Joe Higgins (Dublin West, Socialist Party)
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In the introduction to his report on page 2, Mr. Nyberg stated Anglo in particular was widely admired domestically and abroad and lauded by many investors, consultants, analysts, rating agencies and the media. He said the long upswing in the property market, accompanied by relentless media attention, eroded the risk awareness both of banks and their customers in Ireland. In page 5 of the report, he says that in the view of the commission the main issues that need to be addressed were why so many professionally adept Irish bankers and public servants, as well as politicians, entrepreneurs, experts, media and households simultaneously come to make assessments and decisions that have later proven seriously unsound in a number of ways. Finally, he said on page 5 that for a systemic financial crisis to occur, at least the following factors must be present, and he listed seven. The seventh one is media that are generally supportive of corporate and bank expansion, profit growth and risk taking while being dismissive of warnings of unsustainable developments. In Mr. Nyberg's estimation, what role did the mainstream media play in the course of the Irish property bubble being blown up?