Róisín Shortall (Dublin North West, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

It was the Minister who decided the time is right to remove the €500,000 cap on bankers' pay and restore their bumper bonuses. We are told he needs to do this so we can attract good people and the top talent to run our banks. It seems no self-respecting high-flying banker would want to work for a less than €500,000, as if they could not survive on a salary that is more than double that of the Taoiseach. People are feeling a sense of déjà vu. We have all been here before. We were told just before the financial crash that bankers' pay was so enormous because they were employing the very best. It is worth recalling some of those salaries now. In 2006 the former CEO of Bank of Ireland, Brian Goggin, took home a salary just shy of €4 million. The bank subsequently required a €5 billion bailout from the State. Over in AIB just before the crash its CEO, Eugene Sheehy, was on a more modest €2.5 million per year. At the time AIB said its policy when it came to the pay of its senior executives was to "reinforce a high-performance and ethical culture". Is it any wonder that people are sickened by what the Minister is now doing? We know where that high performance and ethical culture ended up. The State, every man, woman and child in the country, spent €21 billion bailing out AIB. More than a decade later we still own 50% of that bank.

The banks' alleged conversion from Gordon Gekko to sackcloth and ashes is pretty hard to swallow, given their treatment of their customers during the tracker mortgage scandal. This year alone, AIB was fined more than €96 million by the Central Bank for its role in inflicting devastating consequences on almost 13,000 households. Meanwhile Bank of Ireland was hit with a record €100 million fine for its role in the scandal that ruined thousands of lives and resulted in the loss of hundreds of homes. That was just two months ago. As if all of this were not bad enough, lifting these restrictions on bonanza pay and bonuses is especially galling, given the cost-of-living crisis that is decimating the incomes of so many working families and workers generally throughout the country. This decision is an insult to those working families. Where is the evidence that the banks have learned any lessons? Does the Minister believe we need to work to achieve an ethical culture in our banks? How does he propose to prevent a return to the destructive ethic that greed is good in our banks and in wider society?

See this speech in context