Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The legislation to which the Tánaiste refers was actually passed by the House last night. Whatever about his claim of complexity in respect of this matter, for many people it is not complex at all. For those who are in the Shelbourne Hotel this morning to attend an auction - a fire sale - of properties, both residential and commercial, and who suffered the brunt of malpractice in the system, it is not complex at all. In fact, it is terribly simple for them - some people won while they lost.

I put to the Tánaiste a number of very straightforward questions which do not require the establishment of an inquiry in order to be answered. I want to know why there was no report to the Central Bank - the appropriate regulatory authority - in respect of these tapes, the existence of which had to be known to management at the bank. Above all, I want the Tánaiste to discover what Alan Dukes, one of the public interest directors, was doing. Why did he sing dumb? I do not believe this matter can wait and the position in respect of it must be established now. Without infringing on the prerogatives of any other body, it would be entirely appropriate for the Government of the day to put that straight question to Mr. Alan Dukes and obtain from him a straight response. We also want to know whether the Nyberg banking commission had access to these tapes. The answer to the question in this regard is a simple "yes" or "no". Either they were or they were not; we do not need a banking inquiry to establish that.

When people who are at just a slight remove from this hot-house look in and observe what has happened over the past week or so, what they will see is the following: the macho antics, which the Tánaiste rightly described and condemned, of the moolah men in the bank and which were bad, but they also see a political system which is prepared to kick the can down the road again. Fianna Fáil clearly does not want to make a simple statement and reveal which bankers met which Fianna Fáil Ministers. It could do that without any inquiry. Today, the people hear that the public interest director, there to defend their interests and stake, sang dumb on the matter of these tapes. Why was that?

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