Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Tuesday, 26 February 2013

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation

Action Plan for Jobs 2012 and 2013: Discussion with Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation

3:25 pm

Photo of Richard BrutonRichard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael)
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I hear what the Deputy is saying. When the Irish Bank Resolution Corporation, IBRC, went into liquidation, it left creditors exposed. That is different from the Government deciding that companies which are trading as landlords and offering leases would have to reduce their rents. The two scenarios are different. If a company goes into liquidation, the creditors are left and their security is what the liquidator can generate from the assets. Obviously, individual companies can enter examinership and try to renegotiate their property leases. While I do not wish to lecture Senator Cullinane, one cannot pretend that we will be able to move from an economy in collapse, one which has been traumatised and is prostrate on the ground, delivering this or that number of jobs annually for the next number of years. The truth is we are in a recovery in which we are rebuilding and fixing many of the things that were broken in the recent traumatic crisis. We have to fix the banks.