Developer wants bankers jailed and TDs" salaries cut

The Government cannot be taken seriously unless they lock up corrupt bankers and take salary cuts to the tune of 30 per cent, according to Developer Johnny Owens.Mr. Owens featured on RTE"s "How We Blew the Boom" with economist George Lee on Sunday night.Having built 46 out of 85 planned houses at Coille Rua in Mullingar just as the economy ground to halt, Mr. Owens has only been able to sell five of the houses and he knows exactly who he holds accountable.'I am absolutely livid with the Government. If they went down the road America went and gathered up them bankers and put them in jail we might have some faith,' said Mr Owens.He said the Government will have to do something radical if any the citizens of Ireland are to have any faith in them.Mr. Owens said he had been paying up to €100,000 a week in tax to the Government which appears to then have been wasted by the state through mismanagement.An employer of 65 staff, Mr. Owens is struggling to find work for his employees and has been forced to implement a three day working week.While a rent-to-buy scheme might alleviate his financial situation, Mr. Owens said he needed the backing of the banks to get the scheme going.According to Mr. Owens, the situation might not be so bad if the banks had put a cap of €100 per square foot on the amount of money being loaned to mortgage seekers.He recalled sitting in on meetings with couples and mortgage facilitators where individuals were encouraged to take '110 per cent mortgages and the price of a new car'.The price of the houses at the time 'were €100,000 more then they are today', he added.Speaking about the decline in house prices, Mr. Owens said he 'felt terrible' about the losses some people have incurred. Houses in the same estate are now €90,000 cheaper then they were last year and Mr. Owens has a lot of sympathy for the people who bought when prices were high, 'I feel so bad about that, I felt terrible about that,' he said.At present there Mr. Owens said he knew of a number of young people who would love to buy new houses but won"t for two reasons. Firstly, he said the banks have tightened their lending criteria and secondly, young people have lost their confidence and are afraid to enter into long term contracts.Mr. Owens said he has a number of high quality B2 rated houses for sale at rock bottom prices and he remains optimistic that potential buyers will see appreciate the build quality and value.He questioned former Taoiseach Bertie Ahern"s condemnation of economists like George Lee and Brendan McWilliams who were often referred to as doom and gloom merchants.'Where were the Governments and banks" economists that weren"t asking the doom and gloom economists where they were getting their information from?' asked Mr. Owens.'The whole pile of these boys should be run. If only we could find a dozen Michael O"Leary"s and put them in,' he added.Mr. Owens said he was now very disillusioned and in a situation where he couldn"t consider voting for any political party.