Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael)
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In the immediate aftermath of the financial crisis from 2008 and 2009 and 2010, the then Government looked to tackle the culture that existed in the banks then. That approach was maintained by successive Governments. That was done by changes that happened at senior leadership levels in the banks. It was done by changes we made in remuneration. It was done by changes in the regulatory environment. For example, the amount of resourcing that is available to the Central Bank has now doubled versus where we were in 2009 precisely because of our efforts to tackle cultural change. My view is what we were doing then is talking about a set of cultures that led our banks to lend in a way that was not sustainable. Efforts were made to tackle and change that. What I am talking about is another dimension of that which is to balance the rights of the consumer and the profitability of a bank. That is one of the issues I expect the Central Bank to address when it comes back to me later in the year. I do not accept the antidote to the difficulties we are talking about is democratically owned banks. Private sector banks that are able to fund themselves and able to lend out money, which is not taxpayer money, for lending and investment is an essential element of a mixed economy, which we need.