John McGuinness (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank Mr. Kissane, Ms Grogan, Ms Melbourne, Mr. Ryan and Ms Byrne for their contributions.

It has come to this: we have to hear directly from customers in order to put a human face on a scandal that has been allowed to go on for far too long. I tend to agree with Mr. Kissane about external auditors and legal firms. Some way has to be found to hold them to account because they stood over this and must have seen it. The question has to be asked: did they see it and do they consider it to be fraud? What happened in all of the banks to allow this to happen at the same time? It happened in a number of banking institutions. The work of this committee has been structured over the past while in a way that allowed us to hear from the banks and customers. There is an endless number of letters and correspondence which tell similar stories to the four we have heard here today. It takes a big degree of bravery to come forward, waive one's anonymity and tell one's story. All of us here respect that. Of the other stories we have read, the message that comes out is that people are afraid of the banks and the big legal teams that can be used against them. They are afraid their lives will be further ruined by the activities of the bank. That has to change and that is down to the Central Bank.

All of this was going on before the crash. There were Chinese walls and people pretending not to know what was going on across the wall. The whole banking system was behaving in a way that allowed it to get over the regulation and so on. That is what has us where we are. Our next step is the Central Bank. We will carry the witnesses' stories into that hearing. Do the witnesses want to say anything now? I think we have heard everything they have said. If there is any issue they want to stress before they leave, I ask them to please do so.