Shane Ross (Dublin South, Independent)

The House is anticipating and will welcome the announcement of an inquiry into the bank guarantee of September 2008. The sooner it comes, the better. I say as much because I believe we are in danger of repeating the mistakes of 2008 unless we are particularly vigilant. The Tánaiste will be aware that there are banking scandals breaking globally. Giants such as Barclays, Lloyds TSB and HSBC are the subject of investigations in the USA and the United Kingdom.

We have had our own problems with Ulster Bank but there has been another more sinister development in recent days. When the Ulster Bank scandal began to break here, Bank of Ireland made an announcement which raises the question of whether the Government is really hands-on with the banks. It announced a new governor in a press release one day after the Ulster Bank scandal started to break. No one really noticed what was happening when it did so but it was important for the Government for two reasons: first, because Bank of Ireland is part of the Government's pillar bank strategy, and second, because it holds 15% of Bank of Ireland and has two directors on the board. The governor was recruited from Lloyds TSB. It is not in the press release but Lloyds TSB is the subject of a serious investigation and was found to have mis-sold more than £3 billion worth of personal protection insurance less than two years ago.

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