Alan Shatter (Dublin South, Fine Gael)

My next question has been raised already by colleagues but the Minister has not properly responded to it. The scheme has a provision which states the banks will not be allowed to make unwarranted charges on customers arising out of the guarantee. The obverse of this is that the banks can make warranted charges. Will the Minister explain his thinking behind this? To what extent will bank customers be protected from facing extra costs for banking activities as a consequence of the recklessness of banks in making unnecessary and unsustainable funding available to developers?

In the context of the security the banks hold, and we have heard two figures, namely, €15 billion and €29 billion, the Minister is correct to state that property regarded as security still has some value. Will the Minister acknowledge that in the current market situation it is almost impossible to know what is this value? Does he have any insight as to how the people appointed by the Financial Regulator to stress test the banks' security is attaching value to these matters?

Will the Minister confirm to the House whether the various financial institutions identified are expected to sign up to this scheme within the next 24 hours if and when it is approved by the House? What is the timeframe for this?

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