AIB £33m bonus payout stopped by Irish government

[muriel_volestrangler]

Source: BBC

Executives at AIB will not receive bonus payments totalling 40m euros (£33m) after an intervention from the Irish Finance Minister Brian Lenihan.
...
He said financial aid from the state would be conditional on the non-payment of bonuses "no matter when they may have been earned".
...
The bank was due to send bonus cheques totally 40m euros (£33m) to 2,400 senior members of staff for work carried out in 2008 as a result of a High Court ruling earlier this year.
...
The bank met on Monday to discuss the letter. It said its legal advice had been that it was obliged to pay the bonuses but that the minister's intervention overtook that obligation.

Read more: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-11985825

---

Looks like everyone likes this outcome except for those who were going to get the bonus - even the chairman said they were '"relieved" to be in a position not to pay the bonuses'. Not surprised - he'd have been universally hated if the bonuses had been paid.

[Gin]

1. if only we could have done something like that

[mike_c]

2. this is how a government that doesn't exist "to serve the banks" treats it's citizens....

It puts their broader interests first, before the greed of bankers.

[The Magistrate]

4. Indeed, Sir: That Boy Really Let the Cat Out Of The Bag

The only thing more stupid than to think that true is to say it openly....

[Newest Reality]

3. Will the senior members of staff riot to get their fair share? ;)

[aquart]

5. Oh, look. A government with guts.

[Demeter]

8. It's A Government Under the Gun of a Threatened Collapse

if the bonuses had been paid out, the government would have collapsed instantly, and all the powerful would be out in the cold, if not on the street, and the opposition would get all the credit for the coming recovery.

[aquart]

11. Tell me again why we decided not to go with a parliamentary system?

[Demeter]

12. I have no information on that

[midnight]

6. Can Irish Finance Minister Brian Lenihan have a talk with President Obama

and see if they can get those 90 billion dollars worth of bonuses brought back in and redistributed for the unemployed and then we won't have to pass that 5 million dollar tax give away each for 6,600 of the riches families? At this time of year I believe in miracles.

[dixiegrrrrl]

7. Maybe we can forward our dear President a copy of the news article.

Would that not be something...a few hundred thousand copies of it showing up at the WH.

[midnight]

10. Hmmm....That would be something.....

[valerief]

9. That means our banks will be doubling their bonuses here in the US! nt