Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)

I do not know if those names were correct. They were published in The Sunday Times and would be familiar to most people who have been involved in battling against some bad rezonings on the green belt in my constituency. If those names are correct they would be better known to members of Fianna Fáil. The Government has put up a straw man argument on why we are not entitled to know those names. The only argument it has advanced is that they are customers as well as shareholders, and there is a sacred confidentiality between a bank and its customers. However, the Supreme Court has clearly ruled that where there is any suggestion of wrongdoing, this confidentiality does not apply. In this case the wrongdoing is that we had to nationalise the bank, making the taxpayer liable for an incredible amount of guarantee for it. We have also put our two bigger, essential banks, Allied Irish Banks and Bank of Ireland, in mortal danger; witness what has happened to the share price today yet again. However, we are told we must have confidentiality regarding Anglo Irish Bank. There was no due diligence before the guarantee and we are then told we cannot have the names.

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