It’s all well in good saying it now but this is just fianna fail trying to rebuild the party by scapegoating cowen and now deceased Leninhan. Fianna fail members backed this agreement for nearly two years and I don’t recall any votes against it from other parties. As we continue down the road of austerity that was sold to us as the only way of getting out of this crisis is to cut everything, I do not see the current government questioning this as they should be doing but alas they are all one big joke in this political system in Ireland were cronieism and nepotism continue to prevail. Common sense and blame three years after the event is just complete bullshit that is being spoon fed to the Irish public and of course as usual we will swallow it and ask for more.

Sounds very ‘I was only following orders’…..if they had those kind of doubts they should have stood up and been counted instead of protecting their political hydes. They choose to put party before country and they’re where they deserve to be today…..may we never see their morally and politically shabby type again…although the current crowd are well on the road to being the same!!

Some of the comments by ex cabinet sound suspiciously like the well worn “I was only following orders ” line

And will anything be done to these gangsters? No, not a thing,
while they enjoy their big pensions at the expense of the tax payer.

No one there to defend the decision? No Cowen interview? Seems sloppy, sensationalist rubbish to me. I seem to recall a lot of people in the immediate aftermath of the guarantee – when cash flooded into Ireland from across Europe – thinking how wonderfully prescient and clever these Irish lads were. Let’s not rewrite history in order to get some grubby euros from advertisers. I’d have expected better from RTE, but then they have form for this kind of scandal sheet populism.

Your right there Peter,what a disgrace,all they will do is set up committees and tribunals to look into them and nothing will ever come of it,politicians,bankers and the judges in this country are a little click society that nothing will ever be done about it

I would expect nothing less from odea & hannifin – 2 gobshites !

Anyone who was part of this government are all economic traitors as far as I’m concerned.
Going on RTE, trying to distance yourself from this disaster is shameful.

If Collins were alive today , they would all be against the wall.

RTE (pravda) and the FF lackeys embedded in our state broadcaster should also be examined for the part they played in the crisis too.

What is the point of these two Ministers coming out now and saying the decision was wrong? The decision was made in 2008. 3 years ago. NOW, all of a sudden, it was wrong? Amazing they waited until Fianna Fail were ousted from Government. What a bunch of turncoats. Coming on the TV, spouting their drivel as to how their hands were tied, bullied into it, blah blah blah. Do they honestly think they will get any sympathy from the general public? Not me anyway.

If Collins were alive today he’d be very old!!

Former ministers seem to be well available for interviews in which they blame the most unpopular former Taoiseach and a dead guy alone for all our woes. Interesting.

“Nothing to do with me boss” is the response as usual from Willie O’Dea.

That man never takes responsibility for his own actions.

He is stabbing his Fianna Fail colleagues in the back once again while speaking out of both sides of his tache.

We are not fooled O’Dea.

What’s done is done I’m afraid, but I believe there is no doubt that the senior bankers should be held to account. Their assets SHOULD have be frozen pending investigation – and it’s not too late. As to these politicians trying to justify their actions in this documentary, it’s a turncoat action of the most despicable nature. If Brian Cowen’s government are judged to have been incompetent, the Coalition Government needs to proceed very cautiously indeed and challenge the legality of having to adher to any guarantees and decisions made by an outgoing, apparently dishonest and defunct government.

Aw, they felt under pressure, the poor luvvies…….

‘Brian Lenihan was also “delighted” that the move annoyed the British Chancellor of the Exchequer’
There’s a term for that – cutting your nose off to spite your face – considering the interdependence of our two economies.

At the time of the guarantee the government were MISLED by the banks with incorrect ‘accounts’ on a massive scale. If a ‘ordinary company/business ‘cooked’ their books in such an extreme way those responsible would be held to account, the company would be severely penalised and any contracts and agreements considered void.
Why didn’t this happen with Anglo etc after the facts emerged. This baffles and angers me. Hand wringing now from these people now is as useful as putting on a condom a month after being told a baby is on the way!

lying bastards they were all in it together up to their necks giving out jobs ,taking backhanders,using public money like it was their own personal treasure trove,i for one will not be watching rte tonite gloryfiying FF in their woes about that vile man we to call Taoiseach

I am still not clear on what alternative Brian Lenihan and the Central Bank had available to them at the time. Forget Brian Cowen, he did have a clue what was happening anywhere because has he himself said, “nobody told me”.

At the time of the guarantee the authorities wrer not aware that Financials of Anglo and Nationwide were pure fiction.

The most serious issue is why after more than 3 years of investigation by the Garda Fraud office, The Directorate for Corporate Enforcement and the Central Bank not a single perpertrator has been brought before a court.

Great to see that Irish people are not swallowing this crock of crap. My fairly flimsy reason for saying this is all the thumbs up at the various comment. They are like a bunch of kids saying “it wasn’t me Mammy. It was brianie’s idea. He started it”. Seriously weak people. No accountability. This was reflected with Bertie also.

So much for Ireland electing a Leader. Seem all we have are Lambs.

Hear Hear says I as I wonder how I will pay the 9000 euro tax assessment by 15 Nov, but much more importantly, why. As I watch the middle earners pay for the incompetent and criminally negligent to continue their lifestyles while I hardly know how go keep my kids in education, I wonder what has become of fairness in this otherwise great country of ours

I rest my case re the use of the whip as an ethical part of party politics in any democratic government. Get your red thumbs out mr. Do What Your Tolds.

On the theme of collective decision-making, their part in Brussels’ directives and council decisions must be just as feeble. Irish politicians are window-dressing at that level.

Out with the whitewash bucket. Any minister opposing the Cowen-Lenihan guarantee could have resigned. However, all that is irrelevant. In one of his few welcome acts, John Gormley revealed that the mounting interbank crisis and some form of guarantee had been discussed by ministers in the week leading up to the actual decision to transfer responsibility for bank debt off the shoulders of the banks and onto the wallets of the people.

Well said Limerick Born

None of them had any balls worthy of representing people’s hopes and interests.

http://www.econtalk.org/archives/2011/03/vincent_reinhar.html
An interview with a former Fed director on his book relating to the crisis in US in 2008.
What’s striking is the similarities of final days of Lehmans and bear sterns and events discussed here.