Bertie Ahern (Dublin Central, Fianna Fail)

Thanks to the work of this House and the legislation brought forward by the Government we have good corporate compliance, a good IFSRA Bill and good financial regulators. All these, individually and collectively, have a role to play. They have the powers and functions to investigate, and I have no doubt they will do that. As I said earlier, one can never be certain that any regulatory authority will catch everything but IFSRA has power to investigate. It has shown it is prepared to speak openly on these issues and has done so already. Revenue and Corporate Compliance are also speaking openly. From the point of view of the Government and the House, it is important that these matters are investigated thoroughly and that action is taken. In accountancy terms, internal audit is one aspect that always worked in a company, particularly a bank. Nobody has raised the question, but it does arise, as to where were the internal auditors in the financial institutions.

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