Frances Fitzgerald (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

-----knows the issues which we as a Government have had to deal with over the past number of years in relation to the banking situation in this country. Tough and difficult action had to be taken and every family in this country has paid the price for the reckless behaviour of our banks in the past. The Deputy knows the range of initiatives which have been taken to ensure that there the situation was changed, but the emergence of the details and the horror of the situation has brought home to us once again the extreme importance of regulation and monitoring as well as the role of the Central Bank and the need for that role to be robust in the extreme. The Deputy spoke about the Central Banking having the power to ensure redress. That is precisely what the Minister has said will happen by the end of December. The second report will identify other families and individuals who may have been impacted. The Governor and the Minister have made it absolutely clear that they expect the banks to move immediately on redress, and we are talking about weeks and not months.

The Deputy spoke about whether there was fraud. The determination of whether fraud has taken place, criminal proceedings should be brought or a cartel has operated are matters for the independent statutory bodies, namely, the Central Bank, An Garda Síochána and the Director of Public Prosecutions. The Central Bank has well-established arrangements to liaise with An Garda Síochána where there is any suspicion of criminal investigation. I suppose one could say that they are at the middle point of their probe and we have to await its results. None of us here wants to jeopardise any potential enforcement actions or prosecutions in these matters. We do not decide on the bringing of criminal prosecutions at a political level; that is a decision for the relevant authorities. The Minister is determined that there will be a thorough and rigorous examination of the issues in terms of what has happened to people, which is why he asked the Governor of the Central Bank to do the further report on the broader issue of how this could have happened and the cultural factors that led to it. That report will be available early in the new year.

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