The ECB is coming to town to replace Irish 'Wild West' financial regulatory system

Last Wednesday the Central Bank deputy governor Matthew Elderfield told the Irish Funds Industry Association that change is coming.

Change is coming and it will be significant. As I said my key message to you is engage in the debate and be prepared to adapt.

Adapt indeed – and quickly. Why, because the days of gombeen regulation are rapidly coming to an end.

For decades, Ireland, the Wild West of European finance, allowed and facilitated dodgy financial activity that, ultimately, played a major role in the onset of the current economic catastrophe.

But the good times are coming to an end, the European Central Bank (ECB) is coming to town and, thankfully, the Irish gombeen (non) regulatory regime will be no more.

The ECB will have wide ranging powers including the ability to shut down banks, carry out raids and fine them 10% of their annual turnover for not complying with regulations.

So, not only can Irish citizens breath a sigh of relief that, at last, a truly professional financial regulator will be looking after their interests, they can also look forward to something they have never witnessed before, banks actually being raided and fined substantial sums for robbing their customers and other crimes.

The Irish Central Bank will be (rightly) reduced to the level of ensuring that ECB instructions are properly carried out although, given its record to date, even that task will require major reform and a management cultural change of gigantic proportions.

The only worrying aspect of the new regime is that the Central Bank will retain some oversight of banks and be responsible for consumer protection.

I’m sure, however, that the ECB will quickly realise that even these duties are beyond the capabilities of our Wild West style of ‘regulation’ and take appropriate action.

Copy to:
Central Bank

Bazooka assets and the 'rich' bankrupts

Minister for Justice Alan Shatter has said he would need convincing that those applying for bankruptcy should be allowed to keep high value items like rings and other personal jewellery (Irish Independent).

One individual’s €100 ring that has ceremonial significance might be another individual’s €200,000 or €300,000 diamond bazooka that they regard as having a great deal more ceremony than the €100 ring.

They’re looking for a debt relief notice but they want to hold on to the ring worth €300,000 or €400,000.

Now let’s get real about what we’re talking about here.

In order to get more ‘real’ Minister Shatter could perhaps tell us why the bankrupt Sean Quinn is allowed to retain his palatial, multi-million (bazooka) house while ordinary peasants will have to prove that their assets are under €400 in order to qualify for bankruptcy.

And are we to believe that Sean Fitzpatrick has been denied access to all his ‘bazooka’ assets?

Banker does not approve of help for struggling mortgage holders

The chief executive of Permanent TSB, Jeremy Masding, does not approve of measures currently being taken to help out those struggling with crisis mortgages.

It would be grossly unfair to adopt a more lax attitude to debt forgiveness in respect of customers currently in arrears, for example, and deny that same facility to customers who have worked hard to avoid arrears to date or who may ultimately fall into arrears in the future.

As it would, we presume, be grossly unfair to adopt a more lax attitude to banks that went billions into arrears and are now being bailed out by those very same struggling mortgage holders.

Masding goes on:

Should banks now adopt exception/unusual rules in respect of any of these matters, this would have a material impact on customer repayment behaviour and the calculations underlying the stress tests would have to be completed recalculated.

Clearly this individual is worried that if the same exceptional/unusual rules that were extended to the incompetent greedy bankers were extended to struggling mortgages holders that they too would respond in a similarly arrogant and irresponsible manner.

Copy to:
Mr. Masding

Kerry Katona; twitter; marriage breakdown – who cares?

Marian Finucane interviewed some woman by the name of Kerry Katona this morning.

Apparently someone sent a twitter comment about her failed marriage and RTE thought this event was important enough to analyse on prime time radio.

Katona herself wasn’t bothered about the matter at all.

My marriage broke up sever or eight years ago, I’ve move on.

So, when is Marian Finucane/RTE going to move on?

Religious belief is psychological/evolutionary

Letter in this week’s Irish Catholic

Dear Editor,

In her praise of a finding by researchers that religion is good for people’s health Mary Kenny is unwittingly supporting the argument made by many atheists that religious belief is simply a psychological phenomenon (Irish Catholic, August 30).

Atheists would have no problem with the finding that spiritual beliefs are ‘a coping device to help individuals deal emotionally with stress’.

The atheistic view is strengthened by the fact that the researchers came to the same conclusion after surveying people from a variety of different religions.

This strongly suggests that it is not belief in any particular god or religion that is responsible for improved mental health but rather the psychological capacity bestowed on humans by evolution to appeal to an imagined greater power, particularly in time of need.

This evolutionary capacity to find solace in gods is, of course, not confined to the many current religions of today.

Ancient Egyptians and Greeks, for example, would have enjoyed the very same mental health benefits as a result of their unwavering belief in Isis and Zeus respectively.

This research cannot be accepted without also accepting that spirituality does not originate from any particular god or religion but is simple an evolutionary capacity common to all, believers and non-believers alike, to feel an enhanced sense of well being and a oneness with the universe.

Yours etc.,

Anthony Sheridan
Cobh

Time to lock up the political and business suits

Economics Editor for the Irish Times, Dan O’Brien, sounded slightly right wing as he debated crime in Irish society with Fr Peter Mc Verry on Today with Pat Kenny (Tuesday).

According to O’Brien recession, poverty and inequality have little effect on crimes rates (See O’Brien’s Irish Times article on the issue here).

The availability of drink and drugs coupled with a reluctance to throw people in jail are, apparently, the principal causes of increased crime rates.

O’Brien was very confident discussing crimes committed, in the main, by the lower classes but when questioned about white-collar crime he became decidedly less gung ho.

Keep in mind that the following views are expressed in a country destroyed after a corrupt political system allowed (and still allows) white-collar criminals to break the law with impunity.

