Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, Solidarity) | Oireachtas source

My point is the shareholders and the Governments did not do anything to alter the culture of the banks because successive Governments were committed to private for-profit ownership and running of the banks. They continued with that same model of running the banks even when they were in public ownership. Let us remember the banks got into difficulty when they were private and run on that model and rescued by the State. Does the Minister not agree that that and the subsequent scandals mean the private sector model of banking ownership has failed and that the tension that exists between the public interest and the banking interest is a fundamental problem? The way to overcome those interests is to have actual public democratic ownership of the banks, bring together public and banking interest and run the banks to assist the economy and society as a whole as opposed to allowing the banks to rob, steal and profit from the economy and people within the economy.