Ann Phelan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Acting Chairman for the opportunity to speak on this extremely important issue. Tomorrow morning will see the annual general court of Bank of Ireland take place, with the nation represented by the Minister for Finance, Deputy Michael Noonan. The nation holds 15% of the bank's shares and, as such, is one of the biggest shareholders in the bank. Many items will come up at this AGM, one of the most important of which will be the remuneration of its directors.

It emerged recently that the chief executive of Bank of Ireland, Mr. Richie Boucher, was in receipt of more than €840,000 per annum, including salary and pension contributions, despite the cap on such salaries of €500,000. This would seem to be blatant disregard for the current economic situation in the country and further highlights the high-handed attitude to the Irish people who are struggling to make ends meet. How can it be argued that Mr. Boucher should receive such remuneration when the ordinary men and women on the street cannot get an overdraft, an extension to a loan or a mortgage? The bank's doors are closed to the people who need it most but it seems that is not so for its directors. Our small and medium enterprises are starved of cash and our farmers are resorting to Teagasc and the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine to bail them out with funding for fodder for starving animals, only because the banks will not play ball. I ask the Minister, Deputy Noonan, if he is going to play ball with Bank of Ireland.

The feeling on the street is that the big companies and the banks, as well as the big men and women, are still coining it while the ordinary man and woman are struggling very hard against all that this economic situation is throwing at them. The word on the street is that little or nothing has changed. It is time we put things right and the Minister has an opportunity to do that tomorrow morning. I urge him to strike a blow for the people of Ireland, the people whom we represent, and say "No" to huge salaries for bankers. I urge him to restore to the Irish people some faith that we will do right by them.

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