Banking Inquiry hears of ‘group think’ attitude to boom

Irish politics must undergo urgent reform to address a culture of “secrecy”, unfair weighting of rules in favour of government, and “cronyism” links to private interest groups if a repeat of the economic crash is to be avoided.

Two leading political science academics made the claims during the latest meeting of the Oireachtas banking inquiry yesterday, insisting the weakness of the government contributed to the 2008 crash.

UCD academics Professor Niamh Hardiman and Professor David Farrell said the reality is a “group think” attitude to the boom allowed “cronyism or even crony capitalism” links between some politicians, lobbyists for sectors and private companies to go unchecked.