Bhí mé ag éisteacht leis an Taoiseach agus an Teachta Martin. Sílim go bhfuil siad caillte. Níl siad ag éisteacht leis an bpobal ag an uair seo. Tá fíor-ghá ann ag an bomaite na polaiteoirí, na baincéirí agus na Státseirbhísigh a choimeád cuntasach.

Yesterday, when I asked the Taoiseach what he intended to do about the shameful behaviour of the untouchables in the banking system, he said: "The buck stops with the Government and I am going after them." Will the Taoiseach explain how he will do that? Since he came into office he has pandered to the banks. Every measure introduced by Fine Gael and the Labour Party has given a veto to the banks. The Taoiseach is not listening to the people because this is a matter of intense public frustration. Five years later nobody has been jailed for their role in bankrupting the State. Both the Taoiseach and the Dáil have been talking about establishing an inquiry into these matters for years. It is all talk. There is no action. Ní fiú tufóg mhuice é.

We need to understand that politicians, bankers and civil servants must be held to account. The most important inquiry is the criminal inquiry into the corrupt criminal wrongdoing. The Garda and the Office of the Director of Corporate Enforcement have been investigating this for almost five years.

The Taoiseach knows that if these people were not rich or well-connected and were ordinary citizens, there would be no delay in prosecuting them. Yesterday, the Taoiseach confirmed that the Anglo Irish Bank tapes were seized by the Garda from the bank over four years ago. The State has bailed out Irish Nationwide, Irish Life & Permanent, EBS, Allied Irish Banks and the Bank of Ireland. Do any tapes from these banks exist?

I cannot answer that question for the Deputy. The tapes of which we have heard sections were acquired by the Garda four years ago as a result of warrants served and confiscations made.

Bí cinnte go bhfuil mé ag éisteacht leis na daoine an t-am ar fad, agus casaim orthu ar fud na tíre gach uile lá.

Cad a dhearna tú faoi sin?

Ní cheart duit é sin a rá ar chor ar bith. Bím ag éisteacht leo, cosúil leis an Teachta agus gach Teachta eile. Tá fhios agam go maith an brú atá orthu.

What we are going to do is process the legislation currently proceeding through the House in order to set up a parliamentary inquiry. It is to commence in the autumn, and we will do the work on the terms of reference. With regard to all activities and connections mentioned by the Deputy, it is time for the public to have some understanding of how this culture evolved, how the decisions were made within that culture, how we were told people should commit suicide if they claimed the housing bubble would burst, and how many people were convinced they should take out exorbitant mortgages to buy properties with highly inflated values all over the country. The latter now find themselves stranded in distress, in arrears and under pressure in their family lives.

The Taoiseach never said anything about it at the time.

We need to find out the reasons for the evolution of that culture, the personalities involved and the way the decisions were made. I repeat as I stand at this seat that there is nothing in the Department of the Taoiseach with which I can inform myself about the visits by bankers to senior Ministers or predecessors in my office, to record what was discussed or agreed or to point out the decisions made. Does Deputy Adams not believe it would be appropriate to find out that information? Does he not believe it would be in the interest of every citizen, including the hundreds of thousands in financial difficulty, to determine why we incurred a cost of €64 billion, which will take generations to repay? We must work at European level to seek agreement and co-operation in respect of decisions taken. That has been a different argument and we have made some progress in that regard. We need to find out in this House what happened, who made agreements, who was involved, the nature of the discussions, what was said to the former Government about bringing in the guarantee, and why the bankers were able to convince that Government to go down this road, as evidenced in some of the tapes to which we have listened, which tapes imply the bankers played games with the former Government and said, "We have them". They referred to €1 billion per day or other figures. We need to find out this information and that is why we want the co-operation of the Deputy in processing the Bill to allow for inquiries in the Houses such that we can find out, in public, some of the required information in the public interest. The inquiry will not result in the conviction of people but will find out the truth behind some of what happened. The courts can deal with those against whom criminal charges are made. The people want to see the courts process such cases in accordance with the law of the land.

We are having this discussion because of the Anglo Irish Bank tapes. I asked the Taoiseach whether there are tapes from Irish Nationwide, Irish Life & Permanent, EBS, Allied Irish Banks and Bank of Ireland. If I heard him properly, he said he cannot answer the question for me. Why not? Since he is stating this Parliament needs to know all the answers, he should please ask somebody for the answer. When he sat at his desk in Government Buildings to face one of the biggest scandals in banking, did he not decide he would get to the bottom of it? He should please ask for a response. Must we depend on the newspaper to tell us the story of whether there are tapes and other revelations about the other banks?

Since he came into office, the Taoiseach talked a lot about restoring the reputation of the State and its financial institutions. Yesterday and today, he will have noted that the international media is awash with justifiable and scathing criticism of the Fianna Fáil and current Governments. The truth is that this is the best small country for big bankers, corrupt politicians and speculators.

The Deputy should play his own tape.

In so far as we can, we will support measures that will actually get to the truth of matter. However, the Taoiseach urgently needs to create the space for the Dáil and citizens to be told why the executives in question were kept in place by the previous and current Governments. He needs to tell us why they were protected and rewarded and to invite the leader of Fianna Fáil to tell the Dáil the names of the senior Ministers who met bankers during the period in question.

He should ask him.

The Taoiseach needs to move with urgency in this regard. As he said yesterday, the buck stops with the Government.

I discussed this yesterday with Deputy Martin. In order to create the space that Deputy Adams talks about, it is necessary to pass the legislation for the parliamentary inquiry system in both Houses, give the inquiry specific terms of reference, resource it properly and allow it to do its job. That job includes calling in the principals and other personalities involved to give their accounts, recollections and evidence as to why all these events happened.

When I had the privilege of going into the Taoiseach's office after being elected, I did ask for files in regard to all this business. There are no papers.

There are.

Yes, and they are meaningless.

I asked the Taoiseach a parliamentary question on this matter and he told an untruth in here on that one.

Please allow the Taoiseach to do the answering.

There is a Government memorandum on it.

What was obtained under the Freedom of Information Act was a whole bundle of meaningless acknowledgements and e-mails.

We found out that the Taoiseach was telling an untruth in the House about the shredding of documents. He told an untruth in here and he is now at it again.

The former Government shredded them before it left.

Let me say to Deputy Martin in response to Deputy Adams's question-----

Deputy Martin had an opportunity to speak and should now stay quiet.

When the time comes for releasing the files of this Government, in regard to the agreement reached-----

He will get some shredding when he goes to the country.

-----with the European Central Bank on the promissory notes, for example, which agreement was raised by the Opposition day after day, it will be discovered that the decision was properly recorded. It was read out in respect of every Minister, it was agreed and it will be on the record long after I leave here. I wanted to find out from my Department the location of the files on the bankers who came here to meet the former Government and the evidence on the requests, discussions and decisions. There is nothing but empty space. We need a parliamentary inquiry to call before it the relevant people, including Deputy Martin, who was a Minister at the time when the incorporeal meetings were held, and ask them to give us their best recollection. That is in the public interest. The people in question, the bankers and other relevant individuals should be called before the parliamentary inquiry to give their evidence and the truth of the matter. While the inquiry will not be a court of law, it will be able to deal, in the public interest, with some of the information and the truth behind what happened, and perhaps it will fill in the blank spaces that Deputy Adams and I would like to see filled in.

They are good at cleaning up the crime scene.