One of the seminal points in my 45 years in business was the day 20 years ago when a group of customers I was sitting with said to me, “We trust you. Don’t let us down”. They were talking about food safety. That impacted on me to such an extent that I took careful steps not to let them down. When I say “you” I believe you have let us, the citizens of Ireland, down. We entrusted you with funding of €58 million per year and, as we heard earlier, a staff of 380...

Regarding the scandal of inefficiency that I have learned has occurred and which the representatives spoke about in that organisation, there is public outrage at what has happened and that should be the case. We are in a far worse position than many other countries and we cannot blame it solely on international monetary financial crises. They do have an effect but in the British newspapers, and Senator MacSharry referred to the Financial Times and others, we are being singled out on the front pages in such a manner that we have been identified. I blame you, the authority, for that.

We learned today that 50% of the authority’s €58 million funding, €29 million, comes from the banks. Is it possible that because the authority depends on the banks for 50% of its income it almost determines a close relationship with the institutions which makes it less easy for it to criticise them.

I believe the word used earlier by the representatives of the authority, referring to the case of the loans in Anglo Irish Bank, was “inappropriate”. That may not be the right word. Perhaps the word “illegal” should have been used.

I will deal with the case of the quarterly accounts that I believe are obliged to be sent to the authority every quarter. If a bank director owes €70 million in the first, second and third quarters, which apparently was in the books, zero in the fourth quarter, which is the last quarter of the year, and then €70 million again in the first quarter of the next year, that is not just inefficiency; it is gross inefficiency. We trusted you, the authority, with that and we have been let down.

On the second point, which is the question of whether this was illegal or inappropriate, if the other institution which agreed to accept the debt for one week or one month each year looked for a guarantee from the individual, it would not have been sufficient because I do not believe they would have accepted that. If, on the other hand, it said it wanted it from the bank itself, and the bank gave a guarantee but did not disclose it, on that basis I believe illegality took place rather than something inappropriate. I have a grave concern about that. I repeat that when I talk about “you” I am not talking about individuals. I am talking about the authority because the authority is not one individual.

A point was made that The Sunday Business Post stated that Anglo Irish Bank gave the Financial Regulator a report in 2007 disclosing secret loans but the regulator did not spot it. The regulator is the authority. It then sent a letter which I read in The Sunday Business Post was subsequently lost. Do the representatives have any comment on that because it did appear in the newspaper?

My last point concerns the question of funds for business in the future. If the State is giving money in whatever manner, be it capitalisation or whatever, there must be a temptation in any bank to use that money to support its capital. I do not know the answer to this question but do the representatives believe that half of that money should go to recapitalisation and the other half be used for funding and lending to businesses? That might mean it would not just be a question of hoping they would lend but that they would lend.

The month before last a group representing businesses came before the committee and said that all the evidence indicated they were not getting loans from banks. I would like to see the businesses of Ireland being able to operate again from loans. We must find a formula that is not just wishful thinking but where the banks are constrained.

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