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MARY O’ROURKE HAS said she is concerned that some witnesses appearing before the banking inquiry will place the blame on her late nephew, Brian Lenihan Jnr.
O’Rourke, a former Fianna Fáil minister, told UTV’s Ireland Live at 10 it would be unfair on Lenihan as he is not here to defend himself and his actions as finance minister.
“It is very sad. Brian cannot speak for himself so it is always someone else’s interpretation.”
Asked how she thought the Taoiseach at the time of the bank guarantee would perform at the banking inquiry, O’Rourke said: “Brian Cowen is very well able to tell his tale and I think it will be very illuminating.
“There are lots of stray pieces to be tied up. I think he will give a very full account of himself. My only worry in the whole affair – nothing to do with Brian Cowen – would be that people would be inclined to put the blame on a person who isn’t here.”
Kevin Cardiff, former Secretary General of the Department of Finance, appeared before the inquiry yesterday.
“I thought he did a lot of good for the civil service in general and for the country,” O’Rourke said, noting: “He spoke in plain English He looked straight at his questioner … I thought it was a very clear, lucid performance.”
On the question of why Lenihan changed his mind, from being opposed to being in favour of the bank guarantee on the night it was agreed, she said: “We just don’t know why Brian Lenihan changed his mind that evening. He and Kevin Cardiff went into that meeting of one mind.”
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it would be nice to know the truth to who did leave us with the big bill,and why.and anyone who felt it was wrong should have let us know then,otherwise they are as much to blame .
Follow the money, who shifted all the money out of Anglo in the weeks and months leading up to the the night of the guarantee.
Look at the man who overrode the Dept of Finance and changed the Anglo Bill at the last minute so that developers who owned vast sums to Anglo could withdraw what money they had on deposit.
Locking of accounts, the recommended practice was reserved for the masses.
Brian cost the state billions and rewarded friends and buddies.
A traitor.
Something definitely stinks about it..would love to have seen a truly independent inquiry..with outside expertise given full access to all bank accounts..not this charade
In the true style of politics, – ie, back-stabbing, greed, disloyalty, – in which rats would display more honour, Everybody will walk away from this unaccountable, & with their arse pockets stuffed, – Oh, and blame it all on the dead guy.
Hitlers not here to defend himself…but Im going to blame him for his crimes anyway
Dead or not he played a massive part in the disaster that happened our country.
As for defending himself at least he can’t lie like most of his comrades.
I think its important that outside of the finger pointing and he said she said soap opera FF would like to turn the debacle of the banking/economic collapse into, the fact still remains that together they ran our country off an fiscal cliff and destroyed the lives of a generation of our people. Its important also to remember that the whole time micheal martin was there frunt and center spouting his ‘I don’t accept that’ spiel.
Do we want this man as taoiseach?
‘Destroyed the lives of a generation’ is the kind of bs rhetoric we need to be getting a way from but I agree with your sentiments.
Your right carmo, it should read as, destroyed the lives of future generations as well.
…just to add, it’s the destroyed the lives of future generations bit that will ensure our generation are known and remembered as cowards for inflicting this injustice on our children.
It’s easy to say “he’s not here to defend himself”; the point is, if he was here, could he? The biggest tragedy for the Irish people in Lenihan’s absence is the fact that his efforts to defend himself could probably unmask more of the criminals responsible.
People are taking this out of context. Brian Lenihan is an easy scapegoat as he cant defend any of his actions. I’m not saying what he did was right/wrong, but we will never get to hear his version of events, which is a disaster as he was the minister of finance at the time.
sorry martin, I didnt mean to reply to your comment there!
JC, i like to think that he buried at least some documentation that details the extent of what happened that night and that mammy O’Rourke knows about it, hence the reason for her periodic sniping in the media.
Oh fook off Mary, she’s always spouting off about how proud she is of her nephews dumb and dumber
Aunty Mary won’t hear a bad word said about the lovely boy who forced the debts of his Anglo chums on to generations of taxpayers , why in gods name is that woman given media attention ?
Maybe her reluctance to reveal any details about that night is because she was an Anglo loan recipient herself, the big question that needs to be answered as quickly as possible is, how many of the 350 HSBC account holders also received ‘loans’ from Anglo, them monies should be treated as proceeds of crime but our finance minister doesn’t seem to have any interest in getting to the bottom of all these dodgy cash transactions.
Ridiculous woman who should not be given airtime or column inches to feed her gigantic ego
STF UP Mary your crony politics days are over. Irish people want the truth now not more of the same golden circletaking care of themselves. No one cares what you think
awh! granny O’Rourke. Sure they were lovely boys. May have been corrupt to the core but what does that matter
Mary take note we not only blaming your nephew but you also played a part in the rape and deceit of this nation with your cabinet of gangsters
Looks like we will have to call in a vampire slayer to get rid of Mary.
well, we’re ALL stakeholders…
So by that logic will we stop blaming hitler for the Holocaust?
The role alcohol played in the running of the country at the time should be examined to get a full picture of what was going on.
Judging on the amount of FF and FG TD’s that are in the Dail bar on a regular basis alcohol still plays a big part in how this country is run.
On another note why is the geebag still getting airtime?
and coke.
To sum up the Inquiry so far : LIES, DAMNED LIES AND STATISTICS !!
The wagons have been circled and secured. After yesterday’s performance by Kevin Cardiff we should start handing out oscars for those who can create the biggest smoke screen around the events of the Bank guarantee .
As for Mary O ‘Rourke, will someone please inform her that she is history, a history that most of us would like to but cannot forget!
