Pádraic McCormack (Galway West, Fine Gael)

I am only relating the information to the man or woman who owes €2 million to the bank. I will not delay the debate at all. The second highest earner is earning €8,493 per day, which is €59,449 per week. It is no harm to put that information on the record of the House because people in the street are asking if we are propping up institutions that will continue to pay exorbitant wages to their chief executives and directors. What assurances can the Minister give this House that there will be any control over the earnings and bonuses of chief executives over the next two years, during which time we are guaranteeing the viability of the six lending institutions in question to the tune of €400 billion? That is one of the questions the ordinary person on the street is asking, and on whose behalf I ask the Minister for a response. The salaries and wages in question are inconceivable to ordinary people. I ask the Minister to reassure us on that question in his reply to this debate. What guarantees can he give us?

I note that amendment No. 2 proposes limiting salaries to level of that earned by the Minister for Finance, which is a very sensible suggestion. Will the Minister do that? Were he to do that, the people on the street would understand. We would be talking about normal figures then, rather than the abnormal ones about which people are reading. They cannot understand how we could be propping up institutions that would throw money about like that.

See this speech in context