What Minister Coveney was really saying

An editorial in the Irish Examiner takes Agriculture Minister Simon Coveney to task for talking the talk on rogue bankers and politicians but not walking the walk when it comes to action.

Curiously, the editor has completely misread the meaning of Minister Coveney’s comments.

Coveney is not actually calling for bankers to be jailed.

Rather he’s dismissing all those who are calling for bankers to be made accountable.

Some quotes from the minister makes the point

Ireland needed to find solutions to get “out of the painful mess” rather than focusing on who was at fault.

All of that stuff would be satisfying, I’d love to see bankers in prison. I’d love to see senior politicians from previous governments losing pensions, I’d love to see people in the dock.

That will take its course through police investigations, through Oireachtas Committees on banking and so on.

But people wanted higher incomes or solutions, he said, rather than him “bitching politically” about previous governments.

Translation:

Yes, I’d love to see bankers in jail but – it’s not going to happen.

Yes, I think politicians from previous governments should lose their pensions but – it’s not going to happen.

Trying to find out who is to blame for the catastrophe is just a waste of time.

We must never look back, it could be embarrassing.

Better to park all investigations with the police and Oireachtas committees where they will never see the light of day.