Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Thursday, 16 July 2015

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis

Nexus Phase

Mr. Bertie Ahern:

Well, I think we're ... if we're looking for the future situation, I being ... I tried today to give you how things were. I certainly wouldn't for a second defend how they should be. And your question is that ... is it correct that the regulators were fobbed off to the extent that they were, which is what your question is. And it shouldn't be ... I mean, but to do that, which I think the banks should pay for ... I mean, I think the banks should pay a levy on their profitability for evermore, based on the necessity of the banks being able to employ the experts that they require. I mean, if you take in these years or in the other years we're talking about, the profitability of the individual banks was massive. They were considered to be the most profitable banks in the European Union. And, still, in the regulatory system, which I didn't know - and, okay, people think you should know everything - but that there was only a handful of people regulating them and the auditors didn't have the ... well, then there has to be another system. There has to be a way where that information is given - either the regulator has far more power and has the power to be able to do it. But you can't continue on with the way it used to be.