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Bank of Ireland: Who do you blame?

Bank of Ireland shares have sunk to 50 cent a share with no prospect of recovery. Gareth Naughton talks to the losers

Mick Lawlor, Ballsbridge, Dublin

Deirdre Murray, Drumree, Meath

Patrick Lee, Malahide Road, Dublin

Vincent Myrphy, Cork

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Vincent Murphy, Cork

"The bank, through its board of directors and senior management, chose to get involved in a property bubble at its height when there was more than adequate warning from the governor of the Central Bank and general warnings as to what was going to happen.

What they have actually done is destroy shareholder value. Shareholder value goes up and down and you can't grouse when it happens a little bit but the extent of the collapse in share prices is, in my view, very little to do with the international banking sector but entirely to do with their [Bank of Ireland's] profligate involvement in lending to the construction industry."

Patrick Lee, Malahide Road, Dublin

"I have had a significant loss. I am going to take full blame for that because I did not get out at the right time. I should have got out when the price was high and I could have pocketed €40,000 or €50,000. I have to accept responsibility for that myself but I won't accept responsibility for other things that I am going to put to Richard Burrows – if I had been armed with certain information regarding the amount of loans they had out there and other factors, I might have made another decision. Today seems academic – it doesn't make much sense."

Deirdre Murray, Drumree, Meath

"Recapitalisation had to be done, otherwise, there would be serious problems for the country but I deplore the manner in which the banks operated. They overlent to developers and they gave 100% mortgages to vulnerable people who were not in a position to repay them.

The chief executives should all be made to resign and they should not be getting the huge salaries that they are getting in the present circumstances. They overvalue themselves, there is no doubting it, and they have contributed significantly to the economic ills of the country. I had shares in BOI and AIB and I lost a significant amount of money."

Mick Lawlor, Ballsbridge, Dublin

"I have come here to look at the golden circle – the people with the brass necks who have yet to be held to account. They should have all been cleared out. They seem to be running a private Ireland for themselves. It is an absolute disgrace.

The government are sitting on their hands and I don't know how trade unionists like David Begg can sit on the Central Bank and let these people make a mess of the country. So much for scrutiny and being observant.

We need people of some standing in the community to get to grips with the situation because there is no way back for us now."