I left Anglo: The Musical during the interval. How could characters be so one dimensional? Every second song had ‘money’ in the chorus. Life could never be as stark and as simplistic as what I was cringing in my seat looking at. Could it? We needed a serious artistic exploration of what did or did not happen back in 2008.
And then we got the tapes.
Monday was like the bad 3 Joes from Après Match parody as Laurel and Hardy [Messrs Bowe and Fitzgerald] out-did themselves in the number of ‘yeahs’ they said to each other. It all became a blur as the lines swam around in my dreams over the last couple of nights.
To be fair, these two ‘gentlemen’ were slightly lower down the Anglo corporate ladder so they may be using ‘gallows humour’ to get through… Who am I kidding? They got their way and became civil servants.
David Drumm is a different matter. As CEO he should have set the tone for his employees. Throw away remarks like, ‘Another day, another billion’ and allowing the singing of Deutschland Uber Alles is terrifying. Just how terrifying can be seen if we remind ourselves what was going on in those fervent few weeks and months.
During 2008 I was researching on Lunchtime here on Newstalk. One of the tasks I completed was a timeline of what was going on. Just to make your blood boil even further here are a few highlights from it…
Sept. 30
Ireland becomes one of the first countries to respond to the Lehman Brothers collapse with a guarantee covering 400 billion euro of liabilities at six Irish-owned banks. The package is later increased to 485 billion euro to cover foreign-owned banks with significant operations in Ireland.
- Under the scheme, taxpayers will guarantee all loans and deposits in the country’s banks and building societies.
- One of the key provisions contained in the Bill will be measures to prevent abuse of the scheme.
- The Government will raise €1bn over two years from the banks covered by the State guarantee. If the guarantee is called upon the banks involved will eventually have to refund the money.
- Up to two directors, representing tax payers interests, will be appointed to the board of each bank and building society covered by the scheme.
- They will be drawn from a panel approved by the Minister for Finance.
- A new committee will oversee bonuses and pay of directors and executives.
- Bonuses will be linked to a reduction of risk and long term sustainability of the banks.
So there you go. There will be more tapes, more revelations so I will not comment anymore. UnDaunted will be back on Friday. God knows where we will be then.
