Dan Boyle [Calls for an End to] No Blame, No Shame [Culture]

Dan Boyle is on the war path again. A statement released through the Green Party communications office following his speech at the MacGill Summer School today said…

Addressing the MacGill Summer School in Glenties, Co Donegal, the Green Party Finance spokesperson said progress required a prompt end to the culture of ‘No Blame – No Shame.’ He said this culture – in both politics and the public service – meant there was no challenge to the serious wrongdoing and rank incompetence which characterised Irish banking through the past decade.

However, the release, the full text of which is below, although headlined “End ‘No Blame, No Shame’ Culture in banking and politics“, covers little to do with politics. It rails against the “rank incompetence” that permeates the banking sector, politicians get a sentence or two near the bottom before he gets back to financiers… whether “politics” really warrants inclusion in the headline is arguable.

So, the ‘No Blame, No Shame Culture’ for Politicians must end?

Tell me again, who are the Greens in Government with? What is happening down at the Moriarty Tribunal with Michael Lowry – also a member of the coalition – at the minute? Anyone know of a Beverly Cooper-Flynn?

No blame and shame from the Greens for that lot?

Surely the guy who was finance minister while all this lax regulation was taking place should be blamed and shamed too? Someone tell me, what’s he up to these days?… Spinning so much the blame won’t stick, that’s what he’s up to.

What about the guy who was leader of the country for the whole decade-plus of “incompetence”, is he still kicking around the Government benches? While we’re looking for him, here’s a hint, if he’s not in the bookies or on the backbenches he might still be on Planet Bertie.

Aside: Planet Bertie, where John Gormley, Dan’s boss, said the man with whom he subsequently entered Government resided in a famed Green speech back in 2007. In fairness though, Bertie’s not in the Galway Tent, but that’s means little considering we know exactly where he isn’t, unshamed and unblamed.

Incidentally, that Gormley speech ended “let there be no doubt, we want Fianna Fáil and the PDs out of Government”.

Anywhooo…

The Boyle press release goes on to say…

Irish bank bosses were hugely arrogant and dismissed warnings. He and other Green Party politicians, Eamon Ryan and Trevor Sargent, met senior bankers before the 2007 general election and expressed their fears about property market overheating and potential mass loan defaulting.
“The response to our concerns was that we didn’t understand banking and that everything in the garden was rosy,” Senator Boyle recalled.

Heartbreaking.

“The Green Party Finance spokesperson called for the prompt appointment of a new Financial Regulator and the inclusion of overseas experts in the planned Central Banking Commission to promote international best practice in Ireland”

Only the in the financial sector, Dan?

If the Greens are to retain any credibility when with the wider electorate they must begin to look at themselves as Government partners, not an internal opposition. Releases like this one simply draw attention to exactly what has not been achieved, exactly who they are now bed-mates with and illustrate the political naivety within the party. Boyle’s talking the talk but Planet Bertie is still taking visitors.

It’s a farcical position – you’re either in Government with Fianna Fáil, or you’re not. You either accept he put money on the horses and don’t blame and shame, or you blame and shame, get public assurances that the deadwood will be cut from the backbenches, and don’t bother issuing press releases… one or the other.

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Full Text: End ‘No-blame No-Shame’ Culture in politics and banking

People need to see the successful prosecution of wrong-doers in banking and financial services before they can re-gain confidence in the system, Senator Dan Boyle said today.

Addressing the MacGill Summer School in Glenties, Co Donegal, the Green Party Finance spokesperson said progress required a prompt end to the culture of ‘No Blame – No Shame.’

He said this culture – in both politics and the public service – meant there was no challenge to the serious wrongdoing and rank incompetence which characterised Irish banking through the past decade.

The Green Party Chairman said we had become sadly familiar with what he called the ‘Byzantine world of Irish banking’ in the recent past. “The twin peaks of incompetence and illegality have been scaled with a frightening regularity. There is a public hunger for prosecutions, which I hope will happen, but it will be difficult because of the failures of regulation to date,” Senator Boyle said.

He said that Irish people, living in a small country where many people knew each other, always had difficulty publicly challenging problems. Irish banking had changed very rapidly in the 1990s from a small, very conservative operation to a huge multinational business which went largely unregulated.

Irish bank bosses were hugely arrogant and dismissed warnings. He and other Green Party politicians, Eamon Ryan and Trevor Sargent, met senior bankers before the 2007 general election and expressed their fears about property market overheating and potential mass loan defaulting.

“The response to our concerns was that we didn’t understand banking and that everything in the garden was rosy,” Senator Boyle recalled.

The Green Party Senator said the culture of ‘No Blame – No Shame’ extended across the Irish public service and into Irish politics. He was surprised that he was the first person to publicly call for the resignation of Financial Regulator – not a member of the Opposition parties.

He said the regulation system under the Irish Financial Services Regulatory Authority had failed to deliver for a number of reasons. There were not enough resources; staff salaries were too low to keep skilled staff; and a key factor was the failure to enact many of the tougher regulatory provisions of the legislation.

He said former Progressive Democrat Leader, Michael McDowell, had a role in framing the law and that former Finance Minister, Charlie McCreevy, promised new and bolder regulation. “It is hard to imagine that argument now and keep a straight face,” Senator Boyle said.

The Green Party Finance spokesperson called for the prompt appointment of a new Financial Regulator and the inclusion of overseas experts in the planned Central Banking Commission to promote international best practice in Ireland’s financial affairs.