This morning, on foot of parliamentary questions tabled by my colleague, Deputy Pearse Doherty, further revelations have emerged about the Anglo tape controversy. We know that in 2010 the Garda seized significant quantities of electronic and hard-copy documents and recordings in respect of 18 employees of the former Anglo Irish Bank whose telephone conversations were recorded. The Central Bank was unaware of the existence of these tapes as was the Government, which has been in office for almost two and a half years. The public was also unaware of their existence until the tapes were leaked by the media. Several parties seem to have had access to the tapes. It appears that we are to remain in the dark until further tapes are leaked to and reported on by the media.

I am of the view that it is inconceivable that senior management at the former Anglo Irish Bank did not know about these tapes, particularly in light of the fact that the Garda sought and secured court orders in respect of them in 2010. It must be remembered that Alan Dukes was appointed to the bank as a public interest director as long ago as December 2008. By 2010 he was being paid the handsome sum of €127,000 per year for his troubles. As the Tánaiste is aware, he became chairperson of the bank in that year. Of course, he was not the only political appointee to the board of the bank. The former Fianna Fáil Senator Aidan Eames was appointed to the board in June 2010 by the previous Fianna Fáil Government. Now that it knows about the tapes, the Central Bank views them as serious and is investigating matters in order to assess whether regulatory breaches occurred. One of the public interest directors, Alan Dukes, did not inform the Central Bank of the existence of the tapes. It also seems that neither he nor Aidan Eames informed the Government of their existence. These individuals were supposedly appointed to protect and defend the public interest. It is not clear whether the tapes were provided to the Nyberg banking commission when it was investigating matters. Will the Tánaiste clarify whether the tapes were provided to the Nyberg banking commission? In the context of the public interest directors who were politically appointed to the board of the bank and who did not inform the Central Bank about the existence of the tapes for over three years, will the Tánaiste outline the questions the Government has put to these individuals and indicate how it proposes to proceed in respect of this matter?

We are all shocked and disgusted - that has certainly been my reaction - by the content of the Anglo tapes. The arrogance, contempt and sheer greed of those recorded on those tapes is disgusting. In light of what we know about the damage that was done to our country as a result of the actions of these individuals, most people have been sickened by what they have heard. As indicated earlier, people are also frustrated by the fact that it has taken so long for the full facts to emerge and for those responsible to be held to account. It is difficult for citizens to understand why the wheels of justice have moved so slowly or why a full public inquiry into what happened, particularly on the night of the blanket bank guarantee, has not yet taken place.

I share people's frustration. It must be accepted, however, that complex and difficult investigations are under way. In 2009 the Office of the Director of Corporate Enforcement seized 3 million electronic documents and more than 5,000 original hard-copy documents. In addition, the Financial Regulator compelled the production of approximately 45,000 hard-copy documents and approximately 9 million electronic documents. Regardless of how frustrating it may be, there are good reasons why the criminal justice system is independent of politics and why the Government cannot control or influence the work of the Garda or the Director of Public Prosecutions in these matters. As the Minister for Finance informed the House yesterday, a number of civil and criminal cases are currently under way. In that context, the leaking of the tapes is viewed by the special liquidator as a serious matter. Accordingly, the special liquidator is investigating how they came to be leaked. Given the serious cases that are under way, we must be careful with regard to what we say in order to avoid prejudicing any criminal or civil proceedings.

What the Government and the Oireachtas must do is ensure that there is a proper inquiry into both the public policy issues involved and the disastrous decision to provide the former Anglo Irish Bank with a blanket guarantee or bailout. It was in this context that the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, Deputy Howlin, brought forward the Houses of the Oireachtas (Inquiries, Privileges and Procedures) Bill 2013 in order provide a solid basis for Oireachtas inquiries. It will be a matter for the Oireachtas to constitute an inquiry as soon as possible after that legislation has been passed. That inquiry is the forum at which the relevant questions must be put to directors, including the public interest directors, of the former Anglo Irish Bank. Those questions must be posed in public and the inquiry must operate in accordance with the provisions contained in the legislation introduced by the Minister for Public Enterprise, Deputy Howlin, and currently before the House. I hope that latter will be passed by this and the Upper House during the current session in order that we might proceed with establishing the inquiry as quickly as possible.

