Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)

The banks are still calling the shots. The old guard is still in place. If one looks at the boards of directors of the banks, for example, apart from the public interest directors, the directors who are there now were there at the time the collapse happened and the guarantee had to be introduced. In Allied Irish Banks, ten of the ten who are there now were there then. In Bank of Ireland the figure is 11 of 13. We have seen little or no change at the top boards of the banks and they are still calling the shots.

The test as to whether they are calling the shots is not on the salary. The test is whether the Taoiseach will allow this bank to appoint an executive chairman. All we know about corporate governance is that the same person should not be chairman and chief executive. The Grant Thornton report referred specifically to this point about the banks when it reported earlier this year. Allied Irish Banks propose to do precisely that and appoint an executive chairman. Is the Taoiseach going to permit that? That is the test.

Will the Taoiseach permit these appointments to be made? Who is calling the shots here? Is it the old guard which was there when the problem started and contributed to it? Or will the Taoiseach and the Minister for Finance, on behalf of the taxpayer, who is now funding and guaranteeing this operation and taking the bad debts from the bank, call the shots? This is the test.

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