Lenihan plays down role of McWilliams in bank crisis

MINISTER FOR Finance Brian Lenihan has dismissed claims by economist David McWilliams about his role in shaping Government policy on the banking crisis which were made in newspaper articles over the weekend.

Mr McWilliams did not have a “unique patent” on the bank-guarantee decision, Mr Lenihan said yesterday, contradicting reports in the economist’s new book.

Mr Lenihan said he was not going to “get into arguments about versions” of a late-night meeting in McWilliams’ house in September last year at which, the economist said in his book, he outlined details of the bank-guarantee scheme to the Minister.

The Minister said “there were many other people sharing ideas at that particular time, not just David. There were others contacting me, and suggesting we should go in this direction and that direction. I don’t think he has a unique patent on the Government decision to give the guarantee but he was arguing for that course of action.”

According to high-level sources,Department of Finance officials were working on a bank-guarantee scheme two months before the meeting, and the Minister had consulted widely, including with numerous economists.

McWilliams denied the reports he had sought and was refused the role as the Minister’s special adviser. However, the sources said it was raised at a number of meetings, although not the one in the economist’s house.

In the book the economist also claimed the Minister had told him that his officials “just don’t get it”.

Appearing on the RTÉ radio programme Miriam Meetswith his aunt, former Fianna Fáil minister Mary O'Rourke, Mr Lenihan said: "I was with my civil servants yesterday. I was working yesterday afternoon and we were all laughing about David McWilliams and the article and the civil servants took it in very good part.

“They’ve been reading David McWilliams for a long time. He did advocate that we leave the euro and he also advocated we should let the banks collapse. So I don’t think that they’d be very surprised at anything that David McWilliams would propose.”

Asked if he was saying his version was completely different from McWilliams’ version, he said: “I’m not going to get into arguments about versions. He’s a very forceful personality, very talented individual. He contacted me through my brother Conor, in fact, and said he wanted to meet me, and I happened to be meeting another friend in that part of the city that evening who lived further out the road in the Shankill direction.

“So I arranged to meet him and went on to my subsequent appointment, and we had a discussion about the economy but I don’t want to get into details and arguments. He’s a very forceful personality. He’s very talented. He’s a lot of ideas and he likes giving you his ideas and that’s what he did.”

The book, Follow the Money, also claims the Minister pulled garlic out of his pocket, started to peel it and said garlic "gave him strength and kept him healthy and alert". Minister of State Pat Carey confirmed yesterday on the RTÉ Marian Finucaneradio programme that Mr Lenihan "constantly chews garlic" and later said he ate garlic "from time to time".