The legislation to which the Tánaiste refers was actually passed by the House last night. Whatever about his claim of complexity in respect of this matter, for many people it is not complex at all. For those who are in the Shelbourne Hotel this morning to attend an auction - a fire sale - of properties, both residential and commercial, and who suffered the brunt of malpractice in the system, it is not complex at all. In fact, it is terribly simple for them - some people won while they lost.

I put to the Tánaiste a number of very straightforward questions which do not require the establishment of an inquiry in order to be answered. I want to know why there was no report to the Central Bank - the appropriate regulatory authority - in respect of these tapes, the existence of which had to be known to management at the bank. Above all, I want the Tánaiste to discover what Alan Dukes, one of the public interest directors, was doing. Why did he sing dumb? I do not believe this matter can wait and the position in respect of it must be established now. Without infringing on the prerogatives of any other body, it would be entirely appropriate for the Government of the day to put that straight question to Mr. Alan Dukes and obtain from him a straight response. We also want to know whether the Nyberg banking commission had access to these tapes. The answer to the question in this regard is a simple "Yes" or "No". Either they were or they were not; we do not need a banking inquiry to establish that.

When people who are at just a slight remove from this hot-house look in and observe what has happened over the past week or so, what they will see is the following: the macho antics, which the Tánaiste rightly described and condemned, of the moolah men in the bank and which were bad, but they also see a political system which is prepared to kick the can down the road again. Fianna Fáil clearly does not want to make a simple statement and reveal which bankers met which Fianna Fáil Ministers. It could do that without any inquiry. Today, the people hear that the public interest director, there to defend their interests and stake, sang dumb on the matter of these tapes. Why was that?

Deputy McDonald, you are over time.

Can the Tánaiste answer my questions in regard to Mr. Alan Dukes? I believe the former Senator, Mr. Aidan Eames, would have something to say on this matter also and perhaps Fianna Fáil could help us out there. Will the Tánaiste simply tell us whether the Nyberg inquiry had these tapes?

What I know, which I have indicated, is that there was a significant amount of material which was obtained from Anglo Irish Bank-----

I have that too.

If it is okay, I will answer the question.

Answer the question.

A substantial amount of material was obtained from Anglo Irish Bank. Some of it was obtained in the form of court order while some of it was seized by the Garda. I understand some of that material - I do not know which particular pieces - was provided to the Nyberg inquiry and other investigations which were conducted.

The questions about who knew what and what they did about it, whether they were directors of or senior managers in the bank, are fair questions. Those questions need to be asked and put to the people concerned in a public forum and that is why an inquiry along the lines proposed in the legislation introduced by the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform is the place-----

That is where those questions need to be put and answered.

Four or five months down the road.

Deputy McDonald is right that these are, in many respects, very straightforward questions and that they need to be put to the people who can answer them directly. This is not something for in here, it is not an inside-the-bubble issue. What happened in that bank has had consequences for families all over this country and they are still suffering from it. The people who suffered those consequences and those stuck with big mortgages and with businesses which went down the tubes because of the collapse in the economy are entitled to hear directly from those who were involved in answer to those questions. That is why our duty as legislators and as Members of this House - it is something we should all share - is not to go around political point scoring-----

I will do that if those in Fianna Fáil want.

If those in Fianna Fáil invite me to do that, I will remind them that they were the people who gave the bailout to that bank.

What about the bondholders?

What we now need to do is to establish an inquiry which gets the answers for the people of this country who have suffered far too much from the consequences of those actions. That vehicle is provided for in the legislation the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform has brought before us.