John Burns
speaker
307 appearances
11 recordings
4 series
first heard Apr 2026
last heard 6 Aug
John Burns’s voice in public audio — every appearance, attributed to the second.
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recordings per month · last 12 monthsRecordings per month over the last 12 months — 11 in all, peaking in Jun 2026 with 9.
Appearances
Brian Lenehan famously said, Let's be fair about it, we all partied.
That's a much disputed notion.
I'm not sure it's right even still, but certainly all the bankers partied.
The financier Michael Fingleton, or Fingers as he was known, passed away peacefully last Sunday, surrounded by his family.
His life and death divide opinion.
As the man at the helm of Irish Nationwide, Fingleton presided over what was once described as the worst bank in the world.
To some, he was a bully of a boss and the architect of astonishing debt.
But to others, he was a charismatic dealmaker who knew just how to spin a story.
So who was the real Michael Fingleton?
I think why I call him the baddie of the banking crisis.
The real problem with Michael Fingleton was, first of all, he never admitted he had done anything wrong.
He even said his bank didn't need to be bailed out, and quite self-evidently, he did.
I'm Dave Hanratty, and today on the IndoDaily, I'm joined by Irish Independent Deputy Business Editor John Burns to profile one of the Celtic Tiger's most controversial figureheads.
John Burns, before we dive into Irish Nationwide and the colossal bailout package, could you start by telling us a little bit about the late Michael Fingleton, his background, how he got his start in life and where he went from there?
Yeah, so he was born in 1938 in Tubbercurry, a small town in County Sligo.
Second child of a Gorda and went to school locally in a place called St.
Nathie's College in Ballahadreen.
And he once praised the education he got there saying, if you had notions or affectations, they were belted out of you.
It's a very reflective time in Irish life.
But again, even the way that we're discussing that there, there's a colourful nature to this man, I think it's fair to say.
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