe?
Should they open a bank account in Germany? Is Switzerland still the business? How would they go about buying Finnish bonds?
Nobody wants to speculate any more. If ordinary citizens are lucky enough to have savings or a pension, the height of their ambitions is to hold on to them. If the vultures do not steal their savings, the Government will impose a levy.
Holding on to your money– not increasing it — is today’s challenge. There are too many sharks and scoundrels lurking around planning an ambush.
To Joe Walsh
‘Public interest’ director
Bank of Ireland,
Mespil Road,
Dublin 4
July 22, 2012
DEAR Joe, Sorry we have not met since you left the Dail back in 2007 but I have followed your career closely. I regret we never had the chance to serve the nation together in the lower chamber. Nevertheless I enjoyed our short time shared as senators before you moved on to the dizzy heights of being a successful Fianna Fail Minister for Agriculture.
Since you left the Dail, you have proved there is life after politics.
THE Great White Hope from Planet Finance arrived before the Public Accounts Committee on Thursday morning.
Flanked by half a dozen mandarins, John Moran, successor to the unlamented Kevin Cardiff at the top of Planet Finance tells a good story about the new-look department.
John is the focus of great interest. Partly because he spent three years running a juice bar in the French Languedoc. Partly because he is an ex-banker. And partly because he has a sense of humour — a quality that seemed totally alien to his predecessor. The dour Kevin Cardiff is now safely embedded in Europe, far away from the carnage he helped to create in Dublin.
WHEN in trouble, raid the peoples’ pension fund.
It worked wonders. When money was needed to rescue the banks there was only one pot of gold left. Back in 2009 the Fianna Fail lads pillaged the peoples’ pension fund. New laws were rushed through the Dail to allow them to steal billions to prop up the banks. By the time they had finished pumping over €20bn into AIB and Bank of Ireland there was little left for pensions.
But, bravo, the banks were safe. The minister for finance himself had directed that the National Pensions Reserve Fund (NPRF) should be converted into a bankers’ slush fund.
