On 18 December 2008, several hours after the Dáil went into recess for Christmas, Mr. Seán FitzPatrick announced his intention to resign as chairman of Anglo Irish Bank following the disclosure that he had taken out loans of €87 million which, by shifting them periodically to another institution, he was able to conceal from the bank's shareholders over a period of eight years. We have subsequently found out that the total loans he had amounted to €129 million, an astonishing amount of money in any circumstances.

Mr. FitzPatrick says that what he did was inappropriate but that he did not break any law. The Minister for Finance, in his initial comment, expressed disappointment at what Mr. FitzPatrick had done. The Taoiseach will appreciate that the feeling among the public is somewhat stronger than that. Shareholders in Anglo Irish Bank, many of them pensioners, whose savings have been lost, staff of the bank, people who have loans, sometimes for small amounts, and are being followed quite strongly by the banks to pay them back, people who have lost their jobs because of the difficulties in the economy to which the crisis in banking has contributed, and the other banks in which international confidence has declined and which are having difficulty raising money on international financial markets — these people would feel somewhat more strongly about the damage that has been caused by the actions of Mr. FitzPatrick and perhaps others in Anglo Irish Bank.

The Taoiseach has said that problems in banking and the economy are happening in other countries worldwide. However, we see in other countries that wrongdoing is outed and illegality is punished. We see that people who have engaged in wrongful activities or are accused of illegal activities are arrested and, in some cases, are in custody awaiting trial. Members will recall the case of Martha Stewart who served time in jail for what would be regarded here as a relatively minor offence.

The Labour Party, through Deputy Burton, proposed here last week when we were dealing with the nationalisation of Anglo Irish Bank that a High Court inspector should be appointed to investigate what happened in the bank and in particular the activities of Mr. FitzPatrick. The Taoiseach's Government voted down that proposal. What I want to ask the Taoiseach today is if he can tell the House and the public what investigations are under way into what happened in Anglo Irish Bank. Who is conducting the investigations and when will the public find out the truth about what has happened in Anglo Irish Bank, who was involved in it, if there were illegal actions and if laws were broken? I find it difficult to believe and to understand that laws were not broken. The Companies Act is quite specific and clear that full information is to be made available and that directors have responsibilities to make full information available on their companies' affairs and accounts to their shareholders. I find it difficult to understand how laws were not broken. What I want to establish from the Taoiseach today, and I do not want to do it in any prejudicial way, is what investigations, if any, are under way into what went on in Anglo Irish Bank and the activities of Mr. FitzPatrick and others.

The Deputy will be aware there are well established mechanisms to establish the full picture of what went wrong in the bank. The Financial Regulator is carrying out its own investigation and I understand will report back to a committee of this House on the matter. The Director of Corporate Enforcement is also investigating behaviour in the bank. Those two mechanisms available to us are what is going on in regard to the bank at present. When they have completed their inquiries, they will report as quickly as possible on them. On the question of the appointment of a High Court examiner, in the interests of maintaining confidence in the institution it will continue to operate as a going concern, but the Office of the Director of Corporate Enforcement and the Financial Regulator's office are conducting inquiries at present.

All that reply tells me is that it seems this Government is soft on corporate crime. The matter of the Financial Regulator investigating this matter is a joke in the present circumstances. The Financial Regulator has 380 staff and it was getting quarterly reports apparently about these loans, which included, we were told, information about the loans that Mr. FitzPatrick had taken out, and it could not spot what was going on. The idea of the Financial Regulator investigating this matter does not fill me with any confidence. I have more confidence in the Director of Corporate Enforcement investigating it and he has the power, as I understand it, to apply for the appointment of a High Court inspector. To my knowledge, no such application has been made. Neither have we heard about any Garda investigation or any other type of investigation. The Taoiseach will have to do better in terms of reassuring the public that this matter is being treated seriously and being seriously investigated.

