Just wondering is he still in the country.
I see The Daily Mail have an aeriel photograph and blueprint of his house in Howth on their front page.
Howth
Article in the Indo about fact that clearing out the pondlife from the management and boards of the banks will cost milliions in contractual bonuses, compo etc. So why not just amend the finance bill and tax any such future payments at 99.9999%? Or am I missing something??
If only. The main problem here is that politicians (especially the main parties), bankers, top ranked civil servants are all mates and all work on the nudge and the wink. Until that is broken you will never ever see a banker being led away in handcuffs or a politician being fucked out of the Dail and their party in embarrassment and even they are, then a few months later when the hubbub calms down they get appointed to a nice cushy number on some board where they can claim expenses and what not. This old boys network needs to be broken before we are ever going to get any worth while change in this country.
Just look at the government, all they simply have to do is draw up legislation with stricter rules on banking similar say to the swiss model but they haven’t done that and this crisis has been going on since 2008. This would simply send out a message to the international market that yes we were the wild west of banking, we made mistakes but we have learned from them and we are introducing this tough new banking legislation to ensure that this sort of carry on never happens again. But since this is Ireland that hasn’t happened. We are never ever going to change unfortunately.
We’re always beating ourselves up over the likes of this but is Ireland really very different? I presume every country has an ‘old boys network’ way of doing things. It’s just natural human nature that those in powerful positions meet each other a lot and as a result are friendly and look out for each other. I can’t see even the so called paradise societies of Scandanavia being immune to it in fairness and I guarantee ya there’s a fella on a curling discussion board in Sweden giving out about the same thing as we type.
I would image in Ireland that it is a lot worse given the size of the country and limited social scene. People of influence and power are more likely to cross each others paths regularly here than they would in other countries.
Good point. Maybe we should concentrate our efforts on increasing the population and landmass of the country
not particularly, the labor party in NSW are by all accounts as bad as FF and run by the unions. They got rid of Rudd as he was standing up to the mining companies. The Aussie PM, horrible taffie ginger munter Gillard bends over for the corporates similar to ahern and appointed her ex partner to a government ministry if Im not mistaken. Fuck all ask questions when things are going well, its the economy stupid and all that. Power corrupts unfortunately, talents doesnt always prosper and people turn a blind eye. These arent unique Irish traits. The link between big business and politics in the US are obvious, the recent UK general election was notable yet again for the influence particular media organisations had on the end result etc etc
The Irish power sect are more brazen though, Ahern in particular just sums it up. The FF tent at the Galway races was possibly a bit unique too, I dont think many other democracies would be as brazen to display corruption as open as that.To change the old boys network Im not sure, business, banks, media and politics will always work hand in hand as they depend on each other for survival. All that will happen is that there will be a new boys network. Hopefully a few sacrifical lambs will emerge but the majority will get away scot free. The price of democracy sadly.
In case anyone questioned the truth of my McCarthy spot.
Anglo Irish Bank, which was nationalised by the State, is removing its name from all its offices throughout Ireland today.
A new name will be announced once the acquisition of INBS is completed shortly.
The bank said the move was ‘another step in fundamentally changing the bank as it seeks to wind down its loan portfolios over time’.
[b]Economist Colm McCarthy passed nearby shortly after publishing his advice on the sale of State assets to boost Government funds.
‘Sure they could sell the signs - they’d be worth a fortune,’ he is reported to have said.[/b]
The dismantling in Dublin, Belfast, Cork, Galway, Limerick and Waterford means Anglo no longer has any visible presence on Ireland’s streets.
A spokeswoman for the bank said several requests have been made to put the signage up for auction for charity.
‘The signs are going to be stored in a vault in the bank. There are no firm plans on what to do with them,’ she said.
Mike Aynsley, Anglo’s group chief executive, was handed the Anglo logo as he stood at the front door of the former HQ and watched the dismantling.
‘This organisation is radically different today from the Bank I joined in September 2009. We have undertaken a root and branch overhaul which positions the Bank to wind down our portfolio of loans with the highest levels of efficiency,’ said Mr Aynsley.
