Ned O'Keeffe (Cork East, Fianna Fail)

The Chief Whip asked me to, and I did not want to upset the House.

I welcome the Minister's wide-ranging speech this morning. I admire the Minister as one of the most progressive Ministers for Finance we have seen in very difficult times. His knowledge of finance has been outstanding. I was taken aback this morning when I read an article in The Irish Times entitled: "Audit into delays by banks in collecting interest payments." The banks are in difficulty because of their auditing. I checked the Internet to find out who audited the banks. Anglo Irish Bank was audited by Ernst & Young. Bank of Ireland was audited by PricewaterhouseCoopers, the company getting the job of forensically investigating the banks' problems. It got €15.4 billion last year. AIB was audited by KPMG. I would have much more confidence in my Labour Party colleague, Deputy Rabbitte, doing this forensic audit than I have in PricewaterhouseCoopers. Auditors are a joke and a waste of time. They are lick-arses for the management of companies.

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