Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees
Thursday, 16 July 2015
Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis
Nexus Phase
Mr. Eugene McCague:
I'm sure it would have been legally possible. I mean, the issue with nationalising institutions which are solvent ... I mean, it happens in countries like Venezuela and various other places but if you are in a constitutional democracy with a written constitution and with property rights and by nationalising, you're taking people's property rights away, you would face extraordinarily significant legal challenges but, in legal principle, you could introduce legislation to nationalise banks.
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