John Deasy (Waterford, Fine Gael)
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Let me stop Mr. Moran. The public is listening to us and everything in the country has supposedly changed. However, while we have not concluded our banking inquiry into what happened seven or eight years ago, we are now finding that we are conducting another inquiry into a bank we own. Somebody might ask the question: "What is worse governance wise?" Was what happened in the 2000s in banks we did not own and of which there was no oversight and regulation worse?

The answer is that that was worse, given the devastation caused to our country and people. Technically, though, what is worse in governance terms is that we are holding an inquiry into a bank that we owned. That is how I will premise my comments. If the Department of Finance technically does not have a remit over the investigation of alleged insider trading, I am not sure whether it is sufficient to assert that that was not the Department's job. The Department had oversight of IBRC. The State owned it. When the media reported an alleged spike in share activity, did anyone in the Department contact the Stock Exchange, the Garda or the Office of the Director of Corporate Enforcement, ODCE? If the answer is "No", we have a problem. If someone robs my house, I go to the Garda and make a statement. A Deputy has made a request of the Director of Corporate Enforcement. His office's answer was that it wondered whether it had a remit in this area. We have an issue with the process when it comes to the investigation of alleged insider trading. The answer to my question is that the Department did not contact anyone about an alleged spike in share activity. Is that the case?