Carol Hunt: Bankers have 'secret backstairs' to Department of Finance

OK, sometimes the speeches and debate can be beyond abysmal, but often they can be engaging and sometimes even quite exceptional. And that's not just because you happen to be tipsy when watching. Last week Senator Marc MacSharry caught my attention as I watched him speak about the need for a criminal investigation into the Anglo Tapes. We met in the dim, morning bustle of Buswell's Hotel, though as a ray of rare sunshine had appeared, St Stephen's Green might have been a better choice. I was thrown for a moment by his colour co-ordination: blue shirt under a red tie, a mix perhaps better suited to the coalition? But what was I expecting – emerald green? And at the risk of sounding sexist – or worse, matronly – with his strong features and saturnine colouring Marc MacSharry is rather a fine young thing (and no, a male reporter probably wouldn't get away with saying that about a female politician). He seems genuinely glad to chat, orders the coffee, and we get down to brass tacks. Surely he doesn't really want a criminal inquiry into Anglo, I ask? Well, yes, he does. "As far as I'm concerned the public are entitled to closure on this issue and there is just one way to do that – invite the Garda Commissioner in and say: 'Commissioner, we're going to apply a deadline to this – it's going to be next summer. To meet that deadline, what do you need? What resources do you need? Are there specialist types of resources that we need to procure from abroad, the FBI or other agencies because of the complexities of the types of crimes they may be investigating? And let's see arrests. Let's have periodic updates'." He takes a sip of coffee and continues: "And the same goes for the tapes that are available to do with the mobile phone licences, and, as came up in a debate during the week, these Boston College tapes. "If we feel that there are issues that genuinely implicate people who are members of the Houses of the Oireachtas in serious criminality then obviously we have to get to the bottom of that... "And do it quickly rather than have a long-winded approach in terms of toothless investigations which may ultimately prejudice our ability to get the outcome we need – which is criminal prosecutions." And so say all of us. But what about the role of Fianna Fail in all this? MacSharry thinks the "axis of collusion" accusation was ridiculous – particularly in the light of the non-investigation of the Lowry tapes, which actually gave new information. I ask why he thinks the Taoiseach – and by extension Fine Gael – is dragging his feet over an investigation into the banks. "The banks have a hold on the Department of Finance, and clearly into senior levels of government," he answers. I suggest that may be called an axis of collusion. He agrees. Surprisingly, this father of three cites his age – he is only 39 – as the possible reason why he and other like-minded politicians are so frustrated with what he calls "old politics". We talk about attitudes to politics in Ireland; our sense of community, which is to be admired – but ultimately, says MacSharry, our problem is that "we have no 'sense of State'" because, he says, "we don't have any sense of ownership of public policy". "If we want to truly embrace political reform it has to be in a way that the cabinet of the day has to sell policy to parliament rather than tell the whips, 'put this through'," he says. Later he comments: "You could say we effectively live in a func-tional dictatorship because of the whip system." Does he think the Government is doing enough on mortgage debt? No, he doesn't. "Why not?" I ask. He thinks and then says: "I remember it being said in the Houses of the Oireachtas, under the previous government, that an outsider looking in would have thought there was a secret back-stairs for bankers into the Department of Finance. "And you know, metaphorically speaking, I have to say that I agree with that line. "When I first started lobbying on this issue and we set up The Prevention of Family Home Repossessions Group [in March 2009], we eventually got our proposals through the Joint Oireachtas Committee. And I remember speaking to the late Brian Lenihan – who was a believer in those proposals, but his officials felt, 'Erm . . . the Market . . . this is going to go too far' and so on . . ." He shrugs his shoulders in frustrated resignation. "And what we have effectively is a dilution, in the last week, of the code of conduct on mortgage arrears. This puts the banks in complete [he emphasises this word] control." I ask him if he has any idea why the Government seems so in thrall to the banks. "The banks have a hold on the Department of Finance and clearly into senior levels of government," he says emphatically. "The banks are saying they are doing the divil and all – the fact is that they are only superficially engaged." I suggest that this may be called an 'axis of collusion'. He agrees. We chat about the various ways to alleviate mortgage distress, and surprisingly he approves of what I call "jingle-mail": handing the keys back to the bank and letting them worry about the mortgage shortfall. I argue that that is in effect debt forgiveness. He demurs, but agrees that debt should not follow a family who have given their home back to the bank. As FF Seanad spokesperson on health, MacSharry published a policy document called Actions Speak Louder than Words – A Structural Approach to a Societal Issue. It deals with the problem of suicide. "It was welcomed across the board," he says. Even by the Minister for Health. And what's happened? Nothing. "We even came up with a way to fund it." He adds: "We're losing the battle on this. An entire population of an Irish village is being wiped out each year. The Road Safety Campaign is a template which has worked and we should follow their lead. If ever I am in a position to act, this will be the first thing I will act on." And will he ever be in a position to "act"? He smiles optimistically: "Personally I believe we [FF] will be back up in the polls. Yes, we made big mistakes, but the time for appeasement is over."

Carol Hunt: Bankers have 'secret backstairs' to Department of Finance

Fianna Fail senator Marc MacSharry explains why he wants to see a criminal investigation into Anglo – with arrests

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