The vast majority of banking chiefs remain in their powerful posts despite promises of massive reform in return for multi-billion euro taxpayer bailouts, Labour leader Eamon Gilmore said today.
Mr Gilmore said there was little or no evidence of changes at the helm of the banking industry more than a year after the €400 billion State guarantee of six Irish banks.
“There’s little or nothing changing at the top of the banking tree,” he told the Dáil.
“All that’s happening is that the taxpayer, time and time again, is being invoked to put up (more cash) to keep the banks going.”
Banks covered by the guarantee were Allied Irish Bank, the now nationalised Anglo Irish Bank, Bank of Ireland, EBS Building Society, Irish Life & Permanent and Irish Nationwide.
Mr Gilmore said all ten directors of AIB at the time the emergency measure was brought in, overnight in September last year, remain in their top positions at the bank, which the State now has a huge stake in.
Eleven of the 13 directors holding the reigns at Bank of Ireland at the time are still there, eight out of 11 EBS directors remain and six out of eight Irish Life and Permanent directors are still on that institution’s board, he said.
“Unfortunately, we don’t seem to have seen very much of this change at the tops of the bank,” he added.
But Taoiseach Brian Cowen insisted there had been changes but argued there was a need for continuity in the senior roles to make sure there is an orderly transformation.
The billions of euro being stumped up by taxpayers to rescue banking system was an investment, he claimed.
Mr Cowen also refused to be drawn on speculation of a stand-off between the Government and AIB over the replacement of outgoing chief executive Eugene Sheehy.
Mr Gilmore asked if AIB chairman Dan O’Connor and Finance Minister Brian Lenihan were at loggerheads about the bank’s reported plan to parachute an insider into the top position, against the wishes of the Government - now a major AIB shareholder.
“Which is the dog and which is the tail?” asked the Labour leader.
But Mr Cowen would only say discussions were ongoing between Mr O’Connor and Mr Lenihan.
“What we seek to achieve is what is best for the banking system generally,” he added.