Pearse Doherty (Donegal South West, Sinn Fein)
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One of the frustrations is that the losses relating to Quinn Insurance Limited exist and there is not much we can do about that at this point. I am sure many other people share my frustration that the agencies of the State failed to recognise what was happening and failed to act appropriately in advance to limit the losses or the liability of the State. We have had problems with the banks and now we have the insurance company. There is nothing to indicate that this scenario will not repeat itself. If one looks back on history we have had banks in the same situation 20 years ago as they are now and levies being imposed on people. We have a regulator to regulate them but it failed to see a potential €1.65 billion loss. What went wrong and what will be done to ensure that difficulties will not arise in the case of another insurance company, bank or financial institution that the Central Bank regulates, and that the witnesses will not be put in front of a committee to say that PricewaterhouseCoopers gave them a report and that an auditor gave them another report? What is in place to satisfy people at home who are being screwed as a result of the financial institutions that what has happened will not happen again and that the agencies of the State are robust enough and have sufficient manpower and tools to make sure this does not happen? Does the Central Bank need anything or could assurances be provided that it is sufficiently strong and robust to ensure this will not happen in the future?