rte.ie/news/2014/0110/497114 … sis-files/
I can’t say I am at all surprised by this.
The most corrupt country in Europe.
From twitter
DofF lose banking files in other news Cookie Monster who is Head of Security at Jacobs can’t explain missing biscuits
Kind of sums it up
The implied “nudge nudge, wink wink” at the end of that is almost audible.
if these people were not so incompetent, they should be earning > 1m eur per year
Occasionally the attempts to circumvent the strict libel laws in Ireland can elevate standard journalistic fare to Swiftian levels of sublime satirical genius. This is such a moment.
If the letters were forwarded to the Minister from the Bank of Ireland - then the Bank should have a copy of them - If the Bank are asked for their copies and refuse - well then you most certainly smell a rat.
Agreed, but surely this sets of alarm bells…
And now all of a sudden they have completely gone missing?
Treason, plain and simple.
The only shocking element to this is that some people out there are shocked by this!
Sorry but that’s complete bollocks. Ireland is not even close to the corruption levels of some of our fellow EU members never mind at the wider European level. Having spent many years living and working in truly corrupt countries I moved back to Ireland to get my family away from that stuff and my experience since returning has borne out the perception of Ireland as relatively uncorrupt. Don’t get me wrong, I have no patience for bullshit like these papers going missing, but it is small beer compared to what goes on to the east and south east of us.
30% of GDP small beer?
I doubt if the ‘mis-layer’ got such a cut!
Must be an ex-guard - they have lost lots of files over the years!
You don’t really believe someone committed a corrupt act which would be exposed by the contents of this letter and pocketed 30% of GDP as result. We all know the gist of what happened and we all know who benefited and we all know that the missing letter might, if revealed, cause a David Drumm ‘pulling it out of his arse’ style flash in the pan controversy but it wouldn’t tell us anything substantial that we don’t already know. That it wasn’t revealed as part of the earlier FOI requests was to prevent the embarrassment of the great and the good rather than to conceal some as yet undiscovered grand conspiracy.
The banking bailout may have cost us 30% of GDP but that does not mean corruption has cost us 30% of GDP. There were going to be significant costs once our crisis hit no matter what option was chosen. Costs which would have otherwise been incurred (the population losing its savings for example) were avoided by instituting the bail out. So first you need to determine what the costs would have been of alternative options and then determine to what extent the bailout was more expensive than the optimum choice. Once you determine the net cost of the bailout vs. other options you then have to determine to what extent the banking bailout was attributable to corruption, ill judgement, incompetence and even sound judgement. Only then will you arrive at a figure that you can actually attribute to corruption and it isn’t 30% of GDP.
Transparency International’s most recent rankings have Ireland at No. 9 in the EU so they rate two thirds of the EU countries as being more corrupt than us. Even if Ireland had lost 30% of GDP as a result of corruption, as a once off event spread out over decades it would not be even close to being in the same league as those countries that are actually the most corrupt in Europe. There are a number of European countries who genuinely lose in excess of 30% of GDP to corruption not just as an isolated event but consistently every single year.
EDIT: Just for clarity’s sake I’m not trying to downplay the problem with corruption and self-serving practices in Ireland. I get as frustrated with it as the next guy and, as a result, have never voted for any of our main political parties. So I don’t think we should be complacent but neither do I think it’s helpful to paint us to be something we’re not. Certainly I’d be happier if our levels of public probity where closer to somewhere like Finland but I’m truly thankful that we’re nowhere near as bad as the likes of Greece or Moldova.
This comment sums it up, the whole system stinks, people are docile or simply apathetic, jaded by years of inaction from the ‘authorities’ 
This is the stuff of banana republics.
I can remember reading an article in the Irish Times (sometime in the late 00s) on a report/comment they made that Ireland had very little corruption because it had very little laws against it. I’m not going to waste my time searching for it … try google if you have the time I don’t.
If you believe it’s not worth wasting your time searching for it why even bring it up? In any case Transparency International’s rankings are based on the actual experiences and perceptions of the inhabitants of the countries assessed rather than on the level of prosecutions.
Wouldn’t different societies have different perceptions of what corruption is? In ireland “what are you going to do for me” as a standard election demand isn’t thought of as corruptive to the nation; the thinking being if everyone is doing it then it’s right.
In India the bigger vehicle has right of way.
Now gone global …
Irish Finance Ministry Reveals It Has Lost Banking Crisis Files
zerohedge.com/news/2014-01-10/irish-finance-ministry-reveals-it-has-lost-banking-crisis-files
Because I know what I read but I’m tired looking it up when someone tries to claim studies indicate Ireland is not corrupt. I meantioned it in case you wanted to be better informed and look it up yourself.