Michael Collins (Cork South West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

This commission was established in June 2015 to investigate certain transactions, activities and management decisions at the IBRC. The report of the commission of investigation on the transaction in relation to Siteserv and principles and policies within IBRC on the interest rates was published by the Taoiseach on Wednesday, 7 September 2022. I ask the Ministers of State what has changed today. There is no accountability in the banks. Will it take seven years to get answers from this Government to what happened in July of this year, when AIB stated that no cash would be available in its branches in my own constituency of Castletownbere, Dunmanway and Kinsale? What Minister has answered the questions on this issue to date in the Dáil? None. Who was responsible for this fiasco? We have not got an answer. The people of Ireland are not puppets. We know that the Irish Government is the largest shareholder of the bank. Ministers must have known that this was happening. If the Minister of State gets up and tells me today that he did not know, when there are two senior Ministers and two junior Ministers for finance, I would have to accuse him of gross incompetence.

Deputies Mattie McGrath, Danny Healy-Rae and I decided to go to AIB headquarters, on behalf of the people of Ireland and our constituents, to force a meeting with the CEO of AIB, Colin Hunt, find a solution to the crisis, or we were not leaving that day. We were successful in our efforts to put an end to the ridiculous idea. A bank with no cash is equivalent to a restaurant with no food or a bar with no beer. The Minister who allowed this decision to be announced with no debate here in the Dáil needs to answer questions. Why was this announced after the Dáil was in recess for the summer? Did the Ministers of State know that this was going to be announced? If so, what did they do to try and stop it? Will we have to wait seven years for an answer, as we have waited seven years for this report? The people of this country want answers.

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