Shane Ross (Independent)

I endorse what was said by Senators Harris, Buttimer and, to a certain extent, Leyden about public interest directors of banks. The evidence is fairly conclusive that they have gone native. They go into the banks and receive massive salaries. Now that they are all on the gravy train, let us see what happens.

Mr. Dukes, very surprisingly, supported wage increases for top people in Anglo Irish Bank. I do not think any public interest director should have supported such an initiative unless he or she had gone native. A similar situation obtains on the board of Bank of Ireland, to which a former Minister for Agriculture and Food, Joe Walsh, has been appointed. What in the name of God has Mr. Walsh been doing in allowing these things to happen?

I am beginning to think, and I thank Senator Harris for raising the subject, that the Government regards the banks as quangos. It is appointing people who appear very similar to political nominees to other semi-State bodies. An interesting pattern is developing. Appointees include formidable and former senior officials of the Department of Finance. That Department has not covered itself with glory because it is also in the loop. We have to ask whether these public interest directors are doing their job or if they are getting too much money.