Michael D'Arcy (Fine Gael)
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One of Mr. Nyberg's key conclusions was the importance of group thinking. He mentioned it on a number of occasions throughout the report. At one stage he said that a national speculative mania prevailed in Ireland during the boom. Is that not apportioning blame to the people of Ireland? A lot of people did not party and a lot of people did not participate in the boom. The State supported the banking sector to the tune of €64 billion but, equally, there were citizens who lost €50 billion worth of share value. That was a lot of people's pension funds and their pot for a rainy day. I feel somewhat aggrieved by that statement that the perception in the report was that everyone partied.