Mary Coughlan (Donegal South West, Fianna Fail)

We would have found ourselves in a different set of circumstances if we had not brought in this legislation. We would have undermined the system of banking and it would have totally collapsed. As Members, we would be in a sorry situation if this legislation was not published. If we did not have this legislation, banks could not raise the capital necessary to keep this economy going. That is the fundamental reason that we are here, which is not to say that we cannot question or fine tune legislation in discussions of the House. That can be done in the context of the debate, which is open-ended, on Committee and Report Stages. The outcome of yesterday's decision has had a positive effect on our markets, which is what we want to see. We do not want to see the guarantee called in but we want to ensure that we have the capacity to obtain capital to keep this economy going. This is a short-term measure to deal with specific issues. The framework necessary to ensure this works will be outlined in the context of the debate later this morning.

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