Clare Daly (Dublin North, Socialist Party)

The Minister stated that the reaction of the banks and the European establishment to his proposals was extremely positive. Of course that is the case. They probably could not believe their luck. Last week, the head of a major hedge fund - his name escapes me - stated that it is unbelievable that an entire population would be asked to shoulder the private debt of bondholders and speculators. The other people who cannot believe what has happened are those who voted in the recent general election, particularly for Labour and Fine Gael. In reality, there might as well not have been an election because the word on the street is that the latter has resulted in the same circus with different clowns.

It is an affront to people both inside and outside this Chamber that the Minister is now embracing that which he referred to as an obscenity during the course of the election campaign as representing the best way forward for the country. That is completely dishonest and it is coming at an enormous cost to the population.

The figures with which we are dealing are well known. A further €24 billion is to be put into the banks, bringing the total to €70 billion. The latter amount represents six times the HSE's budget and eight times that of the Department of Education and Skills. Is it any wonder that the Central Bank has stated that this is going to be one of the most expensive bailouts in history. It must be remembered that €17.5 billion of the €70 billion to which I refer is our money.

Why is the bailout being imposed? Essentially, the facts indicate that we are dealing with a problem of private debt. The bailout is designed to rescue German, French and British banks which gambled on the Irish property market. It is as simple as that. It is in the interests of the European Central Bank and Chancellor Merkel to protect those banks and the Irish taxpayer is expected to shoulder the burden. Our national debt may rise to as much as €220 billion, which is a phenomenal amount for a country the size of Ireland. The interest repayments on that amount will exceed the total amount of the education budget for the next year.

The Government must get real. What is proposed is not sustainable and that is why many commentators have predicted that there will be a default. We are of the view that not one more cent of our money should be spent on bailing out the bondholders and private debt holders. The Government should reveal the identities of these people. Who are they bondholders and the private debt holders? The new Government is supposed to operate on the basis of transparency. It should, therefore, reveal the identity of the unguaranteed bondholders to whom Anglo Irish Bank paid €750 million during the general election campaign. We should be informed with regard to where our money is going. If that money were kept here, it could be invested in a proper jobs programme designed to get people off the dole and engender some economic life in the country. This is about choices.

What the Government currently proposes is not a solution. It will, rather, exacerbate existing problems and make the situation even worse. The eurozone report produced by the website Research on Money and Finance clearly reveals that problem facing Ireland, Spain, Portugal and Greece is one of private debt. Rescuing the banks is coming at the cost of imposing austerity. The latter will not only devastate the living standards of ordinary people, it will also make the economic situation worse by forcing down wages across Europe and adversely affecting income distribution figures across the Continent, particularly in the more peripheral regions. That is the name of the game at present.

The Government's proposed reorganisation of the banks is a joke. No fundamental changes have been put forward. We are of the view that the banks should be wound down in an orderly manner and that there should be proper public ownership of the remaining institutions by bank workers whose jobs are currently under threat. This would facilitate the provision of real credit for small industries.

It must be accepted that the banking crisis is Europe-wide in nature and is not merely confined to Ireland. Those who are being asked to pay for this crisis are workers in this country and in Greece, Portugal and Spain. We need to break the power of the financial markets and to bring the banks and their resources into public ownership on a European basis.

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