Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)

Will the Minister cast his mind back to the discussion on the night of the guarantee and, subsequently, with the representatives of the various banks and the governor and regulator? When the Minister agreed to a blanket guarantee and, subsequently, to further bail outs and the nationalisation of Anglo Irish Bank, at any stage did he seek undertakings from the chief executives, senior executives and boards of those institutions that they would stay in the country and undertake to make themselves available to the authorities to account for their actions?

Given the extraordinary size of the banking guarantee, which the Minister knew about and which we have been told to take on, did it never occur to him that there should be an inquiry into why such a catastrophic banking collapse took place? How was it possible that Mr. Drumm and a variety of other bankers and developers have been able to transfer properties and assets to their spouses, establish businesses and go to homes in other parts of the world, locating themselves in other legal systems? There was a lot of talk at the time of the blanket guarantee of due diligence being exercised. Was it not basic due diligence that the Minister for Finance, as the responsible Minister, would ensure that if these executives were to be bailed out, he would seek undertakings from them to remain in the jurisdiction so they would be available to the authorities?

The fact that the former chief executive of Anglo Irish Bank has found refuge in the United States legal system does extraordinary damage to our reputation. That a central figure involved in the crony capitalism that links Fianna Fáil, the banks and the developers, can find refuge in the legal system of the United System does great harm to us as a country. Irish people have seen people in other jurisdictions go to jail, have seen them come before parliamentary committees to apologise but nothing like that has been possible here because of the way Fianna Fáil has treated this crisis. Ordinary people are as angry as it is possible to be that Fianna Fáil has facilitated this. Did the Minister not look for a single undertaking from Mr. Fingleton, Mr. FitzPatrick, Mr. Drumm and others to stay in the jurisdiction, remaining available at all times for inquiries while keeping their assets in their names, rather than transferring them, as they have done wholesale?

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