Madam, – Amid the rush to blame people for the banking crisis, we should perhaps broaden our options a little. The main crux of the reports that details the government culpability in relation to this issue mentions public service wages and the lack of non housing related taxes. Why did these happen? Because the public service unions pushed for wage increases and the people of Ireland would not countenance tax increases. A huge proportion of the working people in Ireland are not in the tax net – that is crazy and unsustainable.
Yes, the government failed us all by giving the people what they wanted. The opposition failed us also by promising to give away even more. The people got what they asked for: to complain now is a bit childish. – Yours, etc,
Madam, – What does “taking full responsibility for the decisions I took” mean, when there are no consequences? Has Brian Cowen discovered a means of closing our prisons post-John Lonergan? Surely, every defendant would stand up in our courts today and “take responsibility” for their crimes, before heading off home, scot-free.
With one bound, our “hero” was free! – Yours, etc,
Madam, – With the benefit of hindsight, we now know that Brian Cowen has no foresight, – Yours, etc,
Madam, – The rush for bonuses and profits which lured bank boards and executives to set aside normal prudence seems to have been at the heart of our country’s crisis. This does not seem to have had sufficient emphasis in the two reports – in fact, it is not mentioned in Honohan and noted only in a short paragraph in Regling-Watson.
But if bonuses are driven by short-term vision, paper profits and dressing up for the stock exchange, then this disaster is going to recur. All the scrutiny of enhanced regulation will be no match for heedless greed. This has been identified as a future risk in other jurisdictions and regulation attempted, but not satisfactorily. We need a robust system for rewarding enterprise in Ireland.
Bonuses, if any, should be measured, based on long-term positive economic and social benefits and should not be excessive. Some took huge risks with other people’s money with massive gains to themselves and apparently no pain if the bets failed. Thinking, intelligent technocrats became rabid gamblers. – Yours, etc,
Madam, – The reports on the banking crisis appear to reject the hypothesis that cronyism played a role in poor policy choices. It notes however that “senior Anglo figures were well-liked in political circles” and the same, of course, could be said of many developers.
The pro-cyclical fiscal policies of the government, which centred on property-based tax breaks, are the result of either cronyism or lunacy.
Moreover, the “light touch” approach to the regulation of institutions regarded as too big to fail suggests that there are some people in Irish society who are too big to fail. – Yours, etc,
A chara, – On March 31st in Dáil Éireann and again recently the Taoiseach has taken “full responsibility for all my decisions as Minister for Finance”. No consequence of this responsibility taking has yet emerged. By contrast, on May 4th Gordon Brown promised to take “full responsibility” if the British Labour Party lost the May 6th election; Labour lost and Brown resigned.
Looking at Mr Cowen, at many senior bank officials and directors, senior civil servants and regulatory body chief executives, one might be forgiven for thinking that “taking responsibility” in Ireland means screwing up, getting caught, pronouncing mea culpa and keeping your head down until the shower passes.
Perhaps “responsibility” is an Irish euphemism for “guilt”. But even the great guilt-makers in the Catholic hierarchy have been known to eventually understand “responsibility”.
When Bishop John Magee belatedly resigned his Cloyne stewardship in March this year he did so with the words, “I take full responsibility”. I would put it to Mr Cowen and his ilk that “taking responsibility” for an unnecessary national debt of scores of billions and consequent cuts in pay, welfare and services might manifest itself in a resignation? – Is mise,