You think high-rollers who broke us will pay the price? Cop yourself on

WHAT was happening last week in Bray garda station? Is it possible that a process has started whereby former senior bankers, who have brought our economy to the precipice of insolvency, will face the four-letter ‘g’ word? Get a grip. Cop yourself on. Ireland doesn’t do gaol, it does golf. There is little imminent prospect of justice. We should not be surprised.

In the 1980s, following an investigative TV programme, various inquiries and a tribunal found that operators within the Irish meat processing industry had systematically falsified commercial information. Criminal malpractice within beef intervention and other subsidy schemes defrauded the EU common agricultural policy.

What were the ultimate consequences? The Dáil rushed through emergency examinership legislation to protect the Goodman Group. Today, Larry Goodman prospers like never before.