I have three main points to make about the Anglo Irish Bank tapes. First, it is five years since this shameful episode and not one banker has served one day of a prison sentence for his or her role in bankrupting the State. Ordinary citizens know that if they do not pay their television licence fee or the new taxes the Government is introducing, they will face prosecution. Second, it is clear from this morning's tapes that Mr. David Drumm and others in Anglo Irish bank were meeting senior Government Ministers. We do not need an inquiry to find that out. Deputy Micheál Martin and his Front Bench and others who were in government at the time could tell us who those Ministers were.

Hear, hear.

Does the Taoiseach know who they are? If so, will he name them?

You are not so great on detail yourself, Gerry.

Third, despite representations from Sinn Féin, these banking elites were rewarded by the Government. Of the top 50 executives, 22 were kept in place and some of them were given €175,000 a year. Tá a fhios ag an Taoiseach gur cuma le fear na mbróg cá leagann sé a chos. Tá aithne ag an Taoiseach ar an seanfhocal sin. Mr. Drumm who featured in the tapes was given a bonus of nearly €700,000. The Fianna Fáil Government of the day allowed this to happen, but the Taoiseach's Government has continued to protect these bankers and their high paid jobs. Why is there a delay in bringing prosecutions? Will the Taoiseach ask the Minister for Justice and Equality to seek a report on the matter?

The Bill before the House, the Central Bank (Supervision and Enforcement) Bill 2011, which is on Committee Stage, is extensive and complex. It deals with the Honohan, Nyberg, Regling and Watson, Moriarty and Mahon tribunal reports. The Government has published the Houses of the Oireachtas (Inquiries, Privileges and Procedures) Bill which, once enacted, will provide the framework for a parliamentary inquiry system. The Deputy is aware that the people rejected in a referendum the question they were asked on the holding of inquiries.

The issue of who met who is one that politicians and former politicians should have no problem in addressing when they attend the parliamentary inquiry. It is imperative in the public interest that these matters be teased out and identified and that members of past Governments who were involved in any of the decisions related to this issue be able to attend to give their recollections and accounts, as should the individuals with whom they were associated. We are in a process where there is a trial to be held in the courts which are completely and utterly independent of anything I might say.

The Minister for Health jeopardised that recently. Is that criminally negligent?

Does Deputy Gerry Adams want the Minister for Justice and Equality to identify the Ministers involved?

I want him to give us an explanation as to why there is such a delay five years on.

I have set out some of the issues which have had to be dealt with by the Government in inheriting this mess, including the Central Bank legislation.

He was jailing the bankers before the election.

He sent the squad cars one week before the election.

Investigations are being carried out by the Central Bank and the Office of the Director of Corporate Enforcement into matters at Anglo Irish Bank. They should take their course. We put a referendum on inquiries to the people and it was rejected. Legislation on inquiries is going through the Houses. In the meantime, we have had to deal with the unholy mess at European level in terms of interest rate reductions, the promissory notes and the extension of loan maturities to recover as much as we can for the taxpayer.

Believe me, Deputy Adams, I would be the first to say that what the people want is to see justice done. This has been a very complex and technical process, which is why we now have tapes emerging of what apparently are very extensive hours of taping to which I have not, obviously, had access. In the public's interest, we must have a parliamentary inquiry at which those personalities and the persons involved will attend to give their evidence to let us to get at the truth of the circumstances and environment which led to that culture which culminated in a bank guarantee and which was reflected in the condescension, arrogance and dismissiveness in the extracts from tapes played on the national airwaves.

What if they refuse to attend?

I asked if the Taoiseach knew which Ministers met the bankers but he did not answer the question.

Ask Deputy Micheál Martin.

Deputy Micheál Martin could stand up now and make this clear to us. He is bound to know. Fianna Fáil knows who met these bankers. Let Fianna Fáil make it clear.

Let us have a truth commission and we will see who comes out best.

Allow Deputy Adams to ask his supplementary question without interruption.

There is very little confidence at the level of citizenship. The Oireachtas must be separate from the Judiciary and the Garda Síochána. The Minister for Justice and Equality is able to come in with title tattle and give us detail. Why can the Taoiseach not ask him to supply us with a report on Garda investigations into these matters? I am astounded the Minister for Finance said he did not know about the existence of the tapes.

The Criminal Assets Bureau.

If he did not know, why did he not know? Where is the Criminal Assets Bureau? Why are we not chasing these people who have defrauded the State and put tens of thousands of our young people across the globe and hundreds of thousands on the dole queues? This Government has proven once again that there are two laws. There is a law for the ordinary citizen. If I go into Dunnes Stores and steal to feed my family-----

Or Northern Rock.

-----I will end up before the courts. If bankers deliberately defraud the State, boast about it, laugh about it and boast about their meetings with Ministers, it will be okay. The sickening thing is that they were right. They said it would be nationalised, that they would be made civil servants and that they would get five years out of it. They got their bonuses. With respect, the buck stops with the Taoiseach. What will the Government do about this? If the tapes were not released, we would not be having this discussion. What will the Taoiseach do about it?

The buck stops with the Government and I am going after them. I do not have the authority or the mandate to adjudicate in a court of law-----

Pathetic.

-----on whether persons have broken the law and should be charged and sentenced. Clearly, the people demand justice and the process of a criminal trial is under way. When the Department of Finance became aware of the kind of questionable behaviour in Anglo Irish Bank, the Garda Síochána, as the appropriate authority, was informed immediately. Under statute law, the Garda Síochána is the responsible body for dealing with criminal investigations in the State. I understand the tapes mentioned were part of the material supplied to the Garda Síochána over four years ago as part of the investigation into Anglo Irish Bank when it was made aware of the activity and behaviour that led to an investigation. Neither the Department of Finance nor the Government had access to the tapes, extracts of which I have heard played on the airwaves. The Government wants to see the matter sorted out and the truth known. I do not know what Ministers from previous Governments met with these influential bankers. We have had evidence of some of them.

Ask Deputy Micheál Martin.

Deputy Micheál Martin knows from his personal ministry whether he ever met with any of them and I am not suggesting he did.

Plenty of innuendo.

Other people in the Government of which Deputy Micheál Martin was a member certainly did meet them and remained in their company for some time, whether at social occasions or whatever. I have no evidence of bankers coming to meet Ministers in the Department of the Taoiseach. At a number of occasions where meetings took place with previous taoisigh about this matter, no decisions were recorded. We cannot find any and if I had them I would leave them out here for everyone to see so that we could start the process. When we get a parliamentary banking inquiry, will any of those politicians refuse to attend and give the accounts of whether they met with the bankers and what was discussed-----

The bankers certainly will.

-----what decisions were taken and why it was that this culture came to a point where it was a continuous stream of pressure on people to take out mortgages to buy properties at ever inflated prices to keep builders and friends of the banks and the Government on a path for endless prosperity?

The Taoiseach kept them in employment until February. They were paid salaries of €175,000. He wrote the cheque every year.

Deputy Pearse Doherty should settle down.

Deputy Pearse Doherty's party wrote the biggest cheque with the bank guarantee.

I do not take from Deputy Adams the question of repayment and banks. The Deputy knows well that what we must do is put a process in train where answerability and the truth will come out. I do not take for granted the ranting of Deputy Pearse Doherty behind Deputy Adams.

When he was in opposition, the Taoiseach never opened his mouth against the profiteering that was taking place in the housing market.

Deputy Joe Higgins should show respect for his leader, Deputy Mattie McGrath, whom I have called.

Plenty of Members in government got cheap loans.