Kieran O'Donnell (Limerick City, Fine Gael)
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I welcome Professor Hardiman. I will focus on the area on which she was asked to contribute - the contribution of the system of governance pertaining to the circumstances that gave rise to the banking crisis in Ireland - as well as the second and third points she mentioned - privileged access to decision makers and groupthink. She said politicians and key public officials had too little distance from powerful private sector interests, resulting in what is sometimes termed "cronyism" or "crony capitalism". She also spoke about groupthink. How big a factor were the two features of crony capitalism and groupthink in contributing to the banking crisis that unfolded in 2008?