Brian Lenihan Jnr (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)

Regarding the question on contingencies, Professor Honohan clearly pointed out this morning that what he envisaged was the assembling of a large fund that would demonstrate that adequate firepower is behind the banking system. Naturally and correctly, there have been many political charges today, but there have also been many constructive contributions by Members from all sides of the House regarding the concerns discussions of this type bring, for example, concerns about adding to the burden of the national debt and about the workability of any strategy that is adopted to put confidence into the banking system. For this reason, one needs technical discussions. It is important that these technical issues be worked through. In the passage I quoted to Deputy Noonan, Professor Honohan made the point that the money already put into the banks is enough objectively but, if the confidence is not there - according to him, it is not there partly because of Government finances and general economic factors - it is desirable that there be a demonstration effect in terms of what capital is available to the banks. This is an issue the technical teams will examine. The Government cannot possibly sign off on such a concept without this technical work being done in the first instance. I very much-----

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