Seán Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael)

This amendment, which I support, may appear to be just technical but its importance should not be underestimated. While it simply says that the Minister proposes to make a scheme, the most important point is that until both Houses approve that scheme, the Bill does not come into operation. When we are debating this particular technical motion, it is important the message goes out that what is required by Members on this side of the House in particular is taken into account in what goes into the scheme. I do not want to be in a position next week whereby a crisis emerges because Members on this side of the House, for some reason, find it impossible to vote through the scheme. It is very important that people listen very carefully to what is being said by spokespersons and other Members regarding what the scheme will contain.

My deep concern centres on the regulatory authorities in this State and the role they will play in the process of devising the scheme. I am a member of the Joint Committee on Finance and the Public Service. That committee met representatives of the major banks recently and I left that meeting thinking our banks appeared to be safe enough, with stress testing of all sorts of things——

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