Jim O'Keeffe (Cork South West, Fine Gael)

There were instances of sharp practice. People who took no risks and added no value to clients or customers ran off with multi-million bonuses stuffed into their pockets. Will that happen in the future? If not, why not? When I spoke to people about this issue, I was often told it was an international question. The monkeys compared themselves to monkeys in other jurisdictions who were doing exactly the same thing. We were expected to accept that it was okay. How will that be dealt with in the future? I believe the labourer is worthy of his hire. There are people who are very good at this business, but they are few enough and far between. We need to establish a system that allows those who do a good job to be adequately rewarded. Essentially, how can we separate the good, the bad and the ugly?

A number of other issues have not been mentioned during this debate. What is the Government's attitude to the possibility of introducing a Tobin tax? Such a proposal, which would involve introducing a levy on a wide range of financial transactions, has been around for a long time. What is the attitude of the Government to the International Monetary Fund's proposed financial stability contribution, which would meet the fiscal cost of any future Government support for the financial sector? What is its attitude to the proposed financial activities tax? When one thinks about some of the fat cats who are around, it is appropriate that the tax is delightfully abbreviated as the FAT. There has been no debate here on the FAT, which would operate as a tax on remuneration, profits and bonuses. What is the Government's attitude to it? Has there been an adequate debate on the merits of principles-based regulation, as opposed to rules-based regulation?

I would like to conclude by focusing on monitoring and oversight. What is the best practice in that regard? Regardless of the outcome of the theological argument on the differences between principles-based and rules-based regulation, it is essential that there is proper and genuine monitoring and oversight on the part of the Minister of the day, the appropriate section in the Department of Finance, the regulatory authorities within the Central Bank and the Oireachtas. I have called for years for the establishment of a standing committee of the Oireachtas to deal with banking affairs. It could be modelled on the Committee of Public Accounts, to some degree. Such a committee should be adequately resourced. Obviously, it would not interfere with day-to-day decision-making. It would be able to discuss broad issues of relevance in public. If questions could be answered transparently and openly by the top people in financial institutions, we would get the accountability that is needed, which is a major issue. While the Bill proposes that certain functions be given to the Oireachtas, I do not believe it goes half far enough. We need a standing Oireachtas committee on banks to be established. It would play a major role in ensuring that the kinds of failures which have occurred in the past do not arise again in the future.

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