Shane Ross (Independent)

I support what Senator Fitzgerald has said. There is a large problem here, which is not so much about the detail of what happened between Seán FitzPatrick and Brian Cowen. It is about the fact that the chairman and former chief executive of a rogue bank should have such easy access to the Taoiseach. This happened not once or twice but three times and, as I believe Senator Fitzgerald noted, the dogs in the street were barking about Anglo Irish Bank before Mr. FitzPatrick's first such encounter with the Taoiseach. One knew there was something dodgy about Anglo Irish Bank, even if one could not put one's finger on it at the time, and yet the person who was head of that bank at one stage could pick up the telephone and have a conversation with the Taoiseach when the latter was in Malaysia. Moreover, he could have a golf game with the Taoiseach for seven hours and could meet him and ask him to dinner to meet all his fellow directors. One must ask the reason this happens and the fundamental problem is that the country has been governed to a large extent in recent years by a group of cronies. While I do not wish to be personal about this, the Taoiseach undoubtedly is one of those cronies. Moreover, he has cronies surrounding him and not just in the Cabinet. He and the Cabinet have cronies in the banks, among developers, in the regulator's office and in the Department of Finance.