Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees
Wednesday, 2 September 2015
Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis
Nexus Phase
Mr. Michael Walsh:
I understand the phrasing, etc. but if we come back and actually get down into the issues in more detail you get a very different sort of picture. Because I think we've talked about corporate governance and, really, the two areas of corporate governance were a bigger board and what I would describe as kind of a chief operating officer type situation. You know, the board couldn't increase during a period of time for various different reasons. As I think I may or may not have mentioned, the board would have always welcomed additional people. You know, the board got permission from the regulator to actually approach Mr. Barron, former director general of the Central Bank, to come on the board. Now, if one really believes that you are going to invite the Central Bank or the regulator on to the board in situations where they're not happy or you're not happy, or trying to keep anything from them, that would absolutely not be the case. The society ran with absolute and complete transparency with the Central Bank, with the regulator, and always had a good relationship. I mean, it was very disappointing when Mr. Barron decided he wasn't going to come on to the board but that was his choice. The practical reality is if we were trying to fight against the regulator or the Central Bank, we wouldn't have done it. And just to put the thing in context, when Dr. Power resigned, the regulator got in touch to thank him for all his work and efforts. When I resigned, they did the same. So people are beginning to rewrite the history for whatever purposes.
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