TAOISEACH BRIAN Cowen again defended his record as minister for finance.

Mr Cowen said that in 2003, the Dáil had set up an independent regulatory authority system.

“That system has not served us sufficiently well, as we now know from all that has happened, but I was not responsible for supervising financial institutions,” he added.

Mr Cowen said that was an issue for the independent financial regulator.

“To my knowledge, at no time did the regulator intimate to me that there were issues for legislative change or whatever that should have been considered by me in respect of Irish Nationwide or other financial institutions,” he added.

However, Labour leader Eamon Gilmore said that he was finding it a little difficult to understand the Taoiseach.

“The Taoiseach stated that he had certain exchanges with the building society in the run-up to the legislation, but reports of the Ombudsman, for example, drew attention to some of the practices going on in Irish Nationwide,” he added.

“At the time, they were described by the Ombudsman as being illegal.”

Mr Gilmore said that the Taoiseach had painted a picture “in which he was closeted in his office, he had no idea whatever about what was occurring, he was entirely at the mercy of what the regulator might or might not have told him and he was not told anything”.

Mr Cowen insisted that he had been “fully frank with this House at all times in respect of any questions that have been asked at any time”.

The Taoiseach added that he had “nothing to hide in terms of this matter, despite another conspiracy theory that deputy Gilmore might want to engender today”.

Mr Cowen said that to “ascribe that foreknowledge to me in the way deputy Gilmore has done would not be acceptable, true or factual”.

Later in the Dáil, during the resumed debate on the Central Bank Bill, Minister of State for Finance Dr Martin Mansergh sharply attacked Mr Gilmore for his charge of “economic treason”, which he made against Mr Cowen in the House before the Easter recess.

Mr Mansergh said that he was disappointed at some of the more extreme charges made against the Taoiseach and others.

“How credible is it that a minister or taoiseach would seek to undermine this country or its people?” Dr Mansergh asked.

“Deputy Gilmore has a former leftist party background, a tradition that specialised in virulent denunciation of political opponents.”

Dr Mansergh said that he would be slow to use the word treason in a republic.

“But how would one describe wanting to subvert a parliamentary democracy by creating an irreversible socialist republic by revolutionary methods . . . to have the general secretary seek a million pounds from the Soviet communist party or to forge currency in a basement at party headquarters,” he added.

Dr Mansergh said that all sides of the House had made fundamental mistakes of one kind or another.

He added that no one side had a monopoly on making mistakes.

Dr Mansergh added that as minister for finance, the Taoiseach had attempted to phase out many of the incentives for property and had resisted demands for the abolition of stamp duty.