Mattie McGrath (Tipperary South, Independent)

The Government is planning to shrink the banking system from six homegrown lenders to two pillar banks. The Government received a strong mandate to introduce badly needed changes to our failed banking system. I hope and pray the Government's new policies will mark the beginning of a turnaround.

Like other Deputies who have spoken, I am disappointed by the current Tweedledum and Tweedledee situation. When I was a member of a Government party I had many animated discussions with my colleague, Deputy Brian Lenihan, when he was Minister for Finance. I felt passionately that the Irish people should not be left holding the baby for the bankers and the 300 people who brought our economy and country to such a disastrous situation. A burden was placed on every man, woman and child and on future generations. I was disappointed by the inaction and lack of clarity of the Government at that time. I am devastated, as are the public, by the reaction of the new Minister and the members of the new Government. They have simply moved seats in the Chamber. This is pitiful. There was a huge vote demanding real change.

Senior bondholders have been called gamblers. I do not call them gamblers. I call them speculators. We need those people and we will need them in the future. As Deputy Ross said, they cannot believe their luck. They have been allowed off scot-free and the complete burden has been placed on the ordinary decent taxpayers of this and future generations. We have shown the white flag to the ECB. To say "the ECB will not allow this or that" is a feeble excuse. We must demand our rights, as a sovereign country. We must not be dictated to by Germans and others. Where is the spirit of the European treaties which we supported, although we did not support the Lisbon treaty until the second time around?

European banking institutions were at least 50% responsible for the mess we got into. I accept that our regulator was not doing his job and was then paid off with a fine pension. This culture must stop. I told Deputy Lenihan at the time that we should not have done the deal because we could not afford it. Europe must come to our rescue, allow us to breathe and provide some credit to our economy. The measures we have taken to pay back these debts are killing our economy and the spirit of our people. They are robbing us of the resources we need to recover. There must be a sea change. The Government has been given a mandate for change and I hope it will respond to it. That is what the people were yearning for and what they demanded and voted for. They were misled by the statements of both Opposition parties about what they were going to do in Government. The people are now devastated to find that those parties have simply moved seats in the Chamber and are continuing with the old policies.

We must stand up to Europe and demand what we are entitled to. This problem is bigger than us. We must threaten to default.

See this speech in context