Joe Higgins (Dublin West, Socialist Party) | Oireachtas source

Professor Hardiman stated on page 1 of her written introduction, under the title of privileged access to decision-making, that, "politicians, and key public officials had too little distance from powerful private sector interests, resulting in what is sometimes termed as "cronyism" or even "crony capitalism." In the letter the professor received from the banking committee she was asked to cover the following:

The key features of an effective system of governance, i.e. standards to which relationships in institutions, within a democratic structure should operate, and an understanding of good governance in the context of a healthy public and political life.

Did crony capitalism affect good governance during the bubble-inflation period? Is there a contradiction or not, in her view, between crony capitalism and "good governance in the context of a healthy public and political life"?