Chris Andrews (Dublin South East, Fianna Fail)

A lack of confidence in the US market has undermined confidence in Ireland and the wider economy. One has to look no further than the situation that arose with Northern Rock, which was well capitalised, to see the real impact of a lack of confidence in the market. Customers lost confidence in that bank and the rest is history.

Some commentators and members of the Opposition speak about the economy and the financial markets in negative terms. No one is suggesting there are not serious challenges ahead for the banks or the economy. Everybody recognises this is the case. It is the reason the budget has been brought forward to 14 October and I welcome that.

The use of words such as "we are facing a meltdown" and commentators suggesting they are being muzzled is, in my opinion, completely irresponsible. I do not believe this is in anyone's interest except perhaps those making the claims. The banking model used in Ireland is different from that used in the US.

Earlier this year members of the finance committee met with various stakeholders in New York and Washington and noted a clear absence of regulatory structures in the financial markets there. What happened in America was that, from the hopeful homeowner to the brokers and right up to Wall Street, there was no one there to shout stop. It was in nobody's interest to do so. This is the outcome. While we were on our visit to America, Henry Paulson announced that he intended to introduce plans for regulation, but it was said that it would not happen until after the November election. Clearly, self-regulation does not work. Even the Republicans appear, reluctantly, to be accepting that now.

In Ireland, the model is very different. We have a much more robust regulatory framework overseeing the financial markets. We have the Financial Regulator and the Central Bank, the chairman of which appeared before the Joint Committee on Finance and the Public Service earlier this year.

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