The Tánaiste, Mary Harney, has described the behaviour of NIB as outrageous.
At a press conference, she said the bank had set out to defraud the Revenue Commissioners and had committed a systematic and serious breach of trust with its customers.
Ms Harney said the lesson to be drawn from the affair was that there was no hiding place any more in the financial community for those guilty of wrongdoing.
However, the Tánaiste said that there was a new culture in the National Irish Bank and she added that she had confidence in the new management team.
This morning, Labour leader Pat Rabbitte said the NIB report painted a truly shocking picture of systematic dishonesty, tax evasion and theft.
The findings raised very serious questions for the supervisory and regulatory authorities at the time, who appeared, he said, to have failed the bank's customers and the taxpayers.
Mr Rabbitte claimed the findings showed that the attitude of Finance Minister Charlie McCreevy indicated that he was either asleep at the wheel, or did not want to delve too deeply into the affair for fear of what he might find.
Journalists praised
The Labour leader praised the work of RTÉ's Charlie Bird and George Lee. They deserved enormous credit, he said.
In its response to the report, RTÉ praised the courage and civic responsibility of sources who initially contacted RTÉ journalists with information that initiated the investigative process.
Fine Gael deputy leader Richard Bruton said that fines available to the regulatory authorities are not adequate to deal with such situations. He said the financial institutions needed to know they would pay and pay heavily for any wrongdoing.
Call for 'heads to roll'
Sinn Féin spokesman Aengus Ó Snodaigh said the report was a massive indictment of the whole banking sector in the State and he called for 'heads to roll' in NIB.
The Chairman of the Green Party, John Gormley, said those found to have been engaged in wrongdoing must be punished. He also reiterated the Green Party's call for a banking commission.
The General Secretary of IBOA described the report as a 'damning indictment of totally unacceptable and unethical practices'.
Larry Broderick said his members would be aghast and saddened at the extent of these practices. 'Staff feel very hurt, embarrassed and let down by these unacceptable activities by a small group of executives', he said.
Renewed call for forum
IBOA renewed its call for a Forum on Banking to examine the prevailing culture in Irish banking and restore its good reputation and international standing.
The Irish Financial Services Regulatory Authority has said that the type of activity described in the NIB report is utterly unacceptable.
IFSRA Chief Executive Liam O'Reilly said that as a regulator with a strong consumer mandate, it is absolutely determined to ensure that there is no place for this type of activity in the financial services industry.
The Revenue Commissioners said they had received a copy of the report, which they are currently studying carefully, and would take whatever action is appropriate with regard to tax offences.
