THE EUROPEAN Central Bank “sat on its hands” while imbalances in the bank lending markets grew ever more dangerous, the Minister for State at the Department of Finance Brian Hayes said.
Speaking at the annual conference of Chartered Accountants Ireland, Mr Hayes said that the Government rejected “any kind of scapegoating of Ireland or any other European country”.
He was responding to pressure from the big EU countries to force Ireland to raise its low corporate tax rate in exchange for a reduction in the European Union-International Monetary Fund bailout costs. The EU didn’t belong to Germany, France or any of the other big countries in Europe, he said, and a solution to EU-wide banking problems must be found at a European level. “This Government will remain intensely engaged in finding European solutions to the ongoing financial and banking crisis in Europe,” he said.
“So far, a limited menu of solutions has been tried but other options are being openly and actively discussed.”
Sean O’Driscoll, chief executive of electrical appliance manufacturer Glen Dimplex, told the conference that “the ultimate form of cronyism was social partnership”.
Ronan King, chairman of the accountants’ Nama forum, described the State loans agency as the “ultimate litmus test” of the ability of business and the State to collaborate in the national interest. He described Nama as “the ultimate economic gamble”.
The agency had to use its position as a dominant player in the property market advisedly, describing Nama as “the biggest commercial semi-State ever created”. He called for Nama’s reporting lines to be changed to report directly to the Oireachtas, possibly to a fully resourced Public Accounts Committee, rather than to the Minister for Finance.
There should be an oversight board established for Nama, as envisaged under its original plan, and the agency’s performance should be more transparent and open to examination, said Mr King who works with accountants at companies dealing with Nama.
“The clear focus should be facilitating recovery rather than promoting retribution or inflaming public anger,” he said. The agency needed to “get their hands dirty in terms of executing deals, and co-ordinating an orderly, efficient sales process . . . Nama is now to the Irish property industry what the IDA are to pharmaceuticals and ICT,” he said.
