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

Notwithstanding the revelations on the Anglo tapes, I have made clear for a long time that those who were in senior positions in Anglo Irish Bank should not have been in the employ of the State. The individuals in question earned more than the Minister for Finance until February this year, despite having been involved in a bank that cost the State more than €30 billion. We see the pain this caused in every community in the State.

We have heard a great deal about fitness and probity. Why did the Minister for Finance not issue an instruction that senior executives in Anglo Irish Bank be subjected to a fitness and probity test to ensure they could continue, in senior positions, to restructure the bank? As a former leader of the Fine Gael Party, why did he not speak to another former leader of his party, Mr. Alan Dukes, who was appointed as public interest director in Anglo Irish Bank, to ascertain what Mr. Dukes knew about the reasons some of the 22 individuals in question continued to be in the employment of the State and were awarded salaries in excess of the salary earned by the Minister for Finance?

Has the Minister taken it upon himself to inquire as to whether any other types of tapes exist in Bank of Ireland and Allied Irish Banks? Has he ensured that no one who was in a senior position in Anglo Irish Bank is working in any financial institution being bailed out by the State?

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