Seanad Report: The €5 million penalty in the Bill to regulate financial institutions would not mean that any of them would lose a night's sleep, Mr Shane Ross (Ind), said.
It certainly would not be a deterrent to any of the banks which had willingly indulged in malpractices, especially when they were making profits of several million euro every day.
Speaking in the second stage debate on the Central Bank and Financial Services Authority of Ireland Bill, Mr Ross said that he did not think that the penalties would act as a deterrent to banks if they were intent on ripping off the public, which, he believed most of them were in one way or another. An advantage to the banks where they committed an offence was that they could pay it off with the money of other people - shareholders.
It did not make sense to stipulate that the amount of a penalty must not be such as to cause a bank any financial difficulties. The maximum penalty of €5 million for a corporate body was "a pittance".
Minister of State Mr John Browne said that the €5 million amount could be increased by ministerial regulation if that was considered necessary.
g g g g
Leopold Bloom had his say in the Seanad yesterday about the unsavoury activities of some of the practitioners in the arts of banking and kindred services. Dr Martin Mansergh (FF) extracted a reference from Ulysses to demonstrate how appropriate it was that the House was about to debate, on the Bloomsday centenary, the Central Bank and Financial Services Authority of Ireland Bill. He presumed that the legislative measure was, in part, designed to prevent what Leopold Bloom called "our buccaneering Vanderdeckens in their phantom ship of finance". Tributes were paid by the Cathaoirleach, Mr Rory Kiely, the leader of the House, Ms Mary O'Rourke, and by other members to Senator Norris (Ind) for his work over the years in promoting an appreciation of Joyce's work.
Mr David Norris said it was splendid to hear distinguished politicians quoting Ulysses.
"It is sad that this is one of the few places in Ireland where that type of quotation can be made with impunity. I look forward to a day when Joyce's work is made more generally available."