Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)

Go raibh maith agat. If it is the case that the regulator operated within Irish law, then the Taoiseach when he was Minister for Finance and his predecessor as Taoiseach oversaw a situation where there was no regulation. For that level of incompetence a pay-off of almost €1 million was paid to the regulator when he left. Is that justified? How can we say that we are operating within proper Irish law if, for example, the Irish Nationwide Building Society accumulated losses of €2.8 billion last year alone?

If we are serious about this - and Deputy Cowen in his capacity as Taoiseach will want to be seen in a position where the country is run properly - there is no reason for our having a confined inquiry into the banking sector. The material that is emerging now is truly appalling. It all happened under light touch regulation. The Taoiseach and his predecessor were Ministers for Finance for part of this time.

Does the Taoiseach consider that the supervisory role of the previous regulator under Irish law was simply non-existent and has resulted in an appalling economic catastrophe for hundreds of thousands of people? In that context, if this Government is serious about its business it should sort out the issue once and for all. There should be an open-ended inquiry into what went wrong in the banking sector and the people should know what happened. The Taoiseach should have no fear about doing this in the interests of our people and country. The banking and financial services regime should be seen to be above reproach in order to continue to employ strong numbers and grow in integrity both at home and abroad.

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