Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)

I support effective regulation. I asked the Taoiseach if he had written, on behalf of the Government and Irish people, to the two public interest directors, Mr. Kearns and Mr. O'Farrell, on the board of Irish Nationwide Building Society, instructing them to take whatever course is necessary, and as the Taoiseach mentioned, in every respect. This includes a legal action, if necessary, to ensure the €1 million bonus is returned, along with the excess salary over and above the recommendation made by the Government's watchdog.

One cannot have a situation in which the Government wishes to portray an image of dealing with the banks separately from the situation that affects the public finances or the circumstances that face every worker today. I listened carefully to the words of the chairman of the Labour Relations Commission, Mr. Kieran Mulvey, who spoke this morning on Newstalk's "Breakfast Show", on which he expressed his grave concerns about what is happening in this regard. Mr. Mulvey is the person who effected the bridge between the Government and the trade unions in respect of the deal now to be decided on by thousands of workers. Does the Taoiseach not accept that if the Government appears to be powerless to deal with a small number of senior bankers for whom no pain is being taken and who have business as usual, that is, thumbing one's nose at the office of the Taoiseach and the Government-----

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