Disturbing yesterday to witness angry street protests in Central Dublin
. In fairness what was striking was the level of anger and frustration of so many people – much of it based on fear about the future.
In today’s Irish Times I read a commentary on the speech by David Guinane, at last night’s Institute of Bankers’ Dinner. His comments included: ‘As bankers, we must recognise first and foremost that this crisis has been caused by the failure of our sector to fully understand and manage the risks inherent in our business‘.
This type of sentiment – expressed publicly – is part of the required social and economic reconciliation process. Serious mistakes were made by bankers – for a range of commercial reasons. Others were not innocent – those who got caught up in various ventures, those who adjusted the basis of the country’s finance, those who failed to implement rigorous regulation. Some may have overstepped the mark completely.
It is important that groups acknowledge their mistakes (and any wrongdoing where it took place). There are many who could follow Mr Guinane’s line – it would greatly assist the reconciliation process.
Now we need to focus on learning the lessons, taking the corrective actions and reforming as a team. There are some signs of this – but one should not underestimate the anger of those marching yesterday. The reconciliation process to date has been inadequate.