Pearse Doherty (Donegal South West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The question was whether the Minister regrets continuing to employ Mr. John Bowe and Mr. Peter Fitzgerald, the latter until February of this year, in respect of which the Minister has passed the buck to the board of the bank. In October 2011, I asked the Minister how many of the top 50 senior executives employed in Anglo Irish Bank prior to the crash were still employed by the State. The Minister was forthright in his answer and said that 22 of the top 50 were still employed by the State, 19 of whom were earning in excess of €175,000.

Mr. John Bowe and Mr. Peter Fitzgerald, who are now household names as a result of the Anglo tapes, are two of the individuals who continued to be employed by the Minister for Finance on behalf of the State. Others, whom I have previously named in this House, were involved in reckless lending at that bank. One of these employees, heard on the Anglo tapes, left his position in February this year. This is at the same time as the public is experiencing huge austerity.

We were promised by Government that it would clear out the banks and burn the bondholders. That was the chant of the Government parties prior to the election. It is clear that this is not what has happened. Not only did the Government fail to burn the bondholders - one of the first things it did was pay the promissory note due on 31 March 2011 - but it also protected these individuals in the same way as it protected Mr. Richie Boucher, head of the retail division in Bank of Ireland in the run-up to the crash and now in charge at that bank, commanding a salary of €843,000 per annum.

I will put my question again to see if I can get an answer from the Minister. Does he regret continuing the employment of Mr. John Bowe and Mr. Peter Fitzgerald? The latter was one of the 22 senior executives in Anglo Irish Bank before the crash who, as the Minister stated in the House two years ago, was still in the employment of the State.

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