Secret recordings of Irish Anglo bank executives enrages country - John Bowe and Peter Fitzgerald laugh about €7 billion and never paying it back

John Bowe: one of the two disgraced
former bankers in Anglo recording.

A secret recording of two senior Irish bank executives discussing lying to the government's financial regulator about the true extent of its losses has gone public after the damning tapes were leaked to leading newspaper The Irish Independent.

However, the two former executives at the center of the controversy, John Bowe, then head of capital markets at the bank, and Peter Fitzgerald, director of retail banking, have already denied misleading the Central Bank, or being involved in the decision making process prior to the bank's bailout.

The bank had told the Central Bank that €7 billion would be needed to stabilize the bank, but the recording shows that executives were aware that the real figure was in fact higher than that, a figure which was ultimately borne by the taxpayer.

The recording also shows the senior bankers laughing at the impossibility of the bank ever being in a position to pay back its massive financial burden: "The €7bn is bridged until we can pay you back .. which is never!" one banker can be heard saying.

In an anecdote relating to an earlier meeting with the Financial Regulator discussed early on in the conversation, Bowe recalls the Regulator's response to the executives' announcement of the funding they were seeking as being "Jesus, that's a lot of dosh!".

When Fitzgerald asks Bowe how the Central Bank bailout figure was derived at, the latter responds "as Drummer [CEO David Drumm] would say, 'I pull it out of my arse.'"

Later Bowe clearly shows that he -- and other Anglo executives -- were aware that the initial €7bn bailout would not be enough to forestall the bank's demise, saying "that number [given to the Central Bank] is €7bn but the reality is we need more than that."

The executive said that if the Irish government were aware of the enormity of the bill to the taxpayers, they likely wouldn't approve the bailout, but that if the bank intentionally under-stated the extent of its liabilities, that they might "stand a chance."

Commenting on the revelation this morning, Prime Minister Enda Kenny said that he was "constrained" in what he could say because of ongoing investigations into the matter, but added that he fully "understood" the public's rage.

The Government has already passed legislation necessary to undertake a banking inquiry, but the Taoiseach said that the sheer volume of material to be studied had left government perplexed as to how best to carry one out: over one million pages of internal documents and hundreds of hours of tape recordings would potentially have to be studied, a mammoth task even by lengthy Irish tribunal standards.

Solicitors for the bank unsuccessfully attempted to suppress the recording, according to RTÉ, claiming that no person had been authorized to leak the material.

Bully-boy pro lifers stake out prime minister's home - shameful tactics do nothing but fuel anger in abortion debate

Enda Kenny: Irish Taoiseach target of aggressive abuse over abortion legislation.

Pro life campaigners aggrieved at proposed legislation which would legalize abortion under limited circumstances have been mounting a vitriolic campaign of abuse against Taoiseach (Prime Minister) Enda Kenny in recent weeks.

In doing so they have seriously undermined the cause they profess to serve and sustained images of a vigilante mob attempting to suppress dissenting views through crude intimidation.

The latest in a series of disquieting incidents has seen masked men campaigning outside the Castlebar home of the Taoiseach while his wife and son were at home yesterday before being removed by police.

Earlier that day, Kenny was repeatedly heckled as he tried to conduct an opening ceremony at a completely unrelated commemoration ceremony in County Longford where he faced charges that he was proposing to "kill the unborn" in supporting the Bill.

Last week he disclosed to the Dáil how he had received letter written in blood, sarcastic medals, plastic fetuses, and medical scapulars as result of the legislation, now in draft stage, which would allow abortions to be performed where the mother's life was in imminent danger as a result of the pregnancy.

Despite Kenny's fervent Catholicism, he has sustained his mantra that "my book is the Constitution" and has refused to back down in the face of the often unsavory methodologies being employed by those opposed to the passage of the Protection of Life during Pregnancy Bill.

Other politicians have been similarly inundated with phone calls from both legitimate pro-life lobbyists and more dubious vigilante crooks.

