Brian Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)

As the Deputy knows, the recapitalisation that has taken place at the Bank of Ireland and AIB is in respect of preference shares that the State has taken in those banks. The Minister has indicated that ordinary shares will be involved in any further investments or recapitalisation required in the future. We are being paid for the guarantees that we have given and are ensuring that there is a return on the investment we are making in those banks.

I do not suggest for one moment that one euro is any different from another. The direct question I was answering was whether there is any prospect of a future recapitalisation of the banks being incorporated into the Budget Statement today and the answer is "No". Any investment the State makes in banks that require borrowings will be added to our debt requirement but that does not affect the budgetary figures in terms of the Exchequer borrowing requirement today. The issue for us is to see how we can have a strong, functioning banking system that will serve the economy and serve the people who depend on it.

This attempt to separate the interests of banking from the wider interest of the economy is an incorrect analysis. Every government has to invest in the banking system to provide a basis on which the economy can recover. In addition, we have to take whatever domestic policy decisions we need to bring our public finances back into order because our current position would not be sustainable if we did not take those actions. The Opposition must take that into account too.

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