Kieran O'Donnell (Limerick East, Fine Gael)

Does the Taoiseach agree that bank loans are not being repaid? No developers' loans are being repaid. Furthermore, many of them are non-recourse loans; the only security for the loans given was the asset concerned. Any small business that applies for a loan must give a security of varying degrees, but that did not apply to these developers. The ordinary man in the street is asking what is happening. He will have to pay an extra €4,600 per annum tax under this budget while the Government bailes out the developers. Some developers will end up not having to pay a penny in terms of the loans they took out. The Taoiseach should explain that to the hard-pressed taxpayer because that is what is happening. How much will what the Government proposes in respect of the banks cost the taxpayer? The Taoiseach has not answered that question. Why has the figure suddenly grown from €39 billion to €90 billion?

We were told there was no problem concerning the banks, then the guarantee scheme was needed, then Anglo Irish Bank had to be nationalised and then €7 billion had to be put into the two main banks. During the debate on the recapitalisation of the banks I stated that the amount being put into them was not enough. In terms of the level of bad debts AIB, in particular, will have to write off next year, the figures did not add up. In 2008, it wrote off €1.85 billion and it has made a loss already. In 2009, it proposes to write off up to between €2.9 billion and €4.2 billion and it will make a loss. If it did not get the €3.5 billion given by the State, its core tier one ratio capital would be below minimum required of 4%. The figures do not add up. The Government cannot fool the public any more about the banks. The Government needs to resolve the situation in terms of the banks, but it needs to tell the taxpayers how much it will cost them. He has not told them that. On the idea of parking the issue and delaying addressing it, these loans are probably worth of the order of 60% at the maximum.

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