Banking Inquiry: Bart Simpson defence just doesn’t cut it

It wasn’t me. No, no, it wasn’t me. It was the banks, the Central Bank, the ‘system’ — they were to blame for not stopping that unholy mess we now know as the financial crash.

This was the crux of the defence from the man who was meant to be the country’s financial watchdog in the years preceding the economic meltdown.

Patrick Neary, the former financial regulator, pointed his finger at others as member after member of the banking inquiry yesterday tried to unearth the facts