I have not seen or heard anything that convinces me or conveys to me that a serious investigation is being undertaken into what happened here. It is not acceptable that the people involved in this can simply walk off into the sunset without being called to account for what happened here. Everybody knows that Anglo Irish Bank was at the heart of the banking crisis that caused the Taoiseach to introduce legislation here in September to provide a blanket guarantee. We know that banking crisis is at the heart of the economic difficulty now facing this country where people are losing jobs and businesses are going to the wall. If there has been wrongdoing and crimes committed in respect of the conduct of the banking business of that bank, it must be investigated, identified and prosecuted. The kind of soft glove treatment the Taoiseach appears to be giving to it is not good enough.

There have been reports in newspapers during the last two days, particularly in respect of Anglo Irish Bank, what was made known to the Financial Regulator and what was conveyed to the Department of Finance. We were told from a report in one newspaper at least that the current Minister for Finance was briefed on the position in Anglo Irish Bank when he took up office.

Correct.

We are told in another newspaper today that information in relation to some of the activities in Anglo Irish Bank was made known to the Department of Finance at the beginning of last year.

Correct.

The Taoiseach was the Minister for Finance at that time. What did he know about what was going on in Anglo Irish Bank when he was Minister for Finance? Did he know about these loans Mr. FitzPatrick had taken out? What did the Financial Regulator bring to his attention while he was Minister for Finance about what was happening in Anglo Irish Bank?

First, I say to Deputy Gilmore that I reject again the assertion made forcefully by him this morning that the Government will in some way ensure that the rigours of the law or the full mechanisms that are available for investigation will not be applied or applied independently, respecting the independence of those offices. I reject that. They will be applied. I have confidence in the Office of the Director of Corporate Enforcement. He is the person undertaking the investigation. We have ensured it is an independent power of the Director of Corporate Enforcement to decide whether an examiner or any person be appointed by the High Court. That is a matter for the Director of Corporate Enforcement independently of any political direction or control and rightly so. The suggestion, therefore, made by the Deputy that something less is being done than should be done is not correct. One either accepts the integrity of the people who hold these offices or one does not. I happen to accept their integrity. I have heard them praised in other contexts for work they have done in other areas in the past, but obviously the political opportunity to suggest otherwise——

I did not suggest otherwise.

The Deputy did.

Allow the Taoiseach to continue without interruption.

I said I had confidence in the Director of Corporate Enforcement.

The political opportunity to suggest otherwise is something that could not be passed this morning.

It is a smoke screen.

I also have confidence in the new chairman of the bank. I have confidence in the integrity of those who were appointed in the public interest by the Government as directors of the bank——

It is a case of business as usual.

——including Frank Daly, a former chairman of the Revenue Commissioners, Mr. Alan Dukes, a former Minister for Finance——

We are asking about the Taoiseach, not about them.

——and Mr. Maurice Keane. I have confidence in those people in terms of their commitment to proper corporate governance in the bank. I want to make that clear.

The Taoiseach should read last Sunday's newspapers.

In regard to the other matter Deputy Gilmore raised, the Minister was aware from contacts between the Department of Finance and the Financial Regulator over the course of last year that a large overhang of shares was held by a particular investor and related persons, that this was considered by the bank and the market to be a source of instability and that the institution was seeking some resolution of this issue. The details of this were a matter for the institution and, as appropriate, the Financial Regulator.

To answer specifically the question the Deputy asked, I am not aware of any directors' loans, the content of them, the context for them or in what respect they are held — not at all. I am not involved in that area whatsoever——

When the Taoiseach went to guarantee the banks, did he not even look into that?

——either as Minister or as Taoiseach.

When the Taoiseach went to guarantee the banks and risk our whole financial structure, did he not even check that?

Excuse me Deputy——

The Deputies opposite sat on their hands.

——a specific question has been asked and I want to clear any doubt about the matter.

As a result of the due diligence process recently undertaken on behalf of the Minister, certain matters in connection with transactions involving the Quinn stake in the bank came to the attention of the Minister which may warrant further investigation by the Financial Regulator. Anglo Irish Bank has now been taken into public ownership. Various matters are being considered by the Financial Regulator as I have said, the Office of the Director of Corporate Enforcement and the bank, under its new chairman. The House can take it that any significant corporate governance issue that comes to light will be investigated by the appropriate authorities.

That comes to light — will the Taoiseach bring it to light?

That concludes Leaders' Questions.