Joe Behan (Wicklow, Independent)

I thank the Taoiseach, the party leaders and the Ceann Comhairle for giving us this rare opportunity to address the Chamber on an issue of such importance.

When this crisis originally broke on 30 September 2008, I was a member of Fianna Fáil. I was under the party whip and supported the measures passed in law in that week. I opposed the decision to nationalise Anglo Irish Bank because I was not convinced of the arguments made by the Government at the time. The Government having succeeding on that occasion, however, and the country now owing Anglo Irish Bank mean that we must make our decisions based on the situation as it stands, and we must cope with the consequences of past decisions. On that basis I have supported further elements of the Government's response to the banking crisis, including the decision made here last night. I will continue to evaluate the proposals made by the Government on that basis, the basis of where we are and the best for the country.

I have often tried to put myself in the position the Minister for Finance and the Taoiseach were in on the night the guarantee was decided to see if I would have acted differently. Not having the information available to them, it is difficult to do that but if they were faced with the collapse of the entire banking system in the following days, it is difficult to blame them for making the decisions they made, decisions that were made in good conscience and for the right reasons. I do not condemn them for their efforts to avert that crisis and to manage the situation from there on.

I have not been impressed with any of the proposals made by any of the Opposition parties with regard to their response to the banking crisis either. Each of them has lacked credibility and it is very difficult to believe that they would have made very different decisions had they been in Government on that occasion two years ago.

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