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Finnish expert Peter Nyberg at the publication of his report into the Irish banking crisis Photocall Ireland
Live BlogBank boards to be overhauled in the wake of the Nyberg Report
The Taoiseach says heads of banks will be held to account from now on, and that a referendum will be held to increase the power of the Oireachtas to hold people to account.
THE TAOISEACH ENDA Kenny says that the government has decided to take a “number of actions” following the publication of the Nyberg report.
The report, published today, criticises the banks, the government and the financial regulator for their ignorance and lack of consideration of the consequences of practices which lead to banking crash.
Speaking during leader’s question in the Dáil this afternoon Kenny said that the Minister for Finance wants to ensure that any bank board members who have been sitting since September 2008 will be replaced by 2012 by a process of “succession”. Kenny said a “programme of rotation of board members” will ensure a smooth succession of those members.
The Taoiseach also said:
The board of each bank will be expected to provide a management renewal plan to ensure that skills are fully adequate.
The Minister for Finance will have the power to appoint non-executive directors to the boards of banks to ensure that State interests are proportionally represented and to increase the skillset of those boards. The Nyberg Report indicates that governance at the banks often “fell short of best practice”.
The Taoiseach was particularly vocal on the need for a referendum to overturn a court decision arising out of the Abbeylara case, which limited the powers of investigation of committees. Kenny said:
This government must have the powers to pursue investigations and call in personnel to investigate facts with regard to public accountability. We need a referendum to deal with the consquences of Abbeylara after ten years of doing nothing about it. The people need to give the Oireachtas the authority to hold people to account.
When quizzed about former AIB director Colm Doherty receiving €3 million in pay last year, Kenny said he was “appalled” to hear of this latest banking scandal.
Socialist Party TD Joe Higgins is accusing the Taoiseach of sounding like a letter writer to the Irish Times, telling him he should sign off “Appalled from Castlebar” and accusing him of not having the “bottle” to ask the British Prime Minister David Cameron for assurances on a reduction of the bailout interest rate.
The Taoiseach says that Higgins should write a letter of his own, signed “Confused from Dingle”.
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