Mattie McGrath (Tipperary South, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I, too, wish the Taoiseach a happy birthday. I hope his colleagues will help him to cut the cake. There is, however, little on which I can compliment him. More than two years ago Fine Gael received a mandate, one of the finest ever given to a Government, to deal with the situation in the country, in respect of which it has been an abject failure.

Today we will witness the annual charade that is the Bank of Ireland AGM, a charade in which shareholder power is held up to mockery and the real power of the vultures and the board will once again be asserted over the interests of small shareholders. Also present will be the Bank of Ireland's chief executive, Mr. Richie Boucher, who continues to be paid an obscene salary of €843,000 per annum, despite the sense of disgust and outrage among people across the country.

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