Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)

——we continue to deal with the entrails of a range of tribunals and nobody in Government accepts responsibility for any actions of Government. We are in this mess not because Fianna Fáil policies have failed but because they have succeeded. As the Minister for Finance has said, this is where the people wanted us to go and the position at which they wanted us to arrive. We have now come to a shuddering halt.

The transfer of €7 billion from Irish Life & Permanent to Anglo Irish Bank took place when there was a run on that bank during the final quarter of the financial year. Was the Government aware of the extent of the transfer involved? Did the Financial Regulator inform the Government of the transfer of €7 billion from Irish Life & Permanent to Anglo Irish Bank? More important, did the treatment of that transfer of money, either as a loan or as a deposit, not send out a misleading statement or perception to shareholders of both institutions and to international markets?

The Financial Regulator knew about this. The Minister for Finance told us in the House that Anglo Irish Bank was being nationalised owing to the unethical loan practises of the previous chairman. If that were the case and the Financial Regulator informed the Department of Finance of the transfer, how can the Taoiseach justify the Department of Finance signing off on a special bonus of the type awarded to the previous Financial Regulator? I accept he has statutory entitlements but this payment goes beyond normal terms and conditions. Given the Financial Regulator knew of the transfer of €7 billion, a massive deposit, by Irish Life & Permanent to Anglo Irish Bank, can the Taoiseach justify that payment and will he explain to the House why that happened?

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