Cantillon

Inside the world of business

Burton's no secret admirer

THE DECISION by Eamon Gilmore not to give Joan Burton the Labour Party’s half of the Department of Finance has proved controversial on several levels.

It does, however, have one clear attraction, which is that Burton cannot be called upon to live up to the various positions she took on financial matters during her stint as Labour spokeswoman on finance.

Among these is her strong stance on the secrecy provisions in the Credit Institutions (Stabilisation) Act, which are now being transposed into the Credit Institutions (Resolution) Bill.

As the Act was being hurried through the Dáil last December, Ms Burton was very critical of the provisions.

“The Bill draws a veil of secrecy over the exercise of these extensive executive powers with a series of confidentiality clauses.

“There is a mania in all the emergency banking legislation that has come before the House in the crises of the past 2½ years and a need for the Department and the Minister for Finance to have secrecy and more secrecy,” she told the House.

One suspects that having now found itself in Government – along with Fine Gael – Labour’s perspective on the need for confidentiality when it comes to Government business may have changed.

Ms Burton has at least been spared the embarrassment of having to explain such a volte face.

McGann starts spreading the word

THE GREAT and the good were out in force on Wall Street yesterday for Ireland Day at the New York Stock Exchange. Attendees and contributors from this side of the pond included telecoms tycoon Denis O’Brien, Tony O’Reilly jnr of Providence Resources, former taoiseach John Bruton and IDA Ireland chief Barry O’Leary.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg also showed up and was presented with an award for New York’s “outstanding contribution to Ireland”.

There is little doubt that Ireland’s reputation has taken a battering in financial centres such as New York but there was some positive news floating around yesterday. Liam Casey, chief executive of PCH International, the supply chain manager for some of the leading technology brands, said his firm was planning a €400 million flotation on the Hong Kong stock exchange in October.

More curious was the assertion from the PR for the event that “Smurfit Kappa’s Gary McGann deliver[ed] a strong and proud affirmation of Ireland’s credentials to fight back”.

This, of course, is the same Gary McGann who served as director of Anglo Irish Bank from 2002 to 2009, sitting on its audit committee at a time when Seán FitzPatrick’s loans were being “bed and breakfast-ed” at Irish Nationwide. McGann resigned as Dublin Airport Authority chairman after the Anglo implosion that crippled the public finances but has steadfastly refused to comment on his time there.

It also subsequently emerged he was one of the “Druids Glen Three” who attended FitzPatrick and Brian Cowen’s golf game in July 2008.

All in all, an interesting choice to be brought to the fore at an event to rehabilitate Ireland’s international reputation.

Aynsley's home truths take the long way back

SENIOR FIGURES in business or politics always tend to speak more candidly about the problems in Ireland when they are outside the State.

Mike Aynsley, the Australian chief executive of State-owned Anglo Irish Bank, took advantage of a trip home last week to aim shots at the National Asset Management Agency and the last government’s handling of the crisis.

His former boss, the erstwhile minister for finance Brian Lenihan, is unlikely to be too pleased with Aynsley’s candour.

In an interview with an Australian newspaper, Aynsley had a go at the Irish and European authorities, saying they had “continually misunderstood” the crisis.

He was critical of the “piecemeal” approach by the former government and the European authorities to the crisis.

Aynsley also warned that the €29.3 billion cost of Anglo to the State could rise if commercial property values fell further, beyond a 60 per cent decline.

He said that if the European bailout fund was not restructured and strengthened, there would be “another wave down” in the bond markets, forcing one or more EU states into a default.

His general comments about the need for a broad EU solution appear at one with the views of the new Government, showing that he is backing the new order while firing a few parting potshots at the old.

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