Joe Higgins (Dublin West, Socialist Party) | Oireachtas source

Would Professor Lane agree that the international financial markets as a phenomenon were simply becoming more parasitic? Against the background of the credit explosion, speculation and deregulation internationally, was it inevitable that the regulatory system was going to collapse? In an article which appeared in The New York Timesin 2005, it was claimed that Ireland had become known as the wild west of European finance. Is Professor Lane of the view that there was truth to this claim?

I apologise to Professor Lane for cramming in my final question at this point but time is against me. A debt equating to 100% of gross domestic product has been placed around the necks of the Irish people. Ordinary citizens would like to know where the many billions of euro that were moving around during the property bubble ended up. We know that some of this money was paid out in the form of wages, etc. However, what happened to the massive amounts that were paid for land and the huge profits that were made? The Irish people are in an extremely indebted position as a result of political and economic decisions which were made, but which we are not allowed to discuss just now, and austerity policies that were put in place.