Brian Hayes (Dublin South West, Fine Gael)

This motion is not about blood letting, it is about ensuring the House lays down a marker for the Government about the appallingly wasteful management of the bank crisis by the Government to date. The reason our deficit adjustment figure has gone from €7.5 billion to €15 billion is the news of the extraordinary cost of the banking bailout on Black Thursday. That is the cost the Irish people must pay over the next four or five years to deal with the crisis.

I remember when the Governor of the Central Bank, Professor Patrick Honohan, before he took up that post, made it abundantly clear that the rules of capitalism are such that those who take a punt and lose must bear the full cost. Under the Government's scheme, we are bailing them out. It is only late in the day that the Government has accepted that it should seek a contribution from the holders of the subordinated debt to support the cost of Anglo Irish Bank. That was the position of this party 18 months ago, a position that was attacked by the Minister of State and his colleagues, upon which they have now performed a U-turn. There is little comfort for the Irish people that in some form the Government is moving towards a position the Opposition annunciated 18 months ago.

Mr. Matthew Elderfield, to whom the Government refers in its amendment, gave an important speech three weeks ago. He made a fundamental point, suggesting the Government should introduce legislation to bar individuals from having a number of directorships on various bank boards, one of the key problems in the banking crisis, where the same inside gang were involved in the same insider deals, but the Minister of State did not mention that in his speech tonight, he did not mention if that view would be articulated in law.

We should judge the Government by its actions and its actions have been all over the place on this issue. First, we were told €2 billion, then €8 billion, then €12 billion, then €24 billion and now €32 billion at the last count would be the cost for the bank bailout. Why should the Irish people believe the Minister of State when the Government has constantly changed its story over the past two years?

The Irish people expect two things from the Government - they expect personal security from the gardaí and the Army and that the Government will ensure financial security to ensure money will be in the bank to allow them to pay for goods and services, even in difficult times. When it comes to this security, this Government has been found absolutely wanting. This motion was not tabled to deliberately upset due process. We did not refer to individuals, we referred to the slow pace and lack of transparency of the Government's action in this area. The Irish people want those responsible for the crash, and the extraordinary cost of the bailout that a generation will have to pay, to be brought to book. They want to ensure their Government is of a mind to support that. Nothing we have heard in the debate last night or tonight would give people that comfort.

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