Dangerous talk in a dream world

David McWilliams took Minister for Finance Brian Lenihan to task on Saturday View.

“Three years ago when I said this thing can’t last, house prices will fall, I was told ‘that’s dangerous talk. Don’t ever suggest that, it’s unpatriotic.’ The minute we muzzle economic analysis we go back into the dream world that left us in this mess. And you know minister, that anybody that punctured the dream, anybody who said this was fundamentally detrimental to the economy was told, you’re dangerous. I’m saying again, look at the banking system that’s where the weakness is.”

The Minister replied;

“I can assure your listeners that the Regulator has maintained a very detailed supervision of Irish banks and that the Irish banks are not in anything like the difficulties that their counterparts in the US are.”

Here’s the reality. The Irish banking system is the least regulated in the Western world. The New York Times described the Irish system as the “Wild West of European finance”. Irish banks have robbed countless millions from the State and their customers over the years and not a single bank or official has ever been investigated by the police.

The so called Regulator has never punished the banks in any form whatsoever and usually allows them to investigate themselves. Irish banks are among the most profitable and greedy in the World mainly because they can pretty much do as they please without any fear of consequences.

This Minister knows nothing about the real situation because his information comes from the Central Bank and the so called Financial Regulator who take their orders from the banks. Taxpayers should hold on tightly to their wallets, the banks will soon be looking to do some more pick pocketing.