Public Inquiry

The board of the Financial Regulator gathered today to lie through their collective teeth about how they dealt with Sean Fitzpatrick’s dirty little secrets. Outgoing boss Patrick Neary was asked just one question by the useless gaggle of politicians pretending that they have power to actually bring these people to account.

Chairman of the board, Jim Farrell, far from apologising to the Irish people instead expressed regret that Neary was going. Farrell then went on to tell us that changes had been made in the way business was being done, more changes were on the way, a more intense form of regulation is the new game in town apparently. Of course it’s all just waffle to keep the peasants happy until something else distracts their attention.

The useless politicians seemed to be very well informed on how bad things are at the Financial Regulator. Fianna Fail Senator Geraldine Feeney called the board a pack of liars, her colleague FF TD Joe Behan also claimed that somebody was lying over the infamous letter. This letter, by the way, was a denial by Anglo Irish Bank that anything was wrong and its ‘misplacement’ brought to a complete halt the entire investigative powers of the Financial Regulator – apparently.

Other politicians said the regulator was not fit for purpose and there was a general call for resignations. Of course, the unaccountable board told the useless politicians to take a hike, that they had no intention of resigning.

Dermot Quigley former Chairman of the Revenue Commissioners, another state agency that doesn’t believe in bothering bankers too much when it comes to the law, was in charge of the internal ‘investigation’.

Hilariously, he said the Irish regulatory system was admired all over the world for its effectiveness, perhaps he meant by the mafia? Our system is a principles based system which means trusting bankers to do the right thing with a minimum of supervision.

Here’s the brutal reality:

Ireland is a country where serious criminal activity is a common, integral and fully accepted part of the business and political systems.

The administration of the country is deliberately set up to cater for this criminal activity. It’s no accident that Oireachtas committees have no power whatsoever; it’s no accident that tribunals have no powers whatsoever; it’s no accident that agencies like the Financial Regulator operate under Soviet style secrecy laws, it’s no accident that agencies like the ODCE and are massively under-funded and under-staffed.

Politicians, civil servants and legal professionals all sat down at one time or another and made conscious decisions that that was the way things were going to be done.

That’s why we here at Public Inquiry can so easily predict the outcome of scandals. It was obvious from day one that Jim Flavin was never going to be brought to account and he never will be. Similarly, neither Sean Fitzpatrick nor the chancer Bertie Ahern will ever be brought to account.

Nothing will change at the Financial Regulator, a new regulator will be appointed and he will continue to do exactly what Patrick Neary did so faithfully for so many years – serve the interests of the financial institutions, even when they engage in criminal activity, at the expense of the Irish people and the good name of our country.

Copy to:
Financial Regulator
Joint Committee on Economic Regulatory Affairs

We here at Public Inquiry have always treated the so called Financial Regulator with well deserved contempt. It’s an organisation that claims to work in the best interests of the consumer but in reality does no such thing.

The ‘Wild West’ financial sector of Ireland is, by far, the most corrupt in the Western world and yet not a single institution or individual has ever been investigated, never mind actually charged, by the police.

But the financial tsunami sweeping the globe has had the positive effect of stripping away all the bluff and bluster that covers the rot at the core of Irish financial regulation. The international community is beginning to see Ireland for what it really is, a corrupt banana republic pretending to be a modern democratic state.

Sean Fitzpatrick’s dirty little secret is just the latest example of how rotten the whole system really is and Neary’s ‘the dog ate my homework’ excuse for the debacle is a pathetic example of a cowardly civil servant rushing to protect his generous pension and massive golden handshake.

“So far as I am concerned, I was not advised of any such matters in early 2008 and there has been no oral, written or e-mail escalation of these issues to me or to the authority over the period until the matter was raised with me by the Minister on 10th December, 2008,” (Irish Times).

For good measure Neary throws in the by now standard missing letter/file and pressure of work excuses. The committee that ‘investigated’ the scandal made the usual mindless recommendations about reviewing staff requirements and examining loans to directors in more detail.

So, can the people of Ireland finally expect protection from the vermin that infest the financial sector when the new Financial Regulator is appointed? No, because the political system that created the financial regulatory system is itself corrupt and, as has become abundantly clear in recent times, does not act in the interest of the people.

Copy to:
Financial Regulator