Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)

In the last debate on this matter, the Minister was asked to give undertakings, but he was vague about it. My conclusion is that he could not get those undertakings, for example, regarding the degree of exposure of the lending institutions, their solvency and liquidity. All these matters keep recurring. I do not know if the Minister received any such guarantees, but he should not be coy about them. There is more hanging on the decisions that will be made here today than just covering the Minister's political coat-tails. This business is more serious than any the country has had to face before.

Notwithstanding the global crisis that everything is now being blamed on, 90% of this crisis was created by institutions in this country. It was created by them alone and nobody else. There can be no escape from all the responsibilities — political, economic and social. The Minister should stand up, face down the people he is dealing with and get those guarantees or else we will all go down together.

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