Commission ‘not responsible’ for Irish crash

The European Commission’s chief banking regulator has insisted the pan-continental group was not responsible for Ireland’s economic crash, saying it is not its job to ensure governments implement the body’s regulation guidelines.

Mario Nava, the commission’s director for regulation and supervision of financial institutions, and a key official in ensuring economic stability across Europe, issued the denial despite admitting pre-2007 EC protections were sub-standard and failed to protect vulnerable taxpayers.

Speaking during the latest cross-party Oireachtas banking inquiry meeting, the Italian-born expert said the EC has a role in injecting capital into banks and in ensuring suspect behaviour is found out before it is too late.