Thomas Byrne (Meath East, Fianna Fail)

We are already spending a massive amount of money and I do not know, given the large social welfare bills that we, unfortunately, must pay, where we will get the rest. I do not believe in the Fine Gael proposal for the super quango that will have to go out and borrow more and more. We already have to borrow for NAMA, a crucial initiative.

I compliment the Minister for Finance because it would be very easy to put his head in the sand and say we are only a small country and we are in deep trouble. Instead he has launched a very innovative proposal, one that is not yet fully worked out. The details will be in the legislation, but the main points are there and it is crucial to the further development of this economy. However, when that was announced, without even examining the details, the Opposition talked about bank and builder bail outs instead the real issue, the real economy, the jobs we need to create and sustain, and the money that needs to go into the economy and out of these zombie banks. The Opposition has a duty to recognise sometimes that some ideas the Government puts forward are good. They can be amended and tweaked, and we welcome constructive proposals from the Opposition, but to denounce this proposal immediately as a bail out for builders or bankers is outrageous and incorrect.

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