It’s one of Paschal Donohoe’s last acts as Minister for Finance: lifting the salary cap on Bank of Ireland, allowing bonuses of €20,000, and starting a process to lift pay caps on AIB and PTSB. Lifting the cap was always going to be politically awkward. Ten years after the end of the crisis, bankers are still unpopular. Sinn Féin’s Pease Doherty called the lifting of the cap “a kick in the teeth for hard-pressed families”. But I think there’s a strong case to be made that the cap was bad for taxpayers, shareholders, and bank customers. Consequential Two weeks ago,…

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