John Gerard Hanafin (Fianna Fail)

I ask the Leader to inquire from the relevant Department concerning the financial regulation of transactions taking place in the markets, such as those in France which were the work of one bank official. The interesting thing about that situation was that so much money was involved without any regulation and yet other matters are regulated to a high degree. These things affect us and this could happen again. It has happened concerning the re-packaging of loans by a couple of banks in the sub-prime lending market. In the ongoing Irish and European context there does not appear to be a system to regulate the very large amounts of money that are invested at high risk and thus ensure that the liquidity and the safety of banks are kept at a safe level.