Lenihan claims Boyle’s bank remarks are defamatory

FINANCE Minister Brian Lenihan says Green senator Dan Boyle defamed him by suggesting he was unhealthily close to the banks.

Mr Boyle claimed this week that Fianna Fáil proved reluctant to bring rogue bankers to account during the Greens’ time in coalition with the party.

He also accused Mr Lenihan of taking Irish Nationwide’s side during the controversy over the €1 million bonus paid to its former chief executive, Michael Fingleton.

But Mr Lenihan shot back yesterday, saying: “I’m annoyed by his comments, because he suggests in the last paragraph in his statement an outright defamation — that I was somehow kowtowing to private interests in a confused way.”

But Mr Lenihan said he would not be considering legal action. “You don’t have to, because we’re in the heat of battle here, and political charges are made in the heat of battle.”

In his statement, Mr Boyle had given details of a “surreal” phone call he received from Mr Lenihan in March 2009 when the controversy over the €1m bonus was at its height.

Mr Boyle had publicly criticised the bonus.

“But Mr Lenihan’s call to me was to relay complaints he received from the building society board about my remarks,” he said this week.

“I found this call to be surreal and still don’t know if it was based on diffidence or delusion. No instruction was issued to me — but the implication was clear: my criticisms should not be made… “Mr Lenihan’s respect for (the board’s) comments showed an unhealthy closeness between political decision-making and financial institutions.”

But Mr Lenihan said yesterday that he had been relaying the views of the two public interest directors whom the Government had appointed to the Nationwide board.

“At the time which Senator Boyle refers to, which was in March 2009, public interest directors reporting to me were the board of Irish Nationwide Building Society. That’s not mentioned in the statement.

“So any views I conveyed to Senator Boyle on this matter were conveyed in the interests of the taxpayer and in the public interest.

“There’s a clear suggestion in the statement that somehow this was a private banking interest influencing me as Minister for Finance. That’s without foundation,” Mr Lenihan added.

“Senator Boyle makes it quite clear that I did not try and influence or instruct him in any respect. I simply conveyed certain information to him about the views of public interest directors acting in the public interest in that society.

“I’d already directed the society to pursue Mr Fingleton for everything that he could be pursued for.”