liars, damn liars and bankers . . .
The Bankers Shane ross (Penguin Ireland, €16.99)
Saturday November 21 2009
Willie Sutton, the legendary American bank robber of a few decades back, did about 100 bank heists during his career. Despite also being a master at the art of breaking out of jail, he spent over half of his life behind bars.
When asked why he kept doing it, he is reported to have answered: "That's where the money is."
Shane Ross adopts a style that is not too far removed from the laconic "Slick Willie" as he attempts to explain the conundrum of why the Irish people are close to borrowing €54bn and handing that money to the banks, or some of them, in return for a bundle of loans that are said to be worth some e7bn less than that: although nobody is sure about the seven, some say it could be 17 or maybe more.
Exciting is not a word that you would expect to use about a book with 'Bankers' in the title but, in quite a few sections, there is a sense of drama which makes the description not entirely inappropriate.
Also, there's no jargon in this book. Unlike many so-called 'writers' these days, the language used is never confusing or gauchely expressed; the reader is always up to speed with the writer.
Most of the power bases within our society have played a role in this crisis and Ross shows how they interacted with one another as they rolled from one trauma to the next.
He may have revealed his central thesis near the end of the book:
"The deeper truth exposed by the present crisis is that Ireland harbours more powerful forces than Fianna Fail.
"The NAMA project is the brain-child of the Department of Finance and the banks; it is the oligarchs' solution, a monument to their triumph over the will of the people."
Mention the banks or NAMA and you are likely to hear: "I think I'll leave that to the economists." Anybody in that camp will be relieved to know that Ross is not heavy on the subject.
He is a fine journalist and, not surprisingly, he concentrates on the people who have been responsible for or involved in the almost overwhelming events we have witnessed in the last year or so.
Two years ago, the Irish economy was still booming; now it faces crisis. There is an international context for these developments, but the Irish story -- according to Ross, one of greed, hubris, collusion, indecision and failure involving the banks, regulators and the Government -- is unique. And the bankers are the stars of the sorry tale told by Ross, which explains what happened and who was responsible.
They're all here: Sean FitzPatrick and the other bank bosses; Patrick Neary and the other members of what Ross argues is Ireland's failed regulatory apparatus.
He also maintains that the property developers dominated the banks' lending to a ruinous degree and that the politicians, by inflating the property bubble, allowed the banks to dictate the terms of their bailout.
The reader may be surprised, when reminded by this book, at just how much has happened and how quickly, over little more than a year.
Also, Ross's trip down memory lane to visit banking collapses and crises of the 1970s and '80s shows that problems with the banks are not new.
And the developers, who knew exactly where the money was, were more than happy to follow another piece of Willie's wisdom -- "Go there and go there often" -- assiduously.
Sutton never killed anyone but he usually carried a Thompson sub-machine gun when at work. He explained: "You can't rob a bank on charm and personality."
But if you live on Shrewsbury or Ailesbury road . . .
John O'Callaghan is a Revenue Appeals Commissioner
Irish Independent
