Shane Ross (Dublin South, Independent)

Today, the annual general meeting of AIB is being held. The Taoiseach is heading to Brussels to talk about debt relief. AIB is a Government-owned bank in a pivotal and important position. The Government has backed all resolutions for debate and passage at the AIB annual general meeting. The Government has accepted highly questionable accounts and has voted through and accepted all of the directors, including the publicly appointed directors, for re-election.

Most dangerous of all, the Government has agreed to the reappointment of the auditors, KPMG, which has been in charge of auditing AIB for ten years. That ten-year period included a period of gross under-provisioning during the property frenzy and the collapse because property was overvalued on the balance sheet. The audit fees extracted by KPMG during that period amount to more than €50 million. The company is obviously not giving value for money. Why is it also granted the audit for Irish Life & Permanent and other banking basketcases owned by the Government? Is the Minister satisfied that there has been no tender in ten years and that the company is still auditing the accounts? Is the company providing value for money? The Government could surely save money by cutting audit fees and capping audit fees.

See this speech in context