Last week, two things happened in the world of high finance which caused understandable public outrage. First came the announcement that the Government will again allow the payment of outrageous bonuses to elite staff at AIB, a bank bailed out by the Irish people, as the Taoiseach will recall. Then, we had the news that 16 employees at Davy, many of them senior executives, had broken the rules, broken the regulations, for personal financial gain. The toxic culture that brought this country to its knees a decade ago, it seems, is truly alive and well. People now ask themselves, correctly, are we back to the beginning. Here we go again.

Let us look at the facts. This Davy scam was uncovered in 2014. It has taken six years to get to this point and still no individuals have been held to account. Those who were responsible continued to play a dominant role in the financial sector throughout those six years. Tá an Banc Ceannais ag lorg cumhachtaí breise ionas go bhféadfaidh sé déileáil leis seo le breis agus trí bliana anuas ach ní dhearna Fine Gael ná an Rialtas aon rud chun freagra a thabhairt ar na glaonna seo. The Minister promised legislation to allow senior executives to be held to account before the summer of 2019. We are two years on and still nothing. Let us face it: this recent scandal is not an isolated event. Look at the tracker mortgage issue. That impacted on 40,000 people yet nobody has been held to account.

Perhaps there is little wonder at that when we consider the revolving door between the financial industry and politics, a door that just keeps on spinning, where we see Ministers of State seamlessly move from politics to jobs in high finance. One day, their job is to hold the financial industry to account and, the next day, they are in fighting the corner of that industry as lobbyists. Indeed, it is only when a record fine was issued by the Central Bank against Davy last week that things moved on a little bit. It was only public anger that brought about resignations at Davy.

At the weekend, we had called on the NTMA to drop Davy as the primary dealer in Irish Government bonds, and I welcome that that has happened. However, this decision and the fine are corporate sanctions. Not a single individual from the 16 executives has been held to account. The Minister for Finance, Deputy Donohoe, said yesterday that all those responsible have left the firm but that is not really accurate. They have left one cog in the corporate structure but they remain directors in key parts of the overarching organisation. Last week, the Taoiseach told the Dáil that the fine would impact on behaviour in the financial sector. Does he still hold that view, given the Central Bank has stated and set out how Davy frustrated its investigation at every turn? We still do not know who most of the 16 rule-breakers are. I am not asking the Taoiseach to name them but we need to know where they are now and where they work now. Do any of those involved hold positions in Government Departments or in banks in which the State has a stake? Does the Taoiseach know? Has he looked into this? Can he tell the Dáil what legal consequences those involved will face? Does he accept that they should be independently investigated?

For years, the Tánaiste and the Minister for Finance have sat on legislation to hold individual financial rule-breakers to account. This has to end. Will the Taoiseach commit to enacting such legislation?

I thank the Deputy for raising what is a very important issue. The behaviour by Davy executives was absolutely unacceptable and, I think, reveals an appalling culture of greed, and has damaged the reputation of the financial services sector in this country. Executives in business or in financial services should never put personal gain above their duties and responsibilities. I think the NTMA made the right decision in regard to its relationship with Davy and in severing that in respect of the issuing of bonds. I would say, in the context of the NTMA decision, that is exactly the consequence that I had in mind when I made my comments. A Central Bank investigation will have an impact but it is absolutely unacceptable, first, that this has been ongoing since 2014 and that the executives sought to frustrate the efforts of the Central Bank and of the regulator to get to the truth of this issue, and to bring this issue to a conclusion. I agree with the NTMA in terms of withdrawing Davy’s authority to act as a primary dealer for Irish Government bonds. That was the correct decision and the NTMA will no longer be doing business with Davy.

On the issue of individual accountability, the Central Bank does have extensive powers to sanction individuals who are involved in the management of financial services firms and who breach financial services legislation. That said, we believe the existing financial legal framework to hold individuals responsible for their behaviour needs strengthening and, in the programme for Government, provision has been made for the introduction of legislation in regard to a senior executive accountability regime, SEAR, to deliver heightened accountability in the financial sector. The Government will be publishing the heads of that Bill soon. That, in itself, will drive further positive changes in terms of culture in the financial services industry and enhanced accountability, while simplifying the taking of sanctions against individuals who fail in their financial sector roles.

