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THE CENTRAL BANK spent more than €150,000 on staff parties during the year when the financial crisis hit Ireland, new figures have revealed.
The bank paid out €155,000 on entertainment functions and other special events during 2008 – the year of the controversial bank guarantee and the Lehman Brothers collapse. This figure was more than seven times the amount spent in 2007, when the entertainment budget was just €20,000.
The figures were revealed by finance minister Michael Noonan in answer to a parliamentary question from Labour’s Kevin Humphreys, who told TheJournal.ie this afternoon that the expenditure showed Central Bank officials had “run away with themselves”.
I thought it was quite a surprising figure to be spent, especially when you consider what else was going on around that time. I don’t consider it appropriate. Some of the worst financial decisions were made around that period and we’ll be living with their effects for a long time. Obviously they [the Central Bank] ran away with themselves.
He also called for an official investigation of the financial agencies that were operating in Ireland around the time of the crisis.
According to the Irish Independent, some €115,000 of the entertainment budget was spent on a single party in April 2008, to mark the fifth anniversary of the founding of the Financial Regulator.
Figures provided by the Central Bank also show that the institution’s spending on taxis has more than double since 2007, with bills amounting to €45,000 so far this year alone. However, Minister Noonan suggested that this was related to an increase in the number of staff and new premises around Dublin at Spencer Dock and Harcourt Street.
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Im Shocked……………………………..Oh no hang on a minute im not.
Arrest the CEO for reckless trading. Then again maybe not – the precedent set by Mike Soden ie retiring early with a huge pension and bonus payment because he was caught on porn sites during his working day probably sets the scene for all that follow. He has since gone on to play a role on TV and voices his opinions on the economy in the press. He and fingers don’t see anything wrong with their behaviour. There again our politicians don’t either so we can safely say we will repeat this again and quess what – the taxpayer will pay again. That’s just the system.
So bankers spend what they haven’t got and we pay, we spend what we haven’t got and we go to court.
A party to mark the fifth anniversary of the founding of the Financial Regulator.
Sweet mother-f*cking jebus.
A couple of days in the news followed by a few wishy washy comments from the government and that’ll be that.
It only works out at about €100 per person, which is high but maybe not as high as it could be. I’d be more critical if the regulator did a bad job… oh, wait.
Could they not have just gone for dinner? I’m sure that’d cost less than 115,000!
Could have ordered a few takeaways?
in all fairness, I think a lot of us started drinking more at around the same time…
Spend it while you can I expect they thought. When the Euro goes the rainy day money , if anyone actually has any these days will be swept away in a hurricane
Scumbags in suits!
so the govt are going to set up an inquiry ( govt ) to investigate other govt bodies? are u kidding me!
Minister people must be made accountable !
"Spending on taxis doubled". Maybe that’s due to the â
So you got yourself in the news (again) Kevin, now do something about it. After all your party are in power. Less soundbytes and some action for a change.
Spending on taxis doubled? Maybe they mean the â
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