Sean Barrett (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I compliment the Leader on his stand in respect of the future of this House. I point out in The Irish Times today that the Referendum Commission guide sent to every house in the country has a serious omission. It does not refer to the fact that if the referendum is passed, people in six counties of this island and overseas will be deprived of a vote which they have had since the foundation of the State. I would like the Leader to raise that issue with the Referendum Commission in order that future editions of the booklet would refer to this important fact as many people, particularly in Border counties, would not like to let down their friends and relations in Fermanagh, Armagh and the other counties. The Referendum Commission has erred in not referring to this vital aspect.

I was concerned at the conduct of banks during the vacation and again when they appeared before the Joint Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform. They would do exactly the same things all over again. Our financial institutions have learned nothing. I commend the Minister for Finance, Deputy Michael Noonan, and the Government on trying to deal with the worst aspects of the consequences of banking failure but we also have to face the reasons banks failed and why they are likely to do so again.

The Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors in the UK published last Friday measures to prevent property bubbles. It examined issues such as loan to value, loan to debt, loan to people's incomes, capital requirements of banking systems and reserve ratios for banks. There is a post-crisis consensus in economics to prevent housing bubbles. The royal institute gives 12 examples internationally where these measures have been implemented in countries such as Canada, Croatia, Hong Kong and Norway. As we leave the troika we must engage in a full analysis of measures to prevent the banks doing the same thing all over again.

I ask the Leader to request the Minister for Finance, Deputy Noonan, who has worked so hard on this issue, to debate how banking may be reformed so that we never would have a recurrence of the events that occurred between 2000 and 2008.