Arthur Spring (Kerry North-West Limerick, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I will be specific and deal with five topics. On growth and the models the witnesses have used to predict how the economy will grow over time, we are down to between 7% and 9% of the amount of the credit that was provided through the banks at the height of the boom. What do the witnesses consider would be an acceptable level of credit for banks to provide, how that would stimulate the economy and how they have projected that into the future?

Many of the representatives of the banks have appeared before us and they talked about the cost of funds being an enormous problem. Performing loans are burdensome and contribute to the losses banks make because they borrow money on the wholesale market and that is more expensive than the money they have lent out on other side. It is simple maths. What at a macro level can be done in Europe to sort out the cost of funding for our banks and how will that lead to lending being kick-started again in the future?

There are three ways we can go about fixing this. There is export demand, which is a global factor, quantitative easing and debt write-down but we have very little autonomy over those because of the lack of having our own currency and so on. Do the witnesses consider that enough is being done at European level by the Commissioners and our fellow member states in terms of comprehending the difficulty we face in meeting our deficit? If I could have some silence, it would be helpful.