I guess that by her own logic that’s just her own interpretation of the situation, how do we know he wouldn’t disagree with her? this one Mary always tries to come across as the Irish mammy type, I can imagine her spooning out the cabbage and mashed potatoes on a Sunday after mass. the proof is in the eating as they say and we the taxpayers were put in the hook for private business debts, that’s the truth, socialism for the rich and capitalism for the poor.that’s the fianna fail way.
I can see a lot of blame been placed at this mans feet
Exactly, its not like he was the Minister for Finance.
It’s not as though the Prom Night Architects have anything to gain by blaming the whole mess on Brian Lenihan?
FG might be said to have attempted the cover-up, the delay in establishing the enquiry is the most telling of all.
“Brian Cowen is very well able to tell his tale and I think it will be very illuminating.”
As long as they can keep him sober long enough to be coherent.
It’s not fair to blame him because he’s dead? There’s something very wrong with that reasoning.
Yeah, just like the way we can’t blame Bin Laden, Thatcher or Jimmy Savile for anything they did.
He was in charge and history has judged ..Guilty
Much of the blame will fall on him because he was the Minister for Finance, he was a key player in Govt. and he kept a lot of his plans to himself.
The economic genius who came out with ” We will not have a bank run because we are an Island” and countless others.
The man who joked about leaving landmines for the next Govt.
The man who went off to the races and didn’t bother answering his phone at the height of the crisis.
The man was out of his depth in finance and too concerned with protecting party donors than helping the state.
2 voted the worst Minister for Finance in Europe.
If he was still alive he’d be one of the most hated men in Ireland.
he is not solely to blame but he had a big part to play on how the whole thing went down. i believe from the out set the whole thing was purposely shrouded in secrecy. ff made the promises fg sealed the deal. minuets or no minuets this is one sure thing i know.
It is surely obvious by now who saddled the nation with the big bill and it had nothing to do with what Lenihan thought or did. It is crystal the ECB and Giethner make it clear: no burning of any bond holders whatsoever thus turning their risk laden investment in to a totally risk free guarantee thanks to the long suffering Irish taxpayer. Ignore O’Rourke as she has a clear agenda which is not directed at getting to the truth so long as it exonerates her kin. We all know Lenihan was a decent, hardworking but above all an honourable person. However, he was out of his comfort zone and with ECB/US pressure on his head he had no room to manoeuvre and went back to the room after talking with Cowen with his newly printed orders in his hand. The rest as they say is history just like Lenihan himself (RIP)
That O Rourke one is never off the airwaves wish she’d just keep her trap shut
Mary is very quick to defend all things Fianna Fail .
When will the rank and file department of finance civil servants(permanent government) be questioned ? If you think a TD has any power in this country then I give up.
There is no more sugar coating this mans part in the bank gaurentee. While he was by all accounts a great family man, the time of respect around funeral time has long passed. Call it what it is, he was minister of finance at the time making him at central to blame and will be historical known as a traitor to the irish people. If the family have evidence to prove otherwise, now is your chance to publish such evidence.
This woman has annoyed my ears for years .
Mary I don’t think everyone is blaming Brian but I for one would lay an awful lot at your door. You were part of the very worst of what Fianna Fáil was. The amount of corruption that took place on YOUR watch was staggering. You sat in cabinet with haughey Burke lawlor Flynn ahearn etc etc. since you least the dail you have not been slow to give your opinion on everything and anything but I’ve never heard you run that lot down. By the time your nephew got to the cabinet table the horse had already bolted and that happened on your watch.
Christina LaGarde, I think, has a lot to answer for. I recall her interviews at the time of his death as being highly sinister and misleading regarding his intent for Ireland.
Wind Rte up now.Let them compete on a level playing field.
I.think Brian would have given a true account or at least truer than this spin artist Cowen ever will. I’d say Brian like many others was shouted down by the bullies.
The evidence shows that Brian kept much of the dodgy stuff from Cabinet. Cowan was a piece of work but Lenihan was no different.
His handling of deposits in Anglo cost the State billions as bankrupt developers were give a window to clear out their accounts.
The man was a grade A sack of …….
With patriots like Lenehan and Cowen , who needs enemies ?
Remember that all parties (except labour) voted for the bank guarantee.
Of course SF/IRA later decided to change their minds as they did with Irish Water.
There were documents kept by Lenihan and others, there is spin and lies being offered by Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael, Labour, Sinn Féin and Greens on a daily basis.
It is only when those with the real truth are permitted to come forth that we can hear how Cowen and Civil servant’s knew what was going to happen but kept it all to themselves will we ever know what was ever going on on goverment buildings.
There are former ministers, former back benchers journalists, drumcondra, bertie mafosi omerti all with mercs money……..
It’s all too easy to pick on a man who had died .While not a fan of Mary orouke she is the only one taking up for her nephew ,his wife and children never entered into comments about brian while he was minister and when he sadly passed away they remained private .Remember when this was happening he was the scapegoat then and they would still love him to be the scapegoat now .But not for me He was a devoted family man with a wife and 2 children let us not forget that again I’m not a f f man just someone who doesn’t like fu-k-rs with fu_k all else to do but bad mouthing a good man .
The only headline i would like to see with the words “Brian Cowen” and “illuminating” is, “Brian Cowen was set on fire today and he could be seen illuminating the place for miles around.
If Cowan had a shred of integrity, he would have immolated himself long ago..
And we still have not learned from this same old same old F.G or F.F there is no other party a person can vote for only Independents
Good lad ,pain in my bollox .Or should that be ‘bad lad’?
Surely Brian Cowen has a lot to answer for!
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