Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I respect the role of the Central Bank in terms of its regulation and the investigation it is carrying out, but that does not absolve the Minister for Finance. As the major shareholder in AIB and Permanent TSB, why is he not asking the board what for God it was doing when it stole all this money from 4,000 citizens and made some of them homeless? That is a responsibility, but it is also the human thing to do. This cannot be allowed to go unchecked but, unfortunately, it has until now. This story did not just emerge in the past few days. This has been going on for years and people have turned a blind eye to it, including those in the Central Bank. Now we find that it is not confined to the 86 customers that had cases before the Financial Services Ombudsman but possibly affects up to 15,000 individuals.

The Criminal Justice (Theft and Fraud Offences) Act 2001 is clear. It states: "A person who dishonestly, with the intention of making a gain for himself or herself or another, or of causing loss to another, by any deception induces another to do or refrain from doing an act is guilty of an offence." That offence is punishable by up to five years in prison. I could put any money on it with the Minister, and I hope I am wrong, but not one banker will be held accountable for what has happened.

Now is the time to introduce robust white collar crime legislation to ensure that bankers know that they will face the full rigours of the law if they do this to any one of our citizens or anyone else again.

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