A former Fine Gael minister has jumped to the defence of country’s disgraced financial institutions and accused those who criticise them as “bank bashing”.
Mr Hayes recently swapped being a Fine Gael MEP to become the CEO of the Banking and Payments Federation of Ireland.
Despite their being involved in the tracker mortgage scandal, described by some commentators as fraud on an industrial scale, he claimed the banks have now changed their ways.
In an interview on RTE’s Today with Sean O’Rourke, the former Fine Gael minister appeared to suggest that the banks could explain why they did what they did in the past.
He also said that the country’s financial institutions need to find their voice again and, referring to the tracker mortgage scandal, said the “crucial issue is to make sure that the taxpayer gets all of its money back” but didn’t explain why it was taken in the first place.
He said: "If I can be very frank, for the last number of years bank bashing is kind of the new form of groupthink in this country.
“I understand given the scandal, and it is a scandal on trackers given what happened in the country 10 years ago, it’s kind of gone in such a direction now that even getting time to discuss why things have to happen across the banking industry is very, very difficult.”
Veteran presenter O’Rourke suggested his was a case of poacher turned gamekeeper and asked him if he stood by criticisms he made of the rogue bankers five years ago when he said “mortgage holders on variable rates are being fleeced by the banks to make up for losses on tracker mortgages”.
Brian Hayes was also part of the Fine Gael government which gave the country’s banks a 20-year corporate tax holiday.
Mr Hayes went on to criticise the “no consent, no sale” legislation proposed by Sinn Fein’s finance spokesman Pearse Doherty which would prevent the banks and vulture funds from selling homes against the permission of mortgage holders.
The 49-year old former Fine Gael TD and senator said this would have a “chilling effect on the mortgage market” and lead to higher interest rates.
He also said that Ireland needs “exceptional people” leading the country’s financial institutions which many will see as an excuse to scrap the €500,000 government-imposed pay cap on bankers’ salaries.
In recent weeks the industry has claimed that the only way to attract talent is to significantly increase pay.
