Coalition urges FF to reveal all on Anglo
Branding the audio evidence, the “Vampire Tapes”, Social Protection Minister Joan Burton said those involved had “sucked the life- blood out of the country” and Fianna Fáil must accept a large element of responsibility for that.
Fianna Fáil justice spokes- man, Niall Collins, hit back at the Government, branding the Taoiseach a “political thug” and “boot boy”.
Justice Minister Alan Shatter insisted former key figures, such as ex-Taoiseach Brian Cowen, could tell all about their dealing with Anglo outside of a formal inquiry: “They must know something as they were party to a government decision in this area. What did they know? What were they told specifically and individually about Anglo and its circumstances?”
The Justice Minister said Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin’s demand for an international judge to head a tribunal into the banking collapse was “bizarre”, as the previous Government “led us down the garden path” over their involvement with the bank.
Mr Martin said he had already gone into great detail regarding his knowledge about the bank guarantee of September 2008.
Mr Collins hit out at Enda Kenny’s accusation that the party formed an “axis of collusion” with dodgy bankers calling him a “political thug and boot boy”.
Mr Shatter would not be drawn on whether he favoured a second referendum to give powers to probes conducted by the Oireachtas, allowing them to reach adverse findings against individuals.
The Justice Minister said new laws about to be enacted would allow an Oireachtas committee to subpoena witnesses; discover documents; and compel witnesses such as ex-ministers to give evidence.
Mr Shatter said the system would be transparent, but the major draw-back would be that it would be unable to “make conclusions that detrimentally impact on an individual’s reputation”.
Mr Shatter said it would have been “highly inappropriate” for gardaí to have briefed him on the content of the Anglo tapes due to possible impending prosecutions.
The minister described the tapes as “nauseating” and said they showed former Anglo executives appeared to have no insight into the damage their actions were doing to the State.
“This has to have been the most dysfunctional of all of the banks in the context of the collapse that occurs and, as a senior executive responsible for the policy direction of that bank — there is no indication [Mr Drumm] has any sense of responsibility on his part for the catastrophe that is about to happen and he is going to inflict on the Irish people,” Mr Shatter told RTÉ.
Three people have filed a formal criminal complaint with gardaí over the behaviour of Anglo Irish Bank officials.
Anti-austerity campaigners Philip McFadden, Margo McGrory, and Joe Murphy made the complaints at Buncrana Garda Station in Co Donegal.
They are hoping the move will spark a response to the tapes and result in similar complaints being made in garda stations throughout the country.
“We went in to the Buncrana garda station and asked them to charge John Bowe, Peter Fitzgerald and David Drumm of the defunct Anglo Irish Bank under the Criminal Justice and Theft and Fraud Offences Act 2001 section 6 10 11 42 for defrauding the Irish people of €7bn... and the rest,” said Mr McFadden.
Their efforts come after Senator John Gilroy of the Labour Party made a formal complaint about the Anglo officials’ behaviour to Mayfield Garda Station, Cork, on Monday.
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