Former HSBC chief believes Ireland should remain in EU

A former head of global banking giant HSBC, who advocated that the United Kingdom should leave the European Union in the run-up to the June referendum, said on Thursday he believes Ireland should remain in the bloc.

Michael Geoghegan, who left Dublin at age 19 to pursue a long career with HSBC, that saw him serve as chief executive from 2006 to 2010, said: "Ireland has always exported more than it's imported and that's a major fundamental of any economy. Britain has to get to that level again, it hasn't done it since 1997.

“Ireland is a strong member of the EU and has been since the day it went in. Britain hasn’t really been in the EU since 1999 when it failed to take up the euro as its currency, and it has been excluded from a number of committees in the EU since that time.

Concern

“I believe Ireland should stay in the EU. The support Ireland gets, its personality as a country, its people’s wish to travel the world and do business with the world, and to invite people to invest in their country.

“The only concern I have . . . is the desire to harmonise taxation. I think that is a very big step to take to interfere in a country’s tax rate. I can understand why they want to do it because that’s really what they need to do to support the euro.

“That would be the only question I would have. Overall, I believe Ireland should stay in the EU.”

Residential development

Mr Geoghegan was speaking at the launch of Dublin Landings, a €700 million gross value commercial and residential development being built by Irish property company Ballymore and Oxley Holdings of Singapore.

On whether Dublin might benefit from Brexit through the transfer of financial sector roles from London as firms seek to retain EU passporting rights, Mr Geoghegan said: “Dublin was benefitting before Brexit so I don’t see any reason why companies won’t put people in Dublin [now].

“It is cost effective to have people here. Why not have more people? I don’t see London losing its primary role in the financial world but I do think Ireland should benefit from overflows of people who don’t necessarily have to be in the city of London to do financial services.”

Mr Geoghegan spent 37 years with HSBC. In 2011, he was appointed by Minister for Finance Michael Noonan to chair a Nama Advisory Group.