Banks are winning and we are losing

“The issue which has swept down the centuries and which will have to be fought sooner or later is the people versus the banks.” — Lord Acton, 1834 — 1902

JOHN Edward Dalberg-Acton, 1st Baron Acton, KCVO DL hardly sounds like a Red-under-the-bed, and even if he was, he can hardly have imagined that 115 years after his death, his assessment would be as pertinent as it was when he made his prescient judgement. He might be disappointed too that the banks’ day of reckoning has yet to arrive — and if the evidence given to the Oireachtas finance committee on Thursday is anything to go by, it will not arrive anytime soon.

Thursday’s hearing was the turn of Ulster Bank to give its version of the tracker mortgages scandal that has hit something around 20,000 citizens. That some people have lost their homes because of dishonest, if not criminal, behaviour means that Acton’s observation remains goadingly sharp.