Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)

I thank the Minister for his reply. A front-page article in the international edition of the Financial Times on St. Patrick's Day — exactly a year after the St. Patrick's Day massacre in regard to Anglo Irish Bank shares — stated that Ireland is planning to introduce tough legislation to clamp down on "crony capitalism and excess bank lending" in the wake of the property bubble that has "hammered" its leading banks. The article refers to a statement by the Minister, Deputy Brian Lenihan, that there is a problem in all small countries in that there are "too many incestuous relationships" within their financial systems. This is an extraordinary statement for a Minister for Finance to make about his country's banks.

Would the Minister include in his definition of "incestuous relationships" the relationship of Mr. Seán FitzPatrick to the Irish Nationwide Building Society in regard to the warehousing of loans of €122 million? Would he include in this definition a situation where the board of the Irish Nationwide Building Society, even after it had been guaranteed by the taxpayer to the tune of billions of euro, paid out a bonus of €1 million to its chief executive officer and persisted with pension arrangements for this individual which appear to amount to some €27 million? We should bear in mind that one quarter of this pension will be tax free and that most of the pension arrangements involve further mitigation of tax, particularly in regard to estate duty taxes and inheritance taxes.

See this speech in context