'The Board and management team have overseen the Bank’s transformation from a high octane property lender to a dedicated asset recovery Bank working in the public interest.
'The organisation now has a fundamentally different mandate, structure and culture as it focuses exclusively on getting the maximum return for the Irish taxpayer.
‘Removing the old Anglo signage is a step towards reflecting this new reality which will be further developed following the acquisition of INBS.’
So far the bank has cost the taxpayer €29.3bn in recapitalisation costs.
The size of its future loan losses yet to filter through and which may lead to further injections of money is still the subject of conjecture. It still has around €35bn of loans on its books.
Fine Gael explicitly said they’d be closing down Anglo before year’s end. Now they’re just renaming it. Lying cunts. 
Time to start a Fine Gael Row Backs threads
Definitely. There are already a slew of them.
Central Bank may leave iconic Dame Street HQ
THE CENTRAL Bank is considering moving from its iconic headquarters in Dame Street, Dublin, to a single large building in the Docklands area that would accommodate 1,500 staff.
An internal memo from chief operations officer Gerry Quinn, seen by The Irish Times , said: “We are currently looking at our accommodation options [and] we have committed to putting some firm proposals on the table in the coming month or so”.
One option looked at by the Central Bank would involve acquiring the shell of a large office complex on North Wall Quay, once the putative future headquarters of Anglo Irish Bank – abandoned after the collapse of Liam Carroll’s Zoe group.
Although this scheme is not specifically mentioned in the memo, one staff member refers to some “very fine” unfinished buildings near Spencer Dock. “Guidelines do not permit being specific, but one of the above in particular might be extremely suitable,” he says.
This was a clear reference to the aborted Anglo Irish project, whose hulk symbolised the property crash. Last week, it was reported US bank BNY Mellon was looking at leasing the complex, which would have nearly 21,400 sq m of office space.
In his memo to staff on a confidential in-house blog, Mr Quinn said the “current set-up of multiple locations is not a long-term solution”, with staff based in Dame Street, Spencer Dock and Harcourt Road.
“There are a number of potential alternatives for single buildngs in the business parks that exist in various locations outside the city centre. However, this clearly brings issues in terms of a suitable location from a business and staff perspective,” he wrote. “Closer to the city centre, there are more limited alternatives for a single building in the broad Docklands/Dublin 4 areas. What is clear is that there is no viable single building in the immediate vicinity of Dame Street.
“This brings us to the second option. In this case we would hold on to the tower block in Dame Street and supplement that with one other building, again broadly in the same districts as above. This would also require a significant refurbishment of the tower block.”
Mr Quinn told staff that “there are significant financial implications that need to be taken into account, including lease-versus-buy”. He also asked how relevant they thought the tower block was as “a ‘symbol’ of the Central Bank”.
Most staff wanted it retained as part of a “twin building” solution, with departmental majorities of 60 to 91 per cent. “It is an iconic piece of architecture that is synonymous with the Central Bank”, one wrote.
But there was strong support for “a building big enough to house us all under one roof, fitted out to a Spencer Dock standard … close to all main transport links – bus, rail, Luas, port tunnel”, another blogger wrote.
A bank spokesman said: “The Central Bank currently accommodates its staff across a number of buildings in Dublin. Due to an expansion in functions and in staff numbers, the bank is involved in examining its long-term strategic accommodation needs and its options in that regard. There are no specific proposals or decisions made at this time.”
- what do these lads do these days besides minting the odd commemorative coin? :lol: The irony of them moving into Anglo’s HQ is obviously lost on them.
the top lad at AIB reckons it will be impossible to find someone to take over as chairman of the bank unless they can breach the €500,000 salary cap.
He said any candidate would need to be getting a million.
Balderdash. I’ll take it over right here and now for €300,000.
Knife a’goes in, a’guts come out, that’s what Osaka Seafood Concern is all about
I got a copy of the Bank of Ireland annual report for 2010 in the post yesterday. 370 pages!! The stamps are worth more than the shares
How much is a stamp?! Are the BOI shares at .21 now? :o