Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I take a different view. If what happened recently in Spain and Italy had had happened in the eurozone a number of years ago, particularly during and in the aftermath of the crisis, we would be dealing with how banks elsewhere in the eurozone were affected, but we are not dealing with such issues. The fact that this has not happened - we have seen the resolution of two national banking issues without a contagion effect within their national economies or the eurozone - proves that the system has improved significantly in recent years. Having said that, the single supervisory mechanism is a relatively new institution by European standards. Of course, there is always a needs for an assessment of how these matters are handled. I am resolute on two points. First, we do not want to see this happen in Ireland again. Second, Ireland is now demonstrating a path to allow taxpayers to get their money back. This has happened in the case of AIB. I see the strengthening of banking union as a way for us to mitigate the risk faced by taxpayers and I hope eliminate it at some future point.