Seán Fleming (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Is there a section requiring states to pass new legislation? The lesson we learned is that under current legislation nobody seemed to be guilty of anything and yet some of the banks cost a great deal to bail out. It was a foregone conclusion to tell them that they were losing their jobs. I do not see anything in it about losing their salaries or future entitlements from the bank, or their pensions. They merely lose their job.

The legislation is not satisfactory. If we have learned anything and if we are to be strict on the banks, I am worried about the moral hazard. I have gone full circle from where I started. If this fund is in place, somebody will feel that there is an insurance policy or bond in place and if they take a chance, it works, and so what if it does not. The person will feel he or she will be out on pension anyway and there is a fund to pick up the pieces. We are putting a safety net under them, yet we are not putting in place any new legislation to deal with their maladministration. In the public service, one will be familiar with the phrase "maladministration". If somebody maladministered their job, it might not be a criminal offence today but, perhaps this process needs to be looking at some new mechanisms to deal with those persons.