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Well, it appears that the days of eye watering bankers bonuses are over as EU chiefs, led by the Irish Government, have agreed to cap them.
The cap is part of a package of measures designed to avoid a repeat of the European banking meltdown which heralded the crash and joining Pat to discuss this package was Minister for Finance, Michael Noonan.
Well as they say you heard it here first on February 11, that Pope Benedict XV1 was stepping aside as Head of the Catholic Church and the man who brought us that news was David Willey of the BBC joined Pat to talk about a possible successor. Pat was also joined by Fr. Michael Gallagher, S.J. of Fundamental Theology at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome.
In 2010, Irish Nationwide Building Society required a €5.4 billion state bailout and recently was liquidated as part of IBRC but every cent of that money must still be repaid. Michael Fingleton or ‘Fingers’, as he was widely known, survived for decades as a rogue banker in charge of the toxic building society which went to the heart of the Celtic Tiger. The implosion of Irish Nationwide was not an isolated incident but Irish Nationwide was unique. This was a building society dominated by one man for more than 37 years. Its mistakes were his mistakes and its failings, his failings.
Tom Lyons and Richard Curran claim that The Central Bank had the information and the powers needed to force the society to change direction. It knew what was going on but failed to take real action. The other banks were a calamity that would always have happened when the property bubble burst; Irish Nationwide was a financial disaster waiting to happen for many years in plain view. They have delved inside Irish Nationwide and join me in studio to discuss all of this in their new book Fingers – The Man who Brought Down Irish Nationwide and Cost Us €5.4bn.
Not sleeping, slipping into depression, emotional stress, relationships breaking down...these can all be caused by the sheer burden of financial problems in the midst of an economic recession. Unfortunately, since the financial collapse, there is a lot of it about. Now, the not-for-profit organization, New Beginning, has announced a series of seminars to be held to give people the tools to cope with the emotional stress of money worries.
One of those speaking at the seminar will be Shane Martin. Shane is a psychologist whose ‘Moodwatchers’ course has been delivered at community venues throughout Ireland, teaching self-help psychology.
Valerie Cox also to Ross Maguire, senior counsel with ‘New Beginning’ to find out how the seminars came about and to one of those people about the effects of carrying a debt burden. Adrian Conlon owns a garage business in Athy, Co. Kildare.
Despite major social changes in Irish society over the last few decades marriage has stood the test of time. According to CSO figures the number of people who got married in Ireland in 2011 was almost 20,000 , that’s an increase in marriage rates of nearly 10% over the last 5 years.
So why is it, that despite considerable changes in religion and in society so many people still opt to get married either in church or in a civil ceremony. Joining Pat in studio was Evelyn Mahon, Professor of Sociology and Social Policy, TCD.
