Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)

They have been raised in reports that are in the public domain. There is a responsibility on the Taoiseach or the Minister for Finance to address them when they are asked, and I am inviting them to do so.

My other question is about the Financial Regulator. We know Mr. Neary is gone. However, has the Taoiseach made any inquiries about the regulator being told in September — and, apparently, his office being told again in October — that Anglo Irish Bank was, in effect, managing its balance sheet, and that it was given the nod for that? This is a case not of light regulation but of blind-eye regulation. The reputation of the country and of our banks, and all the economic consequences that flow from that, are at stake.

What went on in Anglo Irish Bank must be investigated. The Labour Party has been seeking this for some time and I am glad to see progress being made on it. We have been seeking to have an inspector appointed, for example. However, there is also the issue of the reputation of our regulatory regime and the political supervision of that regime. These reports were in a Sunday newspaper. I do not believe everything I read in the newspapers, but I do think——

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