The former chairman of Smurfit Kappa, Dr Michael Smurfit, has said that Ireland's economic problems stem from a period of 'terribly reckless lending'.
Speaking at a conference in Dublin's RDS, Dr Smurfit said the duties of prevention and oversight had previously been the responsibilities of 'conservative and simple bankers'.
He said there was an acceptance that property in Ireland had been over-valued and that this made Ireland's attempts to deal with the global recession particularly difficult. In a question and answer session, Dr Smurfit said 'things were bad', but they had been much worse in years gone by. He said that to him the current crisis was a 'doddle'.
Dr Smurfit was speaking at the Friends First Independent Broker and Financial Advisors' Conference 'Today's World for Financial Advisors' in Dublin.
'Distaste' for business meetings - McCreevy
European Commissioner Charlie McCreevy, who also attended the conference, has criticised what he says is a growing Irish distaste for politicians who meet business people regularly.
Speaking to RTE News, he said that policy-makers in Europe regularly consulted major figures in the business community and that this was regarded as a healthy thing. He said that it had got to the stage in Ireland that 'you nearly couldn't be seen in the same room as a businessman'. The Commissioner said this attitude was 'absolutely ridiculous' and that we needed risk-takers to help turn the economy around.
Speaking about the National Assets Management Agency, Mr McCreevy said it was impossible to believe that the Government would get it exactly right, but that the banking crisis needed to be dealt with before growth could be resumed.
The results of a survey released to coincide with the event show that the general public are a little more optimistic than the business community that the April Budget will help kickstart the economy.
The Friends First/Lansdowne Broker Sentiment survey reveals that 37% of the public believe last month's Budget will boost the economy compared to just 22% of brokers.
It also shows that both brokers and the public are not happy with the Government's handling of the current economic situation with 73% of the general public and 79% of brokers rating its performance as 'poor'.
However, the two differ on how long the current recession will last. 43% of brokers think the recession will be over in two years, but 55% of the public think it will last for three years or more.
