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

If the ESM were to lend that money to the SRF, the ESM would get that money back at a point in the future because it would be a loan. Where I differ from the Deputy is that the issue of conditionality has less relevance here. In the circumstances in which the lending between the ESM and SRF happens, by that point so much action would have taken place that would have had a profound impact on the bank. In those circumstances, we would be talking about a situation in which bondholders have already made a contribution, having huge effect on the value of the bank. We would be talking about where the Single Resolution Fund has already played a role that will also have an impact on the value of the bank. Many different steps would need to be gone through, which the Deputy acknowledged and we agree on, before we get to the operation of the ESM. In those situations, because the ESM is lending money to the SRF, the ESM will also get its money back - which is the taxpayer - albeit at a point in the future. That is where the contribution of the banks comes in; in all the steps that would happen before we get to the role that the SRF is lending to the ESM.