Shane Ross (Independent)

I endorse much of what has been said about the appointment in AIB, news of which has leaked out in the past ten days. As Senator Alex White noted, this issue concerns authority and who makes the decisions in this country. More than six months ago the Minister for Finance and the Government made it clear that the appointment would be external. This was announced in the wake of the stunt the Bank of Ireland had pulled on the Minister in installing an insider as heir apparent within days of the previous chief executive's exit. At least this time around the Minister was going to use his 25% shareholding to show who was boss but the banks have put up two fingers to the Government and said: "We are not taking it from you". It is an extraordinary challenge to the credibility of a Government which has blinked after eyeballing the banks for six months. The matter is much worse than the appointment of a chief executive because there has been a fudge in order to disguise his appointment as well as the installation of an AIB director as chairperson. Two insiders have apparently been appointed to look after the interests of the taxpayer. These guys have shown that they are not acting in the interests of the taxpayer at all. That is not their job. The Government has been defied and appears to be sitting back and accepting this defiance.

I am not impressed by leaks indicating that Mr. Michael Somers, the head of the National Treasury Management Agency, will be installed as vice chairman of Allied Irish Banks. This is an exercise in camouflage to give the bank respectability. The vice chairman will be a eunuch because others in the bank will cannibalise him.