Should Brian Lenihan have read the anglo report?

Sorry if this sounds too obvious but I reckon he read the report and is lying

It's not at all obvious. It was more embarrassing to admit that he had not read it than to say that he had.

Brian Lenihan might not prove to be the greatest Minister for Finance ever, but I do have the impression that he is truthful.
 
It's not at all obvious. It was more embarrassing to admit that he had not read it than to say that he had.

Brian Lenihan might not prove to be the greatest Minister for Finance ever, but I do have the impression that he is truthful.

Padraig, I am truthful, should i therefore be Minister for Finance?

Not been smart against you with that comment, just stating that if the minister is not capable of reading the report then how is he in the job, if his seniors cant read it why are they in the job.
I am sure they paid plenty for the report, at least it should be understandable instead of pages upon pages of sh*TE

I know that in my job I have to be able to read code (I am a programmer), if I cant read code then I shouldn't be a programmer. Would this not apply to the Minister?
 
I didn't mean to suggest that truthfulness on its own was a sufficient qualification to be a Minister for Finance or, indeed, for any other job (except, perhaps, soothsayer -- but there don't seem to be many openings for them nowadays).

It's an interesting and tricky matter to judge what technical skills a Minister needs, or even how much professional familiarity with the area. Does a Minister for Agriculture need a background in farming or agri-business? Does a Minister for Children need to be a parent (or a child)?

Some reports in the Department of Finance are quite technical, and one needs appropriate expertise to understand them. It might be economics expertise, or it might be accounting expertise, it might be legal expertise, or it might be expertise in another area. There might be nobody, even in the department's permanent and expert staff, with the full range. So the Minister must rely on the assistance of a team of experts. What I think went wrong here is that the import of the report was missed: some person or persons in the Minister's team made a big mistake.

I do believe it was a mistake, not an act of deception. I might be wrong about that.
 
Perhaps he didnt need to read the report to know what was in it. Denis Casey said that The Financial Regulatory Body sugested that financial institutions should help each other in the current difficult financial climate. Who gave that instruction to the Financial Regulator? Is the Financial Regulator a government body?