Jim Walsh (Fianna Fail)

That is a fact. It is set up by them. That is casting no aspersions on the individuals. The chairman is present in the Chamber. From what I can gather, those who are on the council - I do not know any of them - are persons of very good repute. However, as we know, self-regulation does not work. Will the Minister attend the House to explain why he has been dragging his feet on the privacy Bill? The House wanted that Bill to be enacted at the same time as the defamation Bill but that did not happen. Everyday one sees stories in the newspapers which certainly fall far short of the standards one would like to see in the media.

On the calls made by other Senators for a debate on what happened in Goldman Sachs, a commentator on an American news channel who has taken a keen interest in this matter for several years said recently that it was only symptomatic of what was happening in many US financial companies. In the same way Ireland was affected by the global downturn, one can rest assured such practices were not alien to the financial industry here. I, therefore, call for a debate on ethics and morality in corporate governance. We need individuals in corporations to be held personally liable, in the same way as health and safety legislation overrides the corporate veil, in order that people can face criminal action as a consequence of their failures in governance.

I also call for a debate on general banking policy. The Financial Regulator has come in for much praise recently, but I do not give him any praise. He is paid well to do his job and he should do it.