Pat Rabbitte (Dublin South West, Labour)

Is the Taoiseach satisfied about competition in the financial sector? I refer specifically to the announcement this morning by Allied Irish Banks of a profit of €1.7 billion for the year. Is the Taoiseach aware this is up from €1.37 billion last year? Does he also know this is the highest rate of profitability in Europe? Is he aware that, for example, the two major Irish banks take three times more in profit per customer than the average bank in Europe?

It is obvious some of this is excessive profit-taking in the Irish economy. There is a lack of competition. It is good to see the banks profitable but any reasonable person would say that a profit of €1.7 billion is completely out of kilter with the financial sectors in other countries in Europe. The Government's reaction has been to scrap the €100 million levy that was taken from the banks for the last three years. This was done in the budget by sleight of hand. There was no mention of it; it was merely terminated at the caprice of the Minister. Do we remember the former Minister for Finance, Mr. Charlie McCreevy?

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