One has to wonder what it is about the banks in Ireland that allows them to behave so disgracefully so often. From Ansbacher to the DIRT inquiry, we saw the banks do serious harm, and then they brought our country to its knees with reckless lending. Now, just a few years later, we have another scandal. While posting billions of euros in profits, they have systematically defrauded tens of thousands of our people. Yesterday, we heard from the Minister for Finance on the scandal. As Miriam Lord wryly noted in a newspaper this morning, "he has demanded two more reports from the Central Bank to join all the other ones and he should be in a position to be very definitive about something one way or another in about six months' time". The Minister refused to outline any potential sanctions that might actually be imposed on the banks. More than two years have passed since the Central Bank began its investigation. Some 20,000 customers have been definitely impacted, and possibly 30,000. We know that 23 families have had their homes repossessed and another 79 were dragged through the courts for repossession of buy-to-let properties. The human toll is not limited to these cases. During some of the toughest years of our economy, people were faced with scandalous overcharging of tens of thousands of euro. The scale of human misery involved is immense, yet the Minister for Finance cannot tell us what sanctions these banks might face.

Several things seem abundantly clear to us. First, under the 2013 Act that we introduced, the Central Bank has the power to direct banks to pay redress. Therefore, it should be doing so now for all post-2013 cases. Second, it must set out a speedy system of external oversight to identify any customer not yet known to have been defrauded. Third, it seems clear to anyone watching that this was cartel-like behaviour, with each of the banks perpetrating the same fraud. It is simply not good enough to be told that the Central Bank is liaising with or had meetings with the Garda. The Tánaiste must tell the House what the Government intends to do to pursue any criminal activity and ensure that it is fully investigated. We have to see some personal accountability. Finally, in this country, individuals - real people - as well as systems and culture must be held to account. It will not be good enough to reach the end of this latest banking scandal and say that everyone has received compensation so business should return to normal. The people have endured too much for this case to close in that manner.

I think everyone in the House agrees with the Deputy's description of what has happened. He, more than most in the House-----

He was in government for five years.

-----knows the issues which we as a Government have had to deal with over the past number of years in relation to the banking situation in this country. Tough and difficult action had to be taken and every family in this country has paid the price for the reckless behaviour of our banks in the past. The Deputy knows the range of initiatives which have been taken to ensure that there the situation was changed, but the emergence of the details and the horror of the situation has brought home to us once again the extreme importance of regulation and monitoring as well as the role of the Central Bank and the need for that role to be robust in the extreme. The Deputy spoke about the Central Bank having the power to ensure redress. That is precisely what the Minister has said will happen by the end of December. The second report will identify other families and individuals who may have been impacted. The Governor and the Minister have made it absolutely clear that they expect the banks to move immediately on redress, and we are talking about weeks and not months.

The Deputy spoke about whether there was fraud. The determination of whether fraud has taken place, criminal proceedings should be brought or a cartel has operated are matters for the independent statutory bodies, namely, the Central Bank, An Garda Síochána and the Director of Public Prosecutions. The Central Bank has well-established arrangements to liaise with An Garda Síochána where there is any suspicion of criminal investigation. I suppose one could say that they are at the middle point of their probe and we have to await its results. None of us here wants to jeopardise any potential enforcement actions or prosecutions in these matters. We do not decide on the bringing of criminal prosecutions at a political level; that is a decision for the relevant authorities. The Minister is determined that there will be a thorough and rigorous examination of the issues in terms of what has happened to people, which is why he asked the Governor of the Central Bank to do the further report on the broader issue of how this could have happened and the cultural factors that led to it. That report will be available early in the new year.

The Tánaiste is absolutely right that the people of this nation put the banks back on their feet by their hard work and forbearance over the past five years. In that context, what we have now discovered is an act of gross betrayal. Given the Ansbacher accounts, the DIRT inquiry, everything else that has happened and what the banks have gone through, and the enormous amount of taxpayers' money that was pumped into the banks to have a functioning banking system, one would imagine that they would have a moral responsibility. That comes to the net point I want the Tánaiste to address. We can talk about culture, changing systems and failure of systems, but will individuals who caused this dreadful harm be held accountable? Will the Tánaiste set out for the House the investigations she is talking about to ensure that individuals will be investigated where there is any evidence of collusion or fraud?

I repeat that we are in the middle of a process of determining the total scale of the issues which have come to our attention and, again, I commend those who had the courage of their convictions and shone a light on this issue. The personal stories have shone a light on this in a way nothing else could. If the Central Bank is not satisfied with the progress that has been made by December, it has within its own powers-----

It talked last week about moral suasion.

It is a combination. If there has been fraud, it has to be dealt with in the normal way. Any individual who suspects fraud can report it to An Garda Síochána and the Garda has to make an assessment. In line with proper procedures, it has to be examined and the evidence brought forth if there is to be a criminal prosecution. Make no mistake but there is no question of any sort of a cover-up if criminal activity is proven. The Government is hugely concerned about these actions. One would have thought the banks would have learned their lesson, that people would not have been treated in the way that they have been treated and that the banks would have been more customer-focused and sensitive to the extraordinary harm being caused to families.