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EAMON GILMORE HAS joined Michael Noonan, Richard Bruton and a host of others in denouncing Michael Fingleton and the expenses that he claimed as the former boss of the Nationwide Building Society. Fingleton has already refused to repay the €1m bonus that he received during his last year of tenure and while this is likely to be legally upheld, the expenses are something different.
The Tanaiste has gone as far as to suggest that legal action should be considered. I’ve lived in Ireland for the best part of nine years and based on the evidence that I have seen so far, he should save his breath. Nothing will be done. Unless, that is, if you favour the route to justice that sees a laborious inquiry that takes years and years to complete, offers very stilted opinion and achieves nothing, other than furthering the burden to the taxpayer with exorbitant costs.
There is no doubt that the expense claims are absolutely despicable. There is absolutely no doubt that every single tax-payer in this country should be absolutely outraged at the way that Fingleton and others used the Irish banks as their own personal banking fiefdoms. But the far greater outrage should be directed at the distinct lack of action being taken. I am really struggling to understand the distinct inactivity.
The current issues surround expenses claimed by Michael Fingleton totalling €87,205. This included bills at the K Club totalling €48,000, over €12,000 to cover dental treatment and a further €2,600 for a two night stay at the Dorchester Hotel in London for Fingleton and his wife. All of this on top of a very handsome salary and substantial pension facility.
Ever felt like you were taken advantage of?
If any further proof was needed of the completely different lifestyle of the nation’s bankers, this is most definitely it. There is no doubt that the architects of the most debilitating financial situation that this country has experienced, knew how to enjoy themselves. Ultimately all at our expense! Fingleton, Drumm and a host of others quaffed champagne, dined in the finest restaurants, stayed in the most lavish of hotels and partied whilst the rest of us were left with a tab that we didn’t even know about at the time. Ever felt like you were taken advantage of?
Taoiseach Enda Kenny, speaking in Warsaw, said that he detects a real sense of anger in people about the “carry-on” of some elements of banking over recent years, that has impacted severely on people’s lifestyles and on their quality of life.
He added that: “They would like to see that if there are people out there that are guilty, they should be brought before the courts and if the courts decide to punish them, that the law of the land should take its course.”
“People don’t want to see these things drag on interminably, and I hope that the statutory authorities charged with following these things up continue to do so as expeditiously as is possible,” he said.
As the leader of the country I think we would all expect him to do a little bit more than “hope”.
We are in danger of obssessing over the particular issue of the expenses claimed by one person
Why is Ireland so far behind the curve in dealing with white collar indiscretions? In the UK, former environment minister Elliot Morley was recently freed from prison after serving a quarter of his 16-month sentence for fiddling his parliamentary expenses. Kweku Adoboli, the rogue trader at the centre of the losses at Swiss Bank, has had no opportunity at freedom, remains in custody and prosecutors have already extended the charges that he is facing. This is justice taking its course in the right and appropriate manner. Neither have the opportunity to avoid questions as they are demanded to answer them.
However, recent media suggests that we are in danger of obssessing over the particular issue of the expenses claimed by one person. If the only return for a banking crisis that at Irish Nationwide alone resulted in a €5.4bn bailout is the repayment of a far smaller sum of expenses, then something is very wrong. We have experienced first-hand how inept the banking system was and now are being subjected to a similar display by the judiciary. The Government is also seriously out of touch with public opinion if they think a prosecution for dodgy expenses will appease the general public’s sense of justice. It would really only be the very tip of the iceberg.
To date, the Irish judicial system has failed spectacularly to bring anyone to trial. Fingleton’s expense claims are despicable but there are still far greater injustices that need to be explored far more aggressively than they currently are. We are being led away from the real focus.
I have no doubt that that there are numerous offences that can be charged. Unfortunately it will only happen if you are prepared to look and have the inclination to bring these people to trial. I see no evidence of either at the moment.
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White collar excess cannot be regulated or controlled by other White collar wearers. That is the problem.
So we should hire unemployed construction labourers to investigate elaborate fraud involving complex financial instruments!?
Not all business people are corrupt. Those that are should be charged, tried and imprisoned but let’s not throw the baby out with the bathwater. Without entrepreneurs we’d have no private sector jobs. Without those, we have no tax base from which to pay our public sector, welfare or anything else for that matter.
That’s very unfair Eoin. It does not require an overly burdensome level of training to investigate these issues. Even a credit union manager or credit controller should be able to after a short course!
We were told for years that the market was the best way to allocate, price and produce things we need. Yet we are surrounded by examples of wanton market failure. Entrepenuership can exist within non-profit cooperatives and jobs should be created publicly. At the same time, we are giving away our natural resources, and 1 percent own 34 percent of the wealth.
It is in the US. Madoff etc are in jail.
Problem here is they are all related – it is incestuous. Just look at the banks boards and the board of Nama. Our state and semi state boards are all the same people. RTE – same old faces who should be retired. It’s who you know that counts. The various committees are made up of TD’s who are questioning and investigating their own people.
