None of us need a reminder about the destruction caused by the economic crash, out of which Anglo Irish Bank and Irish Nationwide were combined to form IBRC and NAMA was formed to deal with the loans of the pillar banks. IBRC was the biggest liquidation in the history of the State. Both organisations dealt with very high-profile cases and individuals. I recently attended a meeting of the finance committee, which is carrying out pre-legislative scrutiny of legislation providing for the wind-up of both IBRC and NAMA. My expectation was that some of the records would eventually make their way to the National Archives.

I asked questions about that. I expected that journalists and academics in the future would be able to access these primary sources and the history of both organisations would be written in time. After all, people paid a very heavy price for this. The response to my questions was that none of the records would make their way to the National Archives and they would all be destroyed. There would be no trace left of this trail of destruction. What does the Minister think should happen to those records? Should they make their way to the National Archives?

It is extremely important we learn from the mistakes of the past and that we learn from the past, whether it is the banking crisis or any other issue. There are times when certain information cannot be put in the public domain, and while I am not clear why that decision has been taken, I have no doubt the Minister can explain or provide information on why those decisions have been taken. We should learn from the mistakes of the past but sometimes it is not possible to provide certain information or certain details.