Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)

I welcome the fact that the chief executive of the Bank of Ireland has made the decision that he made in respect of his top-up pension. That is no thanks to the Government, which defended the position by stating that it was powerless to intervene until moral, political and public pressure brought about this decision.

I was reminded by Deputy Flanagan that in the Taoiseach's constituency, a majority of Dáil Members are of the view that Anglo Irish Bank should be wound up in an orderly fashion. I must assume that Deputy Fleming was speaking on behalf of the Government when he made his comments yesterday on the Central Bank Reform Bill 2010. Is the Government now of the view that Anglo Irish Bank should be wound up in an orderly fashion?

Following on from Mr. Boucher's decision, Deputy O'Donnell pointed out to me that section 48 of the Credit (Financial Institutions) Support Scheme states quite clearly that "Where the Minister considers, on the advice of CIROC, that the covered institution has not complied with the requirements of this paragraph, he or she may direct the covered institution to amend the remuneration plan so that compliance is achieved". The remuneration of the former chief executive of Irish Nationwide, Mr. Michael Fingleton, was in excess of the recommendation and the advice of CIROC, or the covered institutions remuneration oversight committee. The Tánaiste is aware of that. The recommendation was to pay him €360,000 per annum. He was paid €221,000 for the four months before he resigned in April 2009, which is an annual equivalent of €663,000. This was grossly in excess of the recommendation given by CIROC. The Taoiseach said yesterday that the Government would pursue this in every respect. Do those words mean that the Government is now calling in the public interest directors and preparing legislation to deal with this?

Does the Tánaiste consider the bonus and pension of the former Governor of the Central Bank, Mr. Hurley, and the former Financial Regulator, Mr. Neary, were appropriate in view of the mismanagement of their responsibilities? An Oireachtas committee was told by Mr. Neary that banks in this country were very well capitalised and well able to withstand any pressure. Does the Government intend to introduce legislation to do something about the extent of bonuses and pensions paid to persons who were clearly grossly incompetent in their duties?

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