Remorse

of course none of us voted them in.....

Brussels Sprout wrote: »

The majority of voters did not vote for Fianna Fail.

And for those that did-it's a bit of a leap to say that because they voted for FF that they are responsible for the greed of Fingleton. Do FF get a free pass then?
This probably won't be too popular an opinion but I think too many people on this forum are too eager to accept that the people are ultimately to blame for voting in FF. I'd like to think that a lot of voters genuinely thought that they were a good party and were doing good things for the country. It's very easy to use results orientated thinking with everything that has happened since. However I think passing the buck from FF to their voters is letting FF off the hook for being utterly morally bankrupt. Most people don't have the same level of interest in politics and economics than the average poster in here (more's the shame). As a result it's very easy for a party to lie in their election manifestos with the knowledge that a lot of people will fall for it.

The major damage to this economy was done between 2005 and 2007. In 2007, Fianna Fail was voted in with its best electoral performance for decades; more people voted for Fianna Fail than anyone else; they were clearly the most popular party. It was also quite clear at that time that Fianna Fail politicians were closely connected with property developers, and relied on them for funding. And it was also clear that property developers and banks were closely in league. None of this was a problem for the wider public until the housing market collapsed. The housing market bubble, and implications if it burst, was nowhere near to being an electoral issue in the last election.

Look. No one is accepting responsibility for this. Not the govt, not bertie, not the regulators, not the central bank, not the bankers, not the property developers, and not, judging by your comments, the wider public.

I'm not saying Fingleton and Fitzpatrick were good guys. Far from it. I hope the courts go after them.

But I also remember going to view a modest terrace house 5 years ago, when there were 80 people viewing it, and they had to be divided into 4 groups of twenty to see the place....and the price of the house went 25% over the asking price within a week.....micheal fingleton didn't make that happen.

What Fingleton DID do was run a bank that practiced some extremely questionable ways of doing business that left it totally exposed to a crash. The fact that he may testify at an inquiry is bound to make some people very uncomfortable - it may become extremely clear who knew exactly what was going on in his banks, and other banks.

What he also did was take an over inflated pension and a top up and skip off into the sunset without even an apology, during one of the blackest years the Irish economy has seen and during a time when many others were handing back their bonuses etc (not that it makes them any better).

Why do we always have to drag people who didn't have to get mortgages, and who voted FF into it? It doesn't matter, we're talking about Micheal Fingleton here. And no matter how remorseful he may profess to feel, the fact remains that he oversaw practices that contravened every common sense rule of thumb and accounting practice that has been developed over years of crashes - and the resulting disaster has not affected him in the slightest. Yes, he may have been in a system that was facilitated by FF, but HE was in a position of power, and HE abused it. This is not about FF, it's about Michael Fingleton. (And I'm just looking at his career history - he joined a seminary at one point. The irony!)

I don't want to hear what he has to say, personally, I think his actions have said everything for him.

liammur wrote: »

Mind you, I haven't heard too many of our politicians saying sorry.

Have you heard anyone saying sorry?

jmayo wrote: »

I thought it was only seanie and the fitzpatrick clan you were interested in defending or as you would put it, complaining that their rights to privacy was infringed and unwarranted remarks form the media and the public was unfair ?

Yes i thought the publishing of a young girls holiday snaps, in a cynical attempt to discredit and destroy her reputation was grossly unfair. It was gutter journalism which the Daily Mail can keep in the UK.

And here you are making sure that we all refer to FINGERS fingelton by his proper given name and thus are not unfair to the poor chap. :rolleyes:

No, I find that the petty name-calling distracts from the real debate. How can one have a serious discussion when posters show this level of intelligence?

femur61, you should also know that oppenheimer always appears to defend the fitzpatricks as well.
Or maybe I should say he/she tries to set us straight that we are being grossly unfair to their families.

Of course he/she will say that if they have cases to answer then the courts will handle them and their families have nothing to do with the acts OR MONEY of the father.

If you read my posts carefully you will see that I never defend the FitzPatrick family. I am just annoyed at the way the family has been scapegoated. The disaster that has befallen the Irish economy would have happened with or without Anglo. They were a symptom rather than a cause.

liammur wrote: »

I believe Brian Lenihan said sorry, and this must be why he is regarded as the greatest politician in the land!

yeah, but like.....well I wasn;t minister for finance until well after all the mess was made, so clearly that has damn all to with me, but sorry anyways guys.

Wonder will he say sorry for making such a balls of the banks gaurantee.