Even More Public Interest Directors

by Stephen on Dec 21, 2012 • 11:27 am 2 Comments

Earlier in the week, I had a run-in with one of Permanent TSB’s Public Interest Directors, Ray MacSharry at the Joint Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform. And there were more Public Interest Directors in front of the Committee later in the week. We got a chance to talk to Bank of Ireland’s Joe Walsh and Tom Consadine, and then in a later session, Dick Spring and Michael Somers from AIB. Both clips are below. Here are the duo from the Bank of Ireland.

And here are the AIB Public Interest Directors.

Ycyf2010

and how did the AIB directors respond to the comment that AIB should have “burned the voluntary redundancy package holders”?

Was there a pre-existing contractual obligation to offer a redundancy package according to certain terms? If so, then people could have sued AIB for the money. Or was the decision to offer voluntary redundancy packages an entirely discretionary decision at Board level?

It seems from the initial comments by the PIDs that AIB “had no choice”. What was the basis of this view?

SD suggests that the peopel to whom voluntary redundancy were offered coudl have been told that because the taxpayer had stepped in, that was the only reason that there were finds available in the first place to pay them anything, so they shodl take less.

Naturally, in a full-on bankruptcy situation, all previous bets are off. But, and this is the crux, as long as there are funders (in this case the government as the bank owner and major shareholder) to carryout the terms of a preagreed redundancy package, then the people coudl simply sue them and would likely win. The alternative would be to declare a form of bankruptcy there and then, but of course, then the state is defaulting, and can DEFINITELY be sued in that case too in a class action. Declaring banktuptcy doent meman you are free to go, it measn that now all your assets are looked at for disposal through a court proess. And gies swhat? there’s money in the State kitty. So the State cannot default.

So, SD, was there a reason compelling the directors to pay the redundancy package according to preexisting terms? If there wasn’t then you point of saying that the recipients could have been negotiated with is fair. On the other hand, if the State denied the package, or offered a different one, then the recipients could have sued.

i am interested to know why the voluntary redundancy package was considered necessary first.

will check back soon for response
- Ycyf2012
  
  OK, i found it after all, this is where the video was cut short, no more conversation after this line, so presumably no indication either way about the legality of the situation more a morality comment
  
  it was this from the oireachtas site
  
  http://oireachtasdebates.oireachtas.ie/Debates%20Authoring/DebatesWebPack.nsf/committeetakes/FIJ2012122000031?opendocument
  
  Mr. Dick Spring: I thank the Deputy for his words of welcome. I must disagree with him in terms of the options with which we were faced. Many of the people involved were middle ranking bank officials who had served 30 or 40 years in the bank, in respect of whom I believe a little human decency was required.

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Even More Public Interest Directors

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