Politicians’ pensions - Bank deals need to be reviewed

IT is difficult to reconcile the great bile-fest generated by Máire Geoghegan-Quinn’s pension with the rabbits-in-the-headlights acceptance that we can do nothing to claw back some of the truly incredible retirement packages enjoyed by those whose fingerprints are all over the corpse of Ireland’s economy.

It is unacceptable in these very difficult times that Commissioner Máire Geoghegan-Quinn and others can enjoy wonderful ministerial pensions and maybe a full-time chauffeur and a State Mercedes while being paid six-figure sums to do other jobs in politics, but it is far less offensive than the idea that Michael Fingleton can waltz off to the cocktail lounge with a €27,000,000 pension pot and a €1,000,000 bonus taken from the bank he single-handedly destroyed and we will have to rescue.

Irish Nationwide Building Society lost almost €2.5 billion last year after setting aside almost €2.8bn for loan losses. These figures are a direct consequence for Fingleton’s greed and recklessness. He is not alone.