Pat Rabbitte (Dublin South West, Labour)

Then one morning The Irish Times had the headline that the banks were to be charged €2 billion. That did not arrive there because of some journalist. That figure was planted. Now the figure has changed. I understand the Minister's argument that if he were to impose a commercial rate, say 2%, it might be counterproductive.

Is it not the case that the €500 billion is an estimate and the model will not be published? The scheme provides that if there is a call on the State, it will be honoured out of the fund. We know the fund will not go within an ass's roar of meeting liabilities in those circumstances. There is a second elephant in the room and it may be connected to Deputy Michael Noonan's first elephant. What would happen if there were to be a bank default? Is it seriously suggested that because the gentlemen at the top of the other banks have signed up to the deed, they will come to the rescue of a bank, that I will not name, if it goes down? I do not believe that for one minute.

Paragraph 44 of the draft scheme states, "A covered institution shall not pass on the costs of the guarantee to its customers in an unwarranted manner." The term "unwarranted manner" is part of the vague, aspirational idea with which we would all agree. What does it mean? Accordingly, there must a warranted manner and in those circumstances the bank customer would end up paying the charge. Does the Minister envisage a similar levy to that imposed on all the other insurance companies during the PMPA failure? People will want to know about this, given the scope of this insurance policy of €500 billion from a State that is fast getting into serious difficulties with its public finances. If the guarantee were called in, how would it materialise?

Does the Minister have a rough idea of how the charge will be approportioned as between the banks? The Minister earlier said there will be a short time to sign up to the scheme for one of the banks not headquartered in Ireland. How much time will be given to it to sign up? Will it have to come to the tape by a certain date and after that it has lost its chance and takes its luck in the marketplace?

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