Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)

It is fair to say that this afternoon the mind of the country is on the announcement from the Minister for Finance, Deputy Lenihan, of the second budget for 2009. This will be announced in an hour's time and no doubt it will have implications for the pay packets of people all over the country with regard to taxes and levies, and so on. That is probably what most people will be discussing over their dinner this evening.

However, as the Taoiseach stated, that is only one aspect of the issues being considered by the Government at present. The other has to do with the future of the banking system. As we know, the Government has made a couple of attempts to deal with the banks, including the guarantee last September, the announced recapitalisation in December which was not proceeded with, the nationalisation of Anglo Irish Bank in January, followed by the recapitalisation of the two larger banks at a cost of €7 billion to the taxpayers. Over recent weeks and particularly over the past few days, there has been increasing speculation that the Government will make a further announcement of some decisions in respect of banking. There has been speculation about the possibility of the establishment or creation of a "bad bank" to corral the bad debts. There have been some suggestions about the establishment of an asset management company under the National Treasury Management Agency and there have been suggestions that the Government may be considering some kind of arrangement or mechanism whereby taxpayers' money will be used to buy up the bad loans of the banks.

What decisions have been made by the Government in respect of the banks? Will the Government publish the report of Dr. Peter Bacon on which I understand such decisions to have been made? Would the Taoiseach agree to the suggestion made yesterday by my colleague, Deputy Joan Burton, that Dr. Bacon's report might be published as a Green Paper on banking?

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