In June 2007, Fitzpatrick said in a speech at a business lunch, that Ireland’s then economic success was almost entirely due to the country’s entrepreneurs and had little to do with politicians. "You can’t keep good people down forever", he said. "Look around the world and you’ll find Irish emigrant stock at the very top of social, civic, commercial and political life. What happened over the past ten years or so was that this potential was unleashed at home here in Ireland rather than overseas. The Irish economy began to benefit from the innate business sense and entrepreneurship of its people.

"All the politicians did was stand aside and let it happen", Fitzpatrick added. "After years of meddling they finally stood aside and allowed the people to get on with it. Taxes were cut and the economy was allowed to open up and the effect was like putting a flower out in the sun. The economy blossomed."

However, he warned that politicians and regulation were about to stifle growth once more. "Having developed this marvellous entrepreneurial culture which is delivering so many benefits in terms of employment and wealth to the country we must ask ourselves if there is now a danger that our regulatory environment has gone too far?", he asked. "Are we starting to shackle instead of encourage the entrepreneurs who in turn generate more wealth not just for themselves, but for the country as a whole."

Stating that we may have reached a situation where the weight of compliance with the various financial reporting standards and other corporate regulations had become so heavy that entrepreneurs were no longer willing to bear it, Fitzpatrick said: "Among the more insidious and I believe iniquitous aspects of the current regulatory environment is its apparent presumption of guilt on the part of entrepreneurs and businesspeople generally. The whole structure seems to be geared towards an annual proof of innocence statement. This is corporate McCarthyism and we shouldn’t tolerate it."

He said that we should have been proud of our successful business people and not pillory them. "It is time to shout stop. The tide of regulation has gone far enough. We should be proud of our success, not suspicious of it. Our wealth creators should be rewarded and admired not subjected to levels of scrutiny which convicted criminals would rightly find intrusive."

The biggest joke of all was the lax regulatory system, which had brought the Irish banking system to its knees.

"We operate to the highest ethical and governance standards as we aspire to be a model corporate citizen. For this reason we invest heavily in the development and training of our staff, as well as maintaining the highest levels of integrity in our relationships with our stakeholders." - - Anglo Irish Bank Annual Report 2007 Anglo Irish Bank was founded in 1964 as Dublin City Bank and became a publicly quoted company in 1971. It had 1,900 employees in December 2007. In 1986 Seán FitzPatrick, a chartered accountant, became Chief Executive; Dublin City Bank merged with Anglo Irish Bank Ltd and assumed the latter's name. December 2008/January 2009 - - Chairman Seán FitzPatrick, Chief Executive David Drumm and a number of board members resigned after it emerged that FitzPatrick had taken measures over an eight-year period, to conceal details from shareholders, of an €87 million loan he took from the bank.

In early October 2008, days after a State guarantee saved his bank from collapse, FitzPatrick called on the Government in another speech, to cut corporation tax and tackle the sacred cows of universal child benefit, state pensions and medical cards for the over-70s.