Alan Dukes needs to be mindful of his reputation. The former Fine Gael leader is supposed to be one of the good guys, appointed to the board of Anglo Irish Bank last year to represent the public interest, or at least the public interest as defined by Fianna Fáil. He did such a good job that he is now chairman designate on a so-far undisclosed salary, regularly to be heard pleading the case for Anglo to be kept open. The man who was supposed to represent a break from the self-aggrandisement and self-enrichment of Anglo's past has become just another self-interested banker trying to keep his job.

Anglo is the great stinking carcass in the killing fields of the Irish economy, and Alan Dukes is its champion. He says the bank should be kept open because it would be too costly to wind down. For this contention, he offers not a shred of evidence. Neither does the Minister for Finance who, naturally, sings from the same hymn sheet as his appointee.

The problem for Dukes and for Brian Lenihan is that when it comes to banking, nobody believes what they are told anymore, particularly about Anglo. Since September 2008, every government prediction about the sector has turned out to be nonsense. Firstly, it was Brian Cowen telling us that any liability that might arise from the banking crisis would be discharged by the banks and not by the taxpayer. This may go down in history as one of the biggest lies ever told by a taoiseach.

The predictions for Anglo went from recapitalisation of "just" €4bn of taxpayers' money, to the need for a further €9bn, then another €8.3bn, and now pledges of €10bn more in the future. Dukes says that might not be the end of it. If Anglo gets its way and takes control of the Quinn group, it won't be.

Since Dukes defended pay rises to 70 Anglo executives last month, shortly before the bank announced the biggest losses in Irish corporate history, he has had to endure accusations that he has gone native, and become the banker's banker. Which is not a good thing now, and may never be again. Whatever he represents, it is no longer the public interest. Anglo has become the rallying point for every protestor, every public sector worker who feels sore at what has happened to her salary, every unemployed person who sees his future mortgaged to pay for the bank's sins.

Just look at the teachers who greeted Mary Coughlan at their annual conferences wearing Seán FitzPatrick masks and brandishing placards about Anglo. Whatever you think about revolting teachers, you cannot deny that they have a point, or that the point will continue to be made as long as Anglo is allowed to stand as a monument to the most shameful period in the country's history.

Alan Dukes is no Seán FitzPatrick but without articulating a sensible narrative around why Anglo should remain open, he risks approaching his unpopularity. The public interest – if you define that as something that the public wants – is in the bank being closed. People can't fathom these figures, or see any justification for them. Winding down Anglo seems the better alternative. Without a convincing counter-argument, the clamour for closure will grow ever louder.

"Trust me, I'm the Tallaght Strategy guy" is not a counter-argument. Blithe, unsupported arguments about the cost of winding down Anglo will not do. Assertion is not the same as fact. If we are to accept the decision to pour the country's future down Anglo's drain, we need to have every fact and figure backed up with documentary evidence.

That documentation needs to start with whatever is available about that infamous night in September 2008 when the government agreed the bank guarantee, and include all minutes, memos and reports on the status, prospects and future of Anglo.

Without them, the claim that the bank must stay open will be regarded as just another government con-job.

If Alan Dukes wants to avoid going down in history as the man who chaired the bank that continued to cripple a nation for three decades (when a clear alternative was available) he needs to be a lot more forthcoming with information than he has been so far, and a lot more convincing.

Almost imperceptibly, he has gone from being public protector to defender of the indefensible. Will he be the latest person to have his reputation gobbled up by this most toxic of institutions?

That's Rich: Yates' rant at teachers incredible

During one of his rants on Newstalk the other day, presenter Ivan Yates suggested that teachers join the real world, accept the latest pay deal, and not be protesting at their conferences. The man's entitled to his opinion, of course, and his rants are often highly entertaining, but given that he has a TD's pension, a ministerial pension, a chain of bookies, a newspaper column and a radio show to help him pay his bills, perhaps he is not the most credible person to be doling out advice to people who've recently accepted such large pay cuts.

ddoyle@tribune.ie