Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)

I wish to follow up on the Taoiseach's response to Deputy Kenny. Did I hear him correctly as saying the report received by the Minister for Finance from the Central Bank and the Financial Regulator arising from a study by PricewaterhouseCoopers shows that the banks were in a sound position on 30 September, when the decision was made to introduce the guarantee scheme? If that is the case, why were we led to believe that one bank, or more than one, was in imminent danger of collapse on 30 September? Given the Minister now has the report, when will he make a decision arising from it? Is the Government considering some form of recapitalisation of the banks, either through the use of taxpayers' money or by means of some scheme to attract private money back to the banks?

Arising from that, I wish to pursue the comments he made yesterday in respect of the capitalisation of the banks. He said on a couple of occasions that it would not necessarily ensue from the recapitalisation of the banks that money would be made available to business and that the credit famine which businesses are now experiencing would not necessarily be relieved. If that is the case, and I believe it is, what conditions does he intend to impose on the recapitalised banks to ensure credit is made available to businesses which need it? I refer to the proposals made to the Government by the Small Firms Association on establishing a small business fund which could draw down the moneys made available through the European Investment Bank and on the development of a mechanism whereby those moneys can be released to small businesses which need them. Clearly, the commercial banks are not availing of this scheme. Will he consider the suggestion by the Small Firms Association that a forum be established involving the State, the banks and organisations representing small businesses to monitor independently the practices of banks in making credit available to businesses?

It is clear that businesses are in trouble and people are losing jobs. We have seen massive rises in unemployment levels over the course of the past year and people are worried the trend will continue for the rest of this year and into the new year because of problems in getting credit.

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