Too true! But nothing will be done, because we would probably find out that our politicians are tied to them too…..
What a dodgy goatee, shows money definitely can’t buy style!
Our money :-(
Could some please suggest a legitimate route to take in dealing with these bank instead of repeatedly pointing out the obvious, the country is drowning, and the media are describing the water!
great point John … we are being shown the same faces all the time … but the corruption is widespread….
however, a precedent must be set before we can conentrate on eliminating the culture?
Nothing will be done with him, and THAT is the depressing part of it!
Jail Fingers Fingleton Campaign!
Ireland is South America without the sunshine.
A Banana Republic without the bananas.
Actually we do have the bananas. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fyffes
“Irish judicial system has failed spectacularly to bring anyone to trial” Wrong! The Irish judicial system has FAILED TOTALLY, it is a joke and is stuffed with morons who are more interested in their own status and lifestyle than actually upholding any laws which the ‘failed’ state has managed to decree. You ask why Ireland is so behind the curve on white collar crime? The Irish state has failed to make any laws which actually prevents the likes of Fingleton, Drumm, Fitzpatrick and their despicable ilk from fiddling their expense, using the banks as their own ATM’s and paying themselves vast sums for failure. The Irish state is once again found wanting, the Irish state whose own second chamber was made a mockery of by Ivor Calelly because they had no sanction in place to punish the kind of fraud in public office that Calelly and others got away with. None of the bankers, developers or politicians who ripped off the Irish tax payer and indulged in what was financial criminality on a massive scale will ever face prosecution for their crimes because Accountability is a alien concept to most involved and especially to the politicians who are all as bad as each other and as for the Irish judicial system! Until it is swept away in it’s current form they will be just as keen to see none of their banker and politician friends put away either, also one other ‘pillar’ of Irish society needs to answer some questions themselves as to why none of the white collar criminal fraternity have not been arrested and that’s the Gardai.
Would it happen in any other country in the world ??
It is beyond me how this man can not be touched by law yet government can introduce legislation that changes laws for working class people in a instant. This a emergency for Ireland so we should reintroduce the emergencies power act last used during ww2. Internment without trial in the curragh for all our White collar bankers until the country recovers from their mess and we learn how to investigate them properly.
if they are serious about stopping this greed then the govermant should bring in a new law that means his pension and expenses can be stopped as of now, they were quick enough to draft laws to cut the minimum wage and impose the levies on ordenary workers, so if we are to have an equal sociaty then lets see some law’s brought in to bring the rich and greedy to book. no wait that would mean they would have to investigate their own wouldn’t it !
@Eric Davies
Those expenses that he claimed were when he worked in Irish Nationwide, They cant be stopped as such as they are already spent! And I see no reason why he was able to claim such expenses, everyone else pays out of their own pocket.
I agree…
Im confused over these expense claims, after recently starting business I had occasion to reference the revenue website to understand subsistance rates and what “expenses” could be legitimately claimed for, i.e. hotel board and food for a work trip. Quote from http://www.revenue.ie/en/tax/it/leaflets/it54.html, “Where subsistence expenses are reimbursed by employers to employees on the basis of actual costs incurred, then the amount so reimbursed will generally not exceed the amount which would be payable in respect of the allowable business trips under the prevailing schedule of Civil Service rates”, Civil service rate being roughly €150 at the time (now €108) for an overnight. So the way I read this is that I can go on my business trip but not claim over the rates allowed, if I decide to stay in a 1000 per night hotel then the surplus 900 is taxable and wouldnt be considered a legitimate expense. However from your article above and many others like it it does appear that these guys can actually claim for a 1000 a night hotel so am I missing something??
Am surprised he isnt on the list for the Aras. His past would make him a perfect candidate for the lackies to proposes.
They can put a 65yr. old woman in Jail pretty quickly though for contempt of court.. and they can put anyone who doesn’t pay their TV Licences in jail also very quickly.. hmmm do I detect a two-tiered justice system? or really is there ”justice for all’ in modern Ireland. RTE are trying to suppress the Teresa Treacy story the woman who was put in jail for contempt of court because she refused to allow ESB/Eirgrid on to her land to cut her trees down.
Ring the RTE news desk ask for Rob or the Editor Ray Burke and see if any of you can get a better response than I did. They told me that RTE did not have enough resources to cover the protest earlier on today outside the Women’s Prison Mountjoy where they are detaining Teresa Treacy. What do our TV licences cover then?
Separated at birth…fingers and Dakin Matthews (dogs dad from king of queens) and now in true blood. Uncanny,he can play the b****** in the film of the Celtic tiger years!
No wonder young people have no respect for the arms of the State when they see this nonsense everyday. Shame on everyone,shame on Ireland and its corrupt political system, shame on us all for tolerating this madness.
