Former Irish Nationwide boss Michael Fingleton is facing an action for damages for tens of millions of euro.

IN A less civilised country, Michael Fingleton might be “doing time”, but in lawful Ireland — where rights seem paramount compared to responsibilities — the former boss of the now defunct Irish Nationwide Building Society gets to watch time instead on a €11,000 time-piece presented to him as a going away present in 2009 by his fellow directors.

Finance Minister Brian Lenihan will summon Irish Nationwide boss Michael Fingleton into his offices this week amid Green Party calls for the banker to resign following revelations of a €1m bonus payment.

Finance Minister Brian Lenihan is due to meet the Irish Nationwide Building Society this week as the controversy over the pay and pension of its chief executive rumbles on.

Fingleton’s pay package for 2008 totalled *2.34m. This was higher than his 2007 pay of *2.31m. He took the money although he must have known at that stage that the society’s profits for the year were collapsing and that the risks that much of the loans he had sanctioned will not be repaid.