MINISTER FOR Finance Brian Lenihan has described as a “defamation” the assertion made by Green Party Senator Dan Boyle that he was told by Mr Lenihan not to make criticism of Irish Nationwide two years ago.
Mr Boyle responded by accusing Mr Lenihan’s of a bit of “barristerial bullying” and said that the Minister had not denied a single thing he had said.
The dispute between the erstwhile colleagues in the Fianna Fáil and Green coalition arose after Mr Boyle issued a statement – and a post on his Twitter site – that Fianna Fáil had been reluctant to deal with rogue bankers while in government.
He based part of the claim on a phone call he received from Mr Lenihan in March 2009, at a time when several prominent politicians, including Mr Boyle, had criticised a €1 million bonus payment to the former head of Irish Nationwide Michael Fingleton.
Mr Boyle said he received a call from Mr Lenihan to relay complaints the Minister had received from a deputation of the building society’s board about his remarks.
“I found this call to be surreal and still don’t know if it was based on diffidence or delusion. No instruction was issued to me – but the implication was clear: my criticisms should not be made,” he said.
Questioned about the statement at a Fianna Fáil press conference yesterday, Mr Lenihan said Mr Boyle had neglected to mention in the statement that there were two public interest directors of the society in place at the time, who had been appointed by Government. It was those directors, said Mr Lenihan, who had contacted him.
He said Mr Boyle had “suggested an outright defamation that I was kowtowing to particular interests”. He said once it was evident to the public that it was the two public interest directors – Adrian Kearns and Rory O’Ferrall – to whom he was referring, the complexion of the situation changed completely.
Mr Lenihan said that at that time the Government was actively pursuing the recovery of the €1 million bonus paid to Mr Fingleton. He said he conveyed to Mr Boyle that it was very difficult to return all of the money that could be recovered.
Last night, Mr Boyle said he stood over the statement. He said he had referred to a deputation from the board of the building society, which included the public interest directors.
Speaking at the same press conference, Mr Lenihan said Fine Gael policies had been cooked up on the basis of focus group analysis.
Mr Lenihan claimed Fine Gael’s policies would damage economic growth, as they contained many unspecified stealth taxes. “Fine Gael portray themselves as low tax economy. But they have hidden taxes every where else. In local government there is a large amount of unspecified charges and a lack of clarity.
“It is giving this focus group illusion that Fine Gael is a low-tax party,” he said.
He also said that the continuing row between Fine Gael and Labour over their respective financial plans gave rise to deep concern.
“This Government has already implemented adjustments of €20 billion. Fine Gael and Labour are having a squabble about the remaining €10 billion,” he said.
Mr Lenihan also alleged that Fine Gael was including annual savings of €700 million in its plan that did not exist.
“This is funny money and it’s not there. It’s not meeting any economic target but meeting the focus group target,” he said.