Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)

The Taoiseach stated yesterday that he did not know the identity of the ten wealthy investors who constituted the golden circle in Anglo Irish Bank. Has he found out who the ten are since? When will he find out and when will he tell us? We must be told because the people own this bank and we are stuck with the €300 million they gambled recklessly. The golden circle must be named.

The Taoiseach made an interesting statement yesterday. He told us that he, the Department of Finance, when he was Minister, and the regulator became of aware of what he called the "overhang" of the Quinn interest in Anglo Irish Bank in March 2008 and that they concluded it was a source of instability in the bank. That overhang was assembled by the Quinn group using a method known as contracts for difference, an arrangement whereby the person does not buy the shares, he or she effectively gambles on them, buying an interest in whether they go up or down. Why would someone use contracts for difference to acquire an interest in a bank or other body rather than buying the shares? One reason is that contracts for difference have a different tax treatment from the purchase of shares. Stamp duty is payable on shares whereas contracts for difference are not liable for stamp duty.

The Revenue Commissioners rumbled this back in 2006. On St. Patrick's Day 2006, the Revenue Commissioners issued a compliance notice to the effect that contracts for difference would have to be subject to stamp duty. Within days, the Taoiseach, as Minister for Finance, caused the Revenue Commissioners to reverse that decision and to withdraw the compliance notice. He did so after being lobbied. We know he was lobbied because in reply to questions from Deputy Burton and Deputy Rabbitte shortly after that, he acknowledged that he was lobbied. The day after the compliance notice was withdrawn, the shares in Anglo Irish Bank increased by €0.30 and 3.7 million shares in Anglo Irish Bank were traded.

Will the Taoiseach tell the House who lobbied him in March 2006, causing him to direct the Revenue Commissioners to withdraw the compliance notice days after it had issued? This caused a situation to continue whereby trading in contracts for difference without tax liability continued, resulting in the overhang of Quinn shares in Anglo Irish Bank, among other things, which has now led to what the Taoiseach referred to yesterday as the instability in Anglo Irish Bank and all of the consequences that have flown with it, with the disastrous results for our banking system and economy.

See this speech in context