The Minister for Finance, Mr McCreevy, and the Tánaiste, Ms Harney, have been accused of "buck passing" and "handwringing" in their response to the revelations that AIB has been overcharging clients for foreign currency exchanges.
The Labour Party's spokesperson on Finance, Ms Joan Burton, said both Ministers were quick to criticise the AIB at the weekend but both equally failed to accept any responsibility for the clear failure of the Government to have an effective regulatory framework in place.
"This legislation has been making its way through the Dáil and Seanad at a snail's pace with no sense of urgency from its Ministerial promoters. The whole issue of financial regulation has been on the political agenda since 1998 and even now six years on this Government has yet to finalise the passage of the full legislation package," said Ms Burton.
"Ministers McCreevy and Harney are directly to blame for these delays and indecision. It is small wonder that AIB feel no pressure to clean up its act if there is such political dilly dallying by Ministers," she added.
Ms Burton has called on the Irish Financial Services Regulatory Authority (IFSRA) to come before the Oireachtas Committee on Finance this week to explain precisely what remit they have in punishing AIB.
"At present, IFSRA has no teeth and no ability to impose fines on banks for such practices. This clearly suits Minister Charlie McCreevy who is also content for the Financial Services Regulation Bill to be stalled in the Dáil for as long as possible.
"The longer this situation continues, the more revelations of banks exploiting their customers will emerge," Ms Burton said.
Her party colleague, Mr Joe Costello, has called for the Criminal Assets Bureau (CAB) to investigate AIB.
"I have been staggered by the muted reaction to these revelations. AIB's actions in effectivly defrauding its customers over a sustained period of years, represents white collar crime at its worst, and the Criminal Assets Bureau must be called in to investigate," said Mr Costello.
Meanwhile, Age Action Ireland has advised the elderly to seek independent financial advice after it was reported that some elderly savers were encouraged by AIB to put their money into investment rather than savings accounts losing them thousands of euro.
Spokesperson for Age Action Ireland, Mr Paul Murray advised the elderly: "Don't just ask your family, or the bank manager, or a solicitor. Seek advice from a range of people. Go to a professional yes, but always be aware that that propfessional can have an angle, self-interest".