THREE OF the Celtic Tiger’s chickens came home to roost in spectacular fashion yesterday. The Government, through Anglo Irish Bank, moved to restructure the business empire of Seán Quinn, once Ireland’s richest man. Derek Quinlan, another totemic figure from the boom years, was held to account – partially at least – by the National Asset Management Agency (Nama) which appears to have finally lost patience with the property financier.
And Bank of Ireland, which enjoys the ambiguous status of being Ireland’s “strongest” bank, appears to have finally got a handle on its problems. It will have to raise €5.2 billion in fresh capital from the State and other sources in order to deal once and for all with the consequences of its catastrophic lending policies.
It would be overly optimistic to see these events as a turning point. The road to recovery will be a long hard slog. But it is not unreasonable to view them as a sign of progress. Taken in the round, they amount to a significant step towards facing up to difficult problems and trying to move on.
It is hard not to over-emphasise the iconoclastic nature of stripping Seán Quinn of his empire. Like no one else, he epitomised the good and the bad of the Irish boom. A self-made billionaire, he turned out to have feet of clay, undermined by a reckless disregard for ethics and good governance. His public utterances since the Government seized his insurance business over a year ago are indicative of someone who continues to be oblivious to the fact that he is the architect of his own downfall.
Hubris also lies behind the humiliation visited on Derek Quinlan. His failure to engage with the agency set up by the Government to try to resolve a banking crisis that threatened the financial viability of the State spoke of a disdain verging on contempt for his countrymen.
Both were extremely powerful figures in their own way and the treatment of either of them by the government of the day in the manner shown yesterday would have been unimaginable even two years ago. The change in attitude on the part of the State most likely reflects the extent of the economic crisis that has crippled it. That it should have had to come to this – rescue by the European Union and the International Monetary Fund and diminution of sovereignty – before a government is galvanised into action is a tragedy all of its own.
The tangible positive to be taken from yesterday is that three of the bigger problems that need to be resolved if Ireland is to escape economic failure have been addressed. It will become clearer in time whether this signals a decisive move towards a culture of accountability that has been singularly absent in Irish public life; and that there is a new sense of urgency in the corridors of power and a realisation that little is to be gained from putting off the inevitable.
Prevarication and moral cowardice on the part of government played its part in making the crisis worse. Yesterday will have been a good day if it marks an end to that.