The ongoing revelations from the Anglo tapes continue to anger and outrage citizens. When I raised this issue with the Taoiseach last week, much of the focus was on who from within Fianna Fáil met the bankers. I also invited Deputy Martin, who was then a senior Minister in the Cabinet, to make a statement to the Dáil setting out which Fianna Fáil Ministers had met the bankers.

There has been no response from the Fianna Fáil leadership.

I made a statement.

I also asked the Taoiseach whether tapes from any other banks exist-----

The Boston tapes.

-----and he told me that he did not know. I then asked if he would find out if other tapes existed. Does the Taoiseach know now, a week later, if there are similar tapes in the other banks affected, including Irish Nationwide Building Society, Allied Irish Banks, the Educational Building Society, Bank of Ireland and Irish Life & Permanent?

We all know that Anglo Irish Bank received €30 billion of taxpayers' money and that the other banks between them received almost €35 billion. This means more than €64 billion has been taken from the pockets of citizens.

Do we know if phone calls between these banks and the Central Bank were recorded by the Central Bank? The Taoiseach said that there are no files of any value in the Department of the Taoiseach, although that is contested by Fianna Fáil. Are there files in the Department of Finance or Central Bank that would shed more light on what happened?

I am sure the Taoiseach has met real and understandable cynicism from many people about whether the Government proposes to address these matters. I suppose that is inevitable given the close relationship between the golden circles, some politicians, developers and speculators. This was reinforced by some of these bankers being rewarded with well-placed and highly paid jobs.

In terms of regaining public confidence, central to that is knowing if there are tapes available in relation to the other banks and files on the matter in the Department of Finance and Central Bank.

The answer to the Deputy's questions is yes, there are tapes available in the other banks. The Minister for Finance will be writing to those banks tomorrow requesting that the tapes be preserved in the interest of their being available for a banking inquiry, the form of which will be considered following the passage of the relevant legislation through the Houses.

The tapes referred to in respect of the former Anglo Irish Bank only came to notice following their confiscation under warrant by the Garda Síochána. The tapes were then forwarded to the Director of Public Prosecutions, arising from which a number of files have been prepared by the Garda Síochána and Office of the Director of Corporate Enforcement. Deputy Adams will be aware that a number of charges have been laid against individuals.

There is information available in the Department of Finance, copies of some of which have been taken by the Garda Síochána. However, there is not a series of tape decks in the Department of Finance, similar to those contained in the banks. I am assured by the Minister that all of this information will be available for public discourse in the context of the inquiry to be held when Government makes it decision as to the appropriate form of that inquiry.

The Taoiseach will excuse me if I am a little discommoded by the fact that the Minister is to write to the banks tomorrow.

He will get the letters out this evening.

This all happened four or five years ago. The Government did not know last week if any tapes existed. Conveniently, the Minister for Finance is going to rush out of the Chamber now and write a letter that will be sent to the banks tomorrow. Is this the type of approach the Government is taking to these issues? There is a sense that there is one law for the well-connected and rich, another law for citizens and no law for some.

The Deputy is dead right.

I do not believe what the Government is doing at this late hour is sufficient. I also do not believe anyone else will be persuaded about its intentions in this matter. The Government's handling of these matters has been dismal and is part of the national disgrace that this whole debacle brought upon ordinary citizens, including the Taoiseach's neighbours, family members and constituents.

I remind Deputy Adams that the Government has set in place an entirely new system of regulation and monitoring in terms of the manner in which banks in this country operate. The Deputy will be aware that the dysfunctionality of our banking system in terms of the number of banks here has changed. Some banks were recapitalised, new conditions now apply and, in terms of mortgages, new targets and objectives are to be set.

The Deputy is wrong that the Government is only acting now in respect of the tapes that exist in other banks.

The Government did not even know they existed.

There is a legal requirement on the banks to retain those tapes for a set period. The Minister's letter is merely a reminder to the banks to live up to their responsibilities in terms of preservation of those tapes, which should be available for public information purposes and the banking inquiry to be established under the parliamentary system. It is a case of the banks having a legal responsibility to hold these tapes for a period and the Minister sending them a letter to remind them of that responsibility, so that they will be available for the public inquiry when the Government decides what form it should take.

Does the Garda Síochána have copies of the tapes?