Take with one hand and give to the other

FINANCE Minister Michael Noonan is reported to be looking for “low hanging fruit”.

The salary for the new AIB chief more than presents itself. I propose a top figure of €200,000 (on a par with Mr Noonan’s own salary) and furthermore I suggest the savings could usefully be put towards retaining SNAs at 2011 level.

The shortfall could be made up by imposing new legislation obliging senior bankers to do community service in the form of sponsoring projects (like sponsoring an SNA in the local school) in the communities where they operate.