Ahern denies going soft on banks
Taoiseach Bertie Ahern today rejected criticism that he was going soft on the highly profitable Irish banking sector.
In a recent speech to international bankers, Mr Ahern said people should take a less negative view of the massive profits they made in view of the essential service being provided.
“I made the point that if another industry makes a profit, if a car company, an ICT industry, an agricultural co-operative industry makes a profit, people say that’s a good performance. But in banking immediately people raise the issue, there’s something wrong, they’re making a profit,” he said.
At leader’s questions in the Dáil, Mr Ahern said the banking industry employed 55,000 people and pointed out that the International Financial Services Centre in Dublin had 1.5 trillion euro in funds and half of the major international banks in the world.
“I’ve no difficulty in saying that banks should be competitive, they should charge competitive rates. If you had the opportunity (to read it), you would find it a very acceptable speech,” he told Labour Party leader Pat Rabbitte.
But Mr Rabbitte said the Taoiseach had ignored the fact that Irish banks extracted three times more profit from their customers than their European counterparts.
“The banks in this country are the most profitable in Europe. I’m puzzled why he thinks we should be nicer to them,” he said.
Mr Rabbitte said he could find no reference in Mr Ahern’s speech at the Federation of International Banks dinner to how banks had overcharged small businesses by €250m or how Minister for Finance Brian Cowen had dropped the annual levy of €100m on the banks.
“Surely these are questions you might have raised as distinct from counselling the rest of us to be nicer to the banks,” he said.
Mr Ahern said the banks provided employment for 55,000 people and added that the levy on their profits had only been a temporary arrangement.
“It was an arrangement made for a fixed period and that fixed period was over,” he said.
