Kathleen Lynch (Cork North Central, Labour)

Even though they gambled with our futures and our money, homes and jobs, they are still in place. We are going to breathe new life into a critical patient without even demanding the changes that would ensure people have confidence in this country. Confidence requires a finite commodity, that is, competence. People will have confidence when they see the Government acting competently.

Yesterday, the Minister for Finance informed us that he did not read a section of a report which I am sure his Department had awaited with bated breath. He was cowardly in blaming civil servants on the one hand while protecting them on the other, as if it was their fault, but he did not want to dwell on the matter. I do not believe him for one minute. He read every part of the report because he could not have done otherwise. He preferred to be thought an incompetent than a liar. He knew exactly what was in the report but he chose not to tell us about it.

People elsewhere in the world who do our jobs lack confidence in the Irish banking system. Bank shares continue to fall. AIB's share price has dropped 15% and Bank of Ireland is down 9%. The markets do not believe the Government's plan will work, and that is important. As long as this Government is perceived as being incompetent, it cannot restore confidence. We need to tell the Irish people that things will get better because competent people are working on the problem. It is about time that competent people were put into the banking system and into Government.

See this speech in context