Greens will help change banking, says Ryan

GREEN PARTY:THE GREEN Party "will ensure there is change in the strangely conservative and reckless banking system we have", according to Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources Eamon Ryan.

He said the system was “conservative in that it was obsessed with property as the only area in which it saw enterprise as being possible, and reckless in the way it let that property lending go. We will change that.”

It was a difficult time to be in Government, “but it is the right time for the Green Party to put its vision into action for it is a time of real change”.

During the debate on Nama legislation to stabilise the banking system, he said, “we are already starting to introduce change in the planning system, which no one else was able to do for 30 years, to end the blatant wrong whereby speculative profit could be earned from a public good, which was the rezoning that took place in that time”.

The Greens “have been in Government for the last year when, on a series of occasions, action needed to be taken and decisions made. That was not easy but we have made our contribution and will continue to do so for the national good.”

Referring to the nationalisation of Anglo Irish Bank and corporate governance, he said: “We have to respect the separation between the political and criminal justice systems.”

Mr Ryan added: “It was not easy to make the decision to put money into AIB and Bank of Ireland, but I believe it may be a decision that we can ultimately profit from.”

In February, he believed they would have to nationalise the banks.

“However, I have examined the issue over the past six months and while nothing is certain, no one should make categoric statements in the House about what is right or wrong.”

He added that “all the evidence suggests that if we nationalise the banks, it may be difficult for the country to secure money”.

Mr Ryan also said there was a risk that “if we try to run the entire banking system, we will not do a good job”.