Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Thursday, 12 March 2015

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis

Context Phase

Mr. Frank McDonald:

I think it was pretty widespread. I think that banks and developers were working hand in glove in seeking out sites for development. A lot of the stuff one hears is apocryphal, of meetings between fellows playing golf and all the rest of it, saying: "Oh God, I saw that site in such and such a place. It's up for sale. Maybe you should go and by it." They would say that to one of their developer clients and that was quite common. Frequently, it would be the developers who would spot the potential of a site, but frequently, because the banks became so involved in property development and lending funds for that, they had a brace of clients. Each bank had a series of major developer clients. Without naming any particular bank, I think it is very well known that this was the case.