Seán Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael)

I am going to ask a question. I want to know from the Minister whether the regulatory supervision will include the activities of banks. Banks want to be building societies and insurance companies, and building societies want to be banks. If I have a plumbing problem, I call a plumber, not a carpenter. The problem has arisen because banks got involved in business they were never supposed to be involved in. Will we restrict activities so that banking will be for bankers? A 1% insurance levy is still being levied on the taxpayer, in case people forget, because somebody set up an insurance business that was destined to go flop and we are still paying the price for it. Regulation in these areas is very important.

I was a member of a Government that had to bail out the AIB because it became involved in an insurance company. What was it doing?

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