Seán Fleming (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

That is fine. I was interested in the documentation Mr. Moran provided to us on the cost of the banking crisis, which is a heading on a chart on page 27 of the document from a speech Mr. Moran delivered last week. He had various charts with him which I wish to summarise. I quote his figures as we all get lost on these issues.

The first chart I found interesting was on page 7 of his document and it illustrated the dependency on banking in Europe. Essentially, the point the Department or Mr. Moran was making was that the banking crisis had a far greater impact in Europe than in the USA. He set out figures showing that the aggregate balance sheets of the EU banks were four times higher for the EU GDP whereas in the US, they represent only 0.8% of GDP. It probably explains how they were able to take a hit like the collapse of Lehman Brothers when the banking sector was not even 1% of GDP. In Europe, the European Central Bank had to be far more defensive of the banking system and maintaining banks which represented 4% of GDP. Whether it was right or wrong is another day's work entirely. Has the percentage changed much? Does that suggest that Europe continues to be at greater risk if there is something wrong with European banks versus banks in the United States where the banking sector is a much smaller proportion of the economy?

Comparing Europe and the USA, what is the position in the OECD or among other major partners? Are they closer to the high level of European dependence on the banking sector as part of its GDP? Is the OECD average closer to the USA? Is there a fundamental strategic weakness in being so dependent on the banking sector in Europe?