Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael)

Does the Minister agree there is now mounting evidence credit to strong and viable enterprises is drying up, and there are more and more examples where people have had their overdraft facility cut back and are having to lay off staff in the face of credit problems? Against that problem does he agree the issue of the adequacy of the capitalisation of our banks is now a major source of focus and one of the reasons they are finding it hard to raise term deposits externally? Others have moved to higher capital ratios being required. The banks may meet the minimum criteria set by the regulator but no longer look to be strongly capitalised by comparison with other countries.

Does the Minister believe it is within the banks' own capacity to resolve their capital problems? If, as the Minister says, he believes private sources of funds would be the best first option, does he agree there must be clarity on the Government's approach before people will risk private equity in any recapitalisation? Government policy — with the new powers — could have a very big impact on private investors' views of putting capital into a bank.

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