German chancellor Angela Merkel has revealed her utter contempt for those who have ridiculed Irish authorities on the infamous Anglo Tapes.

The most powerful woman in Europe has expressed her utter contempt for former Anglo Irish Bank boss David Drumm and his colleagues.

She has spoken out in wake of the publication and broadcast by the Irish Independent newspaper of taped conversations between Drumm and other senior employees at the failed bank.

The Anglo Tapes have sparked controversy in Ireland as Drumm, now resident in America, and his associates were heard to mock the Central Bank at the height of the bank crisis initiated by Anglo’s collapse.

One Anglo worker even sang a derogatory version of the German national anthem on the tapes which have been broadcast on the Independent website and by every television and radio station in Ireland.

Asked by the Irish Times at a Brussels press briefing what she thought of the Anglo Tapes, Merkel went straight to the point.

She said: “I have nothing but contempt for this. For people who go to work every day and earn their money, it is very, very difficult to understand, if at all.

“The kind of banker talk like that on the Anglo tapes does real damage to democracy and makes it harder for politicians to convince people to get up, go to work, pay their taxes and show solidarity with people who are weaker. All of this is destroyed by that.”

Chancellor Merkel also suggested that the arrogant banker tone was not uniquely Irish citing The Raspberry Kingdom, a play running in Berlin based on post-crisis interviews with bankers in Frankfurt, Dublin and other financial capitals.

The German media have also been quick to slam the Anglo Taps with Bild publishing a front page story.

It read: “They made fun of EU assistance and mocked Germany. Now Chancellor Merkel has delivered strong criticism of the remarks.”

The Irish Times report from Brussels says the Spiegel Online website found it interesting that it ‘didn’t take long’ for the German leader to deliver an unusually strident answer.

The website article said: “Angela Merkel is in election campaign mode. Thus she may have thought she can be a bit more direct, particularly when it’s to do with unscrupulous bankers.”