John Gormley (Dublin South East, Green Party)

People entrusted with a sacred duty to police the money dealers have failed in their duty. The price of all of this has been the loss of people's confidence in the global financial markets.

We in Ireland have been ill-used and so have the citizens of the United States. However, we must also realise that we have many lessons to learn from this debacle. It is time for the politicians, elected by the people to order their affairs, to remedy the lack of regulation which has caused chaos and misery to ordinary citizens. We need to go further. What we are deciding here tonight must be seen as a first step. Politicians in Ireland and across the western world must rebuild a sustainable and sound system of financial regulation. We must get back to serving the needs of the many and not the greed of the few. I commend the legislation to the House and I thank the Opposition Parties for their co-operation.

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