One politician described the concerted effort as a programme of "widespread intimidation", saying that politicians had been spat at and people had been turning up at their homes at unusual hours in desperate attempts to convince them to vote against the proposals.

One female TD, allegedly, received a threat that her throat would be cut. should she vote with the government.

Each TD (member of parliament) is estimated to be receiving 50 telephone calls a week from those opposed to the idea --  a  relatively vast volume in a country with a comparatively small tradition of organized political lobbying.

Last December the communications regulator was forced to intervene after members of the public reported a spate of automated telephone calls beseeching them to lobby their TDs to oppose the Bill. The 'robo calls' were accompanied by graphic anti-abortion posters, some targeting individual TDs.

Those opposing the legislation are usually referred to as the 'pro-life' movement and comprise a broad swathe of religious Catholic voters as well as those opposed to the idea of any kind of abortion on atheist moral grounds.

They either argue that any kind of abortion is tantamount to murder or that the legislation is the first step on a road towards abortion on demand.

'Pro choice' activists, the legislation's proponents, support a woman's right to chose to have an abortion or not.

The legislation represents  the government's decision to legislate on the X case after the untimely demise of Savita Halappanavar. The hospital patient died of complications following doctors' refusal to grant her an abortion.

While pro life activists' views resonate with a significant proportion of the population, even many of their supporters would question the propriety of intimidating members of the Taoiseach's family at their private home.

On the rare occasions where protests do take place outside a politician's family dwelling -- such as a similar  anti-abortion demonstration outside Justice Minister Alan Shatter's private residence -- they are usually roundly condemned; I believe rightly so.

Making a case against abortion is a perfectly legitimate activity and on such a divisive issue was guaranteed to happen.

But resorting to the kind of sustained intimidation leveled against public representatives in recent weeks generates endless negative PR for the pro-life campaign and casts them in the prototypical role of agents of the controlling Catholic church which dominated the Ireland of yesteryear.

Leader of the opposition party Fianna Fáil's decision to remove his party's whip system for the vote (effectively, allowing TDs to vote with their conscience and contravene party policy without the prospect of consequences) was an inspired move which removes personal responsibility accruing to TDs and ensures that they won't be forced to compromise their religious beliefs on the issue.

Hopefully the party's representatives as well as those voting along party lines can cast their ballot without having suffered through such abuse.

(Correction: Subsequent to this post being sent for publication, a fathers' rights group, not affiliated with the pro life movement, claimed responsibility for the protest.)

Irish Justice Minister Alan Shatter's erotic novel could bag him $129,000

An extract from Shatter's book. Image: Reddit/ Imgur.

An erotic novel written by embattled Irish Justice Minister Alan Shatter could land him $129,000 if the book is cleared by Ireland's censorship body in time for Christmas.

'Laura', available on major book retailer Amazon, was published by Irish publisher Poolbeg Press, but has drawn the attention of censors after complaints were made about some of its seedy sex scenes.

The book's plot centers around an affair between a TD (Congressman) and his private secretary, and was first published in 1990. The TD is forced to compromise on his own pro-life abortion stance after the secretary, Colette, becomes pregnant.

If the novel gets the censors' green-light, a new print run may be forthcoming in as little as six weeks.

Books in Ireland may stilled be banned if they are deemed "indecent", "obscene", or "advocate the procurement of abortion", according to the Irish Censorship Board.

A list of currently banned titles available from the Department of Justice's website shows that there are currently no books banned on the ground of obscenity, but many have been black-listed for encouraging abortion.

Besides penning Laura, Shatter, who was one of Ireland's foremost attorneys before entering politics, has also written the leading textbook on Irish family law.

The Justice Minister last week faced a brewing political maelstrom after he accused an opposing member of parliament of having used political influence to evade prosecution for holding a cellphone while driving.

He now faces a motion of no confidence in the Dáil this Tuesday.