Jimmy Deenihan (Kerry North, Fine Gael)

Every quarter, each financial institution will have to provide the Minister with a compliance certificate issued by its auditors. Should this certificate not be issued by an independent auditor? Does the Minister agree that the auditors of the banks should be rotated every three years? There seems to be no sanction where auditors do not convey bad news. Surely that is the kernel of the problem.

Today's edition of The Irish Times includes an advertisement seeking the recruitment of 20 staff to the regulator's office. How many additional staff are required to "go deep" into the banks, as the Minister put it? Are we merely setting up another layer of bureaucracy?

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