Michael Ring (Mayo, Fine Gael)

As we are dealing with bankers and money, Mr. and Mrs. Citizen will have to pay, those people who cannot afford to do so and who are already struggling to pay their mortgages. They are the ones who will have to pick up the tab. It is outrageous. This is the third or fourth time we have saved the banks.

What protection will be provided by this legislation to ensure we never see this happening again? Where is the Governor of the Central Bank and the Financial Regulator, to whom we are paying big money?

As Deputy McCormack said, paying the bankers who have put this country in the state it is in €2 million or €3 million per annum is a disgrace. The first thing the Minister should do, before this package is agreed, is ensure that their salaries are halved. In fact, half is too much for them. He should not worry about the executives going anywhere because if they ran any other company in the same way they have run the banks, they would be sacked, as would many others along with them. The Minister might think it is great for the country. It is good for the country in that we must save the banks. I would like to vote against the banks today but I would not be doing the country any good. I want to vote to save the country.

This is not the first time that we have saved the banks in this country. There are two laws in this country, one for the rich and one for the poor. When I came into this House 14 years ago a man said to me at the door to remember when it comes to money——

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