Minister Coveney may have helped bankers get off the hook

I wrote recently about how the Irish Examiner completely misinterpreted the comments of Agriculture Minister Simon Coveney regarding the jailing of bankers.

Notwithstanding this misinterpretation the fact remains that Minister Coveney did, according to news reports, utter the words:

I’d love to see bankers in prison.

This utterance could prove very useful to those bankers facing trial for alleged wrongdoing.

In 2000 former Tanaiste and Progressive Democrats leader Mary Harney expressed the opinion that former Taoiseach Charles Haughey should be convicted for his wrong doing as a politician.

Haughey’s lawyers immediately argued that his trial should be postponed until such time as the unfairness created by such adverse pre-trial publicity abated.

Incredibly, the judge in charge of the case agreed with this argument and the case was postponed indefinitely.

The judgement meant, effectively, that Charles Haughey was immune from prosecution until such time as all memory of his career was collectively forgotten by the nation.

As a result of Simon Coveney’s comments about jailing bankers we are likely to see the legal representatives of these people dusting down the Haughey case file in the hope of obtaining a similar judgement.

As the bizarre Haughey judgement was never overturned or even challenged there is every likelihood that they will be successful.