Michael Noonan, Richard Bruton and a host of others in denouncing Michael Fingleton and the expenses.
And so reads the dramatic headlines.Well let me pause and ask this question to all of the above.
How come when it comes to cutting cost in Health,Education,Sport and so on the list goes the very people mention above ak Noonan,Burton,Kenny ect ect have no problem bringing in legislation almost instantly to bring about the cuts yet when to comes to bringing in legislation to stop the likes of the big pensions and payouts to the likes of the above it seems to take an eternity that’s if it ever happen,could it possibly be that they are looking further on down the road when any such legislation will have a major impact on their own payouts.Me thinks the political classes do protest to much !!
You are wrong, you can do something…..write and write and complain and attend protests (well it works for my depression, anger and resentment so fa – not in a psychiatric ward just yet) and add to the calls for justice. It stops me from feelong helpess and from being desperate as my own situation worsens. Don’t take it lying down. Apathy is a real problem in this country. Reform must start at the ground level and work it’s way up.
I am sure people have done most if not all of the above but to no avail but lets not stop trying…
I agree with you Deirde…. there is a large number of people who believe ‘it will never change’ …..
but of course it will….
Take note all cute hoors…. we are coming to get you! ….
not complete failure.. one guy was arrested during all this.. the guy who hung the Cowen portrait in a gallery, arrested for criminal damage by putting a nail in the wall ffs… that took em only 12 hours to go into a radio station and demand to be told who he was…. priorites or what……… :(
Nothing will be done.. The “cute whore” culture is alive and well in this land of ours.. As far as i am aware not one of the banking elite who brought this land of ours to its knees has been charged… I’m angry, but what can I personally do to change things?
I think that we should all stop with this defeatist attitude to reform…. Can’t you see that the more people who say..’it’ll never change’ or ‘they’ll get away with it’… only weakens the movement for immediate reform….?
We should all be chanting…. ‘we’re coming to get you!’
we have to accept that the reluctance to act in cases such as the Fingleton saga stems from a fear of reprisal….
Let’s face it…. people like him have no fear because they can blow whistles on others who haven’t reached the limelight yet?
How about … SIMPLY DON’T PAY THE EXPENSES … Let him ring up every week and ask …. “where’s my legitimate expenses that I am entitled to based on corrupt self-serving laws etc etc etc …. and we could apply to take turns to reply as follows …………… Jeasus Fingers, I’ve no idea why you haven’t been paid yet. There is such incompetence around here, you’d swear we were running the place. But don’t worry Fingers, I’ll show the same fiscal expertise as you did right away and get on to it for you. Do please ring back at 12.00 this day next week to hear some other lucky member of the general public get the chance to bullshit you like you are trying to do to us. Have a nice day ………………… I’m sure my solution is legal ………….. and fun.
@ John O’Donoghue
As said already, these expenses were paid in the past and are NOT still been claimed as Fingelton no longer works there, there wasnt anybody actually paying him the expenses at the time either, he ran the show in Irish Nationwide and basically paid himself.
I find it hilarious that Nick Leeson is now being consulted re our crisis….
‘Tip of the Iceberg’ … ? … if my memory serves me right… he used exactly those words when questioned about his own maverick style of finanial dealing.
Takes one to know one!
Fat Cat !!
He Is one reason I wount be voting for Gallagher
Separate business and govt. Make it illegal to donate to political parties. they were given the chance to do this a while back and they all voted for a best of both worlds scenario where the taxpayer stumps up for election campaigns AND political donations could continue to be received. The judiciary are political appointments, what a surprise that they do not quickly indict those culpable. Do you really think that Cowen playing golf with bankers has no bearing on his decisions to bankrupt the country? SO BRIAN Cowen did attend a golf outing in July 2008 organised by his friend Fintan Drury, which Seán FitzPatrick also attended, and “no discussions regarding Anglo Irish Bank took place”.http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/opinion/2011/0112/1224287328120.html
there’s only one way to do this….. we need the untouchables
put together a cop, a detective, a member of the customs office and someone who sounds likes sean connery and we can al capone them into jail.
we’re looking at the problem too literally. lateral thinking here folks, be as crafty as their accountants have been, in fact target their accountants. target the accountants firm, the solictors, someone along the process knows something and is praying that if they stay quiet it will all blow over. in the same way they target high profile criminals, drug dealers and terrorists here surely a similar system of working their way up a series of prospective informers to weeding out the process of how the gravy train links together is the key to solving this.
seeing as NAMA has so quickly been given widespread powers over the repossession and sale of property and assets associated with the banks why cant there be a quick fix law put in place to force people to inform give forward information or face jail term for obstruction of justice.
oh and lest we forget, politicians are up to their eyes in this too so there may be some in current government who wouldnt want all the facts to see the light of day either.
it all reads like a bad le carre novel
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9rmUZQrvF5o
Captain Hindsight to the rescue!!!
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