O’Brien: If society decides something is a crime then, you know, it should be investigated and those who break the law should be punished as society decides.

So, you know, whatever we decide and clearly, you know, there’s a problem with white-collar crime and there has been an enormous….interrupted.

Pat Kenny: But even white-collar wrong doing which has not yet being categorised properly as a crime…interrupted.

Peter Mc Verry: Society doesn’t decide what’s a crime; people in designer suits decide what’s a crime.

O’Brien: Well, I certainly think that we need, from a political perspective, to say that certain types of behaviour in financial institutions…

we need to look at making certain actions criminal as a means of deterring people because the consequences are so enormous that there is a case to be made for criminalising certain kinds of reckless behaviour particularly in financial institutions.

So, after the Titanic has sunk O’Brien wants the State to look at making certain actions criminal and believes there’s a case for criminalising certain kinds of reckless behaviour.

It would be interesting to hear what kind of (white-collar) reckless behaviour he believes should remain outside the law.

O’Brien believes that jail should be used to take criminals out of circulation and to act as a deterrent to protect society but, apparently, only wants this to apply to the lower classes.

Fr. Mc Verry is right on the button when he says that it’s people in designer suits that decide what’s a crime.

Ireland and its citizens will continue to suffer severe consequences until those suits, both political and business, are locked up.

Death by embarrassment

There was an interesting documentary on Channel 4 last night called The Miracle Survivor.

It told the story of a 9/11 man, Pasquale Buzzelli, who was on the 22nd floor of the North Tower when it came crashing down on top of him.

Experts believe that he was saved through being cosseted and lifted at crucial moments by the hurricane force winds generated by the falling building.

Fair enough but what I found astonishing about the documentary was the lead up to the moment when Buzzelli found himself facing almost certain death.

He and his colleagues had just arrived for work on the 64th floor when the first plane hit their tower above their location.

Buzzelli and his colleagues decided not to immediately evacuate because as employees of the owners of the building they thought it right that everybody else should be allowed to flee first.

Instead Buzzelli phoned his wife, who was seven months pregnant with their first child, and asked her to switch on the television and tell him what was happening.

Obviously she was deeply shocked and screamed at him – What are you still doing there?

Buzzelli assured her that he was ok and that all was calm on his floor.

So he and the lads hung around for a while until the second plane hit the South Tower.

Still they didn’t evacuate even though most people in the North Tower were safely out of the building.

Again, Buzzelli rang his wife to reassure her that he was ok and returned to hanging out with the lads while the building burned.

Eventually, he took one of his colleagues aside and asked:

What do you think we should do?

Finally, common sense made an appearance.

I want to get the fuck out of here.

Sadly, only Buzzelli made it, all his colleagues paid the ultimate price for their indecision.

I don’t believe these men put themselves in mortal danger because they thought they might clog up the emergency stairs and thus prevent other getting out.

I think it was a psychological mix of embarrassment and male machismo that overrode their critical flight or fight mechanism.

I saw this phenomenon in a documentary some years ago when a group of people, who thought they were in a room waiting for interview, were actually part of a scientific test to observe their reaction to potential danger.

Smoke, in ever increasing volumes, was pumped under the door of the waiting room. Nobody moved, they all continued looking at the ceiling, picking their noses or reading ten-year old magazines.

The fire alarm sounded and still nobody moved; they were all waiting for somebody else to make the first move.

In effect, they were all prepared to put themselves in potentially mortal danger rather than risk embarrassment.

Howlin: Put me in power but don't believe my promises

Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform Brendan Howlin speaking to Pat Kenny this morning.

There are those who think you can shake some magic wand and all the debts and all the problems will go away.

And there are those who believe that when they changed government last year that somehow you changed the economic circumstances.

And those who believe all the above do so because that’s what Howlin and his fellow gombeens told them during the last election campaign.

The innocent until proved guilty principle does not apply under all laws in Ireland

The recent horrific murder of Saad al-Hilli and members of his family in France last week was discussed on the Marian Finucane Show this morning (Sunday).

The following exchange occurred when the discussion turned to the various rumours surrounding Saad al-Hilli’s background and how these rumours might affect the case

Myles Dungan: If Saad al-Hilli is completely innocent it’s always going to be very, difficult for him because people will always say there’s no smoke without fire.

Marian Finucane: Yes, it’s kind of guilty before trial isn’t it. I don’t think we would do that here, would we?

Myles Dungan: I don’t think we would, I hope we wouldn’t anyway.

Cleary, Finucane and Dungan are completely unaware of Section 99 of the Charities Act 2009 concerning the sale of Mass cards which specifically allows for the presumption of guilt before trial

This draconian law, which provides water tight protection for the Catholic Church’s extremely lucrative Mass card trade, carries a ten-year sentence and/or a €300,000 fine for anyone who sells a Mass card without the permission of a Catholic bishop.

Here’s the relevant section:

(2) In proceedings for an offence under this section it shall be presumed, until the contrary is proved on the balance of probabilities, that the sale of the Mass card to which the alleged offence relates was not done pursuant to an arrangement with a recognised person.

Copy to:
Marian Finucane
Myles Dungan

The ultimate statement

Pregnant mum beheads man she said raped her

A pregnant rape victim shot her attacker then cut off his head and left it in a village square.

Nevin Yildirim (26) has been charged with the murder of Nurettin Gider, who she says raped her repeatedly at gunpoint at her home in Yalvac, southwest Turkey.

The mother of two is five months pregnant and claims the rapist is the baby’s father.

It is believed she shot Gider 10 times, including several times in the groin.

She is then said to have cut off his head before carrying it, dripping blood, to the village square and dumping it in front of shocked onlookers.

She is reported to have said:

Don’t play with my honour. Here’s the head of the man who played with my honour.

James Hider in Istanbul
Irish Independent