Fidelma Healy Eames (Fine Gael)

I compliment the Government on negotiating with Mr. Appleby, the director of corporate enforcement, and ensuring he will stay in his post until the probe into the former Anglo Irish Bank is over. This is a very wise decision. It is cheap at any cost when we consider the carnage wrought on Irish families as a result of reckless banks and governance over a period. Innocent Irish families and rural schools, for example, must take very hard cuts that would not be necessary if the awful decisions were not made by these banks, or if the previous Government had regulated the banks.

On that note I raise a matter which should be of concern to everybody in the House this morning. Overnight I learned that Bank of Ireland has seized €1.1 million from the deposit accounts of Galway airport to offset loans despite repayments being fully up to date. Members may have read this for themselves. It is an unprecedented move. Such action should ring alarm bells for every business in the country and I ask for an inquiry into it.

Will the Leader check why and how this could happen? Surely there must be some protection from banks moving on businesses or companies whose loans are up to date. It is an outrage and an infringement of rights. Where is the company law to protect us? Will the Leader tell me which Minister has responsibility in this? Is it the Minister for Finance? Company law must be changed in response to this. I want to know how Bank of Ireland can make this move without, at the very least, informing directors.