Michael Ring (Mayo, Fine Gael)

My blood boiled when I heard a previous speaker congratulate the banks on the wonderful job they have done. The legislation we should be debating this evening would allow us to detain these fellows in the Curragh Camp for what they have done to this country. This is not the first time we have had to save banks. The taxpayer had to pick up the tab when our banks invested in America and elsewhere and bail out the messers in PMPA, most of whom were associated with Fianna Fáil.

The people of this country do not understand what €40 billion means. People who are sitting at home unemployed are paying for Seanie FitzPatrick and the other guys in Anglo Irish Bank. They were every bit as bad in AIB. Tonight, however, a Deputy claimed we have a wonderful banking system. They destroyed the economy and the country and have put us back 100 years. I do not hear any outrage from the Taoiseach or the Green Party at the destruction of our economy or at bailing them out again even though we cannot afford to do so.

I am sick and tired of the rich being protected by Fianna Fáil and, now, the Green Party. If Green Party Deputies had any backbone, they would say "No, we will not vote on this. We will give the people of the country an opportunity to decide." If the people decide to give money to AIB, Bank of Ireland and Anglo Irish Bank, fine, but they will not want to do so. Small businessmen all over the country are coming into our clinics because they cannot get credit. These are the people who will create jobs.

Deputy Edward O'Keeffe wants to know what we are doing for the bankers. I want to know when we are going to see some of them put behind bars, where they belong, for destroying the country and the economy. They are friends of Fianna Fáil and that is how we have paid for the Galway tent. Most of the people of this country will finish up living in tents because of Fianna Fáil. The sooner we get that party out, the bloody better for the sake of living in an honest and decent country.

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