Brian Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)

What is in this for the taxpayer is clearly the ability to provide a stable banking system so all businesses and all people who have deposits and interests in the banks and in the commercial life of the country can have the prospect of continuing in the very abnormal situation we find ourselves in today. That is the first point.

The second point is that no money has been handed over by the State to the banks in relation to the provision of this guarantee. The State guarantee we have devised enables the banks to get access to funds. Deputy Gilmore's argument about the taking of equity completely misses the point. The taking of equity would not provide the liquidity necessary to maintain a stable financial system in this country in the short, medium or long term. The issue here is that solvent banks, which have assets in excess of their liabilities, are faced with an unprecedented situation whereby there is a credit crunch and they have an inability to access credit and liquidity in order to conduct business. That is a problem not only from the banks' point of view but from the point of view of everybody who deals with banks, including every citizen of this country. That is the situation that confronts us and what the Government is seeking to achieve here bears no relation to the misleading figure that is going around about the Irish taxpayer being exposed to a €500 million liability.

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