Dr. Seán Healy:

My point is most of this €37 billion went to paying back the banks; the Deputy is making my point for me in that regard. We should not be paying off gamblers and people who were flying very close to the wind - if they were not already beyond it - who had gambled recklessly and lost. If goes went to Paddy Power to be paid after one's horse has come last, one will be laughed out of court, but that is what the banks did. They gambled and lost but got all of their money back and the entire debt has been put on citizens.

We must ensure the social dimension is central to Economic and Monetary Union and to do this, we need a framework to lock it in. If it is not locked in, it can be drained away. I was trying to outline this had been happening to the social dimension since the middle of the previous decade.