SOME stories just never seem to end. Just like the classic cartoon ???Road Runner??? that made many of my generation laugh, they reappear out of nowhere with plenty of legs.
There???s not many chortling about these stories though, which keep recurring and in varying degrees reflect a combination of mismanagement, poor governance, abuse of power, lack of transparency and accountability and in some cases corruption, a word that conjures up images of one very fluid story for us all.
But first the recurring nightmare that is the Irish banking saga. Last week???s most recent chapter had more than enough elements to it. We saw Denis O???Brien, Ireland???s richest, man seeking a court injunction in relation to his banking affairs following Catherine Murphy TD???s use of parliamentary privilege to air her allegations around the Irish Bank Resolution Corporation???s (IRBC???s) suggested preferential client rates which she linked directly to him. The court adjourned until tomorrow, but the accusations to date are widely known.
These accusations have put significant pressure on finance Minister Michael Noonan, who some Irish commentators are saying would be in immediate political danger had he been governing elsewhere. The government will now set up a Commission of Investigation to review certain transactions of IBRC with the Dail set to agree the terms of the inquiry this week. That???ll be worth watching.
It???s alleged that it took Catherine Murphy 19 parliamentary related questions regarding the IBRC and Siteserv before she got any real headway on this issue. Siteserv was an asset sold by IBRC for ???45m by Millington, a company controlled by O???Brien, after more than ???105m of its Anglo Irish Bank debts were written off.
IBRC is the state-owned remnant of what was the toxic Anglo Irish bank and the Irish Nationwide Building Society with the former having had one of Mr O???Brien???s predecessor???s in the Irish wealth stakes, Sean Quinn, as one of its casualties. Catherine Murphy???s accusation is that O???Brien had been afforded an interest rate of 1.25 per cent on very significant loans as opposed to a rate closer to 7.5 per cent.
Former IBRC chief executive Mike Ansley has confirmed that some clients did receive exceptionally low rates (some reports state that the IBRC approved more than ???1bn in debt write-offs for 40 customers) but says that the figure of 1.25 per cent being attributable to Mr O???Brien was ???grossly inaccurate???. Time will tell. The sceptic in me wonders if we will have sight of this report before or after the election?
There is so much more to this story and we know that it will change daily, but at its heart is the lack of democratic accountability relating to significant public money. Michael Noonan has been a good finance minister, he???s taken tough decisions throughout the bailout that have been hard for everyone to swallow but these decisions have helped to guide Ireland in becoming the fastest growing economy in Europe last year. Ratings agency Standard & Poor???s last week raised Ireland???s long-term sovereign credit ratings to A+ from A, and highlighted its expectation that the country???s unemployment rate will drop sharply to 7.5 per cent by 2017 and that its economy will grow by 3.6 per cent on average between 2015 and 2018, one of the fastest in the eurozone.
This is the sort of news the Stormont Assembly, not to mention other European nations, would jump at, but Noonan and the government???s role in the IBRC saga does not demonstrate good governance and simply leads to accusations of mismanagement, a lack of accountability and even abuse of power not withstanding O???Brien???s role and that of others. These are lessons we???d hoped had been learned already. In my view, what???s sometimes lost on these issues is the message this sends out across all areas of the business community.
The old adage ???do as I say and not as I do??? springs to mind. For example, while we rightly demand that a bank to conducts its business ethically, how can it be that a state owned financial institution acts unethically? The requirement for the business sector across all areas to behave ethically is paramount. Business is based on trust and respect with fairness to all and the example shown should in all cases be from the very top down. Trust in the Irish government and its dealings and management of banks was just starting to be rebuilt after many years of a very significant breach. If it comes to pass that thousands of businesses were allowed to go under when a privileged few got significantly preferential rates, lessons clearly have not been learned and heads should roll.
While these issues of mismanagement and democratic accountability of public money need immediately addressed, the globally sustained and systematic corruption that we???ve seen with FIFA has the football body???s reputation in complete tatters.
I can???t remember a story that has had such an impact across so many facets of society. The question is how it has taken so long to get to this point after so many exposes and documentaries outlining the corruption. Now there are revelations, every single day.
Again, with corruption, business is the big loser. The World Bank estimates that it adds 10 per cent to business costs worldwide every year with ??650 billion paid in bribes, and the OECD states that corruption costs 5 per cent of GDP annually and can add 25 per cent to the cost of procurement in developing countries.
The good news is that these are the stats that David Cameron brought to the G7 this week in calling for anti-corruption measures to be placed at the heart of the new United Nations development goals which will be set in September for the next 15 years.
The challenge is that to have lasting change it is going to take more than words from the British Prime Minister to have an impact, significant international resolve to kill this cancer that is corruption is critical and buy in across all international nations is needed. Actions speak louder than words. The world waits and business expects.
Claire Aiken is managing director of Belfast and Dublin-based public relations and public affairs company Aiken PR
