Seán Ardagh (Dublin South Central, Fianna Fail)

Yesterday, the Taoiseach mentioned €100 billion — the difference between €500 billion and €400 billion. The Minister for Finance has mentioned €80 billion. Today is 1 October and yesterday marked the end of the third quarter, so I would like to see the equity or net assets of the banking system in Ireland valued on a prudential basis, under which the Central Bank has always stated it does business. Naturally, the net assets of the banking system depend on the value of the loans. Some people can say they are worthless while others put a high figure on them. I would be prepared to take the prudent value put on them by the Central Bank. We should know what is the value of the net assets of those six financial institutions.

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