Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

There is a legal requirement on the banks to retain those tapes for a set period. The Minister's letter is merely a reminder to the banks to live up to their responsibilities in terms of preservation of those tapes, which should be available for public information purposes and the banking inquiry to be established under the parliamentary system. It is a case of the banks having a legal responsibility to hold these tapes for a period and the Minister sending them a letter to remind them of that responsibility, so that they will be available for the public inquiry when the Government decides what form it should take.

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