Davy has said it no longer employs any of the 16 individuals involved in that 2014 transaction and that it will appoint a third party imminently to conduct a review of the findings of the Central Bank. Clearly, Davy has an awful lot of work to do to rebuild public trust.

Deputy McDonald's party is making a point about strengthening regulation and I agree with that but the Deputy needs to practise that as well. She has been unwilling to answer questions about the party's own financial culture. She has accepted it is the wealthiest political party in this country. It accepted a €4 million donation from the estate of Englishman William Hampton into the party's accounts in the North of Ireland, when it was bequeathed to Sinn Féin in the Republic of Ireland. This donation was more than 1,600 times the maximum allowable donation under Irish electoral law. That was a shady enough transaction to make even a stockbroker blush. These are issues that the Deputy needs to deal with too when we are talking about wider financial probity and accountability. Seanad Éireann has spoken in that regard.

With regard to further actions in terms of Davy, it is open to the Office of the Director of Corporate Enforcement, ODCE, to become involved here and also, potentially, other bodies as well. I do not want to prejudice further developments in regard to either the individuals concerned or this issue in terms of any further investigations that might or might not take place. Obviously, that is a matter in the first instance for the Office of the Director of Corporate Enforcement. We are committed, in the programme for Government, to the introduction of a senior executive accountability regime. Over the last decade alone, there have been 100 pieces of legislation and regulation introduced to underpin and strengthen the regulatory framework insofar as it pertains to financial regulation. The culture has been one of unacceptable greed, manifested in this deed, which I strongly deplore.

Anyone who hoped that the toxic culture of greed and personal gain had been banished from financial services - from the upper echelons and the elites of financial services - had their eyes opened again last week.

Davy has made it clear that this culture is alive and well. People who imagined that the culture of acquiescence in all this on the part of Fianna Fáil and successive Governments had been banished have had their eyes opened by the Taoiseach's response this afternoon. The fact is that this behaviour has been acceptable to successive Governments, which is why it has happened time and again. That is the reason there is no mechanism, as has been called for by the Central Bank, to hold senior executives to account. It appears now that it is only when there is pressure on the Taoiseach that he will concede that it is necessary. Where are these wrongdoers?

Thank you, Deputy.

Do they work in banks or in Departments? Will the Taoiseach join me in stating that Davy bringing in a third party to carry out an investigation of these matters is wholly unacceptable and insufficient and that it ought to be the Central Bank that sets the terms for such an investigation and oversees it? We need full transparency here.

We absolutely do. There is no acquiescence. This Government has been in office for nine months. It made it clear in the programme for Government that it would introduce legislation to strengthen this area, particularly regarding accountability for senior executives in the financial area. That will happen and heads of a Bill are being prepared in that regard.

The Deputy's party cosies up to high finance as well. There is only one party here at this stage that travels the world cosying up to high finance and big construction companies to raise funding and so forth. The Deputy is eager to brand other parties in this regard.

Jesus.

We had not been in power for ten years. We came into office with other parties in this Government about nine months ago. Those are the facts.

We all know the facts.

The bottom line is that the Deputy cosies up to high finance, in the United States and elsewhere, when it suits her. She sells and tells a different story there. It is likewise in terms of accountability in respect of issues pertaining to financial matters in the North and so forth.

Thank you, Taoiseach. Your time is up.

She tells a different story. She does not deal with it or account for it. She can be absolutely sure that nobody in the Government in any shape or form-----

Ding dong, the time is up. Wrap it up now.

Everyone in the Government condemns what has happened here. We are absolutely determined-----

Please, the time is up.

-----that the proper regulators deal with it in as effective and strong a manner as possible.

Thank you. I call Deputy Naughten.