'ALL animals are equal" -- that was one of seven laws put in place after the revolution in George Orwell's 'Animal Farm'.

But as corruption took root, a telling modification was grafted on to the seventh commandment by the dominant pig class: "All animals are equal, but some are more equal than others."

This reminds me of AIB, preparing to pay a 3pc rise to 5,000 employees at a time of national crisis. It sends an alienating message into a society already scored by division: that AIB staff are more equal than other workers.

In rejecting Orwell's manuscript on behalf of Faber and Faber, the poet TS Eliot (one of its directors) wrote "not more communism but more public-spirited pigs" were needed.

Some public spirit would be welcome in Ireland right now. But what we encounter, week after dispiriting week, is snouts in the trough and an absence of teamwork.

The justification for the AIB pay award is that it is directed at lower paid workers, but nobody should be receiving one right now -- no matter how basic their salary.

The bank can't afford pay rises: AIB is losing money and should be trying to reduce costs rather than increase them. Furthermore, the recession has trimmed living expenses -- mortgage and rent payments, food and clothing prices are all cheaper.

It is both irresponsible and myopic for bank staff, or indeed any worker, to seek a pay rise in the current climate. Furthermore, it is insulting to fellow taxpayers, bunkering down for the biggest bad-boy Budget in the history of the State.

Either we're a nation, in boom times and bust, or we're not. But precious little concept of national interest seems to be evident as each self-centred group fights its own corner. AIB staff members are just the latest in a long line; others are already forming a queue. The bankers' demand is particularly galling, however, because as surely as night follows day AIB will be back tapping the taxpayer for more bailout money.

We have already plugged a €3.5bn hole in AIB and are doling out €24bn for its property loans through NAMA. That €24bn, by the way, is second to Anglo Irish Bank's €28bn -- revealing AIB to be only marginally more respectable than the thoroughly discredited Anglo.

Recently, Merrion Stockbrokers predicted AIB and Bank of Ireland would require a further €9bn in capital, while some experts estimate even steeper figures. Unless the banks can raise finance on the international markets, it will be supplied by the taxpayer -- borrowing yet again on their behalf.

Distasteful though we find the AIB pay rise, against this backdrop, we probably cannot prevent it from going through because we only own 25pc of the bank.

But we can veto future awards. Before we provide any more funding, certain conditions ought to be imposed -- primary among them, a pay freeze.

So let's recap here: the taxpayer faces writing more cheques to keep AIB afloat; meanwhile, bank employees have insisted on a pay rise. They are huffy because many hold bank shares which were wiped out.

That's unfortunate -- but it's not the taxpayer's problem. It becomes our problem when the bank is losing money, the taxpayer is expected to ride to the rescue, and the Labour Relations Commission says banking staff deserve a pay rise. If you think that's monstrous, just wait till you see what lies in store for consumers.

However angry we are with the banks now, we are going to be a whole lot angrier shortly. Customers with standard variable mortgages can count on their repayments climbing; while savers are going to suffer, with banks widely expected to cut returns on deposits. This is all steaming towards us as soon as the NAMA legislation goes through.

Increasing mortgage rates and decreasing savings rates may be a sensible course for any bank burning through money, but it is unlikely to be popular with taxpayers.

On the contrary, it is like suing the fireman who saved you from a blazing building for bumping your head in the process.

Rubbing salt in our wounds is the ongoing row about a new chief executive for AIB.

For months at the height of the banking collapse, AIB wasted valuable time trying to protect its chief executive and chairman. The chief executive, Eugene Sheehy, only stepped down when the Government forced his acknowledgement that the bank needed more capital than it owned up to, and would be forced to sell foreign assets.

But Sheehy remains in situ because no chief executive has been agreed and the board is brazenly trying to appoint an insider. This, despite investors at the recent Farmleigh forum repeatedly warning how our banks' behaviour has wreaked damage internationally on Ireland's standing as a place to do business.

Pat Farrell, who heads the Irish Banking Federation, has pointed out that the IFSC, which employs 30,000, has fallen dramatically in the world ranking of financial centres. The collapse is largely due to a dented reputation courtesy of our banks, he said at last weekend's economic conference in Kerry.

Ireland has always prided itself on being a small open economy -- but there's no point in being open if nobody wants to come here to do business.

Fundamentally, the financial sector has not learned its lesson.

Brian Lenihan should dismiss the entire AIB board, which is out of control, and start over.

We can't go on indulging pigs in clover. And that applies to more than just AIB.

- Martina Devlin

Irish Independent