Shane Ross (Independent)

They are run for the board and the management. That is why they have been lending recklessly and irresponsibly to people who are now in the sort of misery to which Senator Fitzgerald referred. The banks set themselves extremely undemanding, short-term targets which depend on them lending to people who cannot afford to pay them back. They get their short-term performance bonuses while the debtors are unable to repay what they owe. It is a disgracefully structured system which is a particular shame here in Ireland. It is worse here than it is anywhere else that I can think of.

We should point out that this is a serious matter. The head of the UK's financial services authority has said that bankers' pay is now so excessive that it is a factor which may contribute towards the destabilisation of the banks themselves. This has been echoed belatedly by our own Financial Services Authority. These people are running a bank for short-term gains for themselves. I should declare that, to my cost, I am a shareholder in the Bank of Ireland. They are the worst offenders of the lot; one person got €4 million last year. These people are running it for themselves. They are the beneficiaries while shareholders, employees and consumers are suffering.