Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Does the Central Bank intend to carry out a culture review of itself? Professor Lane's last point was telling in that it was a question of, "Will this scare away bankers?", as opposed to, "They stole €500 million from their customers and they have not returned it four years later". Reckless lending is still not illegal in Ireland, although it is illegal in Britain. Britain brought in these rules three years ago whereas we are still just talking about bringing in the rules. I believe the Central Bank needs to take the lead in this regard.

The banking crash was ten years ago, when the Central Bank failed to act appropriately. On the issue of accountability, I am not clear that if there was another crash, there would be a new inquiry which would give people the chance to blame the institution again. Can we hold a Central Bank employee to account for turning a blind eye to the fact that the concentration of assets in certain sectors was way beyond what was required? That is what we are looking at in terms of the FCA. It is not just about knowing that certain people are in charge of certain areas, but that if that person fails, he or she can be held to account individually, or he or she should hold himself or herself to account. I am not talking about systems failure, but the failure of individuals.