Damien English (Meath West, Fine Gael)

It is a delicate issue. In accepting that establishment of the agency may take a long time, the Tánaiste should take on board our concerns in regard to small business. If it takes six months to sort out the problem, that is six months during which small business will not have access to money, which is my concern. That is what I meant. What will happen in the next six months to a year has not been addressed. Today's budget does not set out what will happen to small business if movement of toxic assets takes a long time, which it could given it is a delicate matter. Also, it is exposing taxpayers to a great deal of money.

My question in respect of the figure of €80 billion has not been answered. The Tánaiste is the second person to whom I have put the question today. It has not yet been explained how the figure rose to €80 billion.

See this speech in context