Dogged duo who shine a light on Ireland's 'golden circle'

Nick Webb would like to see more eggs thrown in Ireland – if nothing else, the Sunday Independent’s Business Editor feels it would be good for the country’s egg industry.

But more importantly, he feels it would be an effective way for ordinary people to show bankers, senior civil servants, auditors and politicians what we think of how the country has been – and continues to be – run.

Nick Webb is the author with Shane Ross of a new book, The Untouchables; The people who helped wreck Ireland and are still running the show. It is currently riding high on Ireland’s best-seller list and the pair will be in Galway’s Radisson Hotel on December 2 as part of the Four Angry Men roadshow, being chaired by broadcaster Olivia O’Leary. The other panellists will include Fintan O’Toole and David McWiliams – all people who were criticised during the property boom as prophets of doom for predicting that Ireland’s extraordinary prosperity was built on sand. Unfortunately, they were right. And as Nick Webb and Shane Ross point out in this book, many of the influential people in the world of politics and finance who can share the blame for the current crisis are still in place.

The Untouchables is written in a chatty, accessible style so in one sense, it’s an easy read. But as you absorb the names and actions of those who continue to live a gilded life, despite their role in leading this country towards bankruptcy, it’s not easy at all. It’s appalling.

“There was a huge amount of research involved and there’s a lot of new stuff,” says Nick. “Shane got some information on the judges and it was all about joining the dots between the actuary and legal and property firms – even the fact of the cosiness and closeness they had with each other.”

Whether it was the closeness of the relationship between AIB and their auditors KPMG, or legal firms moving into offices that had been developed by their clients, Ireland’s upper echelons were a network of cosy relationships.

And, says Nick, those blurred the boundaries and interfered with the checks and balances necessary for a healthy financial system. He points to the history of AIB, which was audited by and had bizarrely close links with KPMG, after having had disastrous relationship with the auditing firm PricewaterhouseCoopers.

“In 2002 AIB lost €700 because of a rogue trader and PWC missed it – it was a staggering miss and they lost the auditor job. Ten years later they are back at [the State owned] AIB.”

They point to Brian Goggin, head of Bank of Ireland while the property ‘madness’ was at its height. He was one of the senior bankers who went into Government Buildings on the infamous night in September 2008 when the State offered total protection to the banks. Since then, as well as having all its liabilities guaranteed, Bank of Ireland has cost the taxpayers – us – €4.7bn to keep it afloat.

While Goggin was forced to step down as chief executive of the bank he will receive a pension of €650,000 a year for life. It’s hardly punishment, they point out. AIB’s former boss Eugene Sheehy has a pension of €450,000 a year despite the fact that AIB has required €21.7bn of taxpayers’ funds to keep it afloat.

Just last weekend, Finance Minister Michael Noonan told us that those pensions couldn’t be touched. That despite the fact, that the State had no problem dipping into the savings of ordinary workers through the pensions levy.

As for the Personal Insolvency Bill, which has the potential to make a huge difference to people in negative equity and mortgage arrears, it was due earlier this year and hasn’t yet been enacted. The banks have been lobbying hard for their interests and the authors of The Untouchables expect this to have an impact on the final outcome.For more, read this week's Connacht Tribune.