Open Dissent

by Mike Soden

  43. US Government Accountability Office (GAO) (2010), ‘The Federal Government’s Long-Term Fiscal Outlook January 2010 Update’ (GAO-10-468SP), available at , p. 1.

  44. Ibid., p. 6.

  45. Niall Ferguson (2010), ‘A Greek Crisis Is Coming to America’, Financial Times, 10 February 2010.

  46. 29 April 2010.

  47. ‘Years of Hardship Ahead’, Athens News, issue number 13389, available at .

  48. Morgan Stanley International Research.

  49. Ibid.

  50. .

  51. This was according to our guides in Russia.

  52. Ibid.

  53. Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen, 1789, Article 4.

  54. Ibid., Article 3.

  55. .

  SOURCES

  Avery, Gayle C. (2006), Leadership for Sustainable Futures: Achieving Success in a Competitive World, Cheltenham: Edward Elgar Publishing Ltd.

  Barsch, Elga, Ineke, Jackie and Sheets, Andrew (2010), European Credit Strategy Monthly Call/Contagion Call Slides, Morgan Stanley International Research, 5 May, available at .

  Bradley, Finbarr and Kennelly, James J. (2008), Capitalising on Culture, Competing on Difference: Innovation, Learning and a Sense of Place in a Globalising Ireland, Dublin: Blackhall Publishing.

  Danske Bank (2008), ‘Lessons from Swedish Bank Crisis Management’, 30 September.

  Flannery, Michael J. (2009), ‘Iceland’s Failed Banks: A Post-Mortem’, report prepared for the Icelandic Special Investigation Commission, November.

  Heikensten, Lars (1998), ‘Financial Crisis – Experiences from Sweden’, seminar arranged by the Swedish Embassy, Seoul, Korea, 15 July 1998.

  Kelly, Morgan (2009), ‘The Irish Credit Bubble’, University College Dublin (UCD) Centre for Economic Research Working Paper Series, UCD School of Economics.

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  Mulholland, Joe and Bradley, Finbarr (2009), Ireland’s Economic Crisis – Time to Act (Essays from the MacGill Summer School, 2009), Dublin: Carysfort Press.

  Paulson, Hank (2010), On the Brink: Inside the Race to Stop the Collapse of the Global Financial System, London: Headline Publishing Group.

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  Sprott, Eric and Franklin, David (2010), ‘Weakness Begets Weakness: From Banks to Sovereigns to Banks’, Sprott Asset Management.

  Stelzer, Irwin, ‘Road to Revival Disappears in a Fog of Confusion,’ Sunday Times (Business), 25 July, p. 4.

  Stratfor (2010), ‘The Making of a Greek Tragedy’, 23 April, available at .

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  With thirty-five years’ banking experience in Ireland and internationally, Mike Soden is well placed to bring us behind the facades of the banks to where a culture of cronyism and entitlement thrives. Open Dissent challenges this culture, which exists at all levels of Irish society and has contributed to the current financial crisis.

  What must be done to rebuild national and international confidence in Irish financial services? Accepting NAMA as a starting point for recovery, Soden discusses the need for a national recovery plan, changing the Irish banking landscape, the role of the construction industry in Ireland’s economic recovery, and the future of the single currency and the European Union. He tackles the issue of fairness in Irish society and the idea of ‘let the rich pay’.

  With his finger firmly on the pulse of the global financial markets, Mike Soden provides a provocative and honest take on why banking failed in Ireland and what can now be done to aid recovery.

  Mike Soden retired as CEO of Bank of Ireland in 2004, after an esteemed international banking career.