Shane Ross (Independent)

That is desperately serious. The question we must now ask is whether Irish Life & Permanent is doing this for Anglo Irish Bank, and it is normal behaviour, who else is doing it for whomever else? Is the Bank of Ireland doing it for AIB and vice versa?

On a day when the Minister for Finance, Deputy Brian Lenihan, will announce that he is putting €7 billion from the pension fund into these banks, is he sure he knows the annual reports, balance sheets and accounts of these banks are in order or credible? It seems to me that he may be buying a pig in a poke and that the annual reports now being issued by the banks are works of fiction and creative art. A desperately serious situation has been unveiled and it no longer concerns just Anglo Irish Bank or Irish Life & Permanent but also Bank of Ireland and AIB.

Perhaps the Leader will address this question. How in the name of God did the auditors of Anglo Irish Bank apparently miss not only the transfer of Mr. FitzPatrick's loans, but an almost parallel activity by another bank where €7 billion was transferred in and out at almost exactly the same time? It is a desperately serious situation and I intend to raise it as a matter for an urgent debate later on. I will read it out at the end of the Order of Business.