Mr. Brian Hayes:

He said he would consider it when the invitation comes from the committee. I think the problem we have is that the then President of the ECB, Mr. Trichet, has said publically that he will not engage with our Parliament. It is crucially important that the current President of the ECB, Mr. Draghi and the Governing Council make it very clear that they will involve themselves with papers, documentation and the personnel who may have been involved at the time.

I have also worked hard on the question of tracker mortgages. One of the major new initiatives that the ECB is announcing at 2.30 p.m. Frankfurt time, is in term of asset backed securities. I am arguing that the ECB should use the tracker mortgages as collateral in terms of helping to get cheaper money into the Irish banks, which will help the SME sector. That is something which Mr. Draghi is looking at on foot of my recommendation.

We had an opportunity recently of visiting the European Investment Bank and I know that Sinn Féin colleagues met them as well over the summer. One of the things they are doing on the back of a proposal I put was to consider funding for infrastructural projects on social housing. This is a major issue in Dublin among my constituents. Can we get funding for social housing initiatives from the EIB in the same way we have got funding for Grangegorman and for the Luas Interconnector? They are considering that. My job on the ECON committee allows me to do these things on behalf of the country.

I will now comment on where we are falling down. I do not think we have enough colleagues involved in detail. These are complicated difficult files and we need more engagement on detail rather than on the Punch and Judy exchange that dominates our politics. We have no early warning system as to what is really important for the country. That is where we need to involve ourselves much closer with the sectoral committees.