I must say I find this odd. In todays Irish Times, ICTU boss, David Begg has a passionate, informed and well written topical critique of the global banking system and model of capitalism. There is nothing in the article I disagree with he sums up the mud we are in.
"Let us be absolutely clear. This crisis was caused by greed and recklessness in our own country, on Wall Street, in London and in other major financial centres. Senior executives permitted speculation on a huge scale on investments they ill understood. Speculators have exacerbated the serious rises in fuel, food and raw materials.
The losers are many and include workers in the industry and, more generally, pensioners, families, firms seeking investment capital, and all of us as taxpayers now bailing out banks. It will take years to recover the money - if we manage to do so - and our future ability to fund high-quality public services is now jeopardised."
Excellent - this needs to be stated repeatedly in black and white. And Begg is a well connected and a player in power circles in this country.
But.....
He is also been a Director of the Irish Central Bank for the past thirteen years!
By no means do I think Begg is at fault for the banking crisis in Ireland but what I would like to know is what exactly he did during all those years to try and prevent the inevitable results of the greed that he writes of.
There is no point of a senior Union leader being on the Board of the Central Bank in Ireland if they are not there to keep an eye on precisely what he despairs of. He has been at the heart of the Irish Banking System, he had held this powerful position for 13 years and yet now, way too late, shouts Fire.
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