Michael Noonan (Limerick East, Fine Gael)

They came before committees of the House and gave us absolute guarantees that there was no problem with the Irish banking system. We then wake up one morning and there is chaos. We need more information and, as parliamentarians, if we are to measure the effectiveness of the Bill we need information along the lines I am suggesting.

I will conclude on this point. Is the Minister transferring the notification provisions to himself from the Competition Authority because he believes there may be an imminent acquisition or merger and he needs to act very quickly or is it simply a measure to underpin the system which he may or may not use in the middle distance or ever? In particular, will the Minister answer the question later as to whether he sees this as a liquidity or solvency crisis, or both?

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