Pat Rabbitte (Dublin South West, Labour)

One never knows where it might lead. Would the Taoiseach not be better speaking to banks about the findings of his agencies, including the Competition Authority, the National Competitiveness Council and the Central Bank, which are major issues of public interest? While it is important that banks are profitable because they are major employers, there is a balance in all these matters. The normal tug of the market that applies in some of the private and public companies to which the Taoiseach referred do not apply in the case of the banks. This is the finding of the Government's agencies such as the Competition Authority. What about all the small companies who found themselves levied to the extent of €250 million over four years because of the misapplication of interest rate reductions at the time? Three times' the profit per customer is extracted in this jurisdiction compared with the average bank in Europe.

Given the forum he had, the Taoiseach might have raised these issues. I enjoy all his speeches when I have the good fortune to be present, but I had other duties to attend to at the weekend. However, I will catch up on what he said. I cannot find any instance of the Taoiseach referring to the fact that he dropped the €100 million levy which was applied to the banks by the former Minister for Finance, Mr. McCreevy, who said at the time it was right the banks should contribute to the public finances. I do not see any reference to the fact the banks are the most profitable in Europe, that the take per customer is three times the average in Europe and that the SMEs forfeited €0.25 billion.

These are major issues. Competition depends on new entrants yet it is virtually impossible to get into the Irish banking market place. These are questions the Taoiseach might have raised rather than counselling the rest of us to be nicer to the banks.

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