Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Thursday, 20 December 2012

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform

Role and Contribution of Public Interest Directors in Financial Institutions: Discussion

12:55 pm

Photo of Peter MathewsPeter Mathews (Dublin South, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Technical people in March 2010 and March 2011 got it 100% wrong on both occasions. That is my fear. Our best argument for getting capitalisation from the euro system through creditor write-down for all the banks - the dead ones and the survivor ones - is by getting the picture accurate, making the provisions right and substantiating it with what will be arriving down the tracks in the next 24 months as the resolutions of the customer loans with the bank are dealt with and resolved. If the bank can do a good estimate now of what households and businesses need in loan write-down to get back to repayable amounts over their normal expected income levels in the next five to ten years, then it can present its best argument to the euro system that this is it and we are getting it right. It is not a case of drip, drip, drip as it has been for the past three or four years. It is important to say that we are going for this and we are insisting on it because we were trashed by those guys in 2008 and 2009. That is our best argument.

This is my one opportunity to ask the witnesses because I know they have presented their case and their update report, and I am delighted that they understand these things. Therefore, they are our best articulation and validation and their credentials and backgrounds are good. They are persuasive because they line up the facts. It is a case of res ipsa loquitor when they meet Mr. Draghi and others. They should offer their services to the Minister for Finance, Deputy Noonan.

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