Pádraic McCormack (Galway West, Fine Gael)

Apart from one short observation, I will confine my contribution to a question. My observation is that we are now two hours into the debate, there are 28 amendments tabled and it will take 48 hours of continuous debate, at the rate we are going, to complete Committee Stage.

I have a question for the Minister which I hope he will answer at the conclusion of this debate. If, for example, Mr. X, Mrs. X or Ms X is currently in debt to a lending institution in this country to the tune of €2 million and is unable or unwilling to repay that debt, what happens in two years' time? Who will take up the tab for the €2 million owed? Will the Irish taxpayer have to take up the tab? While €2 million is a large amount of money to many individuals, it is a small amount of money in banking terms. I read in one of today's newspapers information on the earnings of the chief executives of Irish banks. The top earner is earning €9,781